History lesson: A storm from another decade

“It was a car crash.” Robert Friel is recalling the aftermath of the 90mph+ gales that battered the UK and northwestern Europe in the autumn of 2002. Friel was drafted in while working for EDF Energy to help with the clean-up from the storm.

“In some areas it took eight days to get the lights back on,” he remembers. “Telephony was lost as well. In the aftermath, we saw a marked change in Ofgem and DNO storm performance [requirements], to aiming to get power back on in 24 hours or 48 hours. But in Storm Arwen, we saw some of the same downsides as in 2002.

“If we had had technology such as LineSIGHT back then we would have it deployed on high-risk areas of the network and known where we might need to respond to network issues ahead of time.”

LineSIGHT is not reliant on the network for power supply and doesn’t require deviations in current to detect faults. That means it can pinpoint secondary damage (‘nested faults’) on a network in the event of a storm, enabling engineers to react to the situation.

LineSIGHT enables focus on specific areas. “If primary protection trips, you may be looking at patrolling a large section of the line. With LineSIGHT, you can often pinpoint it within 250m or less. That saves time.”

Saving time means improved customer satisfaction ratings for the DNOs, and lower financial penalties, helping make the business case for LineSIGHT attractive. The technology may also mean teams do not have to be sent to site, or helicopters sent up to detect a fault. This has both health and safety and financial benefits, Friel explains.