Blackout fears amid plant closures
17 Jul 2015
Winter blackouts are increasingly likely as the UK’s energy capacity margin falls to 1.2% - its lowest level in a decade, National Grid says.
The utility has blamed the fall in capacity on power station closures and has already had to buy an additional 2.5 GW of balancing services to cover this winter’s energy demands.
These services are taken from generators and from major energy users willing to reduce their energy consumption at critical times, National Grid said.
Our response to the capacity crunch needs to be smarter and more efficient to bring demand back under control.
Schneider Electric’s David Lewis
“It’s clear that electricity margins for that coldest, darkest half hour of winter are currently tighter than they have been, due to power stations closures,” said Cordi O’Hara, National Grid’s director of market operation.
“As system operator, we feel we’ve taken a sensible precaution again this winter to buy some extra services,” O’Hara said.
“Together with the tools we already use to balance the network these additional services will significantly increase the energy reserve available this winter.”
Industry, however, is not so optimistic.
David Lewis, energy efficiency expert at energy management specialist Schneider Electric, said the “capacity crunch” has hit the UK hard this year, and suggests power outages could be a very real possibility.
“For decades the UK has been ‘sweating the assets’,” Lewis said.
“Indigenous North Sea oil and gas production has fallen faster and harder than expected. Infrastructure is creaking and has begun to look out of step with the growing mood for cleaning up energy supply.”
“Renewable energy sources are one of the answers to the UK’s capacity problem but the challenge lies in how to connect these sources while maintaining security of supply and affordability,” he added.
Better energy efficiency must also be considered, Lewis said.
“While there are clear challenges and fundamental shifts to renewable sources we cannot overlook the huge opportunities in smarter energy,” Lewis said.
“Our response to the capacity crunch needs to be smarter and more efficient to bring demand back under control.
