26th September 2012

Trudy, Guernsey’s biggest ever import, was installed

Guernsey Electricity’s power station at St Sampson has been serving the island since the early 1900s. It at first supplemented, and then took over from an existing generating plant in St Peter Port.

However, as Guernsey’s needs have changed, it’s been upgraded several times – including in 2012 when a new turbine called 2D arrived. As the name would suggest (at least to those in the know), this was the second diesel generator for the site’s D hall.

It was shipped in directly to St Sampson harbour. In the process it became the largest single item ever imported into Guernsey.

The £14m generator was brought across from the Netherlands, via Southampton, on a barge called the Terra Marique which, according to the BBC, had previously carried Concorde and a Eurostar train. It arrived at the start of the month but took several weeks to install. It didn’t start generating electricity until the following spring.

Another engine, and new names

Although 2D significantly increased the power station’s generating capacity, it still needed more. Guernsey Electricity also wanted to retire its older, slower generators. So, it made invested in a further turbine, which this time would be known as 3D.

However, in 2017 and with both generators in place, Guernsey Electricity asked islanders to suggest better names for its two diesel engines. They had become so important to the island’s ongoing life, after all. Having sifted through “more than 75 entries”, the panel of five judges settled on Trudy and Freddy.

The clever play on their original names was suggested by Mike Hamon. He worked in the IT department at Guernsey Electricity. The new names were engraved on plates that were fixed to the generators and Hamond was invited to switch on 3D, the newest of the generators.