Blackout Britain: EU environmental directive puts millions at risk of power cuts http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/blackout-britain-eu-environmental-directive-puts-millions-at-risk-of-power-cuts/

ONE million homes narrowly escaped a power cut last month as bitterly cold weather placed a massive strain on Britain’s creaking electricity network.

Shutdown was only avoided because a gas-fired station due to close by next winter came to the rescue. Last night experts warned that life-threatening blackouts are increasingly likely as “we head downhill – fast”.

Alistair Buchanan, the outgoing head of energy regulator Ofgem said: “On Wednesday, January 16, due to unplanned outages and cold weather, National Grid had to find power to supply roughly a million homes to keep the lights on.

“Fawley, an oil-fired plant in Hampshire, was one of the power stations that responded. Next winter Fawley will not be there.”

And as a spell of bitter cold once more hits the UK, the near switch-off which came so perilously close on that freezing afternoon, underscores the magnitude of the energy crisis.

via Blackout Britain: EU environmental directive puts millions at risk of power cuts | UK | News | Daily Express.

Blackout Britain: EU environmental directive puts millions at risk of power cuts