Britain could meet electricity and gas demand this summer – Transmission System Operators – 04/11/2024

The supply is sufficient to meet UK energy demand during the summer period from April to September this year. This was announced by the UK's national gas and electricity transmission companies on Thursday.

Total gas demand in the UK is forecast to be 29 billion cubic meters (bcm) this summer, compared with 33.3 billion m3 over the same period in 2023, National Gas said in its annual summer outlook.

National Gas said the decline was largely due to expectations of lower exports to continental Europe combined with lower demand for gas for power generation.

Britain exports some gas to the rest of Europe through interconnectors. Average UK exports to the rest of Europe are expected to be 3.6 billion cubic metres, up from 7.1 billion cubic meters last summer.

Exports to Europe will be higher at the start of the summer, but it is not expected to demand the same amount of UK gas following a sharp decline as European gas storage facilities fill up, National Gas said.

According to the report, European gas storage levels at the end of winter stood at 59%, above the five-year average.

Supply, mainly from the North Sea and Norway, is forecast at 29 bcm, up from 31.8 bcm last year, the report said.

Norwegian gas production is expected to rise compared with last summer, thanks to new fields and fewer expected maintenance outages, while UK production will fall as older fields mature, National Gas said. .

In a separate statement, the UK's Electricity System Operator (ESO) expressed confidence that there would be enough to meet summer electricity demand.

UK summer peak electricity demand is forecast to be 29.2 gigawatts (GW), while minimum demand is expected to be 16.2 GW.

“As more solar power is fed into distribution networks, we expect peak demand on the transmission network to continue to decline,” ESO said. (Reporting by Nora Puli; Editing by Nina Chestney)