Lack of wind forces National Grid to search for emergency power sources just a week after PM’s sustainable energy pledge
A LACK of wind is forcing National Grid to search for emergency power sources - just a week after Boris Johnson said wind farms would power every home in the UK within a decade.
The utility giant, responsible for ensuring supply meets demand in Britain’s energy systems, said electricity supplies could be tight in the country over the next few days.
Bosses blamed “low wind output” and “generator outages” - but insisted there would be enough to meet requirements.
However, the warning comes just days after the Prime Minister’s pledge to make the nation a world leader in offshore wind technology.
National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) said on Twitter: ";We’re forecasting tight margins on the #electricity system over the next few days owing to a number of factors including weather, import and export levels and availability of generators over periods of the day with higher demand.
"Unusually low wind output coinciding with a number of generator outages means the cushion of spare capacity we operate the system with has been reduced.
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"We’re exploring measures & actions to make sure there is enough generation available to increase our buffer of capacity.”
Tom Greatrex, Chief Executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, commented: “National Grid’s announcement underscores the urgency of investing in new nuclear capacity, to secure reliable, always-on, emissions-free power, alongside other zero-carbon sources.
"Otherwise, we will continue to burn gas and coal as a fallback and fall short of our net zero ambitions”.
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