Heathrow Power Outage Reveals Longstanding Infrastructure Vulnerabilities

A fire at a critical substation caused massive disruptions at Heathrow, prompting investigations into power resilience and underinvestment concerns.

A fire at the North Hyde substation on March 21 caused a power outage, canceling over 1,300 flights and stranding 200,000 passengers at Heathrow Airport.
Heathrow has resumed operations, with British Airways expecting a near-full schedule on March 23, though delays may persist for several days.
Investigations led by the British government, NESO, and Heathrow are underway to determine the outage's causes, with initial findings expected within six weeks.
Reports dating back to 2014 warned of Heathrow's reliance on limited power sources and insufficient on-site generation, risks that were not adequately addressed.
The National Grid has announced measures to enhance network resilience following the incident, highlighting the need for improved critical infrastructure systems.