National Grid said that power supplies would be “manageable” this winter, despite the thinnest spare capacity cushion in at least a decade.
The operator of Britain’s high voltage transmission system confirmed earlier predictions that the margin of spare capacity this winter – the gap between peak electricity supply and demand – could be as low as 1.2 per cent.
But in its annual Winter Outlook report, National Grid said it had taken a series of steps designed to boost emergency supplies of power when needed and curb demand, which have expanded that gap to 5.1 per cent.
The measures include paying moth-balled power stations to be ready to come online at short notice and paying big factories to have their power switched off temporarily if needed.
Cordi O’Hara, director of UK market operations said: “Electricity margins are manageable throughout the winter period and we believe we have the right tools in place to manage the system.”
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“This includes using the 2.4 gigawatt of additional balancing services that we have ready in place for times of highest demand.”
“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.”
Britain’s power system is becoming more volatile, as a string of polluting coal-fired stations are retired from service while the system relies increasingly on supplies of wind power, which are inherently unpredictable.
National Grid said the peak demand forecast would be 54.2 Gigawatts, a slight increase from last year with the highest demand expected in mid-December.
The report said there was expected to be “sufficient” generation and imports of electricity through connections to Holland and France to meet even the tightest periods over the winter.