Green energy could restart power network after blackout
Britain’s power network could be safely restarted using only renewables in the unlikely event of a catastrophic blackout in the future, according to a trial of new technology by Scottish Power.
Like most countries, Britain’s National Grid has traditionally relied on coal and gas-fired power plants to provide “black start” capability — the process of recovering from the full or partial shutdown of the electricity transmission network. Supply and demand on the power network has to be balanced to keep the grid running safely and, during a black start, power plants and consumers have to be brought back onto the grid gradually in tandem.
This becomes trickier as big old fossil fuel plants close and are replaced with myriad greener but smaller and more intermittent
