Heathrow fire - Sabotage?

[Odds]

There was enough power for Heathrow to remain open during the entire period it was shut down on Friday, the head of National Grid has said. Chief executive, John Pettigrew, said two other substations that serve Heathrow were working and could have supplied the airport with all the power it needed to remain open. “There was no lack of capacity from the substations,” he told the Financial Times. “Each substation individually can provide enough power to Heathrow.”


The plot thickens...

 

[JP_]

How many accidents will we endure before accepting they're not accidents?

 

[wobs]

Heathrow is one of probably a few hundred infrastructure assets in the UK which should have RAPID backup systems.
Heathrow should be in the top few, so the fact that it didn't, is disgraceful.

What do you suggest, when the peak demand is about 55MW??

 

[JohnD]

There was enough power for Heathrow to remain open during the entire period it was shut down on Friday, the head of National Grid has said. Chief executive, John Pettigrew, said two other substations that serve Heathrow were working and could have supplied the airport with all the power it needed to remain open. “There was no lack of capacity from the substations,” he told the Financial Times. “Each substation individually can provide enough power to Heathrow.”


The plot thickens...

I formerly worked in the Electricity industry, in several of the main companies. The management and directors included a lot of skill and experience in the industry, and it was common for critical sites to have two feeds from the grid, at different ends of the site, with automated changeovers, a diesel generator in the car park, and UPS for some equipment. I used to joke that the only thing causing a failure would be someone tripping over a cable and pulling a plug out.

No doubt their spending on belt and braces would have been considered excessive outside the industry.

But quite apart from business interruption, a failure would have caused great reputational damage.

 

[Koolpc]

"Donald, i heard on the grapevine that Notchy is spreading rumours that you gave the order to set fire to the power plant at Heathrow!"

 

[Odds]

I formerly worked in the Electricity industry, in several of the main companies. The management and directors included a lot of skill and experience in the industry, and it was common for critical sites to have two feeds from the grid, at different ends of the site, with automated changeovers, a diesel generator in the car park, and UPS for some equipment. I used to joke that the only thing causing a failure would be someone tripping over a cable and pulling a plug out.

No doubt their spending on belt and braces would have been considered excessive outside the industry.

But quite apart from business interruption, a failure would have caused great reputational damage.

It takes much more than that to affect a company reputation these days. This isn't Japan.
I read a part of the problem with the substations is the location...the sparks have a more detailed discussion on the technical stuff in their forum. Not often i go there: full of old wires and strange symbols scrawled on the wall alongside unfeasible suggestions for sexual proclivity....although claims the fire started outside Heathrow leaves plenty of questions of how such critical infrastructutre could be so drastically affected.

Still, could be worse...it could be Easter.