By GB News (World News) | Created at 2025-03-22 16:15:57 | Updated at 2025-03-23 14:46:36
22 hours ago
Heathrow was warned a decade ago about relying on a single power station to fuel Europe's largest airport, it has emerged in the wake of yesterday's meltdown.
A 2014 report by infrastructure consultants Jacobs revealed that Heathrow could have been plunged into chaos by one "key weakness" - which came to fruition in the early hours of Friday.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has announced a wide-ranging probe into Britain's "energy resilience" as a whole following yesterday's chaos.
In the last decade the landmark London airport has been dependent on just three substations - and the report explicitly referenced how "potentially the entire airport" could be subjected to disruption by power outages.
"Beyond the management of supply and grid services, which lie outside the airport's control, the responsibility for managing electricity supply risk lies with the airport and businesses operating from the airport," Jacobs warned back in 2014.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has announced a wide-ranging probe into Britain's 'energy resilience' as a whole following the chaos
PA
'We are determined to properly understand what happened,' Ed Miliband said
REUTERS
Announcing an investigation into Britain's energy resilience, Miliband said: "The loss of power to the Heathrow area has caused major disruption to thousands of people and many businesses. We are determined to properly understand what happened and what lessons need to be learned.
"That is why, working with Ofgem, I have today commissioned the National Energy System Operator to carry out an investigation into this specific incident and to understand any wider lessons to be learned on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure, both now and in the future.
"The Government is determined to do everything it can to prevent a repeat of what happened at Heathrow. This review will be an important step in helping us to do so, as we deliver our Plan for Change."
His department said the watchdog's initial findings should arrive by early May.
