Whitegate power station has in the past hour returned to operation after nearly 12 months out of action due to a turbine fault. It is expected to return to full commercial operation tomorrow. A small loose bit of metal caused significant damage last December to what is a very sensitive piece of equipment. It was due back at the beginning of November. The return of the 444MW power station comes just at a good time as the weather has turned cold and demand is rising. Also imports from the UK and wind energy appear to be very low in the past few days.
Back in July, the Energy Regulator warned that power stations have become less reliable due to extreme operational requirements that they were not designed for during periods of intermittent wind.
It may just only replace EWIC imports from the UK. The max imports over the EWIC is greater than Whitegates output. Probably no material improvement in supply. Net loss in supply if this is the case 70 MW. No less risk of Blackouts.
ReplyDeleteGas fired power generation plants are useful only if there is gas available to run them. Rising gas prices and scarcity of supply of gas has rendered coal fired generation very profitable.
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