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UK Grid Warns of 1.8 GW Shortfall as Solar Eclipse Hits Generation

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The UK's power grid operator, the National Energy System Operator, has warned that electricity supplies could tighten on Wednesday, with an eclipse set to block sunlight across parts of the country during an unprecedented heatwave.

On Tuesday, the NESO forecast a 1,760 MW shortfall for Wednesday, starting at 5 PM local time and lasting until 8 PM, when the eclipse will end.

The notice by NESO called for market participants to offer spare capacity to shore up supplies amid extreme heat that has made it increasingly reliant on solar power as a key source of power generation. Solar output will drop sharply during the eclipse.

"The notice has been issued as a precautionary measure to the market due to the solar eclipse, and there is no risk to customer electricity supplies," a spokesperson for NESO said in an email statement to Bloomberg.

Earlier this week, grid operators across Spain and the Netherlands issued similar warnings of disruption to solar power generation due to the total solar eclipse across Greenland, western Iceland, northern Spain, and parts of Portugal.

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