Fire shuts one of UK’s most important power cables in midst of supply crunch

Coal plants being warmed up as market prices surge to 2,500 per MWh from a norm of 40

A major fire has forced the shutdown of one of Britain's most important power cables importing electricity from France as the UK faces a supply crunch and record high market prices.

National Grid was forced to evacuate staff from the site of the IFA high-voltage power cable, which brings electricity from France to a converter station in Kent, where 12 fire engines attended the blaze in the early hours of Wednesday morning.