Section:GDN 1N PaGe:17 Edition Date:190815 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 14/8/2019 18:47 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Thursday 15 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
National^17
Energy committee ordered to fi nish report
on widespread power blackout in 12 weeks
Jillian Ambrose
Energy correspondent
The government’s energy emer-
gency committee will give its verdict
on National Grid’s handling of last
Friday’s nationwide blackout within
12 weeks.
The business secretary, Andrea
Leadsom, has tasked the energy
emergency executive committee with
completing a review of the system
operator ’s role in Britain’s fi rst major
blackout in a decade.
The investigation is expected to
establish what caused the problem
and whether correct procedures were
followed.
It will also consider whether future
critical infrastructure such as railways
and hospitals. National Grid has said
that the rare blackout was caused
by a sudden drop in the energy sys-
tem’s frequency – or energy intensity- after two unexpected generation cuts
within minutes of each other.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4,
Pettigrew denied that the grid’s fre-
quency had fallen to dangerously low
levels with increasing regularity in the
three months before the blackout.
The claim contradicts data from the
system operator itself, which shows
that the grid’s frequency fell to within
0.1% of its legal limits for the fi rst time
in years this summer.
To safeguard the energy grid, the
industry regulator expects National
Grid to keep the grid’s frequency at
about 50Hz and no lower than 49.5Hz.
The grid’s frequency fell to 49.55hz
on 9 May, 49.52Hz on 20 June and
49.58Hz on 11 July.
Energy industry sources and
experts agree that the energy system
has become more volatile in recent
years.
Thomas Edwards, an analyst at the
energy consultancy Cornwall Insight,
said: “We’ve observed that the fl uctu-
ations in frequency are getting wider.
“Frequency levels are less clustered
around 50Hz compared to three years
ago and we can see a clear trend of
higher volatility in the system.”power cuts can be prevented and how
to minimise their impact.
“National Grid has already con-
fi rmed that the incident was not linked
to the variability of wind power, a
clean, renewable energy source that
the government is investing in as we
work towards becoming a net zero
emissions economy by 2050,” Lead-
som said. “Friday’s incident does,
however, demonstrate the need to
have a diverse energy mix.”
On Monday, the emergency com-
mittee met government and regulatory
offi cials as well as energy industry
professionals.
The investigation is likely to raise
questions over standards agreed
between Ofgem and National Grid
that govern how the energy systemis managed, as well as the role of
regional network operators in keep-
ing the lights on.
National Grid is “urgently review-
ing” what happened to trigger the
outage, which caused “signifi cant
chaos and disruption to hundreds of
thousands of people”, Leadsom said.
The energy regulator has demanded
an interim report this Friday before a
full technical explanation of the power
cut by early September.
John Pettigrew, National Grid’s
chief executive, used his fi rst inter-
view since the blackout to blame
regional network operators for mak-
ing the power cut more severe.
He told the Financial Times that the
investigation should look into why the
networks allowed power to be cut toLibby Brooks
Scotland correspondent
A boy born in one of the most deprived
areas of Scotland between 2015 and
2017 will live for 13 fewer years than
a boy from the most affl uent areas,
according to data published by the
National Records of Scotland.
While Scotland continues to have
the lowest life expectancy of all UK
countries, as it has done since the early
1980s, the fi gures published yester-
day suggest that recent improvements
have stalled, with soaring drug deaths
and heart disease to blame.
The Annual Review of Demographic
Trends from the NRS also shows that
whil e the population of Scotland
reached a new high in 2018 – the ninth
consecutive year – of an estimated
5,438,100, the country’s birth rate was
the lowest of all UK countries and fall-
ing at a faster rate than elsewhere.
There were 51,308 live births
registered in 2018, the lowest annual
total since 2002 and the second lowest
since records began in 1855.
Instead, migration continues to be
the main driver of Scotland’s popu-
lation growth, although net migration
has decreased over the past two years.
The fi gures are a stark reminder that
deprivation has a signifi cant eff ect on
life expectancy, and an even greater
eff ect on healthy life expectancy.
Girls born between 2015 and 2017 in
areas that make up the most deprived
10% of Scotland can expect to live 9.
years fewer than those who live in the
least deprived areas. For boys, the
diff erence is 13 years.
Meanwhile, females living in these
least deprived areas can expect to
spend 23 more years in good health
than those in the most deprived areas.
For males, the diff erence in healthy life
expectancy is 22.5 years.
Deprivation can
shorten Scottish
lives by 13 years,
latest data shows
▲ Andrea Leadsom, who ordered
the investigation into the power cutTheatre
review
Gloriously
tasteless and
still relevant
Jerry Springer: the Opera
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
★★★★☆Catherine LoveI
t’s interesting how the
parameters of indignation
shift. When Jerry Springer
the Opera was staged at the
National Theatre in 2003- and even more so when
it was broadcast on the BBC two
years later – it caused controversy.
Today, when major world leaders
can make outrageous statements
and be seemingly unscathed by the
backlash, our threshold for shock
and off ence has been raised. Yet
Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee’s
show still feels surprisingly relevant.
Its clash of high and low culture
brings opera to the TV studio, as
Jerry Springer’s guests engage
in salacious yet tuneful slanging
matches, fi lled with ever more
outlandish revelations. Just when it
seems things couldn’t get weirder,
the surreal second half lands Jerry
in hell, where he’s forced to preside
over a truly biblical dispute.
In the age of Trump, certain
lines jump out. “You could run for
Senate or even president,” Jerry’s
warm-up man tells him, greeted
with a chorus of bitter laughs. The
show’s questioning of the moral
responsibility of TV also feels
newly pertinent after the axing of
The Jeremy Kyle Show. Do shows
like these just hold up the mirror
to human behaviour, or is there
something more insidious going on?
Thomas and Lee’s expletive-laced
lyrics will always be divisive, and
there are moments when the desire
to shock starts to feel gratuitous,
but it’s hard to fault James Baker’srevival. This is a hugely ambitious
show to mount on Hope Mill’s
small stage, yet not once does
the tight space feel overcrowded:
every last movement – ingeniously
choreographed by Sindy Richardson- is precise yet animated.
The show looks striking, quickly
banishing memories of the original
production. In designer Victoria
Hinton-Albrieux ’s arresting vision,
purgatory is a pastel-hued hotel
lobby and hell is a hot-pink horror-
show. The production is also lightly
peppered with visual references
that bring the show into the social -
media-suff used present, again
suggesting its continued relevance.
While some things have changed,
the reign of sensationalising media
is far from over.
Until 31 AugustIn the age
of Trump,
certain lines
jump out.
‘You could
run for
president,’
Springer is
told, to bitter
laughter Our threshold
for shock has
been raised, but
this revival of
Jerry Springer:
the Opera does
not feel out
of step with
modern times
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