PAUL HOMEWOOD
There’s no wind, no sun, it’s boiling hot and the air conditioners all go on.
What could possibly go wrong?
From the Telegraph:
Britain has been forced to urgently import more electricity from the EU to avoid power shortages during the record-breaking heatwave.
The National Energy System Operator (Neso), which manages the grid, issued a rare emergency power supply warning on Tuesday after soaring temperatures triggered a slump in solar energy, with panels struggling to work in the hot conditions.
It was subsequently withdrawn after Neso secured emergency supplies from the Continent on Wednesday.
Kathryn Porter, an industry consultant, said Neso had “begged the EU” to lift import trading limits which would have capped the amount of energy Britain could import.
Ms Porter said the sudden easing of restrictions had allowed the UK to obtain 2.3 gigawatts (GW) of imports versus a 1.5 GW limit introduced in May, helping Britain avoid power shortages.
She said loosening the restrictions was necessary because Neso “didn’t see this shortage coming”.
Britain secured the emergency supplies via the interconnectors linking the grid to those on the Continent.
The UK had been scheduled to export power, but was forced into an about-turn by temperature conditions which have hit 36c.
Fintan Devenney, from energy consultancy Montel, said the situation had become “sufficiently severe to overrule the trading limit”.
“Heatwaves usually coincide with higher demand. But of course other markets, including the Netherlands, are in similar situations to Great Britain today, so our Dutch, Belgian and Danish interconnectors were all scheduled to export power at the day-ahead stage,” said Mr Devenney.
When Neso announced the limits, it told the market that it “does not have concerns over electricity system security”.
Full story here.
We were in the same boat last night, with CCGT running flat out to keep the grid going as the sun went down:
https://www.solar.sheffield.ac.uk/pvlive/#
The second chart shows the Interconnector flows, and how we were desperate for their power in the evening.
But, of course, Europe had exactly the same problems as us. That’s why we had to pay through the nose for the 1.7 GW we imported from the Netherlands:
Market prices here rose to almost £250/MWh:
The Europeans call it a Hitzelflaute:
https://x.com/MontelAnalytics/status/2069406465962491913/photo/1
And where did all this grid-saving Dutch power come from?
https://transparency.entsoe.eu/generation/actual/perType/generation
You guessed it! Coal and gas!
It’s wonderful, all of this “renewable” electricity!
But what will happen when the European gas and coal plants are shut for good?
This article (No Wind? No Sun? What Could Possibly Go Wrong?) was created and published by Not a Lot of People Know That and is republished here under “Fair Use” with attribution to the author Paul Homewood
See Related Article Below
Britain paying 17 times more to import energy from Europe during heatwave
UK obtaining emergency supplies from Continent after surge in air conditioning use
The UK paid nearly £1,400 per megawatt hour – about 17 times the normal prices – on Wednesday evening to obtain emergency supplies from the Continent in a move set to add £11 million to bills.
National Energy Systems Operator (Neso), which balances daily electricity supply and demand, paid the sky-high prices after a shortfall in energy generated from domestic solar and gas-fired power stations left the UK scrambling for supplies.
The situation meant Neso was forced to obtain a special dispensation from its EU counterparts to buy the power. The EU has limited sales to the UK because of the effect on the Continent’s own electricity supplies.
It came after a surge in air conditioning use to cool shops and offices, as well as malfunctioning solar panels, which led to a drop in domestic power generation.
Britain has been hit with record June temperatures of 36.4°C, with the Met Office issuing a red warning for extreme heat for three consecutive days lasting until Friday.
Noémie Baud, from Montel, an energy consultancy, said Neso appeared to have underestimated the demand increase caused by the heatwave by up to three gigawatts – equivalent to the output of three nuclear power stations.
“Neso appears to have underestimated the amount of demand that we have in the UK,” she says. “The UK now has a lot of shops, industry, offices and businesses, and they all have aircon, so the aircon effect on demand definitely does matter.
“It was underestimated by Neso because we could see that the demand was actually even higher than it forecasted.”
Industry data show that at the peak, between 8pm and 9pm on Wednesday night, Neso was paying sky-high prices of £1,379 per megawatt hour – a massive premium on the usual wholesale power price of around £80 per megawatt hour.
Neso bought up to 2.3 gigawatts of extra capacity, mainly from the Netherlands, to balance the electricity supply system.
The Telegraph: continue reading
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