Since last Friday’s (9 August’s) power blackout there has been considerable interest in how National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) balances power demand and supply. Terms such as frequency, rate of change of frequency (RoCoF) and inertia have all gained in currency.
This Chart of the Week shows the distribution of frequency on the British electricity transmission system from 2014 to 2018. It aims to show the spread of frequency distribution away from the standard 50Hz and towards the allowed operational boundaries as the years go on, based on second-by-second data.