- Energy Emergencies Executive Committee to review actions of
National Grid following power cuts
- Committee met for first time on Monday and will provide a
full report to the Secretary of State within 12 weeks
- National Grid has said power cuts had “nothing to do with
changes in wind speed or the variability of wind”
The government today (14 August 2019) set out the scope of its
review into the actions of the National Grid Electricity System
Operator after Friday’s power cuts.
The Energy Emergencies Executive Committee will establish what
happened to cause the outage and if correct procedures were
followed. It will also consider whether improvements are needed
to prevent future power cuts and better respond if they do occur,
including minimising impacts on people and essential services.
The committee met for the first time on Monday (12 August) and
will provide a report on initial findings within 5 weeks to the
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
It will then submit a comprehensive report within 12 weeks.
This review will complement the investigation being undertaken by
energy regulator Ofgem into how the electricity operator
responded in line with its licence conditions and system security
standards. It will advise if any further actions need to be
taken.
Business Secretary said:
Friday’s power outages caused significant chaos and disruption
to hundreds of thousands of people. National Grid is urgently
reviewing what happened and will shortly report to Ofgem to
consider what action may need to be taken.
National Grid has already confirmed that the incident was not
linked to the variability of wind power, a clean, renewable
energy source that the government is investing in as we work
towards becoming a net zero emissions economy by 2050. Friday’s
incident does however demonstrate the need to have a diverse
energy mix.
I have formally commissioned the government’s Energy
Emergencies Executive Committee to review the emergency
response and recovery procedures for our energy system.
The Energy Emergencies Executive Committee is a partnership
between government, the regulator and industry which co-ordinates
resilience planning across the energy industry. It ensures a
joined-up approach to emergency response and recovery,
identifying risks and processes to manage the impact of
emergencies affecting the supply of gas and/or electricity to
consumers in Great Britain.
