The National Grid ESO has fired up its emergency coal stations as the coldest night of the year so far beckons.
A warning has been issued by the grid as the cold spell this evening could mean more energy is needed to keep Britain's lights on.
This afternoon, two coal-powered stations in West Burton in Lincolnshire began feeding into the national grid.
They are currently feeding in the minimum amount of power needed to supply electricity to the grid, but a spokesperson for the ESO said they are ready to feed in more as and when needed.
The National Grid announced this morning that four of its five winter coal units were to be warmed up for potential use.
The order covered two emergency units at Drax's site in North Yorkshire and two at West Burton.
It said: "The ESO as a prudent system operator has developed these tools for an additional contingency to operate the network as normal.
"This does not mean electricity supplies are at risk."
This marked the first time the reserve coal units would actually generate power this winter following several start-up orders given over the last few months.
The energy group also issued an electricity margin notice (EMN) for four hours between 4.30pm to 8.30pm this morning, due to the expected heightened demand for energy this evening.
However, it has since cancelled this notice.
The National Grid said its electricity margin notice is a "routine tool" that it used most winters, which asks generators to "make available any additional generation capacity they may have".
This was the fourth time this winter so far that the National Grid has issued this notification.
It was previously said the generators would be deployed only as a “last resort” to prevent blackouts.
Another way the National Grid projects energy supplies is through the Demand Flexibility Service (DFS) which sees households sign up for the scheme paid to turn off high-usage appliances at peak times.
It said later on Tuesday morning that the Demand Flexibility Service could be needed on Wednesday and it would issue an update it knows more.
The move to power the coal-fired stations comes as temperatures in the UK are predicted to fall as low as -15 degrees in some areas of Scotland.
This temperature reading will beat the current record already set this year which saw Drumnadrochit near Inverness in the Highlands of Scotland drop to -10.4 degrees on January 19.
The Met Office and the UK's Health Security Agency (UKHSA) have issued warnings for snow and ice for large parts of England, Scotland, Wales and, Northern Ireland, this week.
According to the Met Office, the cause of the significant drop in temperatures in the UK has been due to a "highly amplified" jet stream sweeping arctic air across the country.
This, alongside an area of lower pressure over the Mid-North Atlantic, has pushed air up into northern areas and back down towards the UK.
