Chaos at Heathrow: What Caused the Airport Shutdown and What We Learned
A recent report from the National Energy System Operator (NESO) sheds light on the devastating fire at an electricity substation that led to Heathrow Airport’s operational failure for nearly 24 hours, affecting over 200,000 passengers. Here are the five key findings from the report:
Cause of the Fire: The fire originated from a supergrid transformer, crucial for regulating high-voltage electricity for Heathrow. An infiltration of moisture into the high-voltage bushing caused a short-circuit and electrical arcing, culminating in a catastrophic failure that ignited the cooling oil and disabled two transformers supplying power to the airport.
2. Prior Warnings Ignored: Alarmingly, signs of moisture were detected back in July 2018, indicating an imminent fault that required urgent replacement. However, the National Grid did not take action at the time, and subsequent maintenance scheduled for 2022 was deferred multiple times, exposing a serious lapse in safety protocols.
3. Heathrow’s Vulnerability: Despite having three connections to the national grid, Heathrow did not believe that losing one would lead to a closure, hence deemed it unworthy to invest £1 billion in upgrades. The NESO suggested that these connections presented opportunities to better prepare Heathrow against such disruptions.
4. Lack of Communication: The report highlighted a worrying lack of communication among energy suppliers and critical national infrastructure (CNI) operators. Neither the National Grid nor the local operator SSEN knew that an outage would lead to mandatory airport closure, emphasizing the need for improved clarity on infrastructure identification.
5. Accountability and Response: The fire triggered significant backlash against Heathrow, especially as its CEO, Thomas Woldbye, was reportedly in bed when decisions to close the airport were made. While NESO refrained from assigning blame, Heathrow hinted at legal action against the National Grid for what they term as repeated failings that could have been prevented. The National Grid pledged to cooperate with ongoing investigations and maintain their standards moving forward.
Overall, this incident acts as a cautionary tale, highlighting serious deficiencies in infrastructure management, crisis preparedness, and communication protocols that need urgent attention to avert future catastrophes.