Bristol study links weather patterns with power cuts

Published in Nature, the research shows that winter weather patterns characterised by high wind speeds and high precipitation volumes are responsible for many instances of power outages through wind, gale and lightning strikes. The Bristol team also discovered that weather patterns with moderate to high snowfall are often linked to power outages caused by snow and ice.

A large dataset for Great Britain and two smaller complementary datasets representing Southern Scotland and Northeast England were used for the study. While it appears obvious that severe weather would be linked to power failures, the Bristol team claims this is the first time longer-term weather patterns have been directly linked to faults, providing a basis that operators could use to prepare for outages in advance.

“It is well known that different weather phenomena, such as lightning strikes, wind and gale, snow and ice, are common causes of power system failures, and their frequency of occurrence varies depending on weather conditions and seasons,” said lead author Dr Laiz Souto, from Bristol’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.