According to the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49302996) the problems were caused by the Little Barford gas-fired power station "failing", closely followed by the  Hornsea offshore wind farm disconnecting from the grid. The national grid responded (apparently automatically) by load shedding some customers to restore stability.


I might hazard a guess that wind farm disconnecting might have been triggered by the grid instability (low frequency, possibly low voltage) caused by the gas station failing.


It would be interesting to know how the grid "decided" which parts of the network to shed load from - in some ways the choices made (e.g. rail traction supplies) might not have been optimal from the bigger picture point of view.


Maybe time to question too whether automatically disconnecting (renewable) generators when the grid is short of generating capacity is necessarily the correct approach.


I wonder how things might have been different if everyone had had smart meters installed - in theory then the grid could have responded by directing , via the smart meter network, low priority appliances to shut down - so spreading the load shedding almost invisibly across the whole network possibly avoiding the need for complete power cuts for anyone.


  - Andy.

According to the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49302996) the problems were caused by the Little Barford gas-fired power station "failing", closely followed by the  Hornsea offshore wind farm disconnecting from the grid. The national grid responded (apparently automatically) by load shedding some customers to restore stability.


I might hazard a guess that wind farm disconnecting might have been triggered by the grid instability (low frequency, possibly low voltage) caused by the gas station failing.


It would be interesting to know how the grid "decided" which parts of the network to shed load from - in some ways the choices made (e.g. rail traction supplies) might not have been optimal from the bigger picture point of view.


Maybe time to question too whether automatically disconnecting (renewable) generators when the grid is short of generating capacity is necessarily the correct approach.


I wonder how things might have been different if everyone had had smart meters installed - in theory then the grid could have responded by directing , via the smart meter network, low priority appliances to shut down - so spreading the load shedding almost invisibly across the whole network possibly avoiding the need for complete power cuts for anyone.


  - Andy.