Beach breach finally plugged

Tuesday 27 November 2018

A cable breach on a Jersey beach that left its rival island powerless has finally been plugged, two months later.

Engineers have been working tirelessly since October to resolve the power cable problem at Greve de Lecq that plunged Guernsey into darkness.

But yesterday Guernsey Electricity said that efforts to fix it had gone so well that the electricity link had actually been fixed ahead of schedule.

The utility firm's Chief Operating Officer said tests have also been done to ensure everything is working properly, which it is.

Pictured: A close-up of the works being undertaken.

Sally-Ann David, said: "Repair jointing undertaken by the cable manufacturer’s sub-contractor, NKT, was completed late last week. Over the weekend our engineers concluded cable testing and recommissioned the Barker’s Quarry transformer in Guernsey, prior to energising the cable.  On-going monitoring of the cable link will continue before it is returned to full service later this week and the on-Island generation plant will continue to be run to meet any additional seasonal demand requirements."

Ms David said a lot of work had gone into repairing the fault, which had happened during the tea time rush hour on Monday 1 October, causing short term traffic problems and other issues, with a few longer term faults including some damaged traffic lights. 

At the time, Guernsey Electricity's engineers worked quickly to restore power, after the fault first occurred at 16:52. The engineers started to restore power by 17:16 with all supplies back on by 17:34.

While initially they did not know what had caused the fault, it was quickly confirmed that the issue was on the Jersey side of the cable link with France, with the problem found to have occurred at Greve de Lecq.

The repair work had started by the first week in November and is now finished, with Ms David thanking staff in both islands.

"Guernsey Electricity is grateful to all employees and contractors involved in the complex repair project, including our colleagues at Jersey Electricity and the Jersey authorities.  In addition, Guernsey Electricity extends thanks and appreciation to our power station neighbours and customers for their patience and understanding throughout the repair process."

Since the power cut on Monday 1 October, Guernsey Electricity has generated all electricity on-island, which it said means just under 6000 tonnes of fuel oil was used in just one month to meet the island’s demand for electricity during the first few weeks. 

At the time the fault occurred, Guernsey Electricity's Head of Asset Management, Stuart Blondel, said "The cable link fault again reinforces the need for Guernsey to have a second subsea electricity cable connection to the island. This will allow us to achieve our aim of providing a secure, sustainable, affordable and low carbon electricity supply. Guernsey Electricity continues to progress discussions on the potential second cable connection direct to France."

There has been no update on those talks yet.

Meanwhile, Sark is facing being plunged into darkness itself at the end of this week. After local politicians legislated to lower the price of power, family-run Sark Electricity said that it was no longer viable for them to operate there and are threatening to cut power to the whole island as a result.

Sark officials are now having to make contingency plans for how to continue operating as normal without electricity.