Brexit ‘not likely’ to impact security of energy supply

Brexit will not undermine the security of the UK’s energy supply, a new government report has claimed.

The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has today (5 November), published its latest annual report on the security of the UK’s energy supplies.

Referring to Brexit, it says: “GB has a resilient electricity and gas system with sufficient capacity to meet demand in all but the most unlikely circumstances, as a result EU exit is not likely to have an impact on security of supply in GB.”

The report says that gas demand was 7.8 per cent higher in the first quarter of this year than in the equivalent period for 2017, with demand peaking at a seven-year daily high on 1 March during the “Beast from the East” cold snap, triggering the first issue of a gas deficit warning.

However, according to the report, the system was able to source sufficient gas during the Arctic conditions.

“The events of the ‘Beast from the East’ and the ability of the gas deficit warning to drive sufficient market response illustrate the resilience and effectiveness of the gas system even during a stress event.”

The report also states that the gap between electricity supply and demand remained in kilter during the cold snap.

It says: “There were no system stress events during the winter period November 2017 – end February 2018. Even with the prolonged period of cold weather in late February/early March, margins remained healthy.”

The report also says that the security of the UK’s gas supply has not been put at risk by the closure of Rough and the much smaller Hole House gas stores, which were operated by Centrica and EDF respectively.

It says: “The closure of Rough and the withdrawal from operation of Hole House are not considered to undermine security of supply. Nonetheless, we will continue to monitor the value of long-term storage as the dynamics of the gas market continue to evolve.”