ALK SHOUD BENEFIT FROM THIS NEWS15 Sep 2014 07:23
Grid seeks temporary generators to keep lights on
There are fears of winter blackouts
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There are fears of winter blackouts P
Martin Waller
Published at 12:01AM, September 15 2014
The National Grid has approached suppliers of temporary generating capacity to head off the prospect of crippling power cuts.
Talks have taken place over the past couple of weeks with Aggreko and the smaller APR Energy to assess how much generating capacity they have available and how this could contribute to Britain’s power needs, The Times has learnt.
The companies, the biggest in the global market for temporary generation, are more accustomed to supplying developing countries, although Aggreko has a business that supplies customers such as music festivals and other one-offs.
They have been called upon only once to provide power to a developed economy, it is believed. Aggreko was brought in by the Japanese authorities after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011. Some of the company’s equipment is still operating there, although it will be moved next year.
No one involved in the talks would comment formally.
There are technical difficulties in supplying plant to provide extra generating capacity to the grid and it may not be possible to bring it online by this winter. It is, however, an option in succeeding years.
“As the system operator, we continually work with the industry and others to develop a range of tools to balance the grid as economically as possible —and, as part of that process, we regularly discuss with various companies how new services could be provided,” a grid spokesman said.
It has become apparent that Britain is facing a possible crisis this winter, if the weather is much worse than last year’s relatively warm season. As a result, the grid has had to move forward plans to pay the owners of mothballed power stations to keep them on standby, ready to boost supplies.
The company had been planning to bring in its supplementary balancing reserve in the winter of 2015-16. A report in the summer from Ofgem, the power regulator, suggested spare capacity was dangerously low.
Since then, EDF Energy has had to shut four nuclear reactors after discovering cracks in a key part of their structure. This prompted a warning that profits at Centrica, which has a 20 per cent stake in EDF’s nuclear operation, would suffer. EDF said that the reactors would be restarted this winter but it could not provide firm dates.
At the same time, two other power plants have been forced to close. The Ferrybridge coal-fired station in West Yorkshire was hit by fire, while a gas-fired plant in Barking, east London, is shutting down because of high gas prices.
The earlier Ofgem warning suggested that if half a dozen plants were to close, there could be blackouts.
Those involved in the talks said that bringing in the temporary power generators was only one option. The fir
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