Heathrow substation fire ‘caused by fault first identified seven years ago’ | Heathrow airport

The main reason for the transformer center, which closed the Heathrow airport in March, was a prevented technical mistake that the national network was aware of seven years ago but could not be properly corrected.

The final report of the National Energy System Operator (Neso) incident, which reduces the power to the airport and affects more than 1,350 flights and about 300,000 passengers, said that the insulation is caused by the insulation around the wires sparking the electrical failure.

The state’s organ, the investigation, 67,000 houses, the owner of the flame -capturing transformer center, the National Grid, in 2018 in an existing transformer and flowing out of the problem found that the problem found in the horoscope, he said.

“In the oil samples taken in July 2018, a high moisture reading was detected in the oil samples taken in July 2018, but no alleviating actions were applied to the seriousness,” he said. “Since then, the National Grid has launched the end -to -end examination of the oil sampling process in order to ensure that it is intact.”

In response to the findings, the Great Britain’s energy regulator Ofgem launched an investigation into the national network for calling “preventive technical error”.

Ofgem, the national network in the northern Hyde electrical system in the “development and maintenance” on the legislation and undergraduate conditions, he said.

It has also initiated an independent audit on the critical infrastructure assets of the National Grid and their status.

Ofgem, the aim is to determine whether the failures described in Neso’s report are “one -time or more systemic in the national network land”.

Ofgem Infrastructure General Manager Akshay Kaul said: “North Hyde transformer central fire caused global deterioration, affected thousands of local customers and emphasized the importance of investment in our energy infrastructure.

“We expect energy companies to protect their equipment and networks properly to prevent such events. Where there is evidence that they are not, we will take action and take the companies into account.”

Neso said that the use of judicial analysis from the National Grid and the Fire Brigade of the London Fire Brigade found evidence of “disaster failure ında in one of the high -voltage signs that caused fire in the 57 -year -old power transformer center.

A transformer signifies insulation for the safe flow of the electric current and is typically made of materials such as porcelain, resin or oil impregnated paper.

Heathrow’s private electricity network took hours to re -strengthened after the deduction, but two nearby transformer centers continued to operate normally.

According to the report, the power of Europe’s largest airport lasted seven more hours after the power was recovered, so after the fire broke out, the flights broke for almost 24 hours.

However, three data centers who lost their power in the incident were able to continue operations through the use of spare generators.

Neso’s examination of 900 evidence found that the internal prediction of the time to restructure the electricity network in case of loss of one of the three supply points of Heathrow found that the internal estimation was 10 to 12 hours.

“This was less known by people outside the technical team at Heathrow Airport,” the report said in the report. “And it was not known by energy companies.”

The examination also found that customers connected to the network operators of the energy network operators are not “generally aware of that they are not determined as critical national infrastructure (CNI).

Neso, “CNI operators in response to power deduction in response to the appropriate continuity of operations, there is no need for inter -sectors,” he said.

Neso’s General Manager Fintan said that, despite the power outage of Heathrow’s power outage and closing, all the parties relevant “quickly and professional response”.

However, the incident was a great embarrassment for Thomas Woldbye, the general manager of the airport, expressed his “deep regret” to be unlimited and sleeping throughout the power outage.

Woldbye, in the early hours of the airport after the fire cutting of Heathrow’s chief business officer Javier Echave’den two emergency calls and “a few” phone calls.

“A combination of old regulations, inadequate security mechanisms and the infrastructure of the national network have led to a power outage, Heath said Heathrow Airport Spokesman. “We expect the national network to carefully think about which steps they can take to ensure that this is not repeated.”