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UK Faces Power Blackout: 3-Hour Outages Tonight

by DD Staff

January 08, 2025

UK Faces Power Blackout

key takeaways

As the cold bites into electricity supplies tonight, families in the UK may be plunged into darkness. The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is urging more power generation this evening because of the extremely cold temperatures.

According to a NESO representative, "We anticipate tight margins on the power system for Wednesday evening between 4 and 7 p.m. By using this standard mechanism, which we do most winters, we are requesting that market players make whatever extra generation capacity they may have available.

Brits could face an alarming 1700-megawatt shortfall as NESO, the guardians of Britain's power, pushes for more muscle in the grid's reserves. They're all about keeping lights on by balancing the juice, reports the Express.

Energy trader Paul Salvin dropped a heavy forecast: “With limited availability for NESO to trade across the interconnectors with them already importing to the UK to their maximum. It is the highest chance in years of blackouts with such tight margins.

"Cold weather, no wind, the perfect winter storm."

Managing Director of energy supply chain company Technivac Ltd, Andrew Hixon has flagged major security worries amid this current power strain.

"It shows how dependent we are on 'connections' and the lack of headroom in margins. Someone like a rogue state could wreck everything by damaging a few pipelines / cables. Energy security is a big issue," he said.