Major power outages across the UK

[blossie33]

I thought "turning off and on again" fixed computers not broke them

That worked with the Victoria line tube train I was on when the power cut, the driver had to turn all the emergency lights off for a few minutes (which he told us he was going to do) we held our breath and the engine started up again

 

[equationgirl]

I was lucky to get back on Friday night to Glasgow, there was flooding on parts of the line.

cupid_stunt I think it depends on the turbine and what the manufacturers have set as the operating envelope. Different sized turbines and the older ones especially may have different limits. The grid is in a state of transition as we decarbonise and the older grid was never designed for such fluctuations. So it's entirely possible that a grid power take up point failed as well as a power plant.

Ofgem are clearly interested in exactly what happened, that suggests a contingency plan failed or a series of failures occurred that were all unlikely events.

 

[StoneRoad]

Years ago, I was on a tour of a pumped storage scheme and we had got back up to the control room when an alarm went off. The technicians jumped into action and the station went into full generate mode. The guy in charge waited a moment to check all was syncronised, and then made a call.

They were on standby anyway, and what had happened to cause their rapid action was that one of the base load coal stations had thrown a turbine blade and shut down while sorting out the mess. It was just before the end of a major soap opera programme and before a party political broadcast - cue millions of kettles being switched on during the adverts ...

 

[equationgirl]

Certain types of power station can be kept in a state of readiness more easily than others. With the decarbonisation of the grid there are fewer baseload coal fired power stations standing by for situations like this.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Years ago, I was on a tour of a pumped storage scheme and we had got back up to the control room when an alarm went off. The technicians jumped into action and the station went into full generate mode. The guy in charge waited a moment to check all was syncronised, and then made a call.

They were on standby anyway, and what had happened to cause their rapid action was that one of the base load coal stations had thrown a turbine blade and shut down while sorting out the mess. It was just before the end of a major soap opera programme and before a party political broadcast - cue millions of kettles being switched on during the adverts ...

I remember going to the pumped storage station in Scotland as a kid - fascinating place. I vaguely remember the noise of the turbines so it must have been generating at the time.

Not as noisy as standing right next to a turbine in a power plant at ICI - those things make a hell of a racket.

 

[StoneRoad]

Loch Awe I think, not been inside there.
But I've been to both Dinorwic and the one near Bleanau Ffestiniog (I've also visited Traws - & sellafield - and several of the other Hydro plants in North Wales). And I'm on a promise to see Heysham.
I used to work for consulting engineers, that had CEGB contracts ...

 

[equationgirl]

National Grid have determined that power was lost at 16.54 on Friday by two large generators being lost from the grid at the exact same time, one wind and one gas.

The wind generator was Hornsea 1, and the operator confirmed 'systems significantly reduced power'. No information on which gas plant it was.

Other generators did increase output in response to the losses but it wasn't enough to offset them, and as normal operation could not be restored, a backup protection system was triggered which disconnects selected demand across the UK.

See Recharge News article 'UK too probe world's largest wind farm's role in blackout' (renewable industry publication, no pay wall).

 

[cupid_stunt]

National Grid have determined that power was lost at 16.54 on Friday by two large generators being lost from the grid at the exact same time, one wind and one gas.

The wind generator was Hornsea 1, and the operator confirmed 'systems significantly reduced power'. No information on which gas plant it was.

Other generators did increase output in response to the losses but it wasn't enough to offset them, and as normal operation could not be restored, a backup protection system was triggered which disconnects selected demand across the UK.

See Recharge News article 'UK too probe world's largest wind farm's role in blackout' (renewable industry publication, no pay wall).

This was reported on Saturday...

Industry experts said a gas-fired power station at Little Barford, Bedfordshire, failed at 16:58 followed, two minutes later, by the Hornsea offshore wind farm disconnecting from the grid.

'Lessons to learn' from blackout - National Grid

 

[equationgirl]

This was reported on Saturday...

Not in quite as much detail, and with no National Grid quotes. Who, to be fair, were probably trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

More importantly, I think it shows how precarious the grid is at times, now that coal-fired baseload power has all but gone from our grid. Yes, the lights are still on etc but it's easy to cause a blackout with two events happening at the /nearly the same time. Too easy, in fact.

 

[Supine]

Two at the same time? Software attack???

Tinfoilhatmode

 

[equationgirl]

Two at the same time? Software attack???

Tinfoilhatmode

Unlikely, I think. Gas plant was due to a failure (normal for components to fail, even more normal for power stations to be run with components being eked out until the next repair window). Different power stations with different SCADA control systems.

No news on why Hornsea powered down yet, might have been a number of reasons.

 

[weltweit]

Nice to know when the shit hits the fan, I and my neighbours are the ones deemed superfluous!

 

[equationgirl]

Nice to know when the shit hits the fan, I and my neighbours are the ones deemed superfluous!

I don't think that's quite true, some areas went into blackout as an unintended consequence.