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NESO Calls for More Power Supply Friday to Maintain Regulatory Buffer

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The UK's National Energy System Operator has issued an electricity margin notice, pointing out a reduced system margin for Friday evening and instructed suppliers to maximize power generation.

An electricity margin notice is a signal to the market that a greater short-term cushion is required between electricity demand and supply. It is not an indication of imminent blackouts or insufficient generation to meet current demand.

According to a NESO notice on market settlement administrator Elexon's website, system margin is expected to be short by 446-megawatts against a contingency requirement of 629 MW between on Friday between 1900 hours to 2200 hours local time.

About 200 MW of generation is currently excluded from available margin due to system constraints, the notice said.

NESO said the notice has been issued to encourage market actions to increase system margins and it has asked trading and control points and interconnector operators to inform it of any additional available capacity, and for suppliers to report any potential additional demand reduction.

The system operator will review the situation again on Friday afternoon and issue an update accordingly.

This is the second such notice issued by NESO for Friday and follows a similar publication late Thursday.

According to a Bloomberg report, the notices come amid rising temperatures across Europe, which are putting the region's power networks under strain.

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