Get down to Tesco you lot and buy some candles.
It was a dark and stormy night, the fire was burning and the lights were out and daddy said unto his children "Well at least we're not like Scooter with his high energy prices"
Risk of blackouts at highest for six years | The Times
It was a dark and stormy night, the fire was burning and the lights were out and daddy said unto his children "Well at least we're not like Scooter with his high energy prices"
Risk of blackouts at highest for six years | The Times
The risk of electricity blackouts will be at the highest level for six years this winter and even greater in subsequent years because of lack of investment in new power plants, according to National Grid.
The safety margin of the UK’s power supply system has fallen in the past two years from 17 per cent above the level needed to cope in an “average cold spell” to 5 per cent.
National Grid admitted that a prolonged period of low wind, common in cold spells, would push the margin even lower as output plummeted from the nation’s 5,000 wind turbines.
Even assuming normal output from wind farms Ofgem, the energy regulator, said that the safety margin would fall to as low as 2 per cent by 2015.
Energy companies, which warned last month that the 20-month price freeze proposed by Ed Miliband could undermine plans to build new power plants, said that National Grid’s report showed the need for long-term certainty to support investment.
In the worst-case scenario, the UK’s power stations would not be able to meet electricity demand and would force National Grid to intervene to keep the lights on. The availability of electricity from coal and oil-fired power stations has fallen by almost a fifth in the past year because generators have shut down plants in order to comply with EU emissions limits.
National Grid, which operates networks supplying gas and electricity but does not sell it or generate it, admitted it did not know the probability of the worst-case scenario, in which power supply would fail to meet demand.
It said it would seek to cope by issuing an alert to generators to bring stand-by plants on to the system and pay factories and other large energy users to turn off power to cut demand. The company has the power to force factories to shut down in emergencies.
A cold spell in March and a faulty undersea supply line caused an acute shortage of gas and led to a debate about the paucity of gas storage sites in Britain. National Grid said the amount of gas these sites could deliver to the system had “increased slightly” compared with last year.
Richard Smith, of National Grid, said the safety margin for electricity was “tight and perhaps more uncomfortable than we might otherwise wish to be”. However, he added National Grid was seeking to make greater use of “tools” to match supply and demand.
In June Ofgem revealed incentives for shops and factories to ration electricity on winter evenings from 2015 to avoid power blackouts.
As old coal plants keep closing, and with more wind farms opening, the need for flexible gas plants to keep the lights on particularly when the wind is not blowing is greater than ever. However, the energy industry is refusing to build them without subsidies, arguing that they are not economic to operate part-time as a back-up. Centrica yesterday called on the Government to make these so-called “capacity mechanism” subsidies by 2016 rather than 2018.
Angela Knight, chief executive of Energy UK, which represents energy companies, said: “This issue should not be ignored. The reserve margin is getting quite tight. Renewables require back-up power generation to be built. But the economics for building gas plants are not there.”
The safety margin of the UK’s power supply system has fallen in the past two years from 17 per cent above the level needed to cope in an “average cold spell” to 5 per cent.
National Grid admitted that a prolonged period of low wind, common in cold spells, would push the margin even lower as output plummeted from the nation’s 5,000 wind turbines.
Even assuming normal output from wind farms Ofgem, the energy regulator, said that the safety margin would fall to as low as 2 per cent by 2015.
Energy companies, which warned last month that the 20-month price freeze proposed by Ed Miliband could undermine plans to build new power plants, said that National Grid’s report showed the need for long-term certainty to support investment.
In the worst-case scenario, the UK’s power stations would not be able to meet electricity demand and would force National Grid to intervene to keep the lights on. The availability of electricity from coal and oil-fired power stations has fallen by almost a fifth in the past year because generators have shut down plants in order to comply with EU emissions limits.
National Grid, which operates networks supplying gas and electricity but does not sell it or generate it, admitted it did not know the probability of the worst-case scenario, in which power supply would fail to meet demand.
It said it would seek to cope by issuing an alert to generators to bring stand-by plants on to the system and pay factories and other large energy users to turn off power to cut demand. The company has the power to force factories to shut down in emergencies.
A cold spell in March and a faulty undersea supply line caused an acute shortage of gas and led to a debate about the paucity of gas storage sites in Britain. National Grid said the amount of gas these sites could deliver to the system had “increased slightly” compared with last year.
Richard Smith, of National Grid, said the safety margin for electricity was “tight and perhaps more uncomfortable than we might otherwise wish to be”. However, he added National Grid was seeking to make greater use of “tools” to match supply and demand.
In June Ofgem revealed incentives for shops and factories to ration electricity on winter evenings from 2015 to avoid power blackouts.
As old coal plants keep closing, and with more wind farms opening, the need for flexible gas plants to keep the lights on particularly when the wind is not blowing is greater than ever. However, the energy industry is refusing to build them without subsidies, arguing that they are not economic to operate part-time as a back-up. Centrica yesterday called on the Government to make these so-called “capacity mechanism” subsidies by 2016 rather than 2018.
Angela Knight, chief executive of Energy UK, which represents energy companies, said: “This issue should not be ignored. The reserve margin is getting quite tight. Renewables require back-up power generation to be built. But the economics for building gas plants are not there.”
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