On Tuesday, the price of electricity on the British spot market exploded from £200 to £300 to over £1,200 per megawatt hour because the offshore wind farms were no longer delivering due to a lack of wind. Such bottlenecks in the power supply also make it clear why governments want to promote the so-called “smart meters” in private households…
Winter (when the wind power output is already lower) has barely begun and the UK electricity grid is already on the brink of collapse. The reason for this: The British offshore wind turbines were effectively out of power due to a lack of wind and it is according to one Bloomberg Message It can be assumed that this situation will continue for a few more days. At the same time, the increasingly cold weather will boost demand. This led to the electricity price on the Epex Spot SE electricity exchange exploding from £200 to £300 to over £1,200 per megawatt hour (MWh).
This is another blow to the UK energy sector following the recent bankruptcy of a major solar energy company (Report24 reported). This is already suffering (like that on the continent) from the high natural gas prices. But similar to the solar energy country Germany, the British are increasingly dependent on fossil fuels in the cold months to cover the needs of households and the economy.
Electricity rationing through a special smart meter program
However, this energy crisis is also showing why governments are exerting such enormous pressure to install so-called smart meters on a large scale. For the first time, power shortages could force grid operator National Grid to introduce a new measure that pays homes to reduce electricity use during peak periods. Thousands of households with the “smart meters” have signed up for the “demand reduction” program, which has been piloted. According to a warning from National Grid, this measure could now be used for the first time. And not only that: in the EU, this could also be implemented in the event of a British “success”.
The wide range of fluctuations in power generation from wind energy – including a total failure when there is no wind – makes it clear that this energy alone cannot be relied on at all. Similar to solar power generation, which also does not work (sufficiently) at night, in winter or when it is very hot. At least the whole thing is relatively unusable as long as you can’t store the overproduction very cheaply and tap it again when needed.
