By Will Jones
Britain’s grid operator, Neso, has paid a gas power station £1.4 million an hour – 10 times the usual rate – to keep the lights on following a slump in wind power. The Telegraph has the story.
Langage Power Station, near Plymouth, was paid the equivalent of £1.4 million an hour on Monday evening, according to market transparency data.
Gas-fired power plants across the country were paid millions of pounds to cover potential shortfalls in electricity after low winds cut the output of renewables.
The National Energy System Operator (Neso) was paying around £1,500 per megawatt hour on Monday to at least three power stations to cover the evening peak in demand. That was about 10 times the average.
The high payments were made between 3.30pm and 5pm. Others handed similar sums included Rye House Power Station in Hertfordshire and Seabank Power Station in Bristol.
Neso separately put generators on standby earlier in the day, from 6am to 11am, as output from wind farms remained low for the third day in a row.
The grid operator told power stations it needed a greater safety cushion, or margin, between power demand and supply for a limited period. It was eventually withdrawn at 10am.
The notices, known formally as an electricity margin notice (EMN), have become more frequent in recent months in a sign that Britain’s electricity grid is under growing strain. Seven have been issued so far this year. Only one was issued for the whole of 2025.
Kathryn Porter, an energy analyst, said Neso’s decision to issue the notice for Monday morning was “unusual”.
She said: “EMNs normally cover the evening peak, not the morning.
“The question is, what happens if the modest wind recovery forecast for tomorrow evening is delayed, or if demand is higher than forecast – given the size of Neso’s forecast errors, when margins are this thin there could be trouble.”
The latest notice will add to concerns that the grid is unable to cope with high demand as it heads toward the cold winter months and periods of low wind and sunlight make green power sources less reliable.
A Neso spokesman said the number of notices “can vary significantly from year to year and there have been comparable periods of EMN use in the past.” They added the notices were “a routine operational tool”.
Andrew Griffiths, the Shadow Chancellor, said: “With barely any wind, it’s gas keeping Britain’s lights on. Yet Labour is now legislating to ban new North Sea oil and gas exploration licences.
“We need gas, but Labour would rather we import it than produce our own. How much more evidence does this Government need before it wakes up to reality?”
Worth reading in full.
