A senior energy expert has warned that a National Grid blackout could trigger widespread disruption across the UK, potentially mirroring the recent power outages seen in Spain and Portugal. Professor Keith Bell, co-director of the UK Energy Research Centre, cautioned that such a scenario would see people trapped in lifts and trains grinding to a halt, as happened when the Iberian Peninsula experienced a sudden electricity failure.
What Would Happen During a UK Blackout?
Professor Bell told the i newspaper: "It would be quite similar to how things looked in Spain and Portugal. You'd get stuck in lifts, wherever they are in the lift shaft. Trains would get stopped - you might be in a diesel train but the signalling depends on electricity." He recalled the 2003 London blackout, when people were stuck in sweltering underground tunnels with no air conditioning on a hot August day.
Beyond transport, everyday essentials would be affected. Refrigerators would stop working, threatening food supplies, and Wi-Fi would fail. Communication would become difficult, with mobile networks potentially overloaded. "If you've got a battery on your phone, you can still try and find out what's going on, but you're dependent on the mobile phone networks staying up and running," Professor Bell added.
Energy Security and Renewable Energy
The warning comes as millions of UK households face high energy bills amid the Middle East crisis. Energy Minister Michael Shanks has argued that renewable energy could strengthen national security by making the grid less vulnerable to attacks. Speaking from Ukraine, which has suffered repeated Russian strikes on its energy infrastructure, Shanks said: "Building a decentralised power system with a whole series of assets is less of a risk of physical attack than large-scale power stations. Moving towards clean power is the best way to deliver our energy security in an increasingly uncertain world."
Shanks noted that Ukraine is building decarbonised infrastructure because solar panels, wind farms, and batteries are harder to target than large power stations. He added that the UK could learn from Ukraine's resilience to improve its own energy security.
