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Tag: blackouts

  • UK “on the verge of going dark with widespread blackouts”

    UK “on the verge of going dark with widespread blackouts”

    New research says that the UK might have blackouts within five years because a lot of power stations are closing down.

    According to the think tank Public First, the country lacks sufficient methods to generate the amount of power lost.
    Four nuclear power plants in the UK will be shut down by April 2028: Hartlepool, Heysham I and II, and Torness.

    The last coal power plant in the country, Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, will close in September this year.

    Drax Power, the company that runs the biomass-fuelled Drax power station in North Yorkshire,asked Public First to make a report called” Mind the Gap: Exploring Britain’s energy crunch. “

    Delays in building Hinkley Point C could make the problem worse because more people want electricity from electric vehicles and heat pumps.

    The new nuclear power station was supposed to start making electricity next year, but now it won’t be ready until at least 2031.

    At the same time, the expected cost of building the facility in Somerset has gone up from £18 billion when it was first approved to £35 billion.

    According to the Telegraph, Public First predicts that the UK will need7. 5GWmore power than it can provide by 2028.

    Last year, gas was the main way we made electricity in the country. But according to National Grid data, wind power was actually used more than gas in January, October, and December.

    Even though we use natural gas a lot, last year we made the least amount of electricity from fossil fuels since 1957.

    The UK gets 56% of its energy from low carbon sources, but the government wants it to be 95% by 2030.

    The French energy company EDF runs all eight nuclear power stations in Britain. They said last month that they will decide by the end of the year if they will keep Hartlepool, Torness, and Heysham I and II power stations operating for longer.

    This morning, BBC Panorama said that Drax, the power company involved in the Public First report, has been burning wood from rare Canadian forests.

    The company got£6 billion in environmentally friendly payments while its wood pellet-burning plant releases about 12 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, as reported by the BBC.

  • Money-off energy scheme launches to avoid blackouts

    As part of National Grid’s efforts to avoid blackouts, households will be offered discounts on their electricity bills if they reduce peak-time use on a few days during the winter.

    The network operator has released information about the scheme, which it claims could save households up to £100.

    Between November and March, there will be 12 “test” days to see how customers respond.

    However, only homes with smart meters will be able to participate.

    Only 14 million, less than half, of households in England, Scotland and Wales, where the scheme is being tested, have a smart electricity meter installed.

    Customers taking part will be given 24 hours’ notice of a “test” day where they will be asked to reduce their peak-time electricity use if they can during a one-hour period identified by National Grid, likely to be between 16:00 and 19:00.

    That could include delaying use of a tumble-dryer or washing machine, or cooking dinner in the microwave rather than the oven.

    National Grid said it will pay energy suppliers, which will be required to sign up to the scheme to operate it for customers for a smart meter, £3 for every kilowatt-hour during the test periods.

    What is a smart meter?

    Smart meters replace your existing gas and electricity meters and measure the energy you use at home. The big difference is that they send this information directly to your supplier over wireless networks in real-time.

    Suppliers say that this means you pay only for what you use, so bills are more accurate than estimated ones. It also means you can monitor your usage more closely and adjust your habits if you’re looking to save money.

    But if you live in an area with weak signal, your meters might struggle to communicate with your supplier effectively.

    Individual suppliers will decide how much customers will receive and whether the money is taken off bills, credited to accounts, or if there’s an option to withdraw the cash.

    National Grid is testing the idea, which it calls its “Demand Flexibility Service”, at scale for the first time, to establish a system that can serve as an “insurance policy” if it needs to ease demand on the grid this winter.

    Households have been warned of power cuts lasting up to three hours at a time if gas supplies run extremely low, and National Grid is hoping the new scheme can, along with other measures, prevent that happening.

    The electricity network operator said the service had been approved by the UK’s energy regulator Ofgem, which meant electricity suppliers and providers could sign up and then advertise the scheme to customers.

    It is understood many of the UK’s larger energy firms are looking to take part in the trial, after being consulted in recent months on how it would work.

    The scheme is also open to businesses which could, for example, change production schedules or switch to batteries or generators at peak times.

    Jake Rigg, director of corporate affairs at National Grid ESO, said by signing up people could “back Britain” as well as saving money and reducing carbon emissions.

    “It’s not a big thing or a difficult thing to do, just remembering to do it 12 times this winter and get that money back, when we are all really struggling with energy bills and the cost of living generally,” he told the BBC.

    “We can all do our little bit, we can shift demand out of that peak and help maintain security of supply throughout the winter.”

    Smart meter
    IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, The scheme only applies to homes with smart meters.

    Octopus Energy has already announced it will participate. It operated a trial scheme with 100,000 customers earlier this year, offering a much smaller discount for people who shifted their energy use away from peak times.

    It believes there will be more days on offer – 25 in total compared to 12 planned so far – for households to be given the chance to cut down on energy use as the UK goes through the winter.

    National Grid said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had created “unprecedented turmoil and volatility” in the energy markets in recent months.

    Gas flows from Russia to Europe have been disrupted since its invasion of Ukraine, leaving countries scrambling for alternative supplies, which could have a knock-on effect on Britain.

    The UK is heavily reliant on gas to produce electricity, with gas-fired power stations generating more than 40% of the country’s electricity.

    The UK also imports electricity from continental Europe.

    National Grid’s central view remains that there will be enough energy to provide Britain with similar levels of electricity to previous winters.

    It said its service is aiming to save two gigawatts of electricity, which is enough to power about one million homes.

    The company has also put coal-fired power stations on standby in case they are required to boost energy generation.