The UK energy grid and winter – watts with it?

There are several major power grids around the world that have turned “green” to be on the verge of collapse, such as California and South Australia, the UK, and soon New York State.

There’s a post about Great Britain.

Check out such stories in the past few days:

The British National Grid warns of the tightness of the electricity grid on Friday

From Reuters employees

LONDON (Reuters) – The UK’s National Grid posted an electricity margin notice (EMN) on Friday for 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. GMT) asking the generators if they could provide more electricity.

The network operator stated that the system margin is 1157 megawatts below the value that it would like to have available.

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-electricity/britains-national-grid-issues-warning-for-electricity-system-tightness-on-friday-idUSKBN29D0SF

Or social media posts:

Apparently, there were only nine half-hour billing periods on the network between 2001 and 2020 during which the price rose to over £ 1,000 / MWh.

We had two this week. https://t.co/QBzB0KobfK

– Bishop Hill (@aDissentient) January 8, 2021

Of course there are still articles like this one:

According to the National Grid, the UK energy supply is aiming for the greenest year ever

Ben Chapman 30/12/2020

The UK’s energy supply is facing the greenest year ever as record breaking wind power generation helped cut emissions, data from National Grid shows.

The amount of carbon emissions generated for each unit of electricity – carbon intensity – decreased by 60 percent between 2013 and 2019 as new renewable capacity came on stream while coal-fired power plants were decommissioned.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/uk-energy-supply-heading-for-greenest-year-on-record-says-national-grid/ar-BB1ck68S

This is a request for our UK readers.
Enlighten readers across the pond.
Was the weather unusual?
Is much worse expected?
How likely is it that the steps you are taking will prevent power outages?
How much worse is it likely to get in the next year, three or five?

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