Emergency coal power used for Britain's coldest night of the year

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Emergency coal power used for Britain's coldest night of the year



As the coldest night of the year approaches, Britain is shivering. Arctic air dropping down from the north and set to stay for days. It's putting pressure on our electricity system, the national grid, for the first time this winter, activating emergency coal units that have been standing by in case of a shortage. The challenge we often face on very cold days is getting through the short but intense period of demand as everyone gets home from work and school. That's millions of households putting the kettle on, turning the heating up and making an evening meal all at the same time. When it's windy, we usually make more than enough power to cover that, but right now it's relatively still. Imports from Europe via subsea connectors can also help, but France, a major partner, has had limited supplies because of maintenance issues and strikes at nuclear plants.

Some of it was actually running through the night last night. Coal came to the rescue this time, but it is the dirtiest of fossil fuels and has no future in the UK's clean energy transition, phased out by the end of next year. I'm actually quite strongly against that. We only really have two coal power stations open. We do have a third this winter, West Burton, but that's certainly going to close in March. I think it would be much better to keep all of that open for as long as possible and even to relax the 2024 date. I don't think that two coal power stations are really moving the dial when it comes to emissions, but they can be very important when we have shortages such as the ones we're seeing at the moment.

This deep freeze, a reminder that the energy systems we rely on cannot be taken for granted. Decarbonising power by the middle of next decade, as the government has promised, was never going to be simple. Hannah Thomas-Peter Sky News.



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