Busting myths on Power

Monday 02 March 2020

The Chief Executive of Guernsey Electricity used a presentation to the island's Institute of Directors last week to bust some urban myths about what the island's main power supplier is doing.

Alan Bates tried to explain away 13 common beliefs about the way Guernsey gets its power, what Guernsey Electricity does, and how the island is going to move into the future sustainably and efficiently.

He also used the chance to give a "whistle stop tour" of what GEL is currently working on, and this included talking about the plans it has to build a cable directly between Guernsey and France. 

Guernsey already use a cable link from France to get most of its power, but the line is routed through Jersey.

GEL says the best way it can shore up its power supply would be to have a second cable, running straight from the power station to France, to run in parallel with the current cable.

Pictured: GEL claimed last month that the island was now using 100% renewable power thanks to the cable link with France. Click here to read more on that. 

The 'urban myth' he addressed on this topic was a question he said he regularly hears: "can't we do nothing rather than spend money on this new, second cable". 

He said the answer was no. Why? Because if we don't spend money on a second cable, the island will be forced to shore up its generation in another way, and that would mean replacing bits in the power station. Up to 80% of the site on the Bridge would need work, with most of it already well out of date. And of course, power stations of its type are fast becoming something of the past, so it wouldn't be much of a step forward. 

"Whatever we do, this transition is going to cost a lot of money," Mr Bates explained.

Pictured: While the cable was being replaced last year, GEL had to run the power station flat out.

The last urban myth raised was around tidal power and renewable. While Mr Bates didn't address this too much, he said the key issue with having too many renewables - enough that the grid is reliant on them - is that you are at the whims of the whether. 

If it wasn't windy and you were reliant on wind turbines, for example, there wouldn't be power. But this would raise a two fold issue - not only would there be no power, but GEL would also need to run the power station not to produce power, but to keep the electricity grid stable. 

Pictured top: Alan Bates gave the presentation at an Institute of Directors breakfast last week.