(Original title: Britain ushers in snowy, cold weather as wind power wanes)
Zhitong Finance APP has learned that with the decline of wind power generation in the UK, cold temperatures and heavy snowfall will hit the whole country in the coming days, and the market demand for heating energy will further increase. The Met Office issued a yellow warning for heavy snow and ice for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and parts of the UK’s east coast on Wednesday and Thursday, with temperatures set to drop to minus 10C by the end of the week.
The cold will strain the UK’s electricity and gas infrastructure as the UK enters its coldest month, with the current reserve supply margin the smallest in seven years. Elsewhere in northwestern Europe it is also at a critical juncture, with prolonged nuclear outages in France and Sweden hampering steady production during the winter when energy is most needed.
Rebekah Sherwin, Deputy Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “Temperatures will drop as cold air sweeps across the UK from the north, with daytime temperatures dipping below freezing in many places from mid-week onwards.”
Production from wind turbines across the UK will gradually drop to just over 500 megawatts on Saturday, according to data. That compares with more than 7,000 megawatts Wednesday morning.
Temperatures are also expected to be generally lower than normal in far northern Scandinavia and continental Europe, Maxar Technologies Inc. said in a report. The temperature in Norway will drop to minus 20 degrees Celsius next week and the country still relies mainly on electricity to cope with the cold. As for natural gas, the current gas storage capacity in Europe is 91% and that in Germany is 96%.
Southern Europe will shake off the freezing weather, with Madrid forecast to see even 5.8C above normal next Tuesday.
