“Britain should brace for blackouts as the country becomes increasingly reliant on renewable energy, a former Cabinet minister has warned.
Lord Frost raised fears about the net-zero crusade after the UK came ‘unsettlingly close’ to rolling power cuts on Wednesday evening.
Energy experts said the ‘near miss’ during the cold weather was the ‘tightest day the GB electricity market has seen since 2011’.
Amid freezing temperatures, the UK’s power grid operator – National Energy System Operator (NESO) – issued an alert on Wednesday for electricity providers to bolster output.
It warned there was an insufficient buffer to keep the country powered, and experts later said the power market came ‘within 580 MW of demand control or a blackout’.
The National Grid struggled with a lack of wind power, no solar power during the night and interconnector outages.
To make up for the shortfall, grid operators had to spend up to 50 times the normal cost of electricity to keep gas power plants running.
Lord Frost, writing in the Telegraph, said: ‘On Wednesday evening we came unsettlingly close to rolling power cuts. It may yet happen, on the next cold night of the year. Perhaps tonight.’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14270187/rolling-power-cuts-blackouts.html
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