In this episode of Hardman Talks, Keith Hiscock talks with Hardman & Co’s utilities analyst Nigel Hawkins about the many reasons for power cuts and the prospects for the UK avoiding such unwelcome events. With recent large-scale outages in Spain and Portugal, and high-profile disruptions such as Heathrow’s transformer failure, the reliability of electricity networks is under scrutiny. Nigel, who has followed the sector since privatisation, outlines why extreme weather, low wind conditions and ageing infrastructure could raise risks this winter — although widespread power cuts remain unlikely at this stage.
In the modern-day UK, prolonged and unplanned power cuts have many seriously negative effects – they are far more than a mere inconvenience. This point was brought home during the lengthy power cuts in Spain and Portugal at the end of April, when some 60 million people were affected.
The UK has a history of power cuts ranging from the bitter miners’ disputes in the early 1970s to the sudden outage in 2019 when the Hornsea wind plant and the Little Barford plant both tripped – there was widespread dislocation to London’s transport system and elsewhere as a result.
The discussion examines key structural issues in the UK energy market, including the challenges of managing a more complex grid that depends on diverse and decentralised sources like offshore wind, nuclear, gas and interconnectors. Nigel highlights how rising costs and financing hurdles have slowed new offshore wind developments, while delays and budget overruns continue to affect new nuclear projects. He also reflects on the replacement of the UK’s ageing nuclear fleet, which will be a critical factor in medium- and long-term security of supply.
Nigel stresses that events like the Iberian outage serve as a warning for the UK, and that political and regulatory focus on energy security will remain high.
Watch the interview now to find out more, and read Nigel’s Insight UK power cuts – a real risk?
