Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
An increase in gas-fired power stations will put pressure on security of UK gas supply, government has warned in its latest risk assessment.
Gas supply infrastructure is resilient to “all but the most extreme and unlikely combinations of severe infrastructure and supply shocks” up to 2016, the review found.
However, in the medium to long term gas demand from power generation is expected to increase. The government’s Gas Strategy foresees a need for up to 26GW of gas power generating capacity by 2030, to replace coal capacity and provide flexible back-up for intermittent renewable generation.
Meanwhile, it will become less easy to reduce gas power generation at times of high gas demand, as the retirement of old coal power stations takes away the main alternative.
The report said energy efficiency policies and efforts to maximise domestic production from the North Sea and shale gas would help with security. It also highlighted work by Ofgem on demand-side response and cash-out reform.
The UK is required to produce a gas risk assessment by European regulations. The last such report was published in November 2011.
Gas security of supply has been pushed up the European agenda in recent months following tensions between the Ukraine and Russia.
Please login or Register to leave a comment.