𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Britain’s electricity grid operator has cancelled an industry warning that the UK’s power supply could have been squeezed amid pressure from the heatwave.

Late on Tuesday, the National Energy System Operator (Neso) had issued a rare summer call-out for more power on Wednesday evening in the face of concerns over record-breaking temperatures.

Neso, the body which is tasked with making sure the supply of electricity matches demand for it, said it had issued a so-called electricity margin notice for between 7pm and 10pm on Wednesday.

This sends a message to the electricity market to ask for more capacity to be made available, allowing for production to increase if necessary.

The notices are more typically sent during winter when demand for heating is higher.

However, the grid operator cancelled the warning shortly after 2pm on Wednesday, indicating it is confident in power supply levels for the evening.

Neso said the notice was a “routine tool” and stressed it did “not mean electricity supply is at risk”.

Solar power covered roughly half of the UK’s daytime energy demand on Tuesday, according to an analysis by Charlotte Johnson, general manager of Generation Flex at Kraken – an AI grid platform spun out of Octopus Energy designed to balance electricity supply and demand.

The UK was also exporting power to Europe during the day.

But Ms Johnson said this flipped by the evening, when the UK starting having to import around 10% of demand from Europe.

This was driven by a combination of waning solar power as the sun went down, growing demand as TVs across the country played World Cup football matches and several gas plants going offline, likely because of reduced efficiencies and heat-related operating restrictions amid the heatwave.

Neso paid up to £1,000 per megawatt hours to make sure the amount of gas going into the grid met the amount being withdrawn by consumers, with total costs exceeding £11 million which is more than five times the daily average, Ms Johnson said.

However, she also found batteries on the Kraken platform contracted for balancing services supported supply during the evening peak as solar power slowed.

She said “This is a preview of the operational challenges the UK will face more often in a warmer, more renewables-heavy system – and a clear demonstration of batteries’ growing role in managing demand and keeping the grid stable.”

Temperatures could hit 40C on Wednesday and Thursday in some parts of England and Wales as a “heat-dome” settling over western Europe has brought extreme conditions across the continent.

The extreme heat can put pressure on the electricity system by making processes less efficient, including nuclear power plants, gas stations and water cooling systems.

It also means people are using more electricity for fans and air conditioning to keep cool.