On Monday, in order to meet extra demand to power air conditioning, National Grid broke a 46-day run in which coal had not been used to generate electricity in Britain. But as the country swelters in the heat, commentators and green campaigners have asked why coal and not renewables were used to plug the gap.
What actually happened?
Late on Sunday night, after a day in which temperatures had topped 30C in some parts of the country, National Grid’s electricity system operator (ESO) requested that the Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal plant be readied to burn coal to generate power. The ESO is tasked with balancing electricity supply and demand. Germany’s Uniper, which owns the Nottinghamshire power station, brought one unit into action on Monday morning, with a second following in the late afternoon to support the evening peak.
Several factors had combined to put strain on the grid: the surge in demand for aircon; a fault on the 1,400-megawatt North Sea Link interconnector with Norway that meant the power the subsea cable was carrying to the UK was reduced by half; and planned maintenance at the Torness nuclear power station on the east coast of Scotland, which cut supplies.
So the UK is still reliant on coal?
No, the fossil fuel is a small and shrinking part of the UK’s energy system. However, fears over gas shortages in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced the UK and other nations to turn to it as a backup over the winter. In Britain, three coal plants, – Ratcliffe, EDF’s West Burton A and Drax in North Yorkshire – were paid to be kept on standby amid fears a cold snap and a lack of gas could cause blackouts.
In the event, they were largely unused. In February, the energy secretary, Grant Shapps, asked Drax and EDF to delay their stations’ planned decommissioning, but that suggestion was snubbed. Ratcliffe, meanwhile, is due to close in September 2024 – the date Britain has committed to end coal-fired generation. One unit at the site that had been due to close in 2022 will now close in September 2024, at the same time as the other three units.
How much does switching on coal cost?
Industry sources estimated that Uniper was paid about £500,000 for Monday’s actions. For context, some gas-fired power stations were paid as much as £12m on the tightest winter days.
Keeping plants on standby under the winter contingency coal contracts cost about £400m. The cost of balancing the grid has been in the spotlight in recent months, amid calls for the profits of gas-fired power plants’ owners to be capped.
Why aren’t we just turning to renewables?
Britain’s wind sector has grown in recent years, and now typically accounts for about a quarter of electricity generation. But wind production slumped in the still conditions of the heatwave, forcing the ESO to seek other options. With the sun beaming down, solar picked up some of that slack – providing about 20% of power.
As Britain has only a small amount of battery storage, there is little ability to hoard that renewable power for use when the wind drops and the sun doesn’t shine. An industry argument is raging over waiting times to connect up renewable projects, including battery storage, which would allow a swifter transition away from using fossil fuels to generate power.
How prepared are we for a heating planet?
The Climate Change Committee has said that the UK is “strikingly unprepared” for the impacts of the climate crisis. The independent body said a number of areas needed addressing, including heat-proofing homes, stemming leaks from water supply pipes and preparing for flash floods.
For households, this could be mean costly retrofitting, but little official guidance has been issued. The introduction of a government “Future Homes Standard” is still two years away.
Guidance for local authorities issued earlier this year said: “Planning policy across the UK addresses the issues associated with climate change, but action has been delayed, inconsistent and de-prioritised for too long.”
Greenpeace’s Ami McCarthy labelled the firing up of the coal units a “sign of failure”, adding: “If our homes were properly insulated, they’d keep us cool in the summer as well as warm in the winter, plus some heat pumps can cool as well as heat homes.”
Worldwide, it is estimated that as many as a billion extra air conditioning units will be sold before the end of the decade, driven in part by demand in China and India where both incomes and temperatures are rising, creating a vicious cycle when much of the electricity used to power them is generated by fossil fuels.
