Big sporting events have long been the perfect time for a social gathering. Whether that’s meeting with your mates in the pub to watch the football World Cup final or the entire family gathering around the TV to see who will triumph in the Wimbledon showdown. However, it’s often similar events that get the nation watching, until now.
Women’s Football
The recent women’s Euro 2017 semi-final between England and the Netherlands was the first women’s match which registered a significant spike in electricity being used around the country. This so called TV pick up often happens during major events when viewers take a break from watching the television to put on the kettle or other electrical appliances.
The National Grid reported that at 8.32pm, the time where the teams left the field for half time, there was a pickup of around 200MW, more than it had seen for any other women’s football match previously. Unfortunately for the England team and the thousands of viewers watching at home, the Lionesses were knocked out of the competition after a 3-0 defeat.
Other Notable Pick Ups
The National Grid has reported several notable pickups throughout the years. The largest to date, 2,800MW, was at the full time whistle when England crashed out of the World Cup semi-final in 1990 after losing on penalties to Germany. Two of England’s World Cup matches in 2002 caused surges of between 2,340MW and 2,570MW, whilst the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final between England and Australia spiked at 2,110MW.
Other non-sporting events also made the list of the biggest TV pick ups, the largest being The Thorn Birds in January 1984 which hit 2,600MW. Unsurprisingly, the soaps also make the list, with Eastenders reaching 2,290MW in 2001 and Coronation Street spiking 2,100MW in 1994.
Predicting Popular Events
The National Grid are able to predict major surges based on major sporting and TV events. If you’re one of many having TV troubles, you could look into Aerial installations in Bristol such as those found here http://aerial-installations-bristol.co.uk/ to make sure you don’t miss the next big thing.
Of course, with the introduction of streaming sites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, high level surges are not as big as they once were. Let’s hope next year’s World Cup tournament can cause a spike, for the right reasons.