IFA1 is a 2,000 MW interconnector that links Great Britain and France, and while it has recently been at half capacity, it was set to return to full capacity this weekend, before tragedy struck. Wholesale electricity prices have soared after a fire at an interconnector linking the French and British power networks, the National Grid has reported. energy markets rocketed to all-time highs, the risk of power cuts to factories and homes this winter had increased, hundreds of thousands of homes into fuel poverty for the first time. Following record high power prices earlier this week, a fire at the IFA1 interconnector in Kent could cause power prices to rise further. link, Last edited on 27 November 2022, at 00:36, "Interconnector customer portal | National Grid Group", "Kent's burnt-out electricity cable will take two more years to get back to full service", "HVDC Submarine Power Cables in the World", "How a Loose Anchor Cut Up Britain's Power Link With France", "Batteries act as first responders when UK-France interconnector trips", "National Grid site fire shuts down power cable between France and UK", "Fire shuts one of UK's most important power cables in midst of supply crunch", "Fire-damaged power link will be out for six months, says National Grid", "The UK's Energy Price Surge Could be Just Getting Started", http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/tna/+/http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file11257.pdf/, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HVDC_Cross-Channel&oldid=1124032410, This page was last edited on 27 November 2022, at 00:36. The company added that will result in 1,500 of available capacity going into next winter. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. This was eventually decommissioned in 1984 and replaced by a second link capable of carrying 2GW in 1986. Get the latest from Electrical Review direct to your inbox Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution, September 14, day-ahead pricing reached a record high, New Welsh Government Green Skills Action Plan highlights ECA, Local authorities in the South East failing to consult on EV strategy, Megger confirms sponsorship of Powered On Live event, New European research project hopes to give new life to old EV batteries. The electricity system operator, which is also owned by National Grid, warned last week that the risk of power cuts to factories and homes this winter had increased after the cable outage combined with planned shutdowns at gas plants and the retirement of two nuclear reactors. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. The IFA1 interconnector is expected to be offline until Oct. 13, Elexon data shows. We are completely focused on getting IFA safely returned to service as soon as possible and ensuring we are able to support security of supply, the company said in a statement. "We are also in the process of commissioning North Sea Link, our latest interconnector to Norway, to provide additional capacity next month - ahead of the winter period," the grid added. We have extended the outage on the other 1000MW, which was offline due to a planned outage, until 25 September. I have LT capacity rights, will I be curtailed? It forced the shutdown, Aldi pays back customers for recycled plastic bottles, Ofgem to unveil new energy price cap next week, Drax to exit gas sales on customers SME business. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. We are completely focused on getting IFA safely returned to service as soon as possible and we are in discussions with the UK ESO and our European partners to ensure we optimise upcoming planned pre-winter outages of our other interconnectors to support UK security of supply. Critics say it's not enough. Prices on September 15 cleared lower but still at an extreme price of 1860 per MWh for the evening peak, but prices on the remaining interconnectors for capacity were extreme, with the Britned cable clearing at 2131 per MW/h. Enabling cookies permits us to gather information about which categories and articles are the most interesting to our readers. While the extent of the damage is yet to be fully realised, it is likely to delay IFA1s return to full capacity at a time where it is desperately needed. The site has been evacuated and the safety of our staff, emergency teams and local residents is our highest priority. The subsea electricity . The equipment occasionally faults, causing capacity to drop: in a bad year, this might happen several times. Read More; IFA2 Go-Live. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. The impact is expected to plunge hundreds of thousands of homes into fuel poverty for the first time and has already forced a slowdown at factories to manage eye-watering energy costs. IFA2 Interconnector Commissioned in 2020, IFA2 is the second link to France that National Grid has developed with RTE. Initially these were air-cooled and used analogue control systems, and in 2011 and 2012 respectively, the thyristor valves of Bipole 1 and Bipole 2 were replaced by modern water-cooled thyristor valves and digital control systems supplied by Alstom. And what capacity will I now have? National Grid has four operational interconnectors - two to France (IFA and IFA2), one to the Netherlands (BritNed) and one to Belgium (Nemo Link). The IFA interconnector is currently out of service following a fire at our site in Sellindge. The current 2,000MW link is bi-directional and the countries can import or export depending upon market demands, mostly depending upon weather conditions and availability of renewable energy on the British Isles, and French surplus of nuclear generation or demand for electric heating. [13][14] National Grid initially announced that half of the link capacity would be restored within a fortnight, with full capacity being restored in March 2022. National Grid UK revealed that a fire broke out at the Interconnexion France Angleterre (IFA) interconnector site in Sellindge, Kent at around 12:30am last night.A spokesperson for National Gird stated: "There has been a fire at our IFA interconnector site in Sellindge and emergency services are in attendance.The site has been evacuated and the safety of our staff, emergency teams and local . We will bring 500MW back to service from October 2022 through to May 2023.. A National Grid spokesman said it expects to continue supplying electricity safely and securely despite the incident. We are completely focused on getting IFA safely returned to service as soon as possible and we are in discussions with the UK ESO and our European partners to ensure we optimise upcoming planned pre-winter outages of our other interconnectors to support UK security of supply. Sign up to the E&T News e-mail to get great stories like this delivered to your inbox every day. This is in addition to another planned 1000MW outage until 25 September that has caused electricity prices to soar. "There has been a fire at our IFA interconnector site in Sellindge and emergency services are in attendance," the National Grid stated. Interconnexion France-Angleterre (IFA) is a joint venture between the French Transmission Operator RTE and National Grid, operating the subsea electricity link between Great Britain and France, commissioned in 1986. We are on-site assessing the damage and investigating the cause of the fire. Our IFA2, BritNed and Nemo Link interconnectors are operating at full capacity. Following an initial review, we have updated the market that 1000MW is unavailable until 27 March 2022. ifa interconnector fire cause. [9], This system remains the world's largest-capacity submarine cable HVDC system. "We are completely focused on getting IFA safely returned to service as soon as possible," the grid said in an update on its website. Energy Live News Ltd A fire occurred in the early hours of Wednesday 15th September 2021 atour UK Sellindge site resulting in the cables capacity being reduced to 0MW. National Grid had a projected derated margin of 4.3GW in its early winter outlook report; this looks like it may have just almost halved. On Wednesday, National Grid said the fire. 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In accordance with the IFA Access Rules (Part 3 Long Term Allocation Rules, Chapter 9 Curtailment P135) capacity will be curtailed in line with capacity available. Following the incident, many analysts warned that the loss of 2GW of import to . UK homes and businesses face some of the highest energy bills on record because of the global dash for gas, which has led to soaring market prices. Sopers Road, EN6 4SG, Registered as a business in England & Wales Unlike most HVDC schemes, where the two converter stations are built by the same manufacturer, the two converter stations of the 2,000MW scheme were built by different manufacturers (although both have subsequently become part of the same parent company, Alstom). Following an initial review, we have updated the market that 1000MW is unavailable until 27 March 2022. Capacity Rights Reduced By Approximately: When will I see my revised capacity rights on JAO? Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. National Grid expects that the French IFA interconnector will restart full operations by December next year. "We are in discussions with the UK electricity system operator (ESO) and our European partners to ensure we optimise upcoming planned pre-winter outages of our other interconnectors to support UK security of supply," it said. This table details the curtailment required for each month, this is in accordance with REMIT, should the availability change this table would change accordingly. The shock shutdown of the subsea cable sparked concern among industry experts over Britains energy supplies during record high market prices across Europe. This HVDC-link is 73km (45 miles) long in route, with 70km (43 miles) between the two ends. The cable, known as the IFA Interconnector, will finally return to full service after further work, which National Grid hopes to complete by October 2023.
