Energy prices spiked on Monday morning as the UK suffered from a lack of wind during the ongoing cold snap.
Having to rely heavily on gas, which accounted for over half of the UK’s energy generation, wholesale energy prices hit £1,650/MWh on Monday, far above the yearly average price of £200/MWh, according to live statistics from grid.iamkate.com.
Richard Lum, co-chief investment officer at VH Global Sustainable Energy Opportunities, suggested this proved the UK placed an overreliance on renewables.
Lum commented: “The danger of the UK’s overreliance on wind and solar is reflected in the recent hike in electricity prices, as challenging weather affected supply.
“Presently, coal and other fossil fuels disproportionality dominate the energy mix to make up for any shortfalls in terms of renewable output.”
The UK has a total wind power capacity of almost 28,000MW, according to RenewableUK, well over half of Sunday’s demand of roughly 37,000MW, but is unable to access this when windspeeds are below 12-14km/h.
A lack of wind across Europe has left countries turning to non-renewable and ultimately more expensive sources of electricity generation, with France even requesting to halve scheduled exports to the UK on Monday morning.
On Sunday evening, National Grid ESO called on two Drax owned coal-fired power stations to be switched back on, after they were kept from being decommissioned to act as reserves over the winter.
Both have subsequently been stood down.
The ESO can confirm that it has now stood down these coal units as there is adequate available contingency for this evening.
— National Grid ESO (@NationalGridESO) December 12, 2022
A hike in the usage of gas comes after Centrica warned that the nine days worth of UK gas storage was not large enough, as it reopened its North Sea Rough facility to bolster national capacity.
Consumers will be largely protected by the price hikes due to the government’s energy price guarantee, which sees it subsidise households bills.