Electricity link could be restored next month ahead of winter peak

Northern Ireland's electricity link with Great Britain could be restored to full capacity next month, its owners have said.

The undersea Moyle Interconnector has developed a fault which has halved its capacity to import power from Great Britain.

Mutual Energy said it has identified a problem with onshore equipment rather than with the undersea cable.

They have published an estimated return to service date of 13 December, based on their investigations and work plans.

A spokesperson for Mutual Energy said: "We continue to be in close communication with industry partners and government to minimise any potential disruption.

"Outages like this are rare and our team, alongside specialist engineers, are focused on resolving this issue as quickly as possible."

They added: "While it is too early to provide a definitive timeline, we will share further updates as testing progresses."

The fault comes ahead of peak winter demand, when electricity use is typically at its highest.

However, grid operator System Operator NI (SONI) has said it expects sufficient power generation to meet demand this winter under normal operating conditions.

In its annual winter outlook, SONI said its assessment assumes the interconnector will return to full capacity and that gas-fired power stations will remain available.

It added that if the interconnector does not return to full capacity this winter, the risk to the electricity system would increase.

The risk would, however, remain within acceptable safety limits set by the Department for the Economy.