Our Proposals
Overview of the Proposals
AQUIND Interconnector will be approximately 238km in length and comprise of subsea and underground cables connecting converter stations in both the UK and France.
Converter stations are required in both the UK and France to convert electricity from Direct Current (DC) to Alternating Current (AC).
In the UK, four high-voltage direct current underground cables will connect the subsea cables from the landing point at Eastney to a new converter station at Lovedean in Hampshire.
An underground data cable will also be required to maintain the interconnector and facilitate communications between the UK and France.
Description of the UK Onshore Proposals
Lovedean to Waterlooville
In the UK, the Converter Station will be located in close proximity to the existing National Grid substation at Lovedean.
From Lovedean, the onshore cable corridor will run south through agricultural fields, before reaching Anmore Road in Denmead. Continuing south, the cable corridor runs beneath Kings Pond Meadows using a trenchless installation method known as Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD), before turning south-east to run along Hambledon Road towards Waterlooville.
Waterlooville to Portsdown Hill
The route then continues south along the A3 London Road from Maurepas Way roundabout through Waterlooville, Purbrook and Widley and under the B2177 Portsdown Hill Road bridge before turning east up the slip road to Portsdown Hill Road.
Portsdown Hill to Farlington
The cable corridor then runs east along Portsdown Hill continuing south-east down Farlington Avenue. From here, the corridor turns east along Havant Road before continuing south via Eastern Road, before running through Zetland Field to Fitzherbert Road before continuing south via the western side of Sainsbury’s car park. At the southern end of the car park the cable corridor will pass under the railway line and continue into the north end of Farlington Playing Fields, running along the north and eastern side of the fields.
Farlington to Milton Common
The cable corridor then progresses under the A27 and Langstone Harbour via HDD, resurfacing at Kendall’s Wharf on Portsea Island. From here, the cable corridor continues south along the west side of the pitch used by Baffins Milton Rovers FC, the cricket pitch and the southern football pitch into Eastern Road.
The cable corridor continues to run south within the highway of Eastern Road to Burnfields Road, south of which it will run either in the highway or verge to the northern end of Milton Common. Our preferred route for the cable corridor would then run south along the existing permissive path to the southern end of the common.
We are however conscious of the Common’s previous use as a landfill site, and so two alternative routes running west along Moorings Way and either through the west side of the Common or along Eastern Avenue are included in the event that our preferred route is not feasible due to ground conditions. If one of these two alternative routes is used, the cable corridor will be installed in the verge and cycle path east of Eastern Road where possible.
Milton Common to Eastney
From Milton Common, the cable corridor progresses south through the playing fields at the east side of the University of Portsmouth, west along Longshore Way and into the car park of the Thatched House. From here, the corridor will be installed via HDD proceed beneath the Milton & Eastney allotments, before turning south to run through Bransbury Park.
From the south-east of Bransbury Park, the corridor runs south-east to the car park at Fort Cumberland Road, the location of the landfall where the onshore and marine cables will be joined together. From the landfall, the marine cable route begins and runs south, being installed under Eastney beach using HDD.
Application Documents
All documents submitted over the course of the Examination can be viewed and downloaded on the Planning Inspectorate’s (PINS) website at https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/south-east/aquind-interconnector/?ipcsection=docs.
If you have any difficulties accessing the application documents or if you would like further information about AQUIND Interconnector, please contact the project team via the contact details below.