The UK's power grid operator has issued an electricity margin notice for Monday morning due to a system margin shortfall caused by low wind generation. The National Energy System Operator (NESO) expects a shortfall of about 1.4 gigawatts during the peak period on November 9 and has asked the market to provide additional power generation as the margin tightens.
NESO stressed that this is "not a warning of power cuts" and that there is "no risk to customer electricity supplies." The notice was issued on Sunday night as a "precautionary measure" to ensure there is headroom in the system to meet demand for electricity.
Details of the Margin Notice
The electricity margin notice sends a message to the market that the operator would like more of a cushion between power demand and supply for a limited period, allowing production to rise to increase capacity in the grid. NESO said it was expecting a system margin shortfall of 1,388 megawatts from 6am to 11am on Monday.
"We have issued an electricity margin notice for tomorrow (Monday) morning, as a routine and precautionary measure, giving market participants the opportunity to make additional generation capacity available," a Neso spokesperson said. "This is not a warning of power cuts, there is no risk to customer electricity supplies, and customers do not need to take action – Great Britain’s electricity system remains secure."
How NESO Balances the System
NESO says on its website that it uses these notices to "balance" the system to ensure power cuts don't occur. The operator explains that its role is to operate the electricity system and guide electricity from where it is generated to where it is needed, making sure the supply of electricity from the market always matches demand.
"These notices are a routine way that we operate the system, and they don’t mean that electricity supply is at risk," NESO states. It adds that if the normal safety margin for operating the system is not as big as desired and cannot be addressed through normal mechanisms, it would consider issuing an Electricity Margin Notice (EMN).
"This doesn’t mean we don’t have enough electricity to meet demand; it just means we’d like a larger cushion of spare capacity, and we want the market to provide it."
