On Monday, 9 November 2020 at 10:56:38 UTC, Spike wrote:
Posted on uk.d-i-y by The Natural Philosopher:

quote

National Grid last night sent out an urgent call for more power stations
to fire up to keep Britain’s lights on today after plant outages and low
wind farm output increased the risk of blackouts.

The electricity system operator issued an “margin notice”, its most
serious security of supply alert in four years, warning of a supply
crunch between 4:30pm and 6:30pm today.

It forecast a shortfall of 740 megawatts, or 1.5 per cent, compared with
the power plant capacity it wants to have available to meet demand and
to provide back-up in case plants break down.

Sources said the operator was in talks for coal-fired power stations to
fire up to provide back-up. EDF confirmed it had been asked to warm up
its West Burton A plant in Nottinghamshire.

National Grid said the margin notice “highlights that we would like a
greater safety cushion between power demand and available supply” but
“does not signal that blackouts are imminent”.

The alert and the prospect of Britain relying on polluting coal plants
to keep the lights on will raise concerns about energy security. All
coal plants are due to close by October 2024, while the government
recently committed to a renewed push for offshore wind farms.

National Grid said that it was “forecasting tight margins on the
electricity system . . . owing to a number of factors, including low
renewable output and the availability of generators over periods of the
day with higher demand”. It was “exploring measures to make sure there
is enough generation available to increase our buffer of capacity"

unquote

--
Spike

I an live with only 1.5% of our electricity coming from coal for a couple of hours.

Cheers, Alastair