Speaking to Sky News yesterday, former chancellor of the exchequor Nadhim Zahawi said that while it is “only right that we plan for every scenario”, he did not expect the emergency plans to be put in motion.
Last week, the National Grid ESO admitted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will likely see the UK facing a “challenging winter” with regards to its energy supplies.
It raised the possibility of planned three-hour electricity blackouts that would see supplies cut off at peak times in order to ensure the grid does not collapse.
These would be the UK’s first planned blackouts since the 1970s, when such emergency measures were instituted in response to the miners’ strikes of 1972 and 1974 and the OPEC oil crisis of 1973.
Despite plans to close all of the UK’s unabated coal power by October 2024, National Grid ESO has secured three contracts with coal generators to keep five coal units open and on standby this winter, with the ability to generate approximately...