UK wind power output falls with the snow

Gas-fired power generation met 53% of British electricity demand of 39 GW April 12, as the continuing unseasonable cold snap meant poor conditions for wind generation. At 4.5% at time of press (10am local time), wind was just above coal (4%) and solar but less than imports from the continent (7%). Nuclear was the second largest, at 14%.

Looked at from the other side, gas for the power sector accounted for 93mn m³/day, out of a total 344mn m³/d, or 28% of the total. Most of the rest (225mn m³) went into heating households and small commercial premises as the temperature in the London region stood just above 0 °C.

Reopening some pubs, gyms and non-essential retail in England from April 12 – the first stage of the country's tentative return to normal life as the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on public health lessen – will help boost energy demand, although for now customers will have to drink and eat outside only. Industrial demand was 7.3mn m³/d and interconnector exports were 18mn m³/d.

The single largest source of gas was at the Easington terminal – landfall for the Norwegian Ormen Lange gas field – running at the usual 74mn m³/d, while LNG imports were down with just 30mn m³/d from one of the Milford Haven terminals and 37mn m at the Isle of Grain, the UK's largest.