Wikiposts
Search
Rumours & News Reporting Points that may affect our jobs or lives as professional pilots. Also, items that may be of interest to professional pilots.

Powercut in UK

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 9th Aug 2019, 16:47
  #1 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Near sheep!
Posts: 915
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Powercut in UK

Power has gone off in Cornwall and reportedly large parts of UK. BBC quoting disruption to flights, but surely back-up systems will remove chance of this?

Last edited by WindSheer; 9th Aug 2019 at 17:43.
WindSheer is offline  
Old 9th Aug 2019, 17:50
  #2 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Near sheep!
Posts: 915
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I thought it was news channels over reacting also, but a lot of flights are now running late nationwide so its certainly newsworthy.
I work in rail, in the 12 years I have done, I have never witnessed all trains in UK being brought to a stop - as quoted by Network Rail.
Quite strange that most of the UK was down on power for a while.
WindSheer is offline  
Old 9th Aug 2019, 19:19
  #3 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: UK
Posts: 110
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Planet Basher
I note from the BBC Evening News that it was thought the problem was a failed generator. This sounds like a load of tosh.
They're quoting a statement from one of the power companies, referring to a "generator" on the National Grid. Or in regular English: a power station.

EDIT: the power station in question appears to be Little Barford (740 MWe gas-fired).

Last edited by Joe_K; 9th Aug 2019 at 19:34.
Joe_K is offline  
Old 9th Aug 2019, 19:32
  #4 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: French Alps
Posts: 326
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Joe_K
They're quoting a statement from one of the power companies, referring to a "generator" on the National Grid. Or in regular English: a power station.
Lots of things that can fail in a power station : generators, turbines, boilers, circuit breakers, control systems etc.

Fly Aiprt is offline  
Old 9th Aug 2019, 21:48
  #5 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Reading, UK
Posts: 15,826
Received 206 Likes on 94 Posts
DaveReidUK is offline  
Old 10th Aug 2019, 09:10
  #6 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Here
Posts: 964
Received 3 Likes on 2 Posts
https://gridwatch.co.uk
https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk
Both show live power sources for UK, take your pick.

IE Questions: What Keeps Our Electric Grid Humming? | Inside Energy
Explains what happens when there is a sudden change in the Supply or Demand

https://www.bmreports.com/bmrs/?q=remit
Web page showing power station status changes as posted as a screenshot in post #16 (yes I know post number are not maintained but in this case I think it will do).


Happy pylons

(Link wouldn't work without Quote stuff. I stopped fiddling when it burst into life. Oh no I didn't and it's dead now! Back to life I hope.)
jimjim1 is offline  
Old 10th Aug 2019, 09:10
  #7 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 647
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Just a few thoughts

From what I've been able to find out: the problem was caused by a gas fired power station in Bedfordshire coming off line, followed two minutes later by a North Sea wind farm aggregation unit failing too. This caused the national power supply frequency to drop from approx 50Hz to 49Hz. This situation is outside allowed tolerances and load has to be shed from the generating system urgently.. I do not know if this is done automatically or by manual intervention or a combination of both. The withdrawal of power from the whole of the Rail Network could in my opinion: be an emergency contingency . We have not herd about cutting of power to steel furnaces/Heavy Industry yet - But situations like this can happen. Remember there's the National Grid (400KV/275KV) and the associated national distribution sistem (132KV/66KV/33KV and 11KV) down to the distribution transformers like the one 150 metres from the house !

I hope there's a proper technically detailed report made available to the public.
Guest 112233 is offline  
Old 10th Aug 2019, 09:31
  #8 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Thailand
Age: 81
Posts: 601
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
Pretty sure the statutory frequency is 49.6 cycles so there would probably be automatic load shedding.During the summer {!!}some power stations are down for maintenance,of course this is allowed for.at peak times there used to be standbye plant running but not on load but this may not be the case now.Gas Turbines need a few minutes to get up and on load!!
oldpax is offline  
Old 10th Aug 2019, 09:34
  #9 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: uk
Posts: 951
Received 18 Likes on 12 Posts
There were reports that Newcastle Airport had no power for 15 minutes. Was that totally correct? What about the essential services standby? An airport as big as NCL would probably have no-break stand-by or at least a very short break stand-by, I forget the exact requirement in seconds.....if that failed then the airport has a lot to do to keep its approach category and perhaps its licence.
old,not bold is offline  
Old 10th Aug 2019, 10:19
  #10 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Near sheep!
Posts: 915
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by old,not bold
There were reports that Newcastle Airport had no power for 15 minutes. Was that totally correct? What about the essential services standby? An airport as big as NCL would probably have no-break stand-by or at least a very short break stand-by, I forget the exact requirement in seconds.....if that failed then the airport has a lot to do to keep its approach category and perhaps its licence.
I am pretty sure the critical components such as ILS are backed up by generators. Its the rest of the airport going down that causes disruption. Loading, computers, fuel etc.
WindSheer is offline  
Old 10th Aug 2019, 18:37
  #11 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 965
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Anyway back to an aviation theme... the power cut didn’t need to contribute to another Friday of mayhem inside London TMA with virtually every U2 inbound to LGW significantly delayed.

We want to increase movements at LHR and elsewhere yet there isn’t enough airspace to manoeuvre them all especially on stormy days or if there’s an emergency or incident.
Dannyboy39 is offline  
Old 11th Aug 2019, 09:53
  #12 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Newcastle Upon Tyne
Age: 54
Posts: 1,511
Likes: 0
Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts
There was a huge thunderstorm over Newcastle airport at the time the power went off. I could see it from across the Tyne valley.
I'm sure that couldn't be coincidental?
Tashengurt is offline  
Old 11th Aug 2019, 20:22
  #13 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: UK
Posts: 110
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Originally Posted by Tashengurt
There was a huge thunderstorm over Newcastle airport at the time the power went off. I could see it from across the Tyne valley.
I'm sure that couldn't be coincidental?
You are sure that a gas-fired power station in Bedfordshire and a windfarm in the North Sea off the Yorkshire coast going offline at the same time were caused by a thunderstorm over Newcastle airport. Right.
Joe_K is offline  
Old 11th Aug 2019, 21:25
  #14 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Newcastle Upon Tyne
Age: 54
Posts: 1,511
Likes: 0
Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts
Originally Posted by Joe_K
You are sure that a gas-fired power station in Bedfordshire and a windfarm in the North Sea off the Yorkshire coast going offline at the same time were caused by a thunderstorm over Newcastle airport. Right.
Yup, that's right. Positive. 100%.
Tashengurt is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.