Grid operator issues fresh heatwave warning over power supplies
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 is Neso’s second 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 grid is 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.”
Changing climate poses new challenge to UK’s grid
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. But in the evenings and through the night, the grid has been forced to lean heavily on fossil fuels and expensive foreign-generated energy from neighbouring countries.
The continent is itself in the grips of its own major heatwave, which is expected to intensify in the coming days. France, on which the UK relies for the majority of its emergency electricity supplies, has already been forced to slash output at a host of its vast nuclear power portfolio after nearby water sources got too hot to cool down their reactors.
Neso added that the warning will not foreshadow a series of blackouts. It often withdraws warnings once the buffer capacity is met, as happened at last June’s heatwave.