Winter storms – the battle to defend energy infrastructure

December 2015 saw the start of a number of relentless storms hitting the UK; the north of the country was affected particularly badly, with the worst hit areas being Scotland, the North West of England and Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, these regions and their inhabitants entered into a battle to defend their infrastructure, homes and businesses.

During this time, SPIE, a leading overhead line service provider in the UK, played a key role in protecting vital electricity assets alongside several other contractors. The company’s teams offered relief from the impact of the floods and worked tirelessly to restore customer supplies. It undertook this work as part of its ongoing relationships with Electricity North West, SP Energy Networks and Northern Ireland Electricity. Assistance was given by SPIE and its partners at regular intervals in response to storms Desmond, Eva, Frank, Gertrude and Henry.

Working in severe weather conditions, including winds of 100mph, floods, heavy snow and ice, SPIE deployed a total of 400 engineers, each of which played a part in the deployment of over 20,000 sand bags. These sandbags became vital components of a robust protection strategy put in place to protect the key electrical assets and sub-stations.

Next, and before the storms had fully passed, SPIE’s engineers were tasked with the effort to help with the restoration efforts of 130,000 customers. SPIE’s input varied from storm to storm. What was consistent was the thorough and conscientious approach taken by each member of the team during a time which was extremely stressful for the local population.

When Storm Abigail hit on 11 November 2015, 20,000 homes were affected. For this event, it took 50 of SPIE’s engineers, alongside team members from a local supplier, onsite in Inverness and other areas of northern Scotland to assist with electricity restoration. Thankfully, the storm passed within two days, allowing stability to be restored quickly.

There were three weeks between Storm Abigail and the extratropical cyclone, Storm Desmond – arguably the most devastating of the storms to hit the UK last year. The affected area included 132 grid substations and more than 55,000 customers of Electricity North West (ENW) were impacted. To battle the weather conditions SPIE was called upon to supply 100 engineers. They were distributed across Carlisle, Cumbria and Lancashire and shifted over 7,000 sandbags, building sand walls during the weeklong event. SPIE’s actions served to shield the area’s electric transformers, thus preventing further damage and helping to reduce the number of power outages in the various regions.

So that power could be restored as quickly as possible, SPIE provided two pumping tankers that removed water from substations and allowed ENW to make vital repairs. Furthermore, to help residents through this difficult time, generators were supplied throughout the night to ensure that people at least had some access to electricity.

The weather wasn’t about to let up for Christmas, and less than two weeks after Storm Desmond came Eva, closely followed by Frank.

For two weeks 100 engineers from SPIE worked across Lancashire, Cumbria, Dumfries, Galloway, Edinburgh, Aberdeenshire and the Western Isles to protect and repair damage. Once again sandbag walls were built for flood protection of electricity transformers, while efforts were made to restore the supply of electricity to over 30,000 customers. The storms in this period peaked on the night of 29th December as a result of which SPIE worked solidly for 24 hours alongside Northern Ireland Electricity to restore power to some 23,000 homes.

Coming into the New Year, home and business owners experienced a brief respite and mild conditions returned, but it wasn’t to last. On 28 January another two-day storm hit. Storm Gertrude was a short yet violent tempest, with winds of 80mph, which caused SPIE to deploy another 98 engineers in support of local teams. Once again the teams headed out across Scotland, in the Shetland Isles, Western Isles, North West Highlands, Tayside and Aberdeenshire to support the restoration efforts for 11,000 people.

There was just one final storm for the people of the UK to endure and it hit at the end of January, lasting four days until February 2nd. While Storm Henry required just 50 engineers from SPIE, it affected a wide region, with 14,000 customers impacted in the Western Isles, Argyll, the North West Highlands, Tayside and Aberdeenshire. Each had been left without power following heavy rain and flooding but were quickly relieved thanks to the teams’ efforts.

It’s been some weeks since the last storm of note battered the UK, and as we come into the Spring, the hope is that this trying period has come to an end. However, with the British weather often unpredictable, SPIE, its partners, and other contractors are on full alert, ready to provide help, support and storm relief if and when it’s next needed. Hopefully that won’t be until Winter 2016.