The good news is that some of the EDF nuclear power stations that had to be taken offline a month or so ago have now been restarted. The schedule for bringing the remaining ones back online looks reasonable too.
The bad news is that a mothballed gas-fired power station that was to be recommissioned so as to be available to stand ready to cover unforeseen eventualities over the winter has been experiencing problems (Link £).
...during the first of several planned, paid monthly test runs last Thursday, output from the plant fell sharply. The test, which had been due to run into the early evening, ended soon after 2pm, industry sources said on Monday.
These are teething problems no doubt and the FT at least reckons that we are unlikely to see power cuts:
Energy experts believe that blackouts are unlikely, as long as existing plants in the UK’s ageing power fleet do not suffer serious breakdowns.
But it be interesting to see whether price rises are required to to balance the energy grid and if so how high those prices have to go.