【By Chen Sijia, Observers Daily】In March this year, London's Heathrow Airport was paralyzed due to a fire at a nearby substation, affecting the travel plans of more than 270,000 passengers. According to a report by Sky News on July 2, a new investigation revealed that staff had identified potential safety hazards during a maintenance check in 2018, but the issue was never resolved, eventually leading to the fire.

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) stated in the report that a high-voltage bushing at the North Herts substation, which supplies power to the airport, failed, causing a transformer to catch fire. This failure "likely" resulted from moisture entering the equipment. Experts noted that at least two opportunities to prevent the failure were missed, with the earliest occurring in 2018, when oil sample testing detected humidity levels higher than expected.

According to the guidelines of the UK National Grid Transmission, such readings indicated "an impending failure, and the bushing should have been replaced." However, NESO found that the necessary measures for such a serious issue were "not implemented," including the postponement of basic maintenance work in 2022, "therefore, the problem remained unresolved."

The report also added that there were issues with the design and configuration of Heathrow Airport's internal power grid. If one of the three power supply points failed, it would "cause critical operational systems to lose power, resulting in long-term operational disruptions."

On the afternoon of March 21, a fire broke out at a substation near Heathrow Airport, causing the airport to close for about 16 hours. The latest report states that the incident led to the cancellation of approximately 1,300 flights, affecting the travel plans of more than 270,000 passengers. Sky News reported that Heathrow Airport is the busiest airport in Europe, and this incident caused losses of millions of pounds, raising questions about the resilience of the UK's infrastructure.

The investigation report pointed out that the accident also caused power outages for 71,000 households and commercial users.

On March 21, a fire broke out at the North Herts substation in London, causing Heathrow Airport to close. Visual China

Fintan Slye, CEO of NESO, said that the UK National Grid's asset management system lacked control mechanisms to detect rising humidity levels in a timely manner, "They did identify a fault, but for some reason, the transformer was not immediately taken offline and repaired. There was no control mechanism in the system to go back and remind: Wait, you forgot to deal with this issue."

Tom Clarke, technology editor at Sky News, pointed out that some of the UK's substations are aging, "Some of the equipment is indeed very old, approaching the end of its natural lifespan. This incident clearly shows what can happen if maintenance is inadequate."

Clarke believes the report also reveals shortcomings in the UK authorities' planning and coordination, "The grid operator does not know who is responsible for key national infrastructure in the grid, nor do they have priorities."

In response to the investigation report, a spokesperson for Heathrow Airport said, "Outdated regulatory frameworks, inadequate safety mechanisms, and the UK National Grid's failure to properly maintain its infrastructure collectively caused this catastrophic power outage. We expect the National Grid to seriously consider what measures can be taken to ensure such events do not happen again."

The spokesperson also mentioned that Heathrow Airport's own review, led by former UK minister Ruth Kelly, has identified key areas for improvement, and the implementation of 28 recommendations is already underway.

In May, Kelly's investigation found that the airport's chief executive, Thomas Woldbye, could not be contacted at the time of the incident because he was at home sleeping, with his phone on silent. After the incident, Woldbye claimed to be proud of the airport's "ability to respond to the power outage."

Edward Miliband, the UK's Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero, who commissioned the NESO report, said the findings were worrying because the UK National Grid Transmission Company had not addressed known risks. He revealed that the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM) had launched an investigation on July 2 into "possible license violations related to the development and maintenance of the North Herts power system."

Miliband said, "From this incident, we can draw broader lessons. My department will work with other departments of the UK government to urgently review the findings and recommendations in the NESO report and release a response to the report at the appropriate time."

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7522461131605279242/

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