(Bloomberg) -- Britain’s power market is expecting its lowest wind output in two weeks on Saturday, as plunging temperatures push up prices.
Wind generation will average just 2.9 gigawatts on Saturday, according to Bloomberg models, less than half the average level over the past year. At the same time, heating demand will remain high as Britain sees its coldest weather since last January.
This week’s cold, calm weather has put pressure on the power system, prompting the grid operator to issue a market warning Wednesday. It’s also triggered multimillion-pound payments to gas-fired plants to plug gaps in supply and prompted the grid to bring a power link with Denmark out of maintenance.
Intraday prices in the UK are trading at a peak of £176.25 a megawatt-hour at 2 p.m., Epex data show. That’s a lot lower than on Wednesday. SSE Plc’s Keadby-2 plant returned from maintenance on Thursday, providing more capacity to the grid. The UK is currently relying on gas generation for 59% of its power, according to data from the National Energy System Operator.
When the UK’s power margins looked tight on Wednesday, the Viking Link interconnector was taken out of maintenance and increased to full capacity during the evening peak.
The extra supply was found outside of the market under an agreement between the Danish and UK grid operators. While that kind of trading happens reasonably often, bringing an asset out of maintenance is unusual and shows the lengths NESO had to reach to find extra supply.
Cold weather is spreading across Europe, with temperatures dropping sharply in France and Germany. That’s pushing up heating demand and making it harder for Britain to import additional supplies.
Big swings in renewable power output demonstrate the challenge confronting governments as the energy transition accelerates. The UK plans a huge build-out of wind power in the coming years as it targets a clean grid by 2030. But on windless days, gas will still be needed to keep the lights on.
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