Britain puts coal plant on standby as warm temperatures ramp up demand

LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) – Britain’s National Grid has asked Uniper (UN01.DE) to ready a unit at its Ratcliffe coal-fired power plant in case extra electricity is needed on Monday amid warmer temperatures.

Britain has a target to close its coal-fired power plants by October 2024 as part of efforts to cut fossil fuel emissions and meet its 2050 net-zero target.

A market notice, published by the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) showed it has asked for the unit to be ready on Monday afternoon.

National Grid ESO has contracted some coal plants to be available if needed to help balance the country’s electricity supply but they have rarely been used and typically only called up during colder-winter months.

National Grid ESO did not comment on why the notification had been issued. Power plant operator Uniper did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Temperatures in Britain have reached over 30 degrees Celsius in parts of the country over the weekend leading the country’s Met Office to issue a Heat Health Alert indicating older people, or those with health conditions, should take precautions.

“It is a sign of failure that the National Grid is turning to one of the most polluting forms of power generation to deal with a summer heatwave that we know has been made worse because of climate change,” Ami McCarthy, political campaigner at environmental group Greenpeace UK said in a statement.

Gas-fired power plants were providing around 41% of the country’s electricity on Monday, with wind power lower than usual, providing just 7%.

A subsea power cable connecting Britain and Norway has also been operating at half of its capacity due to a technical fault, with full capacity of 1.4 gigawatts (GW) expected to return on Tuesday, Norwegian grid operator Statnett said.

Reporting By Susanna Twidale; Editing by Sharon Singleton

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