A first in Electricity Transmission as all-women team completes substation testing

In what’s believed to be a transmission first, a planned Delayed Auto Reclose (DAR) test on our Hackney to Tottenham electricity feeders has been completed by three women engineers.

Control Engineer Ana Masiero supervised the proceedings from our Transmission Network Control Centre, while substation engineers Erin Holmes and Jade Kimpton carried out the testing from our Hackney and Tottenham sites.

Winter resilience testing

To make sure that local residents weren’t affected by the testing, the job took place overnight and involved switching in two other electricity circuits before the testing could start. The testing was successfully completed with no defects found and the circuits are now fully operational again.

This vital work was accommodated by UK Power Networks, who accepted periods of single circuit risk and arranged post fault actions for contingency. The cooperation between our electricity transmission business and distribution network operators (DNOs) is an essential part of delivering the most reliable power supply in the world.

What is DAR?

DAR is an automated system that restores healthy equipment to service following a power system trip and is vital in ensuring the continuity of energy supplies. The system has been applied to all circuits of the supergrid since 1964.

As our overhead line electricity transmission network is exposed to the effects of weather events – and even our underground elements have connections that could occasionally lead to faults – reliable DAR is needed to assure power system resilience.

Engineers within our asset operations teams are responsible for commissioning new DAR systems and for carrying out regular maintenance of existing equipment.

Substation Engineer Erin Holmes, who completed the work at Hackney, said: “I was excited to be invited to join in with the DAR testing. It was a quick turnaround as it was only scheduled two days prior! It all went smoothly and gave me the opportunity to ask as many questions as possible on everything and anything commissioning related.”

> Read more about our substations