National Grid pays high price for gas-generated power during UK cold snap
National Grid paid some of the highest prices this winter for gas-generated power on Tuesday night as it scrambled to keep the lights on during one of the coldest weeks of the year.
Data from the electricity system’s administrator, Elexon, showed the Coryton power station in Essex had bids accepted to produce power at £1,950 per megawatt hour (MWh) on Tuesday evening.
The sums are well above average prices of between £200 and £400 per megawatt hour, although they remain below those paid on 12 December, when National Grid paid £27m in a single day to get power stations to crank up supply. In December, Rye House power station in Hertfordshire received a record £6,000 a MWh.
In total, the cost of balancing the system on Tuesday this week was estimated at between £5m and £10m.
One industry source said the price of sourcing power from gas peaking plants had “raised eyebrows”.
The cold, still weather reduced wind power and pushed up demand this week, while strikes at EDF’s nuclear plants in France also put a strain on the grid.
To counter this, National Grid called on coal plants that were put on standby for the winter into action for the first time, as well as sourcing power from Dinorwig, a vast, pumped hydroelectric power plant in north Wales nicknamed “Electric Mountain”, which is the fastest source of electricity in the UK.
Industry sources said Coryton, owned by InterGen, could have earned as much as £2m on Tuesday but failed to deliver all of the power originally offered up. InterGen was bought by Czech financier Pavel Hubáček’s Creditas investment group in January.
National Grid relies on offering the right prices to incentivise power plants to help balance supply and demand. Generators bid to provide power at a specified
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