Intelligence Update
OPINION | Data centers weather grid failures — but utilities want change
In March 2025, London’s Heathrow airport lost power due to a fire at a substation. The entire airport, all five terminals, was closed for a whole day; 1,300 short-haul flights (and 120 long-haul flights) were cancelled, redirected or turned back. The cost has been estimated at “several hundred million pounds.”
The Heathrow closure triggered a nationwide discussion more familiar to a data center conference: Was there sufficient capacity? Why did the alternative power sources (from two substations nearby) not pick up the load? What kind of switching was in place? Were there enough generators? What infrastructure was in front of the meter, and therefore the utility’s responsibility, and what was behind the meter?
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