Submarine cables in the Channel Islands


Detailed information about submarine cables in Jersey and Guernsey, compiled due to frustration with existing sparse information.


Corrections / additions are welcome - contact Luke Bratch (luke@bratch.co.uk)


Power cables:


1. EDF1 (INGRID) (Jersey <> France) (1984) [1][2][3]

Installed: 1984

Length: 27 km

Location: Archirondel, St Martin, Jersey <> Saint-Rémy-des-Landes, Manche, France

Description: 90 kV, 55 MW, AC, oil filled, 3 core, rock armoured

Operator(s): Channel Islands Electricity Grid (CIEG)

Notes: Damaged since June 2012, not planned to be repaired


2. EDF2 (INGRID) (Segment 1) (Guernsey <> Jersey) (2000) [1][4]

Installed: September 2000

Length: 37 km

Location: Havelet Bay, St Peter Port, Guernsey <> Greve de Lecq, Jersey

Description: 90 kV, 60 MW [1], 50 MVA [4], AC, 3 * 240 mm^2 copper conductor with 17 mm XLPE insulation, integrated fibre cable with 24 fibres, double 7 mm galvanised steel wire armoured

Operator(s): Channel Islands Electricity Grid (CIEG)

Notes: Installed by ABB Power Technologies AB, same time as EDF2 (INGRID) (Segment 2) and associated fibre cables (same route, 30 m apart [4])


3. EDF2 (INGRID) (Segment 2) (Jersey <> France) (2000) [1][4]

Installed: September 2000

Length: 27 km [1][4] or 28 km [4]

Location: Archirondel, Jersey <> Saint-Rémy-des-Landes, France

Description: 90 kV, 80 MW [1], 85 MVA [2], AC, 3 * 300 mm^2 copper conductor with 15.5 mm XLPE insulation, integrated fibre cable with 24 fibres, double 7 mm galvanised steel wire armoured

Operator(s): Channel Islands Electricity Grid (CIEG)

Notes: Installed by ABB Power Technologies AB, same time as EDF2 (INGRID) (Segment 1) and associated fibre cables (same route, 30 m apart [4]), [4] lists both lengths listed above


Telecommunications cables


1. UK-Channel Isles-7 (UK <> Guernsey) (1989) [1]

Installed: 1989

Length: 124 km [1] or 132 km [10]

Location: Dartmouth, UK <> L'Ancresse Bay, Vale, Guernsey

Description: 2.5 Gb/s [1][6][10], STM-16 (2,488.32 Mb/s) [13], 6 * 140 Mb/s, 12 fibres, 1.5 µm, unrepeatered [10]

Operator(s): BT, Cable and Wireless Guernsey [1], the stated 6 * 140 Mb/s is assumed to be the original speed per source [13]


2. UK-Channel Isles-8 (UK <> Jersey) (1994) [1]

Installed: 1994

Length: 237 km

Location: Goonhilly, UK <> St Ouen's Bay (St Brelade), Jersey

Description: 155 Mb/s, 12 fibre cables

Operator(s): BT, JT

Notes: Also known as UK-Channel Islands-8


3. Jersey-Guernsey-4 (Guernsey <> Jersey) (1994) [1]

Installed: 1994

Length: 37 km

Location: Saints Bay, Guernsey <> Greve de Lecq, Jersey

Description: 155 Mb/s, 12 fibre cables

Operator(s): Cable & Wireless Guernsey, Jersey Telecoms (JT)

Notes: Also known as Guernsey-Jersey-4


4. INGRID (Guernsey <> Jersey) (2000) [1][3][4]

Installed: September 2000

Length: 37.1 km [1] or 37 km [4]

Location: Havelet Bay, St Peter Port, Guernsey <> Greve de Lecq, Jersey

Description: 24 fibres, integrated in power cable

Operator(s): Channel Islands Electricity Grid (CIEG)

Notes: Installed by ABB Power Technologies AB, same cable EDF2 (INGRID) (Segment 1) power cable, [1] lists as part of "Ingrid System (Nos 1-6)"


5. INGRID (Guernsey <> Jersey) (2000) [1][3][4]

Installed: September 2000

Length: 37.1 km [1] or 37 km [4]

Location: Havelet Bay, St Peter Port, Guernsey <> Greve de Lecq, Jersey

Description: 24 fibres [1] or 48 fibres [4]

Operator(s): Channel Islands Electricity Grid (CIEG)

Notes: Installed by ABB Power Technologies AB, same time as EDF2 (INGRID) power cables (same route, 30 m apart [4]), [1] lists as part of "Ingrid System (Nos 1-6)", laid alongside its identical twin cable


6. INGRID (Guernsey <> Jersey) (2000) [1][3][4]

Installed: September 2000

Length: 37.1 km [1] or 37 km [4]

Location: Havelet Bay, St Peter Port, Guernsey <> Greve de Lecq, Jersey

Description: 24 fibres [1] or 48 fibres [4]

Operator(s): Channel Islands Electricity Grid (CIEG)

Notes: Installed by ABB Power Technologies AB, same time as EDF2 (INGRID) power cables (same route, 30 m apart [4]), [1] lists as part of "Ingrid System (Nos 1-6)", laid alongside its identical twin cable


7. INGRID (Jersey <> France) (2000) [1][3][4]

Installed: September 2000

Length: 28 km

Location: Archirondel, St Martin, Jersey <> Saint-Rémy-des-Landes, Manche, France

Description: 24 fibres, integrated in power cable

Operator(s): Channel Islands Electricity Grid (CIEG)

Notes: Installed by ABB Power Technologies AB, same cable EDF2 (INGRID) (Segment 2) power cable, [1] lists as part of "Ingrid System (Nos 1-6)"


8. INGRID (Jersey <> France) (2000) [1][3][4]

Installed: September 2000

Length: 28 km

Location: Archirondel, St Martin, Jersey <> Saint-Rémy-des-Landes, Manche, France

Description: 48 fibres

Operator(s): Channel Islands Electricity Grid (CIEG)

Notes: Installed by ABB Power Technologies AB, same time as EDF2 (INGRID) power cables (same route, 30 m apart [4]), [1] lists as part of "Ingrid System (Nos 1-6)", laid alongside its identical twin cable


9. INGRID (Jersey <> France) (2000) [1][3][4]

Installed: September 2000

Length: 28 km

Location: Archirondel, St Martin, Jersey <> Saint-Rémy-des-Landes, Manche, France

Description: 48 fibres

Operator(s): Channel Islands Electricity Grid (CIEG)

Notes: Installed by ABB Power Technologies AB, same time as EDF2 (INGRID) power cables (same route, 30 m apart [4]), [1] lists as part of "Ingrid System (Nos 1-6)", laid alongside its identical twin cable


10. HUGO (Segment 1) (UK <> Guernsey) (2006) [4][5][6][7][8]

Installed: July 2006

Length: ~270 km (estimated from [6])

Location: Porthcurno, Cornwall, UK <> Pembroke, Vale, Guernsey

Description: 60 Gb/s [6] or 3.3 Tb/s [7] or 60 + 55 Gb/s SDH [5]

Operator(s): Cable & Wireless [5][7] or Sure, Vodafone [8]

Notes: HUGO stands for High capacity Undersea Guernsey Optical cable [9]. Cable is a recovered section of the Gemini South cable laid in 1997 [5].


11. HUGO (Segment 2) (Guernsey <> France) (2006) [4][5][6][7][8]

Installed: August 2006

Length: ~170 km (estimated from [6])

Location: Saints Bay, Guernsey <> Lannion, Côtes-d'Armor, France

Description: 60 Gb/s [6] or 3.3 Tb/s [7] or 60 + 55 Gb/s SDH [5]

Operator(s): Cable & Wireless [5][7] or Sure, Vodafone [8]

Notes: HUGO stands for High capacity Undersea Guernsey Optical cable [9]. Cable is a recovered section of the Gemini South cable laid in 1997 [5].


12. Liberty (UK <> Guernsey) (2008) [3][10][11]

Installed: April 2008

Length: ~130 km (estimated from [12])

Location: Blackpool Sands, Dartmouth, UK <> L'Ancresse Bay, Vale, Guernsey

Description: Unknown

Operator(s): BT, JT

Notes: Also known as BT Liberty [5] and Channel Islands-9 [10][11]. Part of Project Liberty.


[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20120831123607/http://www.iscpc.org/cabledb/North_Sea_Cable_db.htm

[2] http://www.jec.co.uk/media/62669/jec_2012accounts_colour.pdf

[3] http://www.kis-orca.eu/media/9292/ENGLISH_CHANNEL_.pdf "Kingfisher Awareness Chart" "English Channel" "KIS-ORCA"

[4] http://www05.abb.com/global/scot/scot245.nsf/veritydisplay/e787fe9fe44174a3c1256e360040f3cb/$file/project%20channel%20islands%2090%20kv%20xlpe%20subm-land-.pdf

[5] http://atlantic-cable.com/Cables/CableTimeLine/index2001.htm

[6] http://www.cablemap.info/

[7] http://www.subtelforum.com/issues/STF%20Submarine%20Cable%20Alamanac-2012.pdf

[8] http://www.submarinecablemap.com/#/submarine-cable/high-capacity-undersea-guernsey-optical-fibre-hugo

[9] http://www.porthcurno.org.uk/userfiles/misc_pdfs/Cable%20Networks%20website.pdf

[10] http://books.google.com/books?id=EOpXpPyRneEC "Study of Unrepeatered Submarine Fiber Optic System”

[11] http://www.submarinecablemap.com/#/submarine-cable/channel-islands-9-liberty-submarine-cable

[12] http://www.seafish.org/media/527645/liberty_flyer_web.pdf

[13] http://www.lowtax.net/lowtax/html/jgyecom.html


All links retrieved in February 2014