UK Grid Operator Asks Coal Plants To Be Available For Backup

Oil Price ^ | Dec 12, 2022 | Josh Owens

[george76]

As temperatures in the UK plummet, National Grid, the transmission system operator, asked two contingency coal-fired power plants to be ready to send more electricity to the grid on Monday if needed.

"We've issued a notification to warm two winter contingency coal units. This measure should give the public confidence in Monday's energy supply," National Grid said today, as temperatures dropped and snow fell in London, creating traffic chaos.

...

With low temperatures and low wind speeds, wind generated just 7.6% of Britain's electricity on Saturday, National Grid ESO said on Sunday. Natural gas generated 62.0% of electricity, more than nuclear 14.4%, wind, and biomass 4.9%. Coal accounted for 3.9% of UK electricity supply on Saturday.

Although the two contingency coal plants were not used today, this was the first time the grid operator has asked those coal units to be on stand-by since the UK postponed in the summer the previously planned closure of several coal-fired plants or units.

In September, Uniper said it would keep a unit at a coal plant in the UK available until the end of March 2023, six months after the original date for closing the unit this month. This extension is driven by the need to boost the UK energy supply through what will be a difficult winter.

[bantam]

😱😱😱😱😱 not coal !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BipolarBob]

Spontaneous combustion. You have to compact it. It’s not a big deal usually. Coal handlers keep a watch on it. They can smother it by working it. I read once where the coal pile was neglected a portion of of it collapsed when they tried working it (too little too late) and they lost a dozer and operator but that is rare.

[353FMG]

Britain has a mild and temperate winter climate with some powder snow here and there, so they won’t suffer too much cold. They’ll be alright.

[guest7]

"Isn’t coal a no-no fossil fuel? Shame on the UK. Did they consult with the Swedish meatball?"

Got your "Backup", right here...

[Mean Daddy]

I don’t know if its like rags that have oil, gas etc on them where they spontaneously combust if you pile them together or what but I had a friend & that was his job was to work a front loader & keep turning the coal.

[353FMG]

I am no UK grid operator. Last time I was in London everyone wore bowler hats and carried an umbrella and I was learning about shillings, half crowns and farthings and muzzies were nowhere to be seen. It was a nice country occupied by people with common sense. Better hang on to that Levi; you may need it this winter.

[David Hunter]

This problem is due to decades of a lack of public investment in new Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). The current Conservative government dropped the ball on building them since 2010 and the previous Labour government (1997-2010) screwed it up too.

Tony Blair even made a speech while he was Prime Minister back in 2005 explicitly stating that we needed to build new NPPs or else we would be facing huge energy bills in the 2020s. 17 years later and what do we have? No new NPPs online and record energy bills!

It’s a real shame that Blair did not act on his prediction back then. If they had started building NPPs before 2010 (with backing from British tax-payers rather than expecting industry to meet all the costs) then they would all be online by now.