Summer Heatwaves Are Rewriting the Rules for Britain's Power Grid
China Tightens Its Grip on Namibia's Next Energy Boom Colombia's declining natural gas production,… CityAM.com is the online presence of City A.M., London's first free daily business newspaper. Both platforms cover financial and business news as well as sport and… The energy grid operator has warned that the “extreme temperatures” from this week’s heatwave could hit power supplies on Thursday night, as households’ use of fans and air conditioner place a record strain on our electricity system.
The National Energy System Operator (Neso) issued a rare overnight notice calling on energy companies to generate additional supplies to satisfy demand from cooling devices during what Britain’s third heatwave of the summer.
It isNeso’ssecond warning in as many months.
The group was forced to call for more power during June’s heatwave, which saw temperatures saw to a record 37.7C.
The UK’s gridis facing a supply shortfall of roughly 1.2 gigawatts during peak evening demand, according to the organisation, which said it was “giving participants the opportunity to make any additional generation or flexibility available during the forecast period”.
“Our forecasts indicate tight electricity margins during tomorrow [Thursday] evening’s peak period,” it added.
“This is due to extreme temperatures across Europe, reducing the availability of some generation.” The warning marks a reversal in the traditional pattern of pressure on the UK’s energy system, which normally is placed under higher strain when households need heating during winter.
But hotter weather in the summer months has increased usage of air conditioning units and fans meaning that pressure is becoming a year-round phenomenon.
Increased usage has also collided with a dampening of supply.
Low wind speeds have rendered many of the UK’s fleet of wind farms redundant, increasing the country’s reliance on domestic gas-fired power stations, nuclear plants and expensive imported energy.
According to live National Grid data, wind power contributed to just 6.6 per cent per cent of Britain’s electricity mix on Wednesday.
During the day, the country’s growing number of solar farms help supplement the collapse in supply from turbines.
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