(qlmbusinessnews.com . Thu 3rd Jul, 2025) London, UK —
Heathrow Airport Power Outage: Failure to Act on 2018 Warning Causes Chaos for 200,000 Travelers
A comprehensive investigation into a catastrophic fire at an electricity substation, which precipitated a near-daylong shutdown of Heathrow Airport affecting over 200,000 travellers, has recently been disclosed.
The investigation, conducted by the National Energy System Operator (NESO), pinpointed the underlying cause of the blaze and disclosed that National Grid, the entity responsible for the substation's operation, had been forewarned of a pertinent fault seven years prior to the incident.
Outlined below are the pivotal findings from the investigative report:
1. Origin of the Fire: The root cause of the fire was identified as moisture intrusion. Specifically, a “supergrid transformer”, essential for converting high voltage electricity from the transmission grid to a lower voltage suitable for Heathrow Airport and nearby residences, caught fire. The inspectors attributed the fire to moisture penetration into the transformer's high-voltage “bushing”, creating a short-circuit and subsequent “arcing”, leading to a “catastrophic failure”. Consequently, the transformer's cooling oil ignited, resulting in two transformers being taken offline and ultimately cutting power to Heathrow.
2. Forewarning Ignored: The issue of moisture detection dates back to July 2018, noted at North Hyde. National Grid's protocols highlighted such detections as indicative of “an imminent fault” warranting replacement. However, no immediate remedy was undertaken. Even in 2022, essential maintenance on the transformer was postponed, with numerous subsequent maintenance attempts failing to materialise.
3. Heathrow's Foreknowledge and Response: Aware that the failure of one among its three grid connections could necessitate a prolonged airport closure, Heathrow acknowledged the potential risk but deemed mitigative spending, which could have ascended to a billion pounds, unjustifiable. The NESO report, however, remarked that the trio of grid connections offered avenues to bolster Heathrow's power supply resilience.
4. A Gap in National Grid's Awareness: Both National Grid and the local network operator SSEN were cognisant of the fact that North Hyde supplied electricity to Heathrow, yet they were unaware of the potential for a complete airport shutdown if this supply was disrupted. Presently, energy suppliers are not informed if their consumers are considered “critical national infrastructure (CNI)” across vital sectors, prompting the report to advocate for enhanced communication between CNI operators and their energy suppliers to avert future supply interruptions.
5. Heathrow's Discontent: The airport has faced considerable criticism post-fire, further inflamed by revelations that Chief Executive Thomas Woldbye was asleep when the closure decision was made. While NESO maintained that its report did not seek to “apportion blame”, Heathrow is now contemplating legal actions against National Grid, accusing it of “clear and repeated failings” that “could and should” have averted the fire. The airport anticipates National Grid accepting responsibility for these lapses. On its part, National Grid assured of its detailed maintenance programme and its commitment to cooperate with the ongoing Ofgem investigation.
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