Winter blackout fears allayed

National Grid’s director of UK market operations Cordi O’Hara said the UK will be “well supplied” for gas this winter, while electricity margins will be manageable, albeit tight.

According to the utility, electricity margins for the 2015/16 winter period stand at 5.1% - equating to a loss of load expectation of 1.1 hours.

There a number of back-up schemes to stop the lights going out

UK Power Reserve CEO Tim Emrich

“Electricity margins are manageable throughout the winter period and we believe we have the right tools in place to manage the system,” O’Hara said.

“On the gas side, supplies are expected to be comfortable this year, thanks to good availability of liquefied natural gas on the global market and stable flows from the North Sea and Norway,” she added.

To cover the total energy demand requirement for the UK this winter – which stands at around 54.2GW – National Grid has procured an additional 2.4GW of power, which will help supplement times of peak demand.

During July, fears of winter blackouts were raised amid a spate of power plant closures in 2014.

Over the summer, National Grid published its initial Winter Review, suggesting UK energy capacity could fall to 1.2% - its lowest level in almost a decade.

However, energy procured from businesses via the utility’s supplemental balancing reserve (SBR) and demand side balancing reserve (DSBR) schemes should help to counteract the likelihood of a blackout.

Indeed, UK Power Reserve chief executive officer Tim Emrich said that although the gap between energy supply and demand is tighter that in the past, it is unlikely the UK will see any blackouts this winter.

“National Grid is actually very good at plugging this gap and there a number of back-up schemes to stop the lights going out,” he said.

”It means is that if the tank ever runs dry, there’s another tank. And another one after that.”