In article o.uk,
says...

On Tue, 3 Jan 2012 23:59:34 +0000, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

Indeed. Britain is somewhat different there anyway - the trans-channel
interconnectors are actually at DC

Correct.

[I've also been told that, despite the public being told it is
bidirectional because peak demand occurs at different times as we take
our main meals at different times, in practice it has never operated in
the supply-power-from-Britain-to-France direction, other than for test
purposes. Whether this is true I don't know.]

Un true. In late November when there was a great big high pressure
over europe and there for naff all wind both the continental
interconnects were maxed out exporting power during the day. We just
burnt a bit more coal to provide that power. Conversly the last few
days has seen us importing from the continent, cheap, french nuke
power...

Yes. A consequence of Merkel's knee-jerk reaction to the Japanese
tsunami by shutting down the nuclear plant and getting caught with her
knickers down when the lack of wind stopped all the windmills. I think
it was the first time that the UK had been a net exporter of
electricity.

Take a look he

http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

Look at the graph for November (bottom right).

I wonder how Germany will fare if we get a repeat performance but with
much lower temperatures all over Europe so that all other countries need
all of their energy to supply their own needs?

--

Terry