Supply Security

Customers continued

Supply security

The wellbeing and comfort of Islanders and Jersey’s multi-billion pound economy rely on a secure energy supply. Operations Director Mark Preece outlines our strategy and performance.

As the sole supplier of low-carbon electricity, we know we have a huge responsibility to our community. As the Island transitions to a zero-carbon future and our share of the energy market increases, that responsibility will become even greater.

Our reputation and standing with the Government of Jersey and Islanders depends on us maintaining a consistently good record on supply security. That is why we invest to ensure our infrastructure is securely designed, well maintained and that our people are trained to respond to adverse events quickly if they do occur.

We measure supply reliability in Customer Minutes Lost (CMLs) which is the established industry measure in use around the world. This represents the total supply interruption time in minutes experienced by each customer on average in a year. This year, our CMLs were the same as last year at just five, making it our joint best performance in 11 years during which we have consistently outperformed larger UK distributors who averaged 80 CMLs in 2019-20*.

To ensure supply security, we first have to ensure enough capacity to meet demand. Our three supply links to France have now been operating together for five years, giving us a maximum importation capacity of 202MW. This is well in excess of our record peak demand of 178MW recorded in March 2018. We also operate these interconnectors in the most secure configuration so that if one were to develop a fault, the load would seamlessly switch to the other two. We also maintain and regularly test generation assets at La Collette Power Station and Queen’s Road as added security in the unlikely event of disruption to our imports.

Such disruption has been threatened this year as the Island’s imported power supplies (along with the UK’s imported supplies) became a target of political comment in the post-Brexit French fishing licences dispute.

French fishing boats blockaded St Helier Harbour in May 2021 over the licences’ dispute and during that protest, French National Assembly Minister of the Sea Annick Girardin threatened to switch off the power supply to the Channel Islands.

Four months later, on 18 September, with a resolution to the dispute yet to be finalised, fishermen from Normandy and Brittany staged a further protest on beach at Pirou, France, where our 100MW Normandie 3 (N3) supply cable comes ashore.

Jersey Electricity and Guernsey Electricity have a joint importation agreement in place with French supplier EDF until 2027. Jersey Electricity and Guernsey Electricity maintained regular contact with our French partners throughout the fishing dispute to ensure that electricity supplies to the Channel Islands were maintained. The dispute, which is a matter for the various governments to settle, remained unresolved at year-end and supplies in Jersey had not been disrupted because of it. However, we have taken the opportunity to review and enhance our contingency plans, including establishing arrangements to bring additional generating capacity into Jersey should that be necessary. Furthermore, whilst we remain compliant with our published Security of Supply Standard, we are also in the process of reviewing this standard in light of Jersey’s carbon neutral ambitions and the expected increased use of electricity in Jersey.

*Source: Ofgem

SUPPLY SECURITY STANDARD

Jersey Electricity’s system is designed to meet an ‘adapted N minus 1 security standard’ as follows:

• A one-in-eight-year winter peak demand • All normal load in the event of the loss on the single largest interconnector with

France (N minus 1) plus a simultaneous failure of the largest: - Diesel generator; and - Gas turbine

• 75% of peak winter load for 48 hours from on-Island generation (no simultaneous loss of on-Island capacity) • No coincidence of the above

Customer Minutes Lost

Year Minutes

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017 5

5

6

6

8