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Guernsey Electricity will be undertaking essential maintenance work to the Channel Islands Electricity Grid later this month and will switch off the cable importing electricity from France while the work is underway.
The planned maintenance, which starts on 12th May, is expected to take around two weeks. It will include work in the Barkers Quarry substation, as well as complementary work in Jersey and France on the system.
After two successful years of operation following a pre-emptive repair in 2015, the submarine cable GJ1 will be inspected and reburied. The CS Recorder, a ship owned by GMSL, will rebury the section of cable, but this is subject to weather.
‘We will be undertaking maintenance on the CIEG system, to ensure that our infrastructure continues to be capable of providing a secure and stable power supply to the island. This has been carefully planned for the summer months when electricity demand is at its lowest, and we have ensured that on island generation systems have been prepared ready to meet the demand. GJ1, which imports low carbon energy from France via Jersey, normally provides up to 90% of the island’s electricity,’ said chief executive Alan Bates.
‘As islanders know, we have invested nearly £30m in our on-island generation infrastructure and have sufficient generators at the power station to use during these types of maintenance activities. Islanders won’t notice any difference but we wanted to keep them informed so that they can appreciate that our usual back up will be our primary source of electricity for this short period.’
