1. FUI Stakeholder Group 4 th July 2008, Sellindge IFA Overview, Performance Report 2007-8 & Valve Replacement Project Simon McVeigh IFA Manager

2. IFA Overview Performance Report 2007-8 Valve Replacement Project Interconnexion France-Angleterre

3. National Grid & Interconnectors 1500km (cabled under the St.Lawrence River) Sandy Pond HVDC transmission link connecting New England, USA and Quebec, Canada; 370km link (290km submarine) across the Bass strait between Tasmania and Victoria, Australia; 43km submarine cable system, to enhance electricity delivery to the island of Nantucket, off the Massachusetts coast; National Grid is assessing the feasibility with Elia of a submarine link between GB and Belgium. Basslink – at the time the worlds longest subsea cable coming ashore in Tasmania National Grid has a strong track record in developing and operating interconnector projects

4. Background Original link First steps to assess feasibility in 1948 Government approval 1957 160MW link commissioned in 1961 Prone to damage from marine activity and withdrawn from service in 1982 Benefits of a link already established Cross-Channel Link (later termed IFA) Investigation into a suitable route Development of new machines to bury cables in the sea bed Project cost £700m at 1981 prices Half the cost of a 2GW power station

5. Scotland Commissioned in 1986, the link is 70km in length, (45km sub-sea), consisting of 2 converter stations, 8 land cables and 4 submarine cable routes England & Wales France 2000MW High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) link connecting the GB and French transmission systems IFA Asset Overview

6. Both converter stations can rectify (ACDC) or invert (DCAC) to allow import or export of power Discrete asset ownership but jointly operated by National Grid and Réseau de Transport d'Electricité Compatible but not identical equipment No asset (capacity) redundancy Converter Stations Les Mandarins High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC); current source technology; low loss Allows precise control of the magnitude and direction of the Direct Current flow between two very large synchronous Alternating Current power systems (GB, UCTE) AC System frequencies are nominally the same (50Hz) but AC link not possible between 400kV systems for technical reasons

7. Submarine Operations Contracts Maritime Operations: LD Travocean Submarine Cable Repair: Nexans Standby Equipment & spares at Dunkirk Submersible co-owned, maintained by contractor Fault estimation & hold for survey Fault location & hold for vessel hire & mobilisation Desktop review

8. IFA Overview Performance Report 2007-8 Valve Replacement Project Interconnexion France-Angleterre

9. ETSO NACM Task Force Sub-group to Task Force led by E.On Several interconnections studied –IFA, IFB, IFD, P-Cz, D-P, D-DW, B-NI, D-NI, D-CH Analyse curtailments for 2006 CY data –Classified as caused by: Internal AC Network Interconnector assets

10. Firmness Study on Interconnectors Draft Curtailment Data 2006 Annual Outages Short-Notice Planned Outages Unplanned Trips/ Reductions IFA Curtailment Commentary* * Discrete curtailment events shown (not duration) Switching transitions 500MW / 1000MW not listed individually AC Borders Asset related maintenance/faults have not curtailed cross-border capacity because of Security Standards (UCTE Handbook) therefore redundancy in interconnection capacity

11. IFA Performance Report 2007-8 Mid-point in asset life after nearly 25 years operation

12. IFA Annual Availability (%)

13. IFA Monthly Unavailability (%) Split RTE / NGIL

14. IFA Planned Outages 2007-8 Split RTE / NGIL

15. IFA Unplanned Outages 2007-8 Split RTE / NGIL

16. Valve/Control System Related Outages Split RTE / NGIL

17. IFA Overview Performance Report 2007-8 Valve Replacement Project Interconnexion France-Angleterre

18. Joint feasibility study commenced 2005 to replace thyristor valves and controls with common design Joint contract for 70m (£56m) awarded to Areva 16 th May 2008 Valve Replacement Mid-life refurbishment: 25 years Identical equipment will yield additional benefits in maintenance and support Dynamic frequency response Nesting of other mid-life work being assessed