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1
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ruggedscot
Electrical
- Feb 17, 2003
- 416
LONDON, May 28 (Reuters) - Britain's power supplies returned to normal on Wednesday after a series of unexpected plant shutdowns briefly cut off hundreds of thousands of people on Tuesday, network operator National Grid (NG.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said.
The almost simultaneous shutdowns of British Energy's (BGY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) Sizewell B nuclear power station and Scottish Power's (IBE.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) Longannet 1 coal-fired power plant caused local network trips, which left parts of the country without power.
Although the blackouts were resolved quickly, more unexpected plant shutdowns later in the day saw National Grid warn about possible volatage reductions and plead for more units to be made available.
But supplies were comfortable again by Wednesday morning, with Longannet restarting overnight and other generating units responding to the calls for more power.
"Some of the power stations that went off yesterday have come back and other generation has become available so it's back to business as usual," a spokesman for the grid operator said on Wednesday.
British Energy (BGY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) chief executive Bill Coley said on Wednesday that the company expected to restart the 1,180-megawatt Sizewell B power station within days.
"It appears to be an instrument problem. There is no issue with the plant and it should return (to operation) very quickly," he told reporters. (Reporting by Daniel Fineren)
The National Grid was left carrying the can today for unprecedented power cuts that left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity around Britain yesterday.
The transmission network blamed the blackouts on a sudden loss of frequency caused by the near-simultaneous failure of the Sizewell B nuclear power station and the Longannet 1 coal-powered fire station in Fife, both of which "tripped" within a couple of minutes of each other at around 11.30am.
Sizewell B is the UK's only pressurised water reactor station and produces almost 1,200 megawatts of electricity, or 2 per cent of the country's peak demand. Longannet can produce a massive 2,600 megawatts. The National Grid described the coincidental shutdowns as a "freak event" and pointed out that power had been restored to almost all customers within 40 minutes.
Industry sources were quick to point out today that of Longannet's four turbines, two have been switched off for over a year for refurbishment and the other two have been shut for maintenance in recent weeks. A Scottish Power spokesman confirmed that one was powered up yesterday morning before it was "tripped" at 11.30am, but it had only been producing about 350 megawatts of power when it was shut by a minor technical fault.
"Sizewell B going down is a significant event but Longannet shutting down was not. It should not have had the impact it did," one industry source said. "Somebody dropped the ball at the National Grid."
British Energy, the country's main nuclear power generator, was today firing Sizewell B back up. It blamed the plant's first unscheduled shutdown in more than three years on a faulty instrument reading.
The shutdowns prompted the National Grid to disrupt supplies to electricity distributors to protect the integrity of its network. There were further unexpected plant shutdowns later in the day which prompted urgent appeals from the National Grid for more generating units to be made available.
That produced isolated blackouts around the country. At Wycombe Hospital in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, operations had to be cancelled after an emergency back-up generator failed.
In and around Market Rasen and Louth, in Lincolnshire, some 23,000 homes were affected and there were also widespread power cuts on the Wirral, in Watford and in South London.
But one industry source pointed out that the National Grid is meant to operate with a 20-per cent margin, meaning that if electricity supplies drop it can immediately call for new capacity, first of all from units that are already switched on. The source added that the Grid did not issue any "notice of insufficient margin" until yesterday's powercuts had already happened, even though there must have been supply shortages beforehand.
Whether yesterday's power cuts turn out to be a management issue or due to infrastructure problems and constraints within the network remains to be seen, although everything appeared to be back to normal today.
The blackouts prompted warnings about the UK's "crumbling" energy infrastructure from McKinnon and Clarke, an independent energy consultancy, but the National Grid denied any systemic failures.
Stuart Larque, its spokesman, said: “We have a very robust system in the UK. It rarely fails and that’s why everybody is talking about it so much...It was just such a freak event."
A National Grid spokesman admitted that the the number of shutdowns was highly unusual. One power company insider said that such an incident had not happened in the past ten years.
After two power stations suddenly shut down within minutes of one another at midday, nine “generating units” also shut, and at least four other power stations suffered failures throughout the day. Wholesale electricity prices soared 35 per cent to £95 per megawatt hour, a new record, immediately after the cuts.
Operations had to be cancelled at Wycombe Hospital in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. When the cut struck, emergency generators kicked in, but one was affected by a fire. Surgery was abandoned in the catheterisation department. Elsewhere in the town, lights went off in the Eden shopping centre.
In and around the Lincolnshire towns of Market Rasen and Louth, 23,000 homes were affected. Thousands of households had no electricity in Wallasey, Birkenhead, Ellesmere Port and Runcorn on The Wirral.
Eight people were rescued from a lift in a library in Middlesbrough where, along with neighbouring Stockton and other parts of Cleveland, 30,000 premises were hit.
Thousands of people in South London were without electricity as the power shut some businesses. The cut lasted less than an hour but it affected stations, such as Clapham Junction, and caused road problems as traffic lights went out. North of London, Watford was also hit.
At midday the Sizewell B nuclear power station, run by British Energy in Suffolk, and the Longanett coal-fired power station, run by Scottish Energy in Fife, went offline within two minutes of each other. Later, “generating units” in power stations in Grain, Kent, and Ratcliffe, Nottinghamshire, and at EDF in Cottam, Nottinghamshire, Centrica in South Humber and International Power in Deeside each suffered cuts.
A National Grid spokesman said: “Nine generating units have become unavailable throughout Tuesday.”
David Porter, chief executive of the Association of Electricity Producers, said that the National Grid’s actions showed that the market was working well. However, he added that more investment was required urgently to prevent more regular problems.
Mr Porter said: “A lot of plant is getting old and is scheduled to close. More plant will be forced to close because of environmental pressure. The more clarity we can get from Government to help build new power stations, the better.”
The largest independent energy consultancy, McKinnon & Clarke, called on the Government to build new power stations to reinforce the crumbling infrastructure. David Hunter, energy analyst at the company, said: “The Government’s inability to make long-term energy security decisions over the last decade is coming home to roost. Since the ‘dash for gas’ in the 1990s, the lack of political will to make tough decisions has left Britain short of power.”
Some power stations remained shut last night. A British Energy spokesman said that the Sizewell B reactor was offline late yesterday, although a restart plan was under way. It is the first time the Sizewell B reactor has suffered a cut in three and a half years.
The almost simultaneous shutdowns of British Energy's (BGY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) Sizewell B nuclear power station and Scottish Power's (IBE.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) Longannet 1 coal-fired power plant caused local network trips, which left parts of the country without power.
Although the blackouts were resolved quickly, more unexpected plant shutdowns later in the day saw National Grid warn about possible volatage reductions and plead for more units to be made available.
But supplies were comfortable again by Wednesday morning, with Longannet restarting overnight and other generating units responding to the calls for more power.
"Some of the power stations that went off yesterday have come back and other generation has become available so it's back to business as usual," a spokesman for the grid operator said on Wednesday.
British Energy (BGY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) chief executive Bill Coley said on Wednesday that the company expected to restart the 1,180-megawatt Sizewell B power station within days.
"It appears to be an instrument problem. There is no issue with the plant and it should return (to operation) very quickly," he told reporters. (Reporting by Daniel Fineren)
The National Grid was left carrying the can today for unprecedented power cuts that left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity around Britain yesterday.
The transmission network blamed the blackouts on a sudden loss of frequency caused by the near-simultaneous failure of the Sizewell B nuclear power station and the Longannet 1 coal-powered fire station in Fife, both of which "tripped" within a couple of minutes of each other at around 11.30am.
Sizewell B is the UK's only pressurised water reactor station and produces almost 1,200 megawatts of electricity, or 2 per cent of the country's peak demand. Longannet can produce a massive 2,600 megawatts. The National Grid described the coincidental shutdowns as a "freak event" and pointed out that power had been restored to almost all customers within 40 minutes.
Industry sources were quick to point out today that of Longannet's four turbines, two have been switched off for over a year for refurbishment and the other two have been shut for maintenance in recent weeks. A Scottish Power spokesman confirmed that one was powered up yesterday morning before it was "tripped" at 11.30am, but it had only been producing about 350 megawatts of power when it was shut by a minor technical fault.
"Sizewell B going down is a significant event but Longannet shutting down was not. It should not have had the impact it did," one industry source said. "Somebody dropped the ball at the National Grid."
British Energy, the country's main nuclear power generator, was today firing Sizewell B back up. It blamed the plant's first unscheduled shutdown in more than three years on a faulty instrument reading.
The shutdowns prompted the National Grid to disrupt supplies to electricity distributors to protect the integrity of its network. There were further unexpected plant shutdowns later in the day which prompted urgent appeals from the National Grid for more generating units to be made available.
That produced isolated blackouts around the country. At Wycombe Hospital in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, operations had to be cancelled after an emergency back-up generator failed.
In and around Market Rasen and Louth, in Lincolnshire, some 23,000 homes were affected and there were also widespread power cuts on the Wirral, in Watford and in South London.
But one industry source pointed out that the National Grid is meant to operate with a 20-per cent margin, meaning that if electricity supplies drop it can immediately call for new capacity, first of all from units that are already switched on. The source added that the Grid did not issue any "notice of insufficient margin" until yesterday's powercuts had already happened, even though there must have been supply shortages beforehand.
Whether yesterday's power cuts turn out to be a management issue or due to infrastructure problems and constraints within the network remains to be seen, although everything appeared to be back to normal today.
The blackouts prompted warnings about the UK's "crumbling" energy infrastructure from McKinnon and Clarke, an independent energy consultancy, but the National Grid denied any systemic failures.
Stuart Larque, its spokesman, said: “We have a very robust system in the UK. It rarely fails and that’s why everybody is talking about it so much...It was just such a freak event."
A National Grid spokesman admitted that the the number of shutdowns was highly unusual. One power company insider said that such an incident had not happened in the past ten years.
After two power stations suddenly shut down within minutes of one another at midday, nine “generating units” also shut, and at least four other power stations suffered failures throughout the day. Wholesale electricity prices soared 35 per cent to £95 per megawatt hour, a new record, immediately after the cuts.
Operations had to be cancelled at Wycombe Hospital in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. When the cut struck, emergency generators kicked in, but one was affected by a fire. Surgery was abandoned in the catheterisation department. Elsewhere in the town, lights went off in the Eden shopping centre.
In and around the Lincolnshire towns of Market Rasen and Louth, 23,000 homes were affected. Thousands of households had no electricity in Wallasey, Birkenhead, Ellesmere Port and Runcorn on The Wirral.
Eight people were rescued from a lift in a library in Middlesbrough where, along with neighbouring Stockton and other parts of Cleveland, 30,000 premises were hit.
Thousands of people in South London were without electricity as the power shut some businesses. The cut lasted less than an hour but it affected stations, such as Clapham Junction, and caused road problems as traffic lights went out. North of London, Watford was also hit.
At midday the Sizewell B nuclear power station, run by British Energy in Suffolk, and the Longanett coal-fired power station, run by Scottish Energy in Fife, went offline within two minutes of each other. Later, “generating units” in power stations in Grain, Kent, and Ratcliffe, Nottinghamshire, and at EDF in Cottam, Nottinghamshire, Centrica in South Humber and International Power in Deeside each suffered cuts.
A National Grid spokesman said: “Nine generating units have become unavailable throughout Tuesday.”
David Porter, chief executive of the Association of Electricity Producers, said that the National Grid’s actions showed that the market was working well. However, he added that more investment was required urgently to prevent more regular problems.
Mr Porter said: “A lot of plant is getting old and is scheduled to close. More plant will be forced to close because of environmental pressure. The more clarity we can get from Government to help build new power stations, the better.”
The largest independent energy consultancy, McKinnon & Clarke, called on the Government to build new power stations to reinforce the crumbling infrastructure. David Hunter, energy analyst at the company, said: “The Government’s inability to make long-term energy security decisions over the last decade is coming home to roost. Since the ‘dash for gas’ in the 1990s, the lack of political will to make tough decisions has left Britain short of power.”
Some power stations remained shut last night. A British Energy spokesman said that the Sizewell B reactor was offline late yesterday, although a restart plan was under way. It is the first time the Sizewell B reactor has suffered a cut in three and a half years.