The wholesale price of electricity in the UK dropped dramatically as storm Éowyn brought higher winds back to the UK.
Windless dull weather, which is called dunkelflaute in German, caused renewable energy production to plummet. On the Wednesday evening before the storm, gas-fired power stations were providing 70% of the UK’s energy mix, with wholesale electricity prices reaching more than £500 per MWh. Most retail customers won’t notice a difference on their next bills, however. Even those not on fixed tariffs will generally be protected by Ofgem’s price cap, which is revised every three months based on market conditions.
While wind power generation was just 0.4GW on the Wednesday before the storm, it was expected to surge to 16GW by the morning of Friday. This caused wholesale auction prices of electricity to drop to £107/MWh for the Thursday and £84/MWh by the Friday.
A director at Ofgem, Akshay Kaul, said:
“…when you have a period of still, cold, cloudy weather… batteries on their own, and [power] interconnectors on their own, are not sufficient…That is quite a considerable challenge to physically get things like big pumped hydro storage built. But we relish it, we’re up for the challenge.”
The continuing reliance on natural gas for energy generation highlights how gas central heating systems will continue to play an important role in heating our homes for some years to come. Xgas can provide efficient gas central heating in Chester and other locations around the Wrexham area, so get in touch for a quote.
