Major Power Outage

[PlacidCasual]

@Abraxaz1 I think it's more complex than that. I'm not convinced how much impact the lightning strike has versus the suddenly loss of over 1GW and the inability of the grid to cope with the sudden loss. The loss of the Sizewell B reactor will shed 1,250MW and the grid is supposed to be able to cope with that, in fact Dinorwif was built for this purpose. But the grid didn't cope with a comparable incident this time. The future Hinkley C units will be 1,800MW so a unit trip will be an even greater strain on the grid.

It would be too easy to find reasons for why this is a one off and ignore the change in the nature of the generating assets on the grid and the weaknesses they introduce. I predict National grid will be throwing money in a big way at grid scale battery frequency support assets over the next few years. Which will further undermine the income base of reliable thermal assets requiring more subsidies. In addition the load shedding principles of the distribution networks will be reviewed and critical infrastructure networks like trains and telecoms will be given higher importance so their load isn't shed as early as it was in this event.

 

[Abraxaz1]

@Abraxaz1 I think it's more complex than that. I'm not convinced how much impact the lightning strike has versus the suddenly loss of over 1GW and the inability of the grid to cope with the sudden loss. The loss of the Sizewell B reactor will shed 1,250MW and the grid is supposed to be able to cope with that, in fact Dinorwif was built for this purpose. But the grid didn't cope with a comparable incident this time. The future Hinkley C units will be 1,800MW so a unit trip will be an even greater strain on the grid.

It would be too easy to find reasons for why this is a one off and ignore the change in the nature of the generating assets on the grid and the weaknesses they introduce. I predict National grid will be throwing money in a big way at grid scale battery frequency support assets over the next few years. Which will further undermine the income base of reliable thermal assets requiring more subsidies. In addition the load shedding principles of the distribution networks will be reviewed and critical infrastructure networks like trains and telecoms will be given higher importance so their load isn't shed as early as it was in this event.

Actually if all the planning is correct grid are more interested in quick start remote gas turbines. I know of two main ones going ahead in south wales but I might be wrong of course

 

[PlacidCasual]

They’ve spent years on quick start gas turbines every single CEGB coal station had them. They have also paid for them to be fitted at many gas sites over the years. The problem we are now in that we have never been in before is the 0-60 window. Historically the inertia of the turbines added to the energy inventory in the steam systems meant they could open valves and slow the drop in frequency until the fast response gas turbines kick in. About 30 seconds to get to speed and another minute or two to get to full load. Normally 25-30MW each. So just as the frequency was dropping and the boost from opening the steam valves was used up the GTs would kick in and the balance was restored. It was a very well thought out and robust system when it was overwhelmingly coal gas and nuclear.
When the black out occurred we had virtually no coal (counting Drax as coal) some gas some nuclear and 50% renewables. The renewables have no inertia and no store of steam. So they don’t slow the drop the way the old stations did. The recent event saw the frequency drop, stabilise then drop again. Probably because the GTs couldn’t get up to load quick enough before the additional steam was depleted. Batteries will be able to provide this 0-180second buffer that is required because renewables are not a like for like replacement for the beautifully engineered grid the CEGB built. More cost will be required because the holistic renewables solution doesn’t exist.