One Amp Fuse Caused London Blackout

[Pert_UK]

"The installation of a wrong fuse caused the power cut which severely disrupted London during rush-hour last month, the electricity operator, National Grid, reported today...

According to National Grid's 43-page report, the sequence of events that led to the power cut began when the national control centre received an alarm from Hurst power station in Kent at 6.11pm. The alarm indicated that a transformer at Hurst was "in distress and could fail, potentially with significant safety and environmental impacts". The transformer had to be shut down, forcing National Grid to reroute its power flows via other stations.

But seconds later, the change in power flows was interpreted as a fault by automatic protection equipment. This automatically disconnected Hurst, along with New Cross, and part of Wimbledon substations from the rest of the transmission system, causing the loss of about a fifth of London's power supplies.

The automatic protection equipment, a shoebox-sized device that acts like a normal domestic fuse, was activated because it was the wrong amp size. Two years ago, engineers had mistakenly installed a one-amp version instead of a five-amp version. When the power surged, the fuse - because it was oversensitive - shut down the system when a correct fuse would not have done. "

D'oh!

Full article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1039409,00.html

[htuttle]

1. It was probably those louts Spoor and Dowser from Central Services

Bloody wankers won't turn a screw without filling out a 27B/6.

[DisgustedTX]

2. I smell BS. US blackout at 4:11PM. British 6:11PM.

Noticing a pattern?