The UK government is preparing for winter blackouts in a few months time for both industries and households, as the global gas crunch threatens to overwhelm the country’s energy supply.
As reported by Bloomberg this week, in a “reasonable worst-case scenario” projection, the government could see a situation where available electricity is only one sixth of peak demand during the colder winter months.
Britain plans for organised blackouts in January – Bloomberg News https://t.co/ITLFbO9K6g pic.twitter.com/dWz2xIrnOs
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 10, 2022
Notably, this scenario could reportedly play out even after coal plants have been reintroduced as an emergency measure. This would force the government to initiate a blackout to conserve gas for critical infrastructure.
Following the development in Britain, Eirgrid has reported that Ireland’s low wind and electricity imports could lead to similar power cuts in this country, as the nation already faces energy bottlenecks – long before the higher energy demand in winter.
Increased risk of power cuts as low wind and plant power shut downs affecting supply https://t.co/yX1r1rFfSw
— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) August 10, 2022
Eirgrid warned that many Irish power plants are shut down – some due to their age.
One coal-fired ESB plant at Moneypoint, which can generation 300MW of electricity, has shut down until Saturday due to maintenance issues, causing supply problems for the national grid.
However, as Gript reported last year, at least two “pristine” power stations were previously shut down as part of Ireland’s mission to reduce carbon emissions.
ESB confirms it will demolish its two ‘pristine’ power plants in the Midlands
Currently Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins is engaged in a battle with his Green Party government colleagues over whether Ireland should drive ahead with a Liquefied Natural Gas terminal in Kerry to stave off energy shortages – an idea which the Greens have dubbed “very worrying.”
The Minister said it was shovel ready and just "makes sense". https://t.co/p1gHRRmbXX
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) August 10, 2022