Decision with regard to certification of BritNed finalised

BritNed Development Ltd. has demonstrated to comply with the ‘unbundling requirements’. Therefore, it has received an unbundling certificate from the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM).

BritNed operates the electricity cable between Maasvlakte in the Netherlands and the Isle of Grain in the UK. The length of this cable is approximately 250 kilometres. The cable enables electricity transport from the Netherlands to the UK, and vice versa.

As of July 2012, ACM is charged with the certification of Dutch transmission system operators. The requirements mandate that the transmission system operator makes a clear separation between energy transmission on the one hand, and energy production, supply and trade on the other. The rules to separate energy transmission from energy production are laid down in European Directive 2009/72/EC. In addition, ACM has to assess if the transmission system operators complies with the requirements in the exemption decision of the Minister of Economic Affairs (decision of 2007).

In September 2012, BritNed submitted a certification request with ACM. In March 2014, ACM took the preliminary decision that BritNed complied with the requirements. ACM had to wait for the recommendation of the European Commission before it could take a final decision. The European Commission has given a positive recommendation in May, 2014. Therefore, ACM could finalise the decision to award the unbundling certificate on 6th of June, 2014. BritNed Development Ltd has been certified as the transmission system operator of the electricity cable between the United Kingdom (Isle of Grain) and the Netherlands (Maasvlakte).