Reply With QuoteIt won't happen.
It seems increasingly briefed into the news media that there may be rota disconnections to balance the grid through load shedding over the course of this winter.
If I understand correctly, this looks to be planned as 3-hr rolling blackouts, rotating through the country’s 18 load block letters. At the extreme end, it’s being put about that we could see 27hrs of household disconnection in a week.
It would be good to hear any forum views on sensible steps, if any, to mitigate.
It won't happen.
The UK would be crazy to not have a plan in place, given the energy market climate. However the news outlets thrive off fear so they'll be blowing this up disproportionately.
Will it happen? Can't rule it out, but its got to be a less than 5% chance of being a real issue this winter.
This.Originally Posted by Skier
I&c customers have had load shedding clauses in lumpy and unpredictable off takers for a decade at least.
So if the worst happens it will be these which are shed (and compensated first).
In the event that brown outs happen they have to be planned very carefully as not all plant is black start compatible, this means in simple terms, that certain plants need to be connected to the grid (or another) power source in order to get back online and fully ramped up.
But .....
It is conceivable in any recent year that an unplanned outage of dispatchable plants which were bid into the auctions could in theory cause black/brown outs. We have limited spare capacity, and if the interconnectors can't pick up slack then problems can occur.
Given peak demand is usually around 7-8pm and is usually on low temp high pressure days with low wind speed, the 40% of UK's Gen from wind could leave a bit of a hole if the planets align.
Chose your media more wisely.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
More wisely than whom? Various iterations of these plans have been reported everywhere from the FT and Guardian to the other end of the spectrum.
The thought of having to put the microwave clock right more often 😫
Behind every one of the headlines (click bait) the story varies a lot. Most of the decent sources state that they are planning but not concerned.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Precisely ;)
Very interesting to read the informed views though, perhaps we’ll be spared after all!
Leave as-is, will be right at least once a day.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Aye, that’s what I’m reading. To be fair, it’s also what I *think* I was asking, i.e. whether anyone could/should plan at an individual level. Sorry if it sounded unduly concerned :)
There is not much you can do at an individual retail customer level.
Maybe get a chest freezer which in theory keeps cool longer in the event of a power cut.
Have an alternative source of lighting, maybe have some power banks ready to go if you're really worried.
Generators /battery backup and solar are all possible but ££
Larger commercial properties or retail usually have some sort of u.p.s. fitted as a system shutdown mechanism
Or twice a day if you use the 12hr format.
Surely as owners of multiple high-end automatic watches this will be the least of our problems?! The caviar going above 30F is more of an issue.
Very helpful, many thanks for this and the earlier post too. I’ve yet to find a topic where TZ can’t field an informed expert or two!
A couple of things I have noticed when deliberately or accidentally tripping circuits in the house, which may apply to others following a grid blackout and subsequent re-energising:
- Some TVs which have been on ‘standby’ - come on, and stay on until you manually switch them off (or they go back into sleep mode on their own after several hours)
- Central Heating Controllers (Clock and timer data is maintained by battery backup) - May lose timing data and switch to MANUAL - ON, if the backup battery fails. That could prove expensive if in a property not used continuously.
As others have said - have some form of alternative heating for one room at least, and a power bank for your phone (which you may want to use as a WiFi hotspot for iPad/laptop.
Last edited by blackal; 22nd November 2022 at 09:03.
^^^. I'll add to that, whilst in an electrical power failure go around your property and disconnect appliances from all your sockets.
A camping stove is good thing to have too, plus a spare canister or two.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Had this one before. Came back from holiday around 2am and the house was 28°C. Think it has been on almost a week. Had to open all the windows and doors and sit the garage for 2-3 hours.
We now manually change the thermostat down to 14, wait, set the heat to off, and check it on Nest every day or two when we're away.
And yet the wife still complained it was cold.
Yup, on a controller that has been in a fair period of time - the batteries can be toast, you only find out when mains fails.
If anyone feels adventurous - unplug the controller and renew the batts. (Controller uses knife contracts into the baseplate, so no connections to undo.
https://youtu.be/biDga4JOPjY
How it would occur…..
"Bite my shiny metal ass."
- Bender Bending Rodríguez
I have read a couple of articles which suggest that Heat Pumps - which we are all being encouraged to adopt - can take 6 to 8 hours before they can be switched back on after a power outage. So you could end up with a very cold house if the power goes out on a winter's day.
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