Commons Public Accounts Commission (PAC) expressed concern about the safety of national electricity supply. [emphasis, links added]
Their report, “Energy Act Support,” was released last week:
department [for Energy Security and Net Zero] To convince the council there will be more work to do, it has a strong plan to ensure the energy supply is secure to meet growing demand.
The security of energy supply is the highest priority for the sector. Energy demand will increase due to the increasing number of electric vehicles and heat pumps, data processing centers, and the transfer to building houses.
The stability of the energy grid may be affected by sector plans to move towards cleaner energy by 2030, as intermittent renewable energy for wind and solar energy varies by weather conditions.
Therefore, intermittent energy will need to be supplemented by flexible and base load power.
Nuclear is an important low-carbon form of base load generation, but there are problems with the lifespan and capacity of existing plants and the time it takes to get a small modular nuclear reactor up and running.
In January 2025, the national energy system operator issued a regular notice to energy providers to temporarily below margin for energy generation to ensure that demand in the coming days is met.
The Committee recommends:
The department should shed light on how the department will ensure the grid's capacity when power generation is low in calm weather, including renewable energy from a wide range of technologies such as nuclear energy.
The Committee has reasons for full attention.
In November, national energy system operator NESO published a report examining the implications of a completely decarbonized UK power system by 2030 under Labor's Clean Power 2030 plan.
The result is not beautiful.
NESO stressed that we need to maintain our entire gas station fleet for a long time after 2030, which makes them ticking during inevitable times without the wind blowing and the sun shining.
That alone drives coaches and horses through the whole idea of net zero.
The following figure shows the degree of the problem.
Modeled for 7-day hour generation overviews in 2030 for further resilience and renewable energy
But many of our gas plants are now over 30 years old and have little appeal, making them open just to open up a weird day here and there.
Many of these may still be open within five to ten years. From a technical point of view, leaving them idle for weeks at a time can also cause problems.
In short, if Ed Miliband wants to have 30 GW of backup gasoline power plant in 2030, he will have to pay for it.
He also has to subsidize the construction of a large number of new gas production capacity.
The problem is that, as PAC points out, demand for electricity will grow rapidly in the coming years to supply electric vehicles, heat pumps, data centers and industries. NESO believes that peak demand may increase to 62 GW by 2030.
In January, when we were dangerously close to a power outage, demand reached a peak of 48 GW, and gas stations and interconnectors worked smoothly.
If a major generator or interconnect is dropped, a power outage may occur. No genius is needed to solve it We will not have enough reliable, adjustable generation capabilities to meet the expected 2030 requirements.
Of course, Miliband's plan is triple wind and solar power capacity, but that won't make a difference. After all, there is nothing!
NESO recognizes this problem, and their solution is to significantly reduce the demand for the system when wind energy drops, sometimes up to 10%. This will be done by price ration or rolling power outages.
In a said high-level country, this should not be accepted.
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