David Cameron has set up a top-level meeting with some of the most prominent figures in his government in order to tackle the growing concern over the country’s energy supply.
This news comes as recent numbers highlight just how small the gap is between the UK’s current energy consumption and production really is.
Those expected to attend the meeting next week are the prime minister himself, Amber Rudd, the energy secretary; George Osborne, the chancellor; and Oliver Letwin, a trusted aide of the prime minister.
National Grid Energy Figures Raise Concern
Amber Rudd is scheduled to give a speech in the next few days, which will outline her policy plan for Britain’s energy supply. The first half of this year has seen Ms Rudd cutting green energy subsidies to many renewable power initiatives across the country. This has caused many to express their concern that the country may not be able to produce enough energy to sustain houses and businesses in the future.
A source close to the government stated:
“We have spent the first part of this government talking about what we are not going to do. Now we need to tell people what we are going to do.”
In spite of the fact that the highest level of supply this winter will only be marginally higher that the highest level of demand, Ms Rudd still firmly believes that the government will “keep the lights on”.
The National Grid recently released figures, which indicated that the difference between the amount of energy we are creating and the amount of energy that we are using is very small indeed. In fact it is believed that the discrepancy currently sits at only 1.2%, though this will rise to 5.1% after the body takes “emergency measures” to rectify the situation.
Emergency Measures To Be Taken
The emergency measures in question are centrally focused around bringing decommissioned power plants back online. However, the National Grid has also been reported to be paying companies to use less power or to move onto backup generators at times of high demand.
The chief executive of the National Grid, Steve Holliday, has stated:
“[The measures taken] can help us dampen down those sharp peaks in demand.”
There are now a series of companies being set up to act as brokers between the National Grid and smaller businesses to aid in this “demand-side management”. The commercial manager at one of those brokers, Open Energi, is Chris Kimmett. He said:
“There must be a more efficient way of running the system than for small firms to run diesel generators, but for now this is what National Grid needs to do.”
One the largest causes for the shrinking gap between supply and demand is the fact that many coal-fired power stations have been closed without much capacity built to replace them.
