British Government “War Gaming” Emergency Plans to Deal With Week-Long Blackouts

• British Government “War Gaming” Emergency Plans to Deal With Week-Long Blackouts
  by Arsenio Toledo, https://www.survival.news/index.html
  The government of the United Kingdom has been “war gaming” emergency plans to deal with the energy crisis this winter, including the possibility of week-long blackouts. Government documents marked “official sensitive” obtained by British media outlets warned that in a “reasonable worst-case scenario,” there could be severe disruptions to transport, food, water, communications and energy for up to seven days at a time.
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  In response to this, officials in London have begun stress testing Programme Yarrow, the government’s contingency plan for dealing with large-scale blackouts. The plan involves prioritizing providing the young and the elderly, as well as their caregivers, with food, water and shelter.
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  Programme Yarrow is a cross-government blueprint that was first drawn up in 2021 to improve the British government’s ability to plan and stay resilient in the face of a major technical fault in the National Grid, the main electricity transmission network in the United Kingdom. Last month, the National Grid warned that Britain could experience three-hour rolling blackouts during the winter. Programme Yarrow is preparing the country for a situation more severe.
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  According to the plan, around 60 percent of the electricity demand would be met between day two to seven of the week-long blackout. Households and businesses would be given “intermittent access” to rationed electricity. The country would also be given at least 24 hours notice before a planned long-term power outage, and the plan for power rationing could be published up to a week ahead on a rolling basis.
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  The National Grid and the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, the main government regulator for electricity and gas, have already reached an agreement stipulating that 100 percent of electricity demand should be restored after a week. Programme Yarrow expects this agreement to be met even in a worst-case scenario.
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  British government also preparing for Russian attack on power grid
  The British media that reported on the issue also noted that the government’s fears of a possible nationwide blackout have been rising since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine in late February.
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