§ Mr. Wheatleyasked the Minister of Fuel and Power to make a statement on the explosion at the Portobello power station on Friday, 13th February, 1953.
§ Mr. Geoffrey LloydThe British Electricity Authority report that at 6.23 p.m. on Friday, 13th February, there was an explosion in a piece of apparatus connected with a transformer between the 132,000 and 33,000 volt portions of the system. The apparatus in question is designed to guard against the dangers that arise from sudden increases in the flow of current.
In this case the probable cause was excess moisture from the atmosphere getting into the apparatus. The gases produced by the explosion caused short circuits at the 132,000 volt terminals more than 20 feet above the apparatus. All the automatic safety devices operated and isolated the Portobello power station together with the Edinburgh load from the main grid system.
At the time Portobello was producing 107 megawatts and Edinburgh was consuming 127 megawatts. There was thus an overload of 20 megawatts on the station. The new 60 megawatt set was running at full output and had to be taken out of service to avoid damage. Most of the Edinburgh load had then to be shed. At 8 p.m. it was found possible to reconnect Edinburgh to the grid by an alternative route and all consumers 214W were connected. The generator was brought back to full service by 8.40 p.m.
The Authority are making detailed technical inquiries into the sequence of events and until these have been completed it will not be possible to say what action can be taken to avoid or minimise incidents of this kind in the future.