New Jersey electricity cable 'will be more secure'

The Cable Enterprise is a specialist barge being used to lay the third Jersey-France electricity cable

A power line being laid between Jersey and France will be more secure than the existing connection, Jersey Electric chief executive Chris Ambler has said.

He was speaking as he inspected the cable-laying barge visible from Jersey's east coast.

It has laid 21km (13 miles) of the 32km (20 mile) Normandie 3 cable connecting the island to France.

The Channel Islands suffered a major power cut in January because of a fault which originated in France.

Mr Ambler said the new cable was "separate and resilient" from the existing connector, Normandie 2.

"It's also going to be buried all the way and connected to a different part of the network in France; a much more secure part," he said.

The 100MW Normandie 3 supply line is being buried two metres (6ft) beneath the seabed by the Cable Enterprise vessel.

The 7,000-tonne barge, operated by Prymsian Powerlink, is visible from Gorey as it edges towards Long Beach, where it is due to arrive in mid-June.

The Normandie 3 power supply line is 32km (20 miles) long

The cable is expected to make landfall in the second week of June

The cable weighs 2,500 tonnes and costs £40m

Prysmian Powerlink general manager Renato Grampa, Guernsey Electric chief executive Alan Bates and Jersey Electric chief executive Chris Ambler, inspected the operation on Wednesday.