From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

An emergency alert has been triggered on Northern Ireland’s electricity grid, sending it into an amber warning at teatime today.

The warning – which did not mean that blackouts were imminent – was in place from 5pm to 6.30pm.

It comes during the first serious cold spell since the closure of Kilroot Power Station’s coal-fired units and the bungled delay in replacing them, something which drastically reduced margins in the electricity system.

In a message to the island-wide Integrated Single Electricity Market (I-SEM), the market operator told market participants this afternoon: “Due to tight generation capacity margins in the SEM, a System Alert (amber) will be issued effective from 17:00 to 18:30 on 15/01/2024 in Northern Ireland.

“A further communication will be issued when the System Alert has been lifted.”

The System Operator for Northern Ireland (SONI) said the alert was caused by increased demand and very little wind production. It said there was no need for consumers to take any action, and pointed to its winter outlook which had predicted that such alerts will become more common.

There is no immediate risk of blackouts. The electricity grid’s lowest level of alert is amber, followed by a red emergency alert — and blackout after that.

Today’s conditions represent the most challenging for the grid operator, combining little wind with cold weather.

About 43MW of wind power was being generated this afternoon — a fraction of the 1,060MW peak wind generation. Most of the rest of the electricity in the system is coming from gas, with the remainder being imported from Scotland via the Moyle Interconnector.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/amber-alert-on-nis-electricity-grid-as-wind-doesnt-blow-and-loss-of-kilroot-slashes-margins/a19035892.html

And what will Ireland do when all of those gas plants are shut down?