The risk of blackouts across Britain this winter has eased to its lowest since before the pandemic according to the government-owned body responsible for keeping the country\u2019s lights on.<\/p>\n
Higher battery storage levels, more gas-fired power and a new interconnector to Ireland, which can import energy, should ensure a larger buffer against potential shortages, the National Energy System Operator (Neso) said. Yet it warned that the cold weather could still bring some \u201ctight days\u201d.<\/p>\n
Its report said that the electricity \u00adsupply margin was expected to increase to 10 per cent, or 6.1 gigawatts (GW), of average peak demand under the \u201cbase case\u201d scenario of Neso<\/a>, the best since the winter of 2019-20.<\/p>\n The buffer was higher than a margin of 8.8 per cent of peak demand last year, or 5.2GW, a 900 megawatt increase equivalent to the output of about three gas power stations. Neso said that the average demand during peak cold spells was expected to be 60.9GW, below an expected 67GW of available supply.<\/p>\n Electricity demand is expected to \u00adexceed supply for less than 0.1 hours a year under normal operations. However, the operator warned that there may be a \u201csmall number\u201d of \u201ctight days\u201d, most likely in early December or mid-January, but excluding the \u00adChristmas period, which could be caused by periods of extremely cold weather and low wind, low interconnector imports and high levels of generator outages.<\/p>\n