wiredinUSA September 2012

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wiredInUSA - September 2012 wiredInUSA - September 2012
EUROPE
NEWS
EUROPE NEWS
There has been a delay to repairs to the
undersea electricity cable link between
Guernsey and Jersey.
The cable was repaired and relaid on
the seabed by a specialist cable ship in
early August, but tests of the link found
a fault at the Barker’s Quarry substation,
where the cable connects to the
electricity grid.
Bob Beebe, Guernsey Electricity’s
operations director, said: “Obviously we
are very disappointed that we haven’t
been able to reconnect the link. We
are moving forward with the work and
the next step will be to consult cable
specialists ABB about the cause of
the failure and how to remedy it. This
will cause further delay in bringing the
link back on-line and means that we
will continue to generate the island’s
electricity supply locally.”
Guernsey Electricity, the sole provider of
electrical energy in the island, is wholly
owned by the States of Guernsey.
Gavin St Pier, treasury and resources
minister, said the island would continue
to need to generate its own electricity
even after the cable was repaired. He
said: “Our imports from France through
Jersey will be restricted because of the
failure of one of the cables between
France and Jersey. Our maximum
importation will be about 16 megawatts
and our peak demand can be up to
sort of 80 megawatts. There will be
a shortfall that will have to be met by
on-island generation, which is more
expensive.”
Picture : www.bigstockphoto.com ‘Spring’ Photographer - ‘ Rafal Steciuk’
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Setback to Guernsey
Electricity cable repair