Interconnection ‘crucial’ for UK energy security: former shadow energy minister

Increased interconnection between the UK and Europe is vital to ensuring security of energy supply, and should be a “crucial question” in the Brexit debate, former shadow energy minister Alan Whitehead has insisted.

Whitehead also expressed concern that the prospect of negotiating the right levels of interconnection were “fairly remote”.

Speaking at the Utility Week Energy Summit in Westminster, Whitehead said: “We’ve still got to have substantial interconnections and also substantial back up capacity across the system and that is where I think Brexit is a particular issue.

“I would particularly home in on interconnection as far as what I think is going to be a real problem. Where we can actually manage negotiations to remain in the European energy market, the prospect of getting the levels of interconnection we need to back up the system are fairly remote.”

He highlighted that supply from interconnection in the UK would need to increase from current levels of 3 per cent up to 12 per cent over the next period.

“I can’t see that anybody is going to start developing one end of an interconnector that’s going to face difficulties half way to the UK,” he added.

Energy minister, and prime ministerial candidate, Andrea Leadsom also spoke at the event, but did not offer an opinion on future interconnections in the UK.

“Energy security is and always will be non-negotiable, it is our top priority,” she said.