(Bloomberg) -- A fire has broken out at a key electricity converter station where power from two cables connecting France to the U.K. comes to shore.

The large fire will take several hours to put out, according to Kent Fire and Rescue Service. Flows on the 2,000 megawatt IFA-1 cable halted just after midnight, according to National Grid Plc data. The U.K. and French grid operators weren’t immediately available to comment.

The outage couldn’t come at a worse time with a lack of wind already crimping supplies and record high prices for Wednesday. Britain is a net importer of power, with France its biggest supplier via two 2,000 megawatt cables that run across the English Channel.

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