Should We Fear Black Outs This Winter?

This month the National Grid issued a notice to energy suppliers asking for a greater supply. This was the first time such a warning has been issued in three years. The request was for an additional 500MWs between the hours of 16:30 and 18:30 on Wednesday 4 November.

This amount of power is equivalent to the surge you would expect during the half time of a sporting event, when everyone rushes to boil the kettle at once. More power was requested after several plant breakdowns occured during the month of October.

A statement said: "National Grid has issued a notice to the industry...asking for more generation to be brought on to the system.