Sarah Taaffe-Maguire
SkyWed, 19 Oct 2022 06:58 UTC
The warning from the head of the National Grid follows the electricity and gas systems operator outlining unlikely scenarios when blackouts may take place this winter.
The head of Britain's electricity and gas systems' operator has told households to prepare for blackouts
between 4pm and 7pm on weekdays during "really, really cold" days in January and February if gas imports are reduced.
John Pettigrew, the National Grid chief, said blackouts would have to be imposed during the "deepest darkest evenings" in January and February if electricity generators did not have enough gas to meet demand,
especially if there is a period of cold weather.
His comments were made at the Financial Times's Energy Transition Summit on Monday.
Earlier this month, the National Grid had put the
country on notice that the chances of gas shortages in winter have risen and that
planned three-hour power blackouts could be imposed in some areas, in the "unlikely" event supplies of gas fall short of demand.
This is the first time since the warning that there has been explicit discussion of what time blackouts may take place.Due to Russia's war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russian gas imports, many European countries are facing gas shortages. A large amount of electricity is generated from gas, putting strain on national electricity supplies as demand increases in the face of cold weather.
Britain gets 40% of its electricity from gas-fired power stations while gas heats the vast majority of homes.
Although Britain does not import gas from Russian,
it does import electricity and gas from European countries that rely on Russian gas.
Numerous measures are planned to avoid blackouts, including placing coal-fired power stations on standby instead of retiring them as previously planned and creating a
demand flexibility service, allowing consumers to be rewarded for not using power during times of peak demand.
Comment: Or, like France, for those with smart meters, who do not make the right choice, they will simply have their boilers shut off remotely by the government:
France to shut off household smart water heaters REMOTELY to avoid blackouts as nuclear reactors remain offline and energy prices spike 28%
BBC prepares secret scripts for possible use in winter blackouts
The scripts, seen by the Guardian, set out how the corporation would reassure the public in the event that a "major loss of power" causes mobile phone networks, internet access, banking systems or traffic lights to fail across England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland would be unaffected because its electricity grid is shared with the Republic of Ireland.
The public would be advised to use car radios or battery-powered receivers to listen to emergency broadcasts on FM and long-wave frequencies usually reserved for Radio 2 and Radio 4.
One draft BBC script warns that a blackout could last for up to two days, with hospitals and police placed under "extreme pressure".
Another says: "The government has said it's hoped power will be restored in the next 36 to 48 hours. Different parts of Britain will start to receive intermittent supplies before then."
It is understood they were written by BBC journalists as part of routine emergency planning to deal with hypothetical scenarios. They include local details for the different regions and nations of Britain.
In a national emergency, the BBC has a formal role in helping to spread information across the country, as part of the government's civil contingencies planning. The broadcaster's governance framework states: "If it appears to any UK government minister that an emergency has arisen, that minister may request that the BBC broadcast or otherwise distribute any announcement or other programme."
The government works with the BBC as part of its emergency planning process, although it is unclear whether it had any input on these scripts. A spokesperson said: "The government is confident that this is not a scenario we will face this winter."
The BBC said it did not comment on its emergency broadcasting plans.
Ministers have been at pains to reassure businesses and householders that blackouts are unlikely.
On Monday, National Grid's chief executive, John Pettigrew, went further and said that if everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong, there could be rolling blackouts between 4pm and 7pm on "really, really cold" days in January and February, when wind speeds are too low to power turbines.
The BBC's draft scenario suggests that in a national blackout it would run a greatly reduced temporary radio service from the UK's emergency broadcasting centre, called the EBC, based in a rural location not acknowledged by the BBC.
This would provide half-hourly news bulletins on Radio 4's FM and long-wave frequencies and a "music service", with news updates on the FM spectrum used by Radio 2.
One scenario used in some of the scripts assumes that mains electricity is available in only a few lightly populated parts of Scotland - the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland, and some parts of the Highlands.
The draft scripts for on-air news bulletins include space for a quote from a Cabinet Office minister, given the fictitious name Jose Riera.
The scripts report that these blackouts would affect gas supply systems, and knock out mobile phone networks, cashpoints and internet access. Traffic lights would stop working, causing disruption on the roads.
One script, written for a hypothetical news bulletin, warns: "The emergency services are under extreme pressure. People are being advised not to contact them unless absolutely necessary."
It states that in Wales an emergency coordination centre has been set up, while in Scotland the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is chairing the devolved government's emergency planning meeting. It adds: "Officials are saying there is no current risk to food supply and distribution. But they're asking people to look out for vulnerable neighbours and relatives."
That they're mentioning food shortages should be a cause for alarm. Although it shouldn't be surprising, because officials across the planet have been warning that our planet is facing food shortages of catastrophic proportions.
Note that this isn't the first warning that officials and industry bosses have given about looming blackouts in recent months, plus it makes sense logically, and so what would be more surprising is that the UK doesn't suffering some form of rolling blackouts this winter.
Comment: Or, like France, for those with smart meters, who do not make the right choice, they will simply have their boilers shut off remotely by the government: France to shut off household smart water heaters REMOTELY to avoid blackouts as nuclear reactors remain offline and energy prices spike 28% That they're mentioning food shortages should be a cause for alarm. Although it shouldn't be surprising, because officials across the planet have been warning that our planet is facing food shortages of catastrophic proportions.
Note that this isn't the first warning that officials and industry bosses have given about looming blackouts in recent months, plus it makes sense logically, and so what would be more surprising is that the UK doesn't suffering some form of rolling blackouts this winter.