Fire at interconnector site

spot1034

Probably about the worst time for this to happen - there has been a fire at the National Grid interconnector site in Kent and as a result  the interconnector will be offline until October 13th.  https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britains-national-grid-says-fire-ifa1-interconnector-site-2021-09-15/

greenguppie

"The IFA2 interconnector, a second link between Britain and France commissioned in 2020, is operating and not affected.

Reporting by Nina Chestney; editing by Louise Heavens and Jason Neely"

Was there originally any more to this report?

greenguppie

A more complete report is available here:
https://www.lse.co.uk/news/update-2-britains-national-grid-reports-fire-at-ifa1-interconnector-site-5i4fetpbavz7gfv.html

"The site has been evacuated and the safety of our staff, emergency teams and local residents is our highest priority. We will provide a further update in due course," the spokesperson said."

I hope no one is injured.

spot1034

I often look at Gridwatch, the site which shows how electricity is being generated, and for the majority of the time we import 2GW or thereabouts of power from France via this connection. Occasionally it will go the other way but for much of the day we are receiving 2GW. This shortfall will now have to be made up from other sources. 

michaels

spot1034 said:

I often look at Gridwatch, the site which shows how electricity is being generated, and for the majority of the time we import 2GW or thereabouts of power from France via this connection. Occasionally it will go the other way but for much of the day we are receiving 2GW. This shortfall will now have to be made up from other sources. 

What other sources?!

Supplies were already described as 'tight' for this winter.

The 13 October restoration date seemed to be a random best case scenario, I don't think anyone knows yet how long it will take.

greenguppie

michaels said:

spot1034 said:

I often look at Gridwatch, the site which shows how electricity is being generated, and for the majority of the time we import 2GW or thereabouts of power from France via this connection. Occasionally it will go the other way but for much of the day we are receiving 2GW. This shortfall will now have to be made up from other sources. 

What other sources?!

Supplies were already described as 'tight' for this winter.

...

2GW is only just over 5% of the country's requirements.
Sun is out here, and according to Gridwatch, solar alone is producing about 5.5GW
Then there are coal fired stations. Apparently, again according to Gridwatch, we have 9 available. I think only 2 are currently in use and they are only currently producing less than 1 GW in total. Lots of spare capacity there for a start.
I'm sure there are more/better solutions regarding making up the shortfall of 2GW.

Bigger issue is what happens to gas supplies & prices. Gas typically makes up 45-50% of our electricity generation.