After a mild start to winter, the weather has taken a harsh turn in recent weeks. The Met Office has issued a number of weather warnings across Scotland since Christmas – and it seems like there’s no let up.
The forecaster rolled over a snow alert, initially meant to be 24 hours, across three regions in Scotland – the Highlands, Grampian, and Orkney and Shetland. The weather warning came into effect at 12pm on Tuesday, January 7, and was predicted to last until 12pm on Wednesday, January 8.
However, with 10-15cm (4-5 inches) of snow to be expected on grounds above 150 metres, another snow and ice warning covering the same areas has been put in place until 11.59pm on Thursday, January 9.
And as if that wasn’t bad enough, it has been reported that, as a result of the harsh weather, millions of people across the UK may experience blackouts tonight. The National Energy System Operator (NESO) has called for more electricity generation due to the huge strain being placed on Britain’s energy supply, the Express reports.
A spokesperson said: “Following the Electricity Margin Notice last night a Capacity Market Notice has now been issued for this evening starting from 4.30pm.
“Both of these notices are part of NESO’s operational toolkit and are routine tools used most winters. These notices are to inform the energy industry of the need for additional electricity supplies to maintain the operational reserve NESO holds whilst operating the national electricity network.”
However, this does not mean that electricity supplies are at risk or that there isn’t enough to meet demand. NESO has said that the system was expected to have a shortfall of 1700 megawatts and are urging power companies to add more capacity. It should be noted that the statement does not say that power cuts or blackouts are “imminent”.
NESO is an independent expert and impartial body that oversees Britain’s power across electricity and gas. The operator ensures that the supply of electricity from the market always matches demand from their national control room. This is otherwise known as ‘balancing’ the system.
Energy trader Paul Salvin said: “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.”
NESO’s notice this morning also asked suppliers to declare any “additional demand control available”, which can include asking factories to temporarily switch off in order to save power. Another issue is that wind power output is expected to steeply fall from 17 gigawatts (GW) last night to 2GW this evening.
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