Homes face winter power cuts in worst-case scenario, says National Grid
News / Thu 6th Oct 2022 at 01:35pm
BRITISH households could lose power for up to three hours at a time this winter if gas supplies run extremely low, National Grid has warned reports the BBC.
The company said it was an “unlikely” scenario but added that supply interruptions were a possibility if the energy crisis escalated.
Cuts would probably occur at peak times such as morning or early evening, and customers would be warned in advance.
But as a “base case” National Grid expects homes will face no problems.
The UK is heavily reliant on gas to produce electricity, with gas-fired power stations generating more than 40% of the country’s electricity. It also imports electricity from the Continental Europe.
National Grid – which keeps the lights on in England, Scotland and Wales – said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had created “unprecedented turmoil and volatility” in the energy markets.
Gas flows from Russia to Europe have been all but cut off, leaving countries scrambling for alternative supplies.
Although Britain is far less reliant on Russian gas than mainland Europe, it could still suffer knock-on effects from any shortfalls in supplies on the continent, National Grid said.
In a report, National Grid laid out three possible scenarios for what might happen this winter.
Its central view remains that there will be enough gas to provide Britain with similar levels of electricity to previous winters.
But it has modelled two more worrying scenarios which could arise.
In the first, the energy crisis in Europe would result in Britain not being able to import electricity from France, Belgium or the Netherlands, although power would still flow from Norway. Without taking action, the National Grid warned this could lead to shortages.
However, it said it had struck deals with three power companies – EDF, Drax and Uniper – to keep additional coal-fired power generators on standby in case they are needed.
It will also launch a scheme from 1 November which incentivises businesses and households to reduce their electricity use at key times.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63155827
Johnny
2022-10-06 14:59:02
Sales of jumpers woolies blankets and hot water bottles gonna skyrocket 😍
Adam
2022-10-06 16:03:32
I would recommend generators, Larger Battery banks which can power AC and most of all I would recommend stepping away from the current crop of politicians and thier net zero fantasies which have driven us to this point. We should be energy independent via nuclear, fracking, etc.
Theman
2022-10-06 17:12:46
My generator just turned up. When the gov said there would be no blackouts, I thought bloody hell better get a generator. Just waiting for the gross of candles and the all important carbon monoxide alarm. The reason we are where we are though is not what we are being told. In 1997 the electricity generating companies were complaining to the gov that there was no plan to replace our ageing power stations and said that if there was no plan by 2004 we would be facing blackouts by 2014/15. Well by 2004 there was still no plan. We got a few more years out of our system by building interconnectors with Europe which allows us to share capacity, and some wind farms. Unfortunately europes power plants were ageing aswell, and here we are. Power plants take a long time to build, so things will not be improving anytime soon. Still on the bright side at least we don’t live in France or Germany who will suffer a lot more than us from this.
3 Comments for Homes face winter power cuts in worst-case scenario, says National Grid: