The objectives were for both countries to continue their commitment to provide operational mutual assistance in case of an outage or incident on one of the two power systems, and to facilitate the fluidity of the electricity exchanges in Europe. The new 400kV interconnection line will considerably increase the electrical energy exchange capacity between France and Germany, making it possible to harmonise the transfer capacity on the French side with that existing in Germany and thus, provide a response to the problems of power transmission congestion that encountered over the past.

The Vigy-Uchtelfangen interconnection is a great European first in the history of interconnections. It is the first international link to be commissioned since the European Commission�s decision to increase interconnection capacity of each member country to 10% of their installed generation capacity. In France, RTE has erected 63 towers over a distance of 30km, while in Germany, RWE Net has carried out works to adapt its transforming facilities and the Uchtelfangen interconnection substation. The existing circuit breakers have been replaced by more powerful components. These works have represented an investment of 800,000 Euros for RWE Net and 20 million Euros for RTE.

RTE is the sole operator of the French high and extra high-voltage power transmission system. It was created in 2000for the modernisation and development of the electricity public service, transposition into French law of the European Directive 96/92. The company ensures access to the French transmission network to all users, operating public transmission network, which includes all the high and extra high-voltage lines linking the power plants to the distribution networks. RTE operates, maintains and develops this network through 42 interconnection lines linking France with the neighbouring countries. With 96,378km of overhead circuits, 2,899km of underground circuits, 5,000km of overhead lines already fitted with optical fibres, plus more than 220 transforming substations, RTE has transmitted 512.3 billion kWh in 2002.

RWE Net AG is the largest German operator for power transmission at low, medium, high and extra high-voltage. RWE Net brings together all of the power system planning, construction and operation activities for the RWE Group as a whole. The company�s main role is to transmit electricty, at any time, under wholly safe and secure conditions. With 175,412km of power lines, RWE Net has transmitted about 210 billion kWh in 2002.