Networks
This morning, National Grid has announced the acquisition of Western Power Distribution (“WPD”), the largest of Britain’s distribution network operators (“DNOs”), in a move that signals a transformation for the company and for the GB electricity system more broadly. At the same time, National [...]
The 1 GW BritNed interconnector linking GB with the Netherlands has suffered another fault and is expected to be out of service until late April, meaning it has spent much of this winter out of action. In addition to contributing to a tight GB [...]
When people talk about digitisation in energy the things that spring to mind are often use of sensors to gather more granular consumption information, and more sophisticated market and system data platforms, allowing new forms of trading and optimisation. Another interesting area is the [...]
The importance of security of supply has been underlined this week by events in the US state of Texas which has been hit by extensive power outages as unprecedented cold weather saw temperatures fall as low as -22 oC, leaving millions of homes without [...]
This month, Statkraft and ABB announced the construction of two synchronous condensers on Lister Driver in Liverpool. The Lister Drive project will provide a range of grid stabilisation services to National Grid ESO, including inertia, short circuit current and voltage control. Grid stability in [...]
On 1 January 2021, the UK left the EU's internal energy market (“IEM”), meaning that trading over the interconnectors between GB and the EU us no longer be managed through market coupling (except for Northern Ireland which remains part of the Single Electricity Market [...]
There are signs of squeezed power market supply and demand margins. Last week saw National Grid ESO issue two Electricity Margin Notices (the new name for the Notice of Inadequate System Margin, or “NISM”), warning of a potential shortfall in electricity generation in the [...]
National Grid has launched a new frequency response service: Dynamic Containment, designed to provide sub-second response to faults which cause a significant deviation in the electricity system frequency. According to National Grid ESO: “Currently, the electricity system is experiencing lower inertia and larger, more [...]
As the country largely remains locked down, electricity demand continues to be low, and renewable generation high, particularly in the current sunny weather. This is creating challenges for National Grid ESO in balancing the electricity system, and so it is introducing new tools to [...]
In 2019 the GB market went a total of 18 consecutive days without any coal contributing to demand and 83 days without coal throughout the year as a whole. This was hailed as a great turning point and a sign that soon there would be [...]