LONDON (Reuters) – National Grid has issued an electricity margin notice (EMN) for 4.30-6.30 p.m. (1630-1830 GMT) on Thursday signalling a shortage in the network’s supply buffer and asking generators to make more power available.
It is the second such request made in as many days by National Grid, which is responsible for ensuring supply and demand are balanced in Britain’s energy systems.
“There are continued tight margins on the electricity system owing to factors including the weather, demand and the availability of generators,” National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) said on Twitter.
A notice to the market said the grid was seeking an extra 466 megawatts of capacity.
“An EMN is a routine signal we send to the market to indicate that we’d like a larger cushion of spare capacity, and does not mean electricity supply is at risk,” National Grid ESO said.
A similar notice was issued on Wednesday but cancelled later in the day when sufficient power became available.
Wind power output has fallen in the last few days, while several of the country’s nuclear reactors are also offline.
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