The Channel Islands Electricity Grid (CIEG) is the joint company set up in 1998 between Guernsey Electricity and Jersey Electricity to operate and manage the submarine cables between mainland Europe and the Channel Islands.
The grid physically comprises a network of high voltage (90 kV, 3-phase, 50 Hz) submarine and underground cables linking the French electricity grid to the electricity systems on the islands of Jersey and Guernsey. [1] The grid enables electricity generated from renewable sources in France to be transmitted to Jersey and Guernsey.
The CIEG is continuing to develop the undersea cable network with additional subsea cables between the islands and France being devised[ citation needed ] to give both Guernsey and Jersey greater security and better affordability, as they will give the islands the opportunity to increase the amount of imported energy.
Long term agreements with Électricité de France (EdF) ensure the imported electricity is low carbon. [2] Ninety percent of Guernsey’s electricity is imported from the grid. [3]
Co-operating through the CIEG means the islands can work together towards improving the reliability of the grid system.
| Name | Type | Operational period | Route | Distance | Capacity | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normandie 2 [4] | Submarine | 2000–present | Saint-Rémy-des-Landes, [5] France to Archirondel, Jersey | 17 kilometres (11 mi) | 90 MW | Operational | Cable contains fibre optic cables |
| GJ1 [6] | Submarine | 2000–present | Queen's Road, Jersey to Barkers Quarry, Guernsey | 37 kilometres (23 mi) | 60 MW | Operational | Cable contains 3 fibre optic cables of 24 fibres each. |
| Normandie 3 [7] | Submarine | 2014–present | Armanville (Pirou), France to Grouville Bay Jersey then to South Hill sub-station | 32 kilometres (20 mi) (+ 17 km overland in France and 7 km overland in Jersey) | 100 MW | Operational | |
| Normandie 1 [8] | Submarine | 2017–present | Surville to Archirondel, Jersey | 27 kilometres (17 mi) (+ 2 km overland in France) | 100 MW | Operational | Work started in 2016. [9] Follows same route as EDF1 at a cost of £40m it became operational in February 2017. |
| GJ2 [10] | Submarine | Jersey to Petit Bot, Guernsey | 38 kilometres (24 mi) | 100 MW | pending | ||
| FAB Link [11] | Submarine | France to Alderney to Britain (FAB Link) | 220 kilometres (140 mi) | 1,400 MW | Scheduled | ||
| EDF1 [12] | Submarine | 1984 - 2012 | Surville, France to Archirondel,Jersey | 27 kilometres (17 mi) | 50 MW | Removed | Faulty cable lifted in 2016 for recycling [13] |
| Underground | Archirondel substation to South Hill substation via Rue des Pres substation, Jersey | Operational | |||||
| Underground | Archirondel substation to Queen's Road substation, Jersey | Operational | |||||
| Underground | South Hill s/s to Queen's Road s/s via St. Helier West s/s, Jersey | Operational | |||||
| Underground | South Hill s/s to Western Primary s/s, Jersey | Operational | |||||
| Underground | Western Primary s/s to Queen's Road s/s, Jersey | Operational | |||||
| Underground | Queen's Road to Greve de Lecq, Jersey (GJ1) | Operational | |||||
| Underground | Barkers Quarry to Bellegreve, Guernsey | Operational | |||||
The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, consisting of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm and some smaller islands. They are considered the remnants of the Duchy of Normandy and, although they are not part of the United Kingdom, the UK is responsible for the defence and international relations of the islands. The Crown dependencies are not members of the Commonwealth of Nations, nor have they ever been in the European Union. They have a total population of about 171,916, and the bailiwicks' capitals, Saint Helier and Saint Peter Port, have populations of 33,500 and 18,207, respectively.
Sark is a part of the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a royal fief, which forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. It has a population of about 500. Sark has an area of 2.10 square miles (5.44 km2). Little Sark is a peninsula joined by a natural but high and very narrow isthmus to the rest of Sark Island.
The HVDC Cross-Channel is the 73 km long high-voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnector that operates since 1986 under the English Channel between the continental European grid at Bonningues-lès-Calais and the British electricity grid at Sellindge. The cable is also known as IFA, and should not be confused with the new IFA-2, another interconnect with France that is three times as long but only half as powerful.
The Isle of Man to England Interconnector is a submarine power cable connecting the transmission system of the Manx Electricity Authority to that of Great Britain. With an undersea section of approximately 104 km, it is the second longest AC undersea cable in the world.
A submarine power cable is a transmission cable for carrying electric power below the surface of the water. These are called "submarine" because they usually carry electric power beneath salt water but it is also possible to use submarine power cables beneath fresh water. Examples of the latter exist that connect the mainland with large islands in the St. Lawrence River.
National Grid plc is a British multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London, England. Its principal activities are in the United Kingdom, where it owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission networks, and in the Northeastern United States, where as well as operating transmission networks, the company produces and supplies electricity and gas, providing both to customers in New York and Massachusetts.
The synchronous grid of Continental Europe is the largest synchronous electrical grid in the world. It is interconnected as a single phase-locked 50 Hz mains frequency electricity grid that supplies over 400 million customers in 24 countries, including most of the European Union. In 2009, 667 GW of production capacity was connected to the grid, providing approximately 80 GW of operating reserve margin. The transmission system operators operating this grid formed the Union for the Coordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE), now part of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E).
TenneT is a transmission system operator in the Netherlands and in a large part of Germany.
BritNed is a 1,000 MW high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) submarine power cable between the Isle of Grain in Kent, the United Kingdom; and Maasvlakte in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
HUGO is a submarine telecommunications cable linking the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, and France.
The North Sea Link is a 1,400 MW high-voltage direct current submarine power cable between Norway and the United Kingdom.
The Malta–Sicily interconnector is the submarine power cable which connects the power grid of Malta with the Italian Transmission Network managed by Terna, which is part of the European grid.
The Jersey Electricity Company or Jersey Electricity is a public limited company, and the sole provider for electricity in Jersey. The JEC has two sites around the island: Queen's Road, St Helier, the site of two Rolls-Royce Olympus gas turbines and La Collette Power Station where there are five Sulzer Diesel turbines, one Rolls-Royce Olympus turbine, and three Parsons steam turbines.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy. As a bailiwick, Guernsey embraces not only all ten parishes on the island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Alderney and Sark – each with their own parliament – and the smaller islands of Herm, Jethou and Lihou. Although its defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom, the Bailiwick is not part of the United Kingdom, but, as its description suggests, a possession of the Crown. Consequently, though it lies within the Common Travel Area, it was never part of the European Union.
Viking Link is a 1,400 MW HVDC submarine power cable under construction between the United Kingdom and Denmark.
FAB Link is a proposed HVDC Interconnector, spanning the 220 kilometres (140 mi) between France and Great Britain, running close to the island of Alderney.
Guernsey Electricity Limited (GE) is the sole commercial electricity supplier on the island of Guernsey. GE has been operating for over 100 years, moving from local generation of power from coal, and later oil, to investing in cables to connect into the grids in Jersey and France through the Channel Islands Electricity Grid.
North Sea Wind Power Hub is a proposed energy island complex to be built in the middle of the North Sea as part of a European system for sustainable electricity. One or more “Power Link” artificial islands will be created at the northeast end of the Dogger Bank, a relatively shallow area in the North Sea, just outside the continental shelf of the United Kingdom and near the point where the borders between the territorial waters of Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark come together. Dutch, German, and Danish electrical grid operators are cooperating in this project to help develop a cluster of offshore wind parks with a capacity of several gigawatts, with interconnections to the North Sea countries. Undersea cables will make international trade in electricity possible.
Gridlink Interconnector is a proposed submarine power cable between England and France. The 1,400 MW HVDC connector would link Kingsnorth National Grid substation in north Kent, England, with RTE Warande substation in Bourbourg (Nord) near Dunkirk in northern France.
