Britain is to be left without backup coal power plants this winter after the energy companies Drax and EDF confirmed plans to close their remaining stations, despite the backup being needed last winter. The Telegraph has the story.
The National Grid on Wednesday said it had ended talks with the two companies about keeping open West Burton A, in Nottinghamshire, and two coal-fired units at Drax’s plant in Selby, Yorkshire, after they made clear that the sites would not be available.
Last winter, the companies were paid to keep these coal units on standby as a final resort to keep the lights on if gas and renewable energy generation ran low.
But the refusal of EDF and Drax to keep the facilities open means the Grid will be unable to keep this so-called winter contingency in reserve again.
A third coal power station that participated last year, Uniper’s Ratcliffe-on-Soar, also in Nottinghamshire, will continue to operate but only on a commercial basis, meaning it is not available as a contingency.
The National Grid, which owns and operates Britain’s main electricity system, had been asked by ministers to find out whether the coal plants would be available again and revealed earlier this month that it was in talks about doing so.
But on Wednesday the company said: “These discussions have now concluded. Both operators have confirmed that they will not be able to make their coal units available for a further winter and have begun the decommissioning process.”
Drax said that the decision not to keep the Yorkshire coal units going was “due to a combination of technical, maintenance and staffing reasons”.
It means the National Grid will not be able to call upon a separate reserve of coal-generated power during times of system stress.
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