Shock! UK Grid Loses Half Its Power From Link To France -- November 29, 2016

From The Financial Times. Data points:

• UK gets a significant amount of electricity from the continent
• four of eight cables running between Folkestone and Calais were danaged during Storm Angus
• the interconnector generally provides 2 gigawatt capacity to the UK
• the damage means the connector would operate at half its 2 gigawatt capacitiyth
• this is equivalent to losing one nuclear reactor
• solution: National Grid will have to call on expensive back-up generating capacity -- much of it from coal-fired power stations
• the interconnector damage is also bad news for France: France is facing its own supply tightness this winter because of outages at several nuclear reactors undergoing safety checks
• France is  usually a net exporter of electricity to the UK but in recent weeks the flow has been going in the opposite direction more frequently than usual
• the other cables go to Netherlands, Ireland, Northern Ireland
• another cable under construction to Norway, which will be the longest in the world
• cable to Iceland has also been proposed