# National Grid Plans Up to £400 Million for IFA Link Through 2050

By John Kim

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/business/43810
Published: 2026-10-29T19:30:10.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-29T19:30:10.000Z
Section: Business

> The link entered service in 1986, and the planned upgrades cover equipment, buildings and site facilities.

National Grid on Thursday announced up to £400 million for work on the electricity connection between Great Britain and France, with the program intended to keep the route in service through at least 2050.

The work will upgrade technical equipment, buildings and facilities at the sites. National Grid did not give a construction schedule. IFA is jointly owned by National Grid and France’s RTE, but the announcement listed no RTE contribution or combined project cost. The £400 million figure is National Grid’s planned amount, not a stated total budget for the shared link.

IFA’s current rating is two gigawatts. The route runs 70 kilometers, including 45 kilometers of subsea cable. The operating-life target is separate from that present-day capacity rating; the announcement did not specify a future capacity level.

IFA is one of three operating electricity links between France and the UK. In March 2024, their combined rated capacity was four gigawatts. IFA accounted for two gigawatts, while IFA2 and ElecLink each had a one-gigawatt rating.

Interconnectors are links that let electricity move between national power systems. IFA can carry power in either direction, although its historical flow has been mainly from France to Great Britain. British exports also supported France during outages in its nuclear fleet in 2022, when power moved in the other direction.

Imports across the UK’s interconnector network supplied 13.3% of gross electricity supply in 2024. That share covers the whole network, not IFA alone. Cross-border links also give Britain a route to export surplus renewable electricity. The import figure reflects the broader role of interconnectors in the UK power system, rather than the amount carried by this single link.

Rebecca Sedler, National Grid’s NGV UK president, tied the investment to “the next phase of electricity demand, from AI to electric vehicles.” National Grid included the project in a wider group investment plan of at least £70 billion over the five years ending in March 2031.

Energy Minister Michael Shanks described the project as “boosting the resilience of our energy systems and saving consumers billions of pounds.”