Ten years in the making and sporting a name made famous by one of France’s most celebrated authors (then made more famous still by Pixar), the cross-Channel Nemo Link started to hum with electricity at midnight on 31 January.

Building the 140km (87-mile) connection was no easy task as the project team had to contend with the world’s busiest shipping channel, as well as unexploded bombs dating back to the Second World War.

In fact, the Nemo team had to call in the navy whenever the cable’s path stumbled upon mines and bombs dating back over half a century. Its route also had to be tweaked in order to avoid downed aircraft and sunken ships, which are treated as gravesites.

The £600m project is part of Europe’s wider plans to create a completely integrated power grid, where renewable energy generated in Portugal could be traded to the northernmost parts of Finland if needed.

Interconnectors are big business in Europe’s power game, as EU rules oblige countries to make sure they can trade a certain amount of their energy across borders. It’s part of the lesser known EU, the ‘Energy Union’.

But these projects are large-scale by necessity, very costly and often provoke the ire of environmental groups, although their attention mostly focuses on gas pipelines, rather than electricity cables.

Belgium will be particularly glad of the new link though, given that its nuclear fleet is ageing and a legal commitment has been made to phase out atom-smashing in the next decade. Tintin’s homeland has also already waved adieu to coal power.

The UK could be the EU’s ace-in-the-hole when it comes to meeting climate targets too, given the massive potential for green energy it offers, whether Brexit happens or not.

This week, what will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Hornsea One, started producing electricity off the Yorkshire coast and Danish developer Ørsted is dreaming bigger still, suggesting that offshore could “power most of Europe” if given the chance.

Undersea cables make that bold claim possible, as more links mean more capacity. Demand will only grow too, as some of Europe’s biggest economies, including Germany, France and Spain have pledged to scale back or even scrap nuclear. Coal is, of course, on the way out too.

Nemo joins existing links with France and the Netherlands, as well as nearly-completed projects that will run between Norway and the UK.

Leaving the EU seems to be having little impact on this particular form of European integration either. Earlier in January, a joint venture between British and Danish power companies to build a similar cable was given the go-ahead. Work is expected to start at the end of the year.

Denmark is somewhat of a European champion when it comes to wind energy and has in the past actually found itself producing more clean energy than it can use or store.

But because of lack of demand in neighbouring Sweden and difficulties exporting to Germany, that power often goes to waste. A recent update to EU electricity market rules should open up the mainland market more but an energy-thirsty UK could offer a lucrative outlet too.

After all, the wind doesn’t always blow in the same places at the same time, one of the main failings its detractors cite when pointing out the shortcomings of renewable energy. More cables means a more secure green energy supply

The UK isn’t the complete centre of interconnection attention though, as an ambitious project to unite the Irish and French grids for the very first time is also coming along in leaps and bounds.

Estimated to cost nearly £1bn, the Celtic Interconnector will be made up of 575km (360 miles) of cables and is expected to be funded by both countries’ governments, as well as EU money.

Although dubbed by some as ‘the Brexit cable’ given that it neatly bypasses the UK and would mark Ireland’s first link with another country, the project would probably have seen the light of day even if Britain were not leaving the EU.

Similar to Portugal, Malta and Cyprus, Ireland is one of the most isolated EU countries when it comes to energy and security of supply, so the cable makes sense Brexit or no Brexit. It is also set to attract investment in wind power, as direct access to the mainland grid sweetens the deal.

Europe wants to become the first major net-zero economy and a well-functioning energy market is crucial to that ambition. The continent has enough clean power potential to get there by the 2050 deadline so now it’s just a matter of unlocking it.

Even out of the EU, the UK has a big role to play, in the same way that Norway’s immense hydropower resources help act as Europe’s battery and grid-balancer, and how Switzerland contributes to the bloc’s emissions trading scheme.

If Iceland were not so far away then its enviable geothermal capacity would also make Europe’s clean energy targets easier to reach. Although there is a proposal to lay a 1,000-kilometre cable between Iceland and the north of Scotland, this IceLink project is still firmly in the planning stage.

One blemish Brexit could leave though is if no-deal or a bad deal causes real damage to the value of sterling, as the power generator on the other end of the cable will be unwilling to sell us juice if the price isn’t right.

But we can cross that bridge when or if we come to it.

Ten years in the making and sporting a name made famous by one of France’s most celebrated authors (then made more famous still by Pixar), the cross-Channel Nemo Link started to hum with electricity at midnight on 31 January.

Building the 140km (87-mile) connection was no easy task as the project team had to contend with the world’s busiest shipping channel, as well as unexploded bombs dating back to the Second World War.

In fact, the Nemo team had to call in the navy whenever the cable’s path stumbled upon mines and bombs dating back over half a century. Its route also had to be tweaked in order to avoid downed aircraft and sunken ships, which are treated as gravesites.

The £600m project is part of Europe’s wider plans to create a completely integrated power grid, where renewable energy generated in Portugal could be traded to the northernmost parts of Finland if needed.

Interconnectors are big business in Europe’s power game, as EU rules oblige countries to make sure they can trade a certain amount of their energy across borders. It’s part of the lesser known EU, the ‘Energy Union’.

But these projects are large-scale by necessity, very costly and often provoke the ire of environmental groups, although their attention mostly focuses on gas pipelines, rather than electricity cables.

Belgium will be particularly glad of the new link though, given that its nuclear fleet is ageing and a legal commitment has been made to phase out atom-smashing in the next decade. Tintin’s homeland has also already waved adieu to coal power.

The UK could be the EU’s ace-in-the-hole when it comes to meeting climate targets too, given the massive potential for green energy it offers, whether Brexit happens or not.

This week, what will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Hornsea One, started producing electricity off the Yorkshire coast and Danish developer Ørsted is dreaming bigger still, suggesting that offshore could “power most of Europe” if given the chance.

Undersea cables make that bold claim possible, as more links mean more capacity. Demand will only grow too, as some of Europe’s biggest economies, including Germany, France and Spain have pledged to scale back or even scrap nuclear. Coal is, of course, on the way out too.

Nemo joins existing links with France and the Netherlands, as well as nearly-completed projects that will run between Norway and the UK.

Leaving the EU seems to be having little impact on this particular form of European integration either. Earlier in January, a joint venture between British and Danish power companies to build a similar cable was given the go-ahead. Work is expected to start at the end of the year.

Denmark is somewhat of a European champion when it comes to wind energy and has in the past actually found itself producing more clean energy than it can use or store.

But because of lack of demand in neighbouring Sweden and difficulties exporting to Germany, that power often goes to waste. A recent update to EU electricity market rules should open up the mainland market more but an energy-thirsty UK could offer a lucrative outlet too.

After all, the wind doesn’t always blow in the same places at the same time, one of the main failings its detractors cite when pointing out the shortcomings of renewable energy. More cables means a more secure green energy supply

The UK isn’t the complete centre of interconnection attention though, as an ambitious project to unite the Irish and French grids for the very first time is also coming along in leaps and bounds.

Estimated to cost nearly £1bn, the Celtic Interconnector will be made up of 575km (360 miles) of cables and is expected to be funded by both countries’ governments, as well as EU money.

Although dubbed by some as ‘the Brexit cable’ given that it neatly bypasses the UK and would mark Ireland’s first link with another country, the project would probably have seen the light of day even if Britain were not leaving the EU.

Similar to Portugal, Malta and Cyprus, Ireland is one of the most isolated EU countries when it comes to energy and security of supply, so the cable makes sense Brexit or no Brexit. It is also set to attract investment in wind power, as direct access to the mainland grid sweetens the deal.

Europe wants to become the first major net-zero economy and a well-functioning energy market is crucial to that ambition. The continent has enough clean power potential to get there by the 2050 deadline so now it’s just a matter of unlocking it.

Even out of the EU, the UK has a big role to play, in the same way that Norway’s immense hydropower resources help act as Europe’s battery and grid-balancer, and how Switzerland contributes to the bloc’s emissions trading scheme.

If Iceland were not so far away then its enviable geothermal capacity would also make Europe’s clean energy targets easier to reach. Although there is a proposal to lay a 1,000-kilometre cable between Iceland and the north of Scotland, this IceLink project is still firmly in the planning stage.

One blemish Brexit could leave though is if no-deal or a bad deal causes real damage to the value of sterling, as the power generator on the other end of the cable will be unwilling to sell us juice if the price isn’t right.

But we can cross that bridge when or if we come to it.