London Blackout Blamed on Drop in Wind and Natural-Gas Power
Will Mathis and Mathew Carr|August 9, 2019
“Today what happened is a major offshore wind generation site and a gas turbine failed at the same time,” said Devrim Celal, chief executive officer of Upside Energy in London, which contracts with National Grid to help balance electricity. “There was a significant shortage of generation, and that sudden drop created ripple effects across the country.”
“Today what happened is a major offshore wind generation site and a gas turbine failed at the same time,” said Devrim Celal, chief executive officer of Upside Energy in London, which contracts with National Grid to help balance electricity. “There was a significant shortage of generation, and that sudden drop created ripple effects across the country.”
- Pumped hydropower capacity surged immediately following outage
- Power cut led to disruption on rail lines, traffic lights
London and surrounding areas suffered a widespread power outage Friday during the evening rush hour after windpower and natural gas generation levels dropped, according to data from network manager National Grid Plc.
“Today what happened is a major offshore wind generation site and a gas turbine failed at the same time,” said Devrim Celal, chief executive officer of Upside Energy in London, which contracts with National Grid to help balance electricity. “There was a significant shortage of generation, and that sudden drop created ripple effects across the country.”
National Grid ascribed the power failure to an "unexpe…
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]- Pumped hydropower capacity surged immediately following outage
- Power cut led to disruption on rail lines, traffic lights
London and surrounding areas suffered a widespread power outage Friday during the evening rush hour after windpower and natural gas generation levels dropped, according to data from network manager National Grid Plc.
“Today what happened is a major offshore wind generation site and a gas turbine failed at the same time,” said Devrim Celal, chief executive officer of Upside Energy in London, which contracts with National Grid to help balance electricity. “There was a significant shortage of generation, and that sudden drop created ripple effects across the country.”
National Grid ascribed the power failure to an "unexpected and unusual event", the loss of two generators connected to the U.K. transmission system, which then led to a "fall in the frequency of the electricity system," it said in an e-mailed statement. "The system operated as planned by disconnecting an isolated portion of electricity demand," it said.
Power went out in London and the southeast of England about 4:50 p.m. local time
National Grid said at about 6:30 p.m. that electricity supplies were restored
“We identified unplanned outages at Little Barford gas station north of London and the Hornsea offshore windfarm”: Diego Marquina, power analyst at BloombergNEF in London
Windpower capacity plunged about 4:50 p.m.