16A.— The Commission may, with the consent of the Minister F331[, who shall take into account the electricity interconnection targets set out in point (1) of Article 4(d) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action⁵ ], secure the construction of an interconnector or interconnectors by one or more of the following means:

(a) a competitive tender;

(b) an authorisation granted to a person without a prior competitive tender where the person demonstrates, to the satisfaction of the Commission, that the granting of an authorisation, subject to such conditions as the Commission deems necessary and appropriate, is in the long term interests of final customers; or

(c) requesting the transmission system operator to provide for the construction of an interconnector in its development plan.]