Drax says it will not keep UK coal plants operating this winter

The owner of Britain’s only coal-fired power plant has decided not to keep it open during the winter. This is despite the government asking to investigate this option to avoid disruption of energy supply.

Drax announced on Wednesday that its two coal-fired units in North Yorkshire near Selby could no longer operate due to “technical and maintenance reasons”. They had already begun to decommission them at the end April.

This announcement will leave only one coal-fired plant in Britain, Ratfcliffe-on-Soar (in Nottinghamshire), run by Dusseldorf-based Uniper. However, this station is expected to close in the next year when the country phases out the fuel in order to reduce carbon emissions.

In the event of a shortage, it will raise concerns about the security of electricity and the prices this winter. The system’s supervisor, National Grid, is unable to use Drax’s coal capacity of 1.3 gigawatts, which represents around 2% of the peak demand for a cold, sunny day.

National Grid’s electricity network operator, which manages the electricity grid, predicts a healthy supply this winter with more electricity generated from other sources than last winter.

This month, it revealed that it had been in talks with the FTSE-250 listed power group to keep Selby online. The discussions have since ended.

As part of the “demand flexibility service”, which will be introduced in 2022, households can also be paid to reduce their usage during peak hours.

National Grid paid Drax to keep the units open during last winter, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine roiled the energy markets. Outages in France’s nuclear fleet also affected exports to Britain. Uniper and French energy company EDF were paid to keep backup coal stations running in Britain.

In March, as France was still experiencing strikes, the spare plants of EDF were also fired up.

Tom Edwards, senior consultant at Cornwall Insight said Britain could manage without Drax units, “given the new capacity and we can expect to have more periods where we are importing”.

Kathryn Porter of Watt-Logic warned that Britain is “still exposed” in low-wind conditions, adding that “we still have this underlying threat that grows year-on-year — we are reducing conventional generation, and not replacing it with anything that’s reliable enough.”

Tim Sparks, a consultant with the research firm LCP Delta, stated that closing this facility would not have a “material impact” on France’s energy supply due to more reliable European gas supplies, and improvements in France’s nuclear power fleet.

He warned that if “a prolonged winter freeze occurs, prices will reflect the scarcity of stations on the market due to fewer being available”.

The government stated: “We’re confident that households, businesses, and industry will be able to get the electricity needed, when they need it. This is due to our diverse mix of electricity.”

The statement continued, “We will explore all options in order to ensure the security of our electricity supply during this winter’s cold snap as a precautionary measure and we remain committed to eliminating coal power by 2024.”