Britain is re-heating its coal-fired power plants this winter as a cold front and light winds have moved into the area.
The National Grid’s electricity system operator (ESO) has instructed power plant operators Drax and EDF Energy to start warming their respective coal units in North Yorkshire and West Burton, Nottinghamshire, in order to ensure that there will be enough power during the cold spell, according to The Guardian.
According to the ESO’s predictions, Monday night’s electricity supply margins should be narrower than usual, as The Guardian reported. We’ve told the coal-fired power plants to be ready to boost electricity production if necessary tomorrow night. These are preventative actions to keep the buffer of extra capacity that we require.
Midway through December of last year, power plants also asked that coal units be prepared, but it ended up that there was enough electricity produced from other sources.
Offshore and onshore wind turbines typically produce adequate electricity, but when gas prices spiked last summer due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the ESO took precautions by negotiating a backup agreement with coal producers for the winter.
Some families will be able to take advantage of the ESO’s live demand flexibility service, which pays consumers who lower their energy consumption between the hours of 5 and 6 p.m.
Read More: What Is the Most Sustainable Way to Make Coffee? The Answer Might Surprise You.
Wales’ Sarah Chambers told the BBC that she had charged her family’s iPhones and laptops in advance and that they were eager to take part in the initiative.
As quoted by BBC News, Chambers remarked, “I won’t be running the tumble dryer or the washing machine like I typically do when the kids bring home dirty PE equipment after school.”
According to data from the National Grid, wind power generated barely 17.6% of the total amount of power generated on Sunday, which was cold and sunny.
According to grid data, peak demand is expected to occur at 5 p.m. today evening at 42.2 gigawatts, up from Sunday’s 40.2 gigawatts, according to Bloomberg.
According to The Guardian, earlier this month, wind farms in Britain established a record with an average output of 21.69 gigawatts.
The UK is prepared to deploy its coal-fired units as a backup, but overall, it is using more renewable energy sources to generate electricity. In the UK, zero-carbon sources produced more than half of the electricity in December 2022. Additionally, the ESO reports that on December 30, 87.2 percent of the total electricity generated was carbon-free, setting a new record for a single day.
