by Eric Worrall at Watts Up With That
h/t redge; Coal plants scheduled for demolition in March 2023 have been fired up to rescue Britain’s electricity grid. My question – what is the plan for next winter?
Coal power stations fired up and customers paid to cut energy use in UK cold snap
National Grid asks Drax and EDF to start warming three plants and says it will activate its live demand flexibility service on Monday evening
Miles Brignall Mon 23 Jan 2023 09.47 AEDT
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With a high pressure weather system with associated light winds likely to dominate for a few more days, National Grid’s electricity system operator (ESO) said early on Sunday it had asked Drax to start “warming” two of its coal units at its North Yorkshire site and EDF to do the same for one at its West Burton plant in Nottinghamshire to ensure supplies on Monday.
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The request over the power plants followed a similar one in the middle of December, although back then the coal-fired stations were not used, as the operator generated enough power from other sources.“Our forecasts show electricity supply margins are expected to be tighter than normal on Monday evening,” the ESO said. “We have instructed coal-fired power units to be available to increase electricity supplies should it be needed tomorrow evening.
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With much of the UK enjoying light winds and a cold sunny Sunday, wind power accounted for just 6.89 gigawatts, about 17.6% of the total being generated.
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Back in July 2022, Drax announced it had agreed to defer decommissioning of its coal assets until March 2023:…
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