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Tuesday, November 29, 2016

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

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