The British government has mandated an immediate inquiry into how one of the biggest airports in the world was rendered inoperable on Friday due to a fire at an energy substation that left London’s Heathrow Airport in complete darkness.
In a statement released late Saturday, British Energy Secretary Ed Miliband stated, “We are determined to properly understand what happened and what lessons need to be learnt.”
More than 1,000 flights were interrupted by Friday’s shutdown, which left passengers stranded and aircraft and aviation workers out of position. Some passengers might not get to their destinations for a few more days.The incident, which the authorities think was probably an accident, made people wonder if Britain had made enough investments to keep up its vital infrastructure and how resilient it is. However, considering the size of the fire at the substation, several analysts suggested the blackout was most likely inevitable.
For many years, the British government has been under pressure to preserve and update the nation’s roads and railroads. However, the nation is under financial strain, with underfunding of public services including health care. As he attempts to boost military expenditure in the face of stagnating economic growth, Prime Minister Keir Starmer would face electoral challenges from any calls for more significant infrastructure spending.Engineers began to wonder if Heathrow had the infrastructure necessary to host a large global hub within hours of the airport falling dark.
In an online essay, University of Bristol physics professor Martin Kuball said the fire was a warning about the country’s electrical networks.
At the Science Media Centre, Mr. Kuball, a chair in emerging technologies at the Royal Academy of Engineering, commented, “Unfortunately, there is no resilience built into the National Grid.” “This is partly because we continue to rely on outdated technology, such as so-called solid state transformers, in substations that distribute power using copper windings.”Three substations that convert and deliver energy to Heathrow were affected by the incident. Thomas Woldbye, the CEO of Heathrow, told the BBC, “We have other substations, but to switch them in takes time.”
National Grid CEO John Pettigrew refuted that account of events on Sunday, telling The Financial Times that the airport may have collapsed back onto the other substations. He went on to say that it was a “question for Heathrow” as to why it did what it did.”It’s a unique experience to lose a substation, but there were two others available,” he added.
Runway lighting and other vital safety features are powered by diesel generators and batteries at the airport. However, according to airport officials, the entire airport could not be powered by those emergency backups.
Thus, the airport essentially went black, and according to some experts, under same conditions, any airport would have had the same result.
Most airports lack the backup capacity to continue operating fully after being cut off from the grid, according to Simon Gallagher, managing director of U.K. Networks Services, which counsels customers on the resilience of their electrical networks.At least 20 diesel generators, each the size of a 40-foot shipping container and capable of producing one megawatt of energy, would be needed for that, he claimed. According to him, the configuration would supply electricity for around six hours before requiring refuelling.
According to a 2023 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, between 2015 and 2022, 24 airports in the United States had 321 unscheduled outages lasting more than five minutes.More than 1,000 flights were cancelled in 2017 due to a power outage that affected operations at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the biggest airport in the world. Kennedy International Airport’s terminal was closed for a day in 2023 due to an electrical panel breakdown.
According to the British authorities, the investigation’s initial findings should be available in six weeks.
As airlines attempted to clear the backlog that has caused travel disruptions for tens of thousands of customers, Heathrow said that it will run a full schedule of over 1,300 flights on Sunday. Over 250,000 travellers arrived at the airport “with punctual departures” on Saturday, according to the airport.Heathrow “uses the energy of a small city, so it’s imperative we identify how this power failure happened and learn from this to ensure a vital piece of national infrastructure remains strong,” said Heidi Alexander, the transport minister, in a statement.
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