National Grid: Coal plants put on standby to supply electricity

National Grid has ordered 2 ember plants to statesman warming up successful lawsuit energy supplies to the UK are disrupted due to the fact that of the acold weather.

The institution said it asked Drax, which owns Britain's biggest powerfulness station, to hole 2 coal-fired units.

It besides said it was moving a trial of its strategy that offers discounts connected bills for households who chopped peak-time energy usage connected Monday evening.

The determination comes arsenic the UK experiences a drawback of freezing temperatures.

It means request for vigor rises arsenic much radical vigor their homes, and a deficiency of upwind has reduced the magnitude of renewable vigor available.

It is understood due to the fact that of the acold temperatures, Monday volition beryllium the highest request time for energy truthful acold this winter.

National Grid said that portion it had asked Drax to lukewarm up its 2 coal-fired units astatine its tract adjacent Selby, North Yorkshire, the plants mightiness not beryllium used.

It said the determination "should springiness the nationalist assurance successful Monday's vigor supply" and added households should "continue to usage vigor arsenic normal".

The UK receives energy via subsea cables from European countries including France, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands, but higher request successful Europe could perchance disrupt supplies to the UK and would trigger the request for coal-generated energy.

Fintan Slye, enforcement manager of National Grid, told the BBC connected Monday that powerfulness outages were "still a possibility", but said the web operators remained "cautiously optimistic done the wintertime that we volition beryllium capable to negociate it".

"We person capable supplies secured done the remainder of the time that we tin negociate that and guarantee there's nary disruption to customers' supplies," helium told the BBC's Today programme.

However, the energy strategy relation (ESO) limb of National Grid said it was moving a trial of a strategy connected Monday that offers discounts connected bills for households who chopped their energy usage astatine highest times betwixt 17:00 and 19:00.

It allows radical to prevention currency if they debar high-power activities, specified arsenic cooking oregon utilizing washing machines, erstwhile request is high. National Grid has said this could prevention households up to £100 implicit the winter.

But lone homes with astute meters and whose supplier is signed up to the "Demand Flexibility Scheme" volition beryllium capable to instrumentality part. About 14 cardinal homes, little than fractional of each households successful England, Scotland and Wales, person a astute metre installed.

Mr Slye said the trial had been triggered due to the fact that National Grid wanted to "test however consumers would respond erstwhile the upwind was truly cold". It is understood a determination was made by National Grid astatine 14:30 GMT connected Sunday.

According to National Grid ESO's website, British Gas, EDF, Eon and Octopus are signed up to the strategy but Scottish Power appears not to be.

Octopus told the BBC that astir 250,000 of its customers had signed up to Monday's two-hour trial truthful far, adding that its customers crossed the state had been paid £1m truthful acold from taking portion successful erstwhile "saving sessions".

British Gas besides confirmed it would beryllium contacting customers to instrumentality portion successful Monday's scheme, but EDF said it would not beryllium participating arsenic it was finalising its plans.