National Grid Stands Down Two UK Coal Plants on Emergency Standby
13 December 2022 - 12:26AM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Hoppe
The U.K.'s electricity system operator, or ESO, has stood down
two coal units that were on standby to provide emergency power as
the country battles sub-zero temperatures.
Earlier in the day, National Grid's electricity system operator
said the two winter contingency coal units owned by the energy
company Drax would be available if needed as temperatures fell and
demand rose.
This measure should give the public confidence in Monday's
energy supply. This notification is not confirmation that these
units will be used on Monday, but that they will be available to
the ESO, if required," the operator said in a statement earlier
today.
The coal plants were set to only operate on instructions from
the National Grid, and Drax would have not been allowed to sell the
electricity on the open market, though it will be paid a fee for
the service and compensated for costs incurred.
"The ESO as a prudent system operator has these tools for
additional contingency to operate the network as normal and the
public should continue to use energy as normal," ESO said.
At the same time, U.K. power prices hit record levels on Sunday,
as the cold snap and a fall in supplies of electricity generated by
wind power combined to push up wholesale costs, RBC Capital Markets
analysts said in a research note.
"The cold snap is likely to cause volatility in power prices in
the near term and we continue to pay close attention to storage
levels across Europe," RBC said.
The Met Office has issued yellow warnings for snow and ice for
parts of the U.K. until Thursday.
Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 12, 2022 08:11 ET (13:11 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
National Grid (NYSE:NGG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
National Grid (NYSE:NGG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024