Wind Stops Blowing, Back To Fossil Fuels

 

Via GridWatch, as Per usual

Well, the wind blew for a couple of days, and today it's decided to ease off. Gas has filled in the bulk of the loss, but look at the Liquorice alsort colours above the Turquoise Wind layer. That's interconnectors from Europe  supplying electricity to us. At the peak of the interconnector supply, they were supplying over 15% of the UK's electricity needs. 

Again, you have to ask the question why. 

Nuclear was providing baseload, but is this an indication that gas is slow to respond to drops in wind powered production? It seems a bit strange given that's a 6-hour period this morning where interconnectors were supplying a lot of electricity. I'm pretty sure closed cycle gas turbine plants can come on stream quicker than that.

I'm just wondering if there's a procedural or financial reason. If you look at other sources, you can see production is somewhat governed by spot prices. Certain producers will only get involved in producing electricity if the price offered for that electricity goes over a point where it's financially viable to crank up the plant and start producing. 

I'm wondering if the interconnects are happy to supply their electricity into the high-price UK market during the early morning while Europe sleeps, then withdraw and let local gas turbine plants fill in when the demand in Europe begins to ramp up.