Some of Britain’s coal-fired power plants, which would be shut down this year, may need to be left open to ensure power supply this winter, the government announced on Monday.
Countries across Europe are drawing up contingency plans to deal with possible gas flow problems due to the war in Ukraine. Russia typically supplies about 40% of Europe’s gas.
“In light of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, it is appropriate to explore a wide range of options to further enhance our energy security and domestic supplies,” a government spokesman said in an e-mail on Monday.
Britain can generate 50% of its electricity from natural gas. Despite the fact that Russia covers only 4% of Britain’s gas needs, a disruption of energy supply will affect prices in Europe and make it more difficult for Britain to supply gas from others.
“There is no shortage of energy supply, but we may need to keep our coal-fired power plants active so that there are additional alternatives for winter power generation, if necessary,” he said.
The government is planning a series of scenarios, according to what Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said yesterday, expressing confidence that Britain will have an adequate energy supply.
“We do not expect power outages this winter and we do not expect limited energy availability, given that we have our own access to the North Sea gas reserves, but also other reliable partners for the import of energy,” said the same spokesman.
The government has asked the Energy Management Authority (ESO) to set up a framework encouraging coal-fired power plant operators to keep them running, according to a letter read by Reuters and sent by Energy Minister Quasi Quarteng to the ESO. .
Coal operators, such as Drax and EDF, are running low on coal as they prepare for the closure.
“In order to be able to respond to this request of the government, we will have to reach an agreement with ESO, which will allow the necessary maintenance of the units, but also the purchase of new quantities of carbon,” he said in an email. , a representative of EDF.
The government has announced that it remains committed to a long-term plan to shut down all of the country’s coal-fired power plants from October 2024 in order to meet the climate targets set.
SOURCE: AMPE
Source: Capital
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