LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) - British power generator Drax said on Thursday it is not in negotiations with the National Grid to restart its coal-fired power units to be available as back up electricity generation this winter.
Britain’s National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) on Thursday said it expects the country to have enough electricity to meet supply in winter, but said it was continuing discussions about the availability of some of the coal units that were used for standby last winter.
The Drax units were among those available last winter but closed at the end of March.
“We have closed our coal units at Drax and have started the decommissioning process. Since then, we have had various discussions with government and ESO, but we are not in negotiations to extend their availability into the coming winter,” a Drax spokesperson said.
Britain has a target to phase out all coal-fired power plants by the end of 2024 as part of efforts to cut fossil fuel emissions and meet its 2050 net-zero target.
National Grid came under criticism from green groups this week for calling up a unit at Uniper’s Ratcliffe coal plant as standby generation earlier this week as warm temperatures ramped up power demand. (Reporting By Susanna Twidale; Editing by Sharon Singleton)