Networks
The Iberian blackout demonstrated the importance of voltage control and reactive power, but these concepts are poorly understood even by people within the electricity sector. In this two-part series of posts I will look at voltage, active power and reactive power in power grids [...]
This week, the National Energy System Operator (“NESO”) published its final report into the North Hyde substation fire on 20 March that caused a local power outage which cut supplies to over 71,500 homes and businesses including nearby Heathrow Airport. The airport was without power [...]
In my latest column for the Daily Telegraph I discuss the risks associated with NESO’s ambition to run the power grid without gas by the end of this year and to reduce its minimum inertia requirement. It has boasted already of running “95% carbon-free’” [...]
Yesterday demonstrated some of the challenges of high wind generation on the GB system, with lots of activity in the Balancing Mechanism, particularly to curtail wind and CCGTs, as well as bringing up CCGTs, and some counter-intuitive interconnector activity. It also exposed issues with [...]
Last week there was a widespread blackout across Iberia which also briefly affected the south of France. All power was lost on the peninsula and it was many hours before it was fully restored after a rare black start. Eight people are reported to [...]
Late on Thursday night a fire broke out at the North Hyde substation in Hayes, west London causing a blackout at Heathrow airport as well as thousands of homes and businesses. Of three transformers on the site, one was completely destroyed by the fire, [...]
Norway is turning away from electricity interconnection as its governing coalition collapses over disagreements over energy co-operation with Europe. Most of the Storting now agrees there should be no more interconnectors while several parties want to renegotiate the deals with Britain and Germany which [...]
Today Net Zero Watch has published a new report I’ve written on the risks of blackouts in the GB power market. The report was primarily drafted late last year but sections were re-written after the near-miss on 8 January which brought home the risks [...]
The National Energy System Operator (“NESO”) has been stung by my analysis of the blackouts near miss on 8 January, at one point apparently telling journalists, somewhat pompously that “WE are the National Energy System Operator, and SHE is “just” an independent consultant!” In [...]
My blog post on the threat to energy security on 8 January went viral. It’s the single most widely read thing I have ever written, and it has been widely re-shared on social media and quoted in the press. The National Energy System Operator [...]