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What does the GB power outage on 9 August 2019 tell us about the current state of decarbonised power systems?

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  • Bialek, Janusz

Abstract

The GB power blackout, that happened on 9 August 2019, was a unique stress test exposing fault lines brought about by the rapid changes due to the decarbonisation drive and penetration of smart grids technologies. It has demonstrated that, as a significant amount of new equipment and controls were added to the system in a very short time, the probability of common, hidden modes of failures has significantly increased. In the face of declining reliability, maintaining the status quo is not an option. While currently increasing the (N-1) security margin could prove to be expensive, the balance of costs and benefits is likely to change in future. Especially wider application of innovative frequency controls, including “virtual inertia” and Remedial Action Schemes, could help reduce the costs. Distributed Generation (DG) reached such a high penetration level that it cannot be treated any longer as negative demand. Traditional under-frequency load shedding should be made more selective. Interactions between the power system and other infrastructures are still poorly understood and there is a significant risk that if the current compartmentalised approach to their governance and operation is not changed, we may see more unexpected consequences of disturbances across the whole system.

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  • Bialek, Janusz, 2020. "What does the GB power outage on 9 August 2019 tell us about the current state of decarbonised power systems?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:146:y:2020:i:c:s0301421520305395
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111821
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    1. Bialek, J., 2020. "What does the power outage on 9 August 2019 tell us about GB power system," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2018, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    2. Janusz Bialek, 2020. "What does the power outage on 9 August 2019 tell us about GB power system," Working Papers EPRG2006, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
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    Cited by:

    1. Konstantin Kurz & Carolin Bock & Michèle Knodt & Anna Stöckl, 2022. "A Friend in Need Is a Friend Indeed? Analysis of the Willingness to Share Self-Produced Electricity During a Long-lasting Power Outage," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 74(4), pages 727-761, December.
    2. Hu, Chenxi & Zhang, Jun & Yuan, Hongxia & Gao, Tianlu & Jiang, Huaiguang & Yan, Jing & Wenzhong Gao, David & Wang, Fei-Yue, 2022. "Black swan event small-sample transfer learning (BEST-L) and its case study on electrical power prediction in COVID-19," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    3. Stelios C. Dimoulias & Eleftherios O. Kontis & Grigoris K. Papagiannis, 2022. "Inertia Estimation of Synchronous Devices: Review of Available Techniques and Comparative Assessment of Conventional Measurement-Based Approaches," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-30, October.
    4. Harri Aaltonen & Seppo Sierla & Rakshith Subramanya & Valeriy Vyatkin, 2021. "A Simulation Environment for Training a Reinforcement Learning Agent Trading a Battery Storage," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-20, September.
    5. Abha Pragati & Manohar Mishra & Pravat Kumar Rout & Debadatta Amaresh Gadanayak & Shazia Hasan & B. Rajanarayan Prusty, 2023. "A Comprehensive Survey of HVDC Protection System: Fault Analysis, Methodology, Issues, Challenges, and Future Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-39, May.
    6. Ziqian Zhang & Carina Lehmal & Philipp Hackl & Robert Schuerhuber, 2022. "Transient Stability Analysis and Post-Fault Restart Strategy for Current-Limited Grid-Forming Converter," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-26, May.
    7. Kurz, Konstantin & Bock, Carolin & Knodt, Michèle & Stöckl, Anna, 2022. "A Friend in Need Is a Friend Indeed? Analysis of the Willingness to Share Self-Produced Electricity During a Long-lasting Power Outage," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 136773, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).

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