Britain’s grid operator fixed a failure in the part of its computer systems used to match electricity supply with demand.
(Bloomberg) — Britain’s grid operator fixed a failure in the part of its computer systems used to match electricity supply with demand.
National Grid Plc’s electricity control center reported that the balancing mechanism’s IT systems went down at 11 a.m. London time on Wednesday and returned shortly before 3 p.m., according to a notice. Protocols were in place to ensure a safe and secure power supply, it said.
“Following a temporary outage to an IT system involved in the Balancing Mechanism, the ESO communicated to market participants to move to alternative communication options,” a spokesperson for the grid operator said. “The outage has now been resolved. There have been no impact to electricity supplies.”
The failure occurred in part of the company known as the Electricity System Operator, which uses consumers’ money to pay power stations to turn up and down to make sure supply matches demand. The ESO is set to be nationalized and renamed the Future System Operator as part of government plans to prepare for a net zero electricity grid.
Power generators in the balancing mechanism were told to operate as outlined by their last plan provided to the grid operator. In case of any changes to their output, they were asked to use established telephone lines instead of sending messages digitally.
(Updates with fix from first paragraph.)
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