UK "Clearly Running Without Enough Backup" Says Former Energy UK Chief

10 August 2019, 10:36

The former Chief Executive of Energy UK tells LBC the massive power cut that caused heavy disruption on Friday evening was because the UK was "running without enough backup".

Speaking to Andrew Castle, Angela Knight blamed a "series of incremental decisions" that resulted in the UK not having enough backup power to step in should there be problems at any generators.

"We were clearly running as a country without enough backup," she said.

"I have no idea who would have made that decision, but it'll be a series of incremental decisions somewhere down the line but we were clearly not running as would expect with four of five big power stations on standby

"We were obviously running with very little backup and that's why it didn't just go out for a second or two, it's why we went out for some considerable period of time."

Her comments come as energy watchdog Ofgem demands an urgent report from National Grid after a major power cut caused severe disruption to commuters and cut electricity for almost one million people in England and Wales.

More than 900,000 had power restored following blackouts that began at rush hour on Friday afternoon, after what the National Grid Electricity System Operator said were issues with two generators.

Traffic lights, hospitals, airports and the rail network were hit, with passengers at Clapham Junction using the light from their phones to navigate the station in the pitch black tunnels.

In a statement, the operator said other generators that responded to the loss of power were insufficient to cope with the scale of the outage.

- Energy Watchdog Ofgem Demands Answers After Major UK Power Outage

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