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(Not an expert) The UK grid is actually pretty well maintained and resilient - and controlled power outages can actually be a positive thing in this sense. It

(Not an expert) The UK grid is actually pretty well maintained and resilient - and controlled power outages can actually be a positive thing in this sense. It looks like a couple of generators failed within a short period, causing a sudden loss of about a gigawatt. When the frequency drops as a result, automated systems start tripping to prevent a more widespread collapse - it’s much easier to restore power to customers who have been isolated than to recover after a more widespread collapse, like the US northeast blackout in 2003.

makomk 7y ago
Yeah, apparently these power outages only lasted a little under an hour for the folks affected. The big disruption came from it taking out heavily-used sections of the train network during the evening commute and the operators seemingly not having an easy way to bring those back into operation.
- Reason077 7y ago
  The problem seems to be that individual trains have faulted and apparently cannot be restarted without a visit from an engineer. With multiple faulty trains blocking lines, nothing can move.
poooogles 7y ago
>The UK grid is actually pretty well maintained and resilient Also prefixed by not an expert here; but know a few in the industry and somewhat keep up with it. The push away from coal to other sources of power (combined with the closure of gigawatts of nuclear power) has put the network under more stress than it's been in the past few decades [1]. I'd expect more of this in the future in cases of multi generator failures; there just isn't that much in the way of generation to take up the slack. Luckily we're in summer where demand is much lower, if this was to happen in winter the outcomes could have been much worse. //edit - Just to be clear though, this does seem to be totally benign and could have happened to any other well equipped grid. A gigawatt of power dropping out in such a short space is going to result in some kind of load shedding. Denorwig spins up fast; but not that fast. 1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33527967 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33527967
- the_seraphim 7y ago
  isn't this why we are looking into large battery stabilisation facilities similar to the tesla one in australia

makomk 7y ago

Yeah, apparently these power outages only lasted a little under an hour for the folks affected. The big disruption came from it taking out heavily-used sections of the train network during the evening commute and the operators seemingly not having an easy way to bring those back into operation.

Reason077 7y ago
The problem seems to be that individual trains have faulted and apparently cannot be restarted without a visit from an engineer. With multiple faulty trains blocking lines, nothing can move.

poooogles 7y ago

>The UK grid is actually pretty well maintained and resilient Also prefixed by not an expert here; but know a few in the industry and somewhat keep up with it. The push away from coal to other sources of power (combined with the closure of gigawatts of nuclear power) has put the network under more stress than it's been in the past few decades [1]. I'd expect more of this in the future in cases of multi generator failures; there just isn't that much in the way of generation to take up the slack. Luckily we're in summer where demand is much lower, if this was to happen in winter the outcomes could have been much worse. //edit - Just to be clear though, this does seem to be totally benign and could have happened to any other well equipped grid. A gigawatt of power dropping out in such a short space is going to result in some kind of load shedding. Denorwig spins up fast; but not that fast. 1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33527967 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33527967

the_seraphim 7y ago
isn't this why we are looking into large battery stabilisation facilities similar to the tesla one in australia