Blackout threat due to RES failure

The year 2025 is the date of the UK's planned shift from coal to renewable energy. Meanwhile, in early November, the National Grid, which is the operator of the power system in Great Britain, issued a notice about the possibility of electricity shortage.The supplier forecasted a shortage of around 740 MW, ie 1.5% of the additional reserve capacity that must be available at all time, e.g. in the event of a power plant failure. The blackout threat was caused by the unreliability of Renewable Energy Sources when the network was not at all overloaded.As a result of weather changes, and more specifically the wave of cold, but calm air over Great Britain, the society began to warm up its households, thus electricity consumption increased. Moreover, windless weather limited the available energy production from onshore and offshore wind farms.In Great Britain, wind farms are capable of generating an average of 16.9 GW of electric power, however, on the day the possible shortage was announced, they generated only 2.5 GW. From this level of 2.5 GW, the existing "system limitations" made it impossible to use 1.2 GW. The situation was so dangerous that old coal-fired power plants were put into operation to ensure the necessary generation capacity.

On the basis of the situation that took place in the British Isles, it can be concluded that relying solely on renewable energy sources can cause huge problems in the form of a risk of a power outage, and thus even a blackout.