Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-11-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which power plants are due to come offline in March 2016; and what plans she has to ensure peak energy demands are met after those plants come offline.
Andrea Leadsom
The following plants have announced that they will no longer be connected to the Transmission Grid from April 2016:
- Eggborough;
- Ferrybridge;
- Longannet.
These withdrawals have been announced over the past year. It is possible that they may still be available for winter 16/17 if they choose to bid, and are successful, in National Grid’s Supplemental Balancing Reserve. It should also be noted that these withdrawals are partly offset by new or increased thermal generation during 2016 from Wilton and Keadby CCGT plants. A large amount of renewable generation is also due to enter the market in 2016.
Our priority is to ensure that British families and business have access to secure affordable energy supplies that they can rely on and we are taking prudent steps to manage the margins in winter 2016/17. Since 2014 National Grid have had the ability to procure a Contingency Balancing Reserve (CBR), which consists of the Supplemental Balancing Reserve (SBR), where existing power stations stand by ready to generate additional electricity and the Demand Side Balancing Reserve (DSBR) where companies bid for contracts with National Grid to receive payments in return for reducing their electricity usage times of peak demand should National Grid so require. National Grid and Ofgem agree that we should retain the ability to procure CBR for the next two winters. Government supports this position and we expect confirmation later this month following an Ofgem consultation. Beyond winter 2017/18, the Capacity Market will take over as the long term solution for security of supply.
