The National Grid has launched its back-up emergency power plan amid concerns over supply. The body, which manages the network and distribution of electricity and gas that powers homes and businesses, has put two coal-fired power plants to be on stand-by.
The units, at the Drax power plant in Selby, Yorkshire, have been told to be ready to be used if necessary today by the electricity system operator (ESO) for Great Britain. It said the move was aimed at allowing people to continue to use their electricity as usual.
It posted on twitter: "We've issued a notification to warm two winter contingency coal units. 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 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."
The instruction for the coal-fired plants marks the first since they were put on standby. It comes as the grid said it will also run another test of its demand flexibility service – which pays customers to use less electricity during certain hours.
On Monday, customers of some energy suppliers will be asked to reduce their consumption between 5pm and 7pm this evening. National Grid says that the service is just a test and had already been planned for today, however, the timing will likely still be useful on a day when energy prices have shot up.
Octopus Energy has promised that its customers can save more electricity than other suppliers, with Drax and Eon also saying they can provide significant savings for the grid. The grid expects that the coal-fired stations will be ready for use if called upon for the evening between 5pm and 9pm, when demand is set to peak.
The stations are operated by Drax in North Yorkshire and are two of five put on standby under so-called winter contingency contracts, with others run by EDF and Uniper. The two units are each said to be capable of generating around 570 megawatts – adding more than 1.1 gigawatts to the grid if used.
The move came as the country continued to be covered in snow and ice after a weekend of freezing weather. The conditions have seen the cancellation of some flights while trains have been delayed and traffic has been at a standstill.
