Britain will have enough energy supply this winter, grid operator says

Britain's National Electricity System Operator said on Wednesday it expects to have sufficient supplies this winter, giving an early outlook of the supply and demand balance for the season.

The growth in battery storage capacity on the electricity network systems, more available gas-fired power generation, more renewable energy and the commissioning of the Greenlink electricity interconnector between Ireland and Wales have increased the amount of power available.

"Our early view of the winter ahead shows a positive outlook with sufficient margins throughout the colder winter months," said Deborah Petterson, NESO's director of resilience and emergency management.

The NESO expects a de-rated margin, which is a measure of the amount of excess capacity expected above peak electricity demand, at 6.6 gigawatts (GW). That is the highest forecast margin since the 2019/20 winter period and is over 1 GW higher than last year’s winter outlook figure of 5.2 GW.

This assumes total electricity demand of 60.5 GW.

There could be some days when supply is tight, likely to occur in early December or mid-January, but NESO said it has tools in place such as market notices for backup generation to be made available.

The full winter outlook will be published in October.