Towers tumble – and cut power to thousands
Didcot demolition leaves nearly 50,000 homes without electricity after debris hits power line
TENS of thousands of homes were left without power yesterday moments after the demolition of the Didcot power station in Oxfordshire.
Up to 49,000 homes in towns and villages across a wide area were blacked out when explosives were detonated to send the 375ft-tall towers crumbling in clouds of rubble and dust at 7am.
An electricity pylon near the site, at Sutton Courtenay, was seen on fire after the blast.
Initial reports from the scene, where crowds of spectators had gathered to film the blast, suggested a drone may have hit a power line, causing a fire.
However, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said: “Initial investigations have confirmed that this morning’s power cut was caused by material related to the demolition of Didcot Power Station striking our overhead electricity network.”
A substation that serves Didcot and Abingdon, as well as Wantage, Wallingford and parts of the Chilterns, blew. In the chaos, traffic lights went out and cafés had to turn customers away. The power was restored by 8.20am.
Scottish and Southern Electricity initially insisted that the power-cut was unrelated to the demolition but said later the two were “probably linked”.
Video circulating on social media showed an electricity pylon erupting into flames and people who had gathered to watch the blast running away.
They had been there to witness engineers blow up the three remaining Didcot “death towers” where four workers were killed three years ago.
Ken Cresswell, 57, John Shaw, 61, Michael Collings, 53, and Christopher Huxtable, 34, died in the major incident in February 2016.
The coal-fired station, commissioned in 1968, was turned off in 2013. Owners, RWE Npower, had planned to clear the site by the end of 2017, but its plans were delayed when the boiler house collapsed, killing the four workers.
RWE said it had planned today’s demolition over several months with its contractor, Brown and Mason.
A plea went out to sightseers not to take “selfie” photographs when the towers were blown up. RWE urged people to show some respect for the dead and not to gather near the site.
In 2003, Country Life readers voted the landmark Britain’s third worst eyesore.
The 2,000 megawatt station operated until 2013, when RWE Power moved to decommission it when new EU reduced emissions rules were brought in.
SSEN said in a statement: “Shortly after 7am this morning, SSEN received reports of damage to its network at Sutton Courtenay, following the demolition of the nearby Didcot Power Station. SSEN engineers attended site to make the situation safe and power was fully restored to the 40,000 customers affected by 8.20am. An investigation is under way as to the cause of the incident and SSEN is working with all relevant authorities.”