Q1 2018 report

by Dr Iain Staffell – Imperial College London 

This quarter, Britain’s energy system was tested by the Beast from the East: winds from Siberia that delivered the coldest March day on record. 

 Article 1 summarises the impacts this weather had on the electricity system, and Article 2 looks at events on the gas network. The need for heating drove a huge spike in gas demand, National Grid issued an emergency warning as supplies failed to keep up with demand, and gas storage fell to its lowest levels after Britain’s biggest storage site was retired.

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by Dr Iain Staffell – Imperial College London 

March 1st was the coldest spring day on record, averaging –3.8°C. This pushed electricity demand up 10%, and prices up by 50%. 

The six days from February 26th to March 3rd (highlighted in blue) were the coldest Britain has been since Christmas 2010. 

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by Dr Iain Staffell – Imperial College London 

The cold weather in March not only affected the power system, Britain’s gas network was also stretched as demand outstripped supply. 

On March 1st, National Grid forecast that the amount of gas in pipelines was going to fall below the normal operating range. This forced them to trigger the first ‘Gas Deficit Warning’ in eight years.

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by Dr Iain Staffell – Imperial College London 

How much can Britain rely on its neighbours in times of stress? Would the lights have gone out if it were not for coal power? 

The Electric Insights data helps us understand who helped, and hindered, the power system during the extreme weather.

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by Dr Iain Staffell – Imperial College London 

Britain’s wind farms have enjoyed another record-breaking three months. Peak output surpassed 14 GW for the first time, and wind produced more electricity than nuclear over the quarter.

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by Dr Iain Staffell – Imperial College London 

It has been a familiar headline over the years: “Britain’s wind farms paid millions to sit idle“. Last year, National Grid paid over £100m to turn wind farms off when their output could have overloaded the transmission system. 

But now that a new link between Scotland and Wales has come online, the amount of money (and clean energy) that was lost has quietly fallen by two-thirds.

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This quarter, wind was the second largest source of electricity behind gas. 

Renewables made up 26% of the generation mix, and all low carbon sources made up 49%. Generation from coal and gas were both down on this quarter last year due to the growth in renewable energy output.

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