The need for a power cable, as part of a project which remains under consideration in the northern isle, was confirmed by Policy & Finance Committee chairwoman Jeannie Cameron.
She told the latest Guernsey Press Politics Podcast – out today – that it would be a source of much cheaper electricity, benefitting the island as a whole, as well as being essential for any potential data centre project.
‘You wouldn’t even consider it without that – they would not do it unless they could have cheap electricity,’ she said.
‘That was a fundamental part of why it was even considered, because that could be brought in faster than the renewables with tidal and wind and solar, which are still ongoing in Alderney. But this might be faster, and here was a company suggesting that they would pay to put in a cable. And why would they do that? Because the resulting electricity they would get from France would be much cheaper than they’re paying in the UK. So we thought, well, okay, we will look at that and consider it.’
Ms Cameron said it would be wrong to conflate the current idea with the proposed FAB Link of some years ago, which would have run an electricity cable from France to England via Alderney, and caused significant controversy in the northern isle.
She said Alderney was now looking at a separate, and independent, proposal put forward by a UK-based company.
Ms Cameron also made clear that neither Policy & Finance nor the island’s Economic Development Committee were supporting the original data centre proposals put to them.
‘We dismissed it because the area they were suggesting was wrong and some of the premises on which they’d based it just from their own research were completely incorrect,’ she said.
‘But they came over anyway and started to have a look around and thought that they might come back. At the same time, the Economic Development Committee decided that in fact we ought to check if it was feasible or not to do the cable, because we need to look at ways to bring in extra money and revenue for Alderney.
‘This could be so important – cheap electricity, jobs, as well as revenue. That was the only reason why it was considered.'
There was not a worked-up project currently on the table. Instead, the States of Alderney had paid £21,000 for a feasibility study, which was independent of anyone in the island.
‘That was done through Guernsey [States] procurement and they came back with a feasibility study, which pretty much said, from what I recall, that a data centre on Alderney was not only feasible but would be economically transformational.
‘So it was decided by nine of the 10 members of P&F to go to the next step and go out for expressions of interest to see what interest there was, and if the previous company was still interested it would have to go through the same process.’
Ms Cameron said she and her colleagues needed to let that process be completed, and pledged to carry out full public consultation on any specific proposal which emerges.
She condemned what she described as false rumours about the initiative.
‘People are saying that States members are pushing a data centre. Nobody is pushing a data centre,’ she said.
‘It is just the same as wind farms, which we’re looking at, and solar, and any other matter that comes before the States.
‘It’s our duty to consider those sort of things, especially if they have the potential for cheap electricity and huge economic benefit.’