LONDON: A fireplace that precipitated a hugely disruptive shutdown at Heathrow airport in March was attributable to the failure of a element at an electrical energy substation that had not been correctly maintained, Britain’s Nationwide Vitality System Operator stated on Wednesday (Jul 2).
Britain’s vitality regulator Ofgem launched an official enforcement investigation into Nationwide Grid Electrical energy Transmission primarily based on the report’s findings, the watchdog stated in a separate assertion.
The closure of Heathrow, the busiest airport in Europe, on Mar 21 price airways tens of tens of millions of kilos and stranded hundreds of passengers. It additionally raised questions concerning the resilience of Britain’s infrastructure.
“This evaluate has seen proof {that a} catastrophic failure on one of many transformer’s excessive voltage bushings at Nationwide Grid Electrical energy Transmission’s 275kV substation precipitated the transformer to catch hearth,” the report by the Nationwide Vitality System Operator stated.
“This was almost certainly attributable to moisture getting into the bushing, inflicting {an electrical} fault.”
Nationwide Grid controls in place weren’t efficient and did not establish that motion had not been taken in relation to an elevated moisture studying in 2018, the report stated, including that the difficulty went unaddressed.
Vitality minister Ed Miliband stated the report was “deeply regarding”.
Nationwide Grid didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
