Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡ (@simoncgallagher) / X

Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡

2,494 posts

Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡

@simoncgallagher

Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the IET and Energy Institute, MD of UK Networks Services - UK’s leading Grid experts.

London, England

uknetworksservices.co.uk

Joined December 2018

Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
Apr 28, 2025
'How can it take 10 hours to restore power'?! It may take longer, I don't think a re-energisation of such a large grid with very high PV penetration has ever been done, all our plans are for black/brown start of grids via gas and coal. Why does it take 10 hours? well 1/x
1M
Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
Apr 28, 2025
Portugal transmission company saying "due to extreme temperature variations in the interior or Spain, there were anomalous oscillations in the very high voltage lines (400 KV), a phenomenon known as 'induced atmospheric vibration'". This is known as 'galloping conductors' 1/x
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Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
Apr 28, 2025
Replying to @simoncgallagher
This will be a long, slow process which no one has ever really done before. If it goes beyond 12 hours, the trouble really starts to stack up. In the UK we had a programme to replace substation batteries for this reason a few years ago @JavierBlas #powercut #spain #engineering
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Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
Apr 28, 2025
Replying to @simoncgallagher
1. The system is in a completely not-normal state. It will take a few hours to work out what is open, closed, on off etc. 2. Bits have to be energised in stages, which may need engineers on the ground to reset relays, close switches etc. 2/x
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Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
Apr 28, 2025
Replying to @simoncgallagher
As we get towards 10/11 hours, the batteries within the substations will start to fail. At this stage it's a nightmare because they cannot be energised remotely, and even manually the batteries will need charged because modern systems need power for the electronics... 4/x
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Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
Apr 28, 2025
Replying to @simoncgallagher
This all has do be done slowly in stages to keep the frequency OK - too much too quick and it will collapse. 3. With such high penetration of PV, and not as many big spinning machines as we used to have, it will be difficult to plan out. But even worse, 3/x
72K
Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
Dec 8, 2023
Replying to @OliverDowden
So you only want to fund institutions that agree with your view point? There is a name for that.
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Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
Jan 14, 2024
Replying to @MichelleMone
Who is advising you? You use your large social media following to draw attention to someone who is shedding light on what looks like breaches of company law. You outline how he is an expert and tell us his background in tax planning (which is legal of course), and don’t comment
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Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
Apr 28, 2025
As I was saying.......!!
Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
Apr 28, 2025
'How can it take 10 hours to restore power'?! It may take longer, I don't think a re-energisation of such a large grid with very high PV penetration has ever been done, all our plans are for black/brown start of grids via gas and coal. Why does it take 10 hours? well 1/x
124K
Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
Apr 28, 2025
Replying to @simoncgallagher
where the wind causes a low frequency but high amplitude oscillation along the conductors, eventually causing them to clash and trip. Hard to see this dumping 15 GW..... youtu.be/ko4goyw1Q84 #powercut #spain
74K
Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
Jun 18, 2025
Spanish Black out the - The Report I will have more to say on this later, but below is what happend if you don't want to wade through all 180 pages in Spanish: 1/n
81K
Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
May 4, 2025
There has been complete radio silence from the Spanish TSO on the complete failure of the Spanish grid last week – I am beginning to think it is because they do not know what happened, or it was self inflicted. Let me explain… A national grid is a complex machine.. 1/x
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Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
Oct 5, 2024
I can boil this down, it’s not complicated: - we didn’t built any nuclear power stations - we didn’t build enough on shore and off shore wind - we didn’t build enough interconnectors - we didn’t upgrade the networks enough We can spread infrastructure costs over 40 years,
Neil O'Brien
@NeilDotObrien
Oct 4, 2024
The UK is being hit by a wave of industrial closures from Port Talbot to Scunthorpe to Grangemouth where energy policy is a major factor. I have two longreads out today (link in bio) on what's gone wrong. Quick thread:
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Simon Gallagher ⚡Energy & the Grid ⚡
@simoncgallagher
Apr 28, 2025
WOW!!! Spain has just dropped 15 GW of load - it is usually 27 MW at this time of day, so they have lost half their grid. This is a MASSIVE outage, this is not normal, not planned for and should not happen. @BBCNews @TheEconomist @BBCr4today @JavierBlas
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