NATIONAL GRID stood down plans last night to fire up two coal power plants, which it had placed on standby in case of supply shortages amid snowy weather and fading renewable generation.

It instructed two coal units at the Drax Power Plant in Yorkshire to be warmed up for potential usage, but withdrew its request as more power came online and demand reduced with improved weather conditions later in the day.

The two units are among five coal power terminals kept on standby this winter, after National Grid negotiated their continued operations in case of a supply crunch this winter.

Fabian Rønningen, senior analyst of power markets at Rystad Energy told City A.M. the National Grid's yo-yo decision making reflected the strain the UK's energy infrastructure was increasingly under this winter. £ CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 He said: "I think the conditions we have seen over the last two weeks have been an indication of what we can see later in the winter, as the combination of cold weather, low wind supply, and limited power imports from the continent is a very bad combination for the UK, and a real test of the system."

This is the first time National Grid has had to consider using the coal plants this winter, a last resort measure to stave off blackouts - which is a worst case scenario included in its winter outlook.

The winter outlook has priced in the possibility of rolling regional blackouts in January if insufficient supplies are available via interconnectors into Europe.

At one point yesterday some 15 per cent of the UK's energy needs were reliant on interconnectors from abroad, which suggests that European supply issues will continue to affect UK supply.

Yesterday morning a spike in demand in France saw the country's energy supply body temporarily reduce the supply of energy crossing the channel.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper