Updated: Cable fault caused island wide power cut

Monday 01 October 2018

An island wide power cut hit Guernsey during the tea time rush hour with the cable link with France blamed for the outage.

It happened at 16:52 with Guernsey Electricity engineers starting to restore power by 17:16. All power supplies were back on by 17:34.

Guernsey Electriciy quickly confirmed that the cable link with Jersey and France which provides the island with power from the continental grid had "gone down" but a spokesman said it was too early to speculate further.

An investigation was launched to find out what caused the fault with a spokesperson for Guernsey Electricity since confirming it was the "cable protection system for the electricity link between Guernsey and Jersey (GJ1)" that had been at fault, which had in turn, "turned the cable off."

The cable link is staying off while the investigation into what happened continues in more detail and until it's switched back on, the power station will be generating electricity on island.

Pictured: Guernsey Electricity's power station on North Side, Vale. 

Guernsey Electricity apologised for the disruption caused by the 42minute outage, which left traffic lights down across the island and other faults. 

The spokesman also said this island wide power cut proves the need for a second subsea electricity cable connection between the island and France. In a statement the utility firm said, "this will allow us to achieve our aim of providing a secure, sustainable and affordable electricity supply to the island.

"Guernsey Electricity continues to progress a second cable connection direct to France."

The spokesman said having a second connection with France would also allow "the transition of energy supply from hydrocarbon sources towards more local renewable generation. Both of these matters form an extremely important part of the Energy Policy development which is currently underway for the island." 

Pictured: The power cut caused snarl ups as people tried to leave town after all commuter systems and lights shut off shortly before 17:00.

Hundreds of town office workers left St Peter Port at the same time after the power cut took out supplies causing snarl ups on all routes as the island wide power cut hit.

Guernsey Fire and Rescue Service were seen responding to alarms during the outage, while Guernsey Police warned that some traffic lights were still out this morning following the power cut.

One of the affected junctions was the pedestrian crossing by the Town Church, with motorists asked to "use extreme caution when passing through the area, and to allow pedestrians to cross" until it is fixed.

Pictured top: Guernsey Electricity's HQ at the Bridge.