Utilization of UK gas-fired capacity averaged close to 14GW in February, down from 17.8GW in January, with its role in the generation mix falling from 45% to 38% - largely due to higher wind, especially in the second half of the month, along with a recovery in French imports.
UK power imports (from Holland and France) rose from an average of 1.15GW in January up to 1.9GW in February, as tightness in France resulting from cold weather and unexpected nuclear shutdowns eased. On a number of occasions when wind in the UK was high, there were even exports of power to France.
In terms of gas used, the UK’s gas-for-power demand for February dropped to 1.56 bcm, only just higher than the 1.51 bcm recorded during the same – relatively mild - month the year before. This February’s figure was sharply down on previous months, but the five months to end February still recorded gas-for-power demand well above the whole of winter 2015-16 at a total of 9.98 bcm. This figure was only just below the 10.93 bcm recorded during the very cold winter of 2010-11, illustrating a rising trend reflecting increased dependency on gas as coal is phased out.
Even though gas prices have come down sharply over the last few weeks, wholesale day-ahead prices are still above 40 pence per therm (ppt), well above this time last year when they were trading around 30 ppt, with power prices showing a similar change. This has been given as one of the reasons UK utilities, including ScottishPower, Eon and npower have made retail market price hikes over recent weeks.