[3] On 28 January 2022 the French Energy Regulatory Commission [fr] rejected an investment request by Gridlink to operate the interconnector in France citing legal uncertainties and possibly reduced benefits due to Brexit, stating that "The cost-benefit analysis of the project does not show with sufficient certainty, on average based on the available contrasted scenarios, that the project brings a net benefit to the community.
[3]: 10 The 400 kV alternating current link from the substation at Kingsnorth passes though a 1.5 km (1 mile) underground duct to the converter station which is on the shoreline.
Other users must not be disrupted, and a series of hazards must be avoided: anchorages, navigation channels, environmentally sensitive areas, known wrecks, moving sandbanks, unexploded ordnance, windfarms and other subsea cables.
[3]: 14 In France the high-voltage direct current cable crosses the coastline in an industrial area owned by the Grand Maritime Port of Dunkerque (GMPD) and passes under their land for 10 km (6 miles) to a site alongside the RD11 junction (52a/b) with the A16 autoroute to the new converter station.
The 400 kV alternating current link travels 3 km (2 miles) underground to the new Warande substation that is to be built adjacent to the existing RTE Bourbourg substation; they will share connection to the 400 kV alternating current overhead lines of the RTE.