London, 23 July (Argus) — The final sub-sea section of the Britned power cable has been positioned and the interconnector remains on course to start commercial operations in April 2011. The 1GW interconnector will link the Netherlands and the UK.

The next phase of the scheme will see the cable buried and joints installed on land and offshore before the end of September. The €600mn ($770mn) project is a joint venture between Tennet and National Grid, respectively the Dutch and UK system operators. The system operators will test the interconnector's auction platform from January onwards, a spokeswoman confirmed.

The Dutch day-ahead base-load contract has maintained a premium over the equivalent UK contract for all but five working days so far this year, Argus data show. The commissioning of the interconnector will allow arbitrage between the two markets.

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