Following the recent power-cut suffered by close to a million people throughout England and Wales, National Grid has promised to “learn the lessons”.
Despite the need to learn from the national power loss, Duncan Burt, Director of Operations for National Grid stated that the event in which two power stations were disconnected was incredibly rare. He also added that following the event, National Grid’s systems functioned well and he did not believe the double-disconnect was caused by a cyber-attack.
The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) has insisted on a detailed report and the government stated it will be launching an investigation into the event.
Acting Secretary of State for Business, Andrea Leadsom stated she has charged the Energy and Emergencies Executive Committee with conducting the investigation. The committee will ascertain if National Grid’s procedures in place are considered “fit for purpose”.
The power-cut occurred at around 5pm on Friday August 8 according to National Grid causing blackouts across the south east, the midlands, north east and north west of England and parts of Wales. National Grid insists its systems were not at fault.
Industry specialists stated that at 16:58, the gas-fired Little Barford Power Station failed, and two minutes after, the offshore Hornsea wind farm disconnected disrupting the lives of people across the UK.
Shadow Secretary for Business and Energy, Rebecca Long Bailey stated the consequences of the power failure were not acceptable during a time in which National Grid had increased shareholder dividends and reported profits of £1.8 billion.
