Heathrow 'had enough power' amid shutdown despite 'unprecedented' blaze, National Grid boss says

23 March 2025, 18:18 | Updated: 23 March 2025, 18:19

Heathrow Airport had enough power to keep running despite an 'unprecedented blaze' tearing through a nearby substation, National Grid's boss has claimed.

Heathrow was thrust into chaos on Friday as Europe's busiest airport was brought to a standstill by a substation inferno, with thousands stranded, hundreds of flights cancelled and over 100 nearby residents evacuated.

But according to National Grid boss John Pettigrew, the airport could have continued to receive power amid the shutdown.

“There was no lack of capacity from the substations," he told the Financial Times.

Mr Pettigrew added: “Each substation individually can provide enough power to Heathrow.”

While the North Hyde substation as an "unprecedented blaze" ripped through the site, Mr Pettigrew said two others serving Heathrow were still working throughout the chaos.

Read more: Catastrophic Heathrow closure highlights importance of airport's expansion, Chancellor says

Read more: Why Heathrow Airport boss 'went to bed' as inferno raged while 300,000 passengers faced flight chaos

“Two substations were always available for the distribution network companies and Heathrow to take power,” he said.

The energy boss said it is a “question for Heathrow” as to why it decided to put operations on pause.

“Losing a substation is a unique event — but there were two others available,” he said, adding “that is a level of resilience.”

Heathrow has said that while it has the ability of running full operations with power from just two substations, it was forced to “reconfigure” its internal electrical networks to make the change safely.

National Grid owns and operates the UK's the substations around Heathrow, where electricity is sent into distribution networks and passed on to homes and business.

In the wake of the Hayes substation fire that led to the airport’s closure, the National Grid said it is “deeply sorry.”\

A statement read: "Since this unprecedented fire broke out at our North Hyde substation late on Thursday night, our teams have worked tirelessly and in close collaboration with the fire brigade and police to get the situation back under control.

"Power supplies have been restored to all customers, including Heathrow, allowing operations to resume at Heathrow.We are deeply sorry for the disruption caused and are continuing to work closely with the government, Heathrow and the police to understand the cause of the incident."

Heathrow boss Thomas Woldbye has said the airport reopened as quickly and safely possible after the “unprecedented” incident.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has ordered the National Energy System Operator to "urgently investigate" the power outage.

The "investigation will support efforts to build a clear picture of the circumstances surrounding this incident and the UK's energy resilience more broadly so that it's prevented from ever happening again", the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said.

Mr Miliband said: "The loss of power to the Heathrow area has caused major disruption to thousands of people and many businesses. We are determined to properly understand what happened and what lessons need to be learned.

"That is why working with Ofgem, I have today commissioned the National Energy System Operator to carry out an investigation into this specific incident and to understand any wider lessons to be learned on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure, both now and in the future.

"The Government is determined to do everything it can to prevent a repeat of what happened at Heathrow. This review will be an important step in helping us to do so, as we deliver our plan for change."

While some delays and cancellations continue, the airport has now returned to its usual service.

Speaking on Sunday, Rachel Reeves insisted lessons must be learned from the shutdown, which left thousands stranded.

"We do need to expand airport capacity in the UK and I think that what we've seen in the last couple of days has shown how important that is, but also how important it is to build the resilience in our UK critical infrastructure, including our hub airport Heathrow," she told Sky News.