Blackouts experienced in Britain

Britain experienced power outages caused by shutting down of several power plants.

This was after the National Grid asked electricity distributors to cut down on the voltage to households after the shutting down of several power plants brought fears that there would be electricity shortages during the period of peak demand.

National Grid made the request to the electricity suppliers after various areas such as Merseyside, Cheshire and south-west London experienced power outages after the Sizewell B nuclear reactor of British Energy shut down unexpectedly in the morning hours. British Energy did not say what caused the shutting down of the nuclear reactor. It only disclosed that it had made plans to return normal operations at the plant. A spokesperson for the National Grid said power had been cut off to protect the integrity of the network.

This was followed by a total of nine power stations closing down for various reasons in the course of the day and this is what forced the National Grid to give out notices to reduce voltage. The last notice to be issued was what is called the demand control imminence notice which is not common and is only issued about once in forty eight months. It was given out yesterday when it emerged that the electricity supply in the nation was going to go down by about four hundred megawatts which is about one per cent of the total demand in the country.

As a result of the reduced voltage some consumers of electricity might have observed a slight dimming of lights.

www.british-energy.com