WATCH: What exactly is IFA2?

Firstly, here’s a video by Fareham Borough Council which gives a visual representation of how the interconnector will fit in at Daedalus.
IFA2 is an electricity interconnector that allows countries to change power.

It is proposed to put the converter station at Daedalus in Lee-on-the-Solent.

A converter station converts electricity from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC).

AC is used in each country’s transmission system while DC is used for sending electricity along the high voltage sea cables.

Changes to energy demand in the UK has led to a focus to bring in a number of interconnectors between the UK and continental Europe.

According to National Grid, each gw of new interconnector capacity could help reduce wholesale power prices in the UK by up to two per cent.

IFA2 is planned to connect the electricity systems of the UK and France using high voltage subsea cables from Normandy in France to Lee-on-the-Solent.

National Grid are working with French company RTE to bring the project forward to be operational by 2020.

The interconnector process starts by subsea DC electricity cables reaching land at Monks Hill Beach in Hill Head, cables are then buried underground and routed across Daedalus airfield to the converter station.

Electricity is then converted from DC to AC and then travels back in cables along the coast to connect to the existing National Grid compound at Chilling which feeds the electricity into the country’s transmission network.