Breakfast Briefing: When the lights go out – resilience in the nation’s electrical supply

How confident are you that your business would cope with a prolonged power outage?

Most companies have contingency plans for short-term loss of electricity, relying on back-up generators and other interim measures.

But resilience experts are concerned that very few have a clear understanding of the implications of a so-called ‘black sky’ event.

This is when power could be lost for up to seven days, the timeframe the government advises for a rolling programme of reconnection.

Cyber attack, extreme weather, solar storms, a co-ordinated physical attack, or an electro-magnetic pulse from a nuclear detonation are just some of the causes that could take the power grid down.

The consequences of this are profound. Communications are at first disrupted, and then grind to a halt. Water supply reduces, leading quickly to hygiene and sanitation problems. Fuel reserves run out, paralysing the country. Food production and deliveries are halted and supplies run out. Banks and ATMs are unavailable, and cash stops flowing. Health facilities ration care.

Join us at this breakfast briefing to look at the measures the power industry has taken to minimise this risk.

We will also examine what companies and organisations can do to plan for disruption and improve their resilience in the face of sustained power loss.  

Key-note Speaker: Basil Scarsella, CEO, UK Power Networks

Chair / Respondent: Lord Toby Harris, UK Co-ordinator, Electric Infrastructure Security Council