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Bloomberg
The UK’s National Grid Plc will run a test of one of the country’s coal-fired power generators that’s being kept in reserve to boost supplies this winter.
A Drax Group Plc unit will start up and generate as much as 300 megawatts as the grid operator checks that contingency tools are ready and working if needed. Temperatures plummeted to -6C (21F) overnight in Britain and will remain “very cold†until the weekend, according to the Met Office.
The National Grid asked Drax to get two coal-fired units ready to generate if needed, but they were stood down before the evening demand peak.
The UK is struggling with a shrinking buffer of spare capacity that can produce power when the wind drops. Prices have surged to records, and the network operator this week spent more than £27 million ($33.4 million) in just one day to keep the lights on using expensive gas-fired stations.