London's Heathrow Airport announces complete shutdown due to power outage

Post by zimpenfish » Fri, Mar 21, 2025, 3:39 PM UTC

p1mrx wrote: post #76

LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Heathrow is massive and uses a lot of power (1-2MWh/day). That number doesn't seem that high, compared to a single high-speed train running at about 300kph or above. Or lets say all of the London Tube/DLR. Seems like nothing, actually.

Yeah, that can't be right. You can tow a 100 kW generator (2.4 MWh/day) with a pickup truck.

Post by dredmorbius » Fri, Mar 21, 2025, 3:42 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #50

blindriver wrote: post #10

Seems like a national security issue if there’s a single point of failure a few miles away that can take down one of Europe’s largest airports and global air travel.

Why would it be a national security issue? Military airports are working fine. National security doesn't rely on civilian airports. And communications networks aren't disrupted or anything. This isn't enabling terrorism. It's absolutely a huge economic issue. Economic-political. But I'm not seeing a national security angle here.

Post by AnimalMuppet » Fri, Mar 21, 2025, 3:43 PM UTC

pjmorris wrote: post #85

traceroute66 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Heathrow is a significant part of the UK economy Is it, really ? From Heathrow's own website[1], so we can expect figures on the "generous" side: "Heathrow Airport is expected to contribute approximately £4.7bn to the UK economy " This incident started somewhere around midnight and is currently estimated to be resolved by 15:00. So let's round that up to "one day". £4.7bn divided by 365 is £12.8m Compared to say, t…

I've flown through Heathrow a dozen or so times, and have spent maybe $200 in various shops and restaurants. Outside the airport, I spent months working on projects, and both I and the projects involved much more than $200. An analysis that includes only direct spending misses the overall impact.

Post by traceroute66 » Fri, Mar 21, 2025, 3:44 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #89

traceroute66 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Seems like a national security issue if there’s a single point of failure No. Its not. Its the fact that the decades of under-investment in power distribution infrastructure is coming home to roost. Its no secret there's little to no "fat" in the UK grid system. Hence it has difficulty coping with black-swan events such as this. Anyone who buys datacentre space in London knows the reason prices have gone through th…

So .. why are people trying to build new datacentre space in London rather than somewhere a bit further away and less expensive? Easier to put the datacentre near the power and run some fiber rather than the other way round, surely? The expense is unpleasant, but the money has to come from somewhere, and the user paying is easier to justify than all the other bill-payers collectively or the taxpayer.

    1. A chunk of the customer base (financial sector, hyperscalers etc.) that wants the low latency and who are price insensitive because of their deep pockets.
    2. If peering matters to you, then you're limited to where the IXP is, which is usually only at the major London sites.  LINX, for example, have LINX Wales, but that is not interconnected with LINX London, so you either need to get space in London or pay for fibre capacity back to London.
    3. Fibre coverage outside large conurbations in the UK has traditionally been shit and to varying degrees still is.
    4. The rural areas don't have substations ready-to-go and the NIMBY's come running if you propose building one or anything else in their backyards (see protests about new wind farms).

Post by sega_sai » Fri, Mar 21, 2025, 3:46 PM UTC

belter wrote: post #93

lo_fye wrote: post #87

Is the power outage due to the fire? If so, what was the fire due to? How far back do we need to go on this? the Big Bang?

Old oil transformer. The insulation breaks down in old transformers. It happens sometimes. No need to involve Russian conspiracy theories at this point in time... :-) "How to Prevent Substation Fires": https://www.oilbarriers.com/blog/suppress-substation-fires/ https://youtu.be/2np745xyQ7o