National Grid warned yesterday that millions of households could have their electricity cut for three hours at a time if Britain cannot import enough power from Europe. Today, a statement from the Dutch carrier said: “Gasunie Transport Services recently analyzed that gas shortages need not occur in the Netherlands if Russian gas in Europe is completely eliminated for one year. “Due to the high level of gas storage filling (over 90 percent), the doubling of LNG import capacity via Eemshaven and Rotterdam, the full use of import connections with the UK and Belgium and the significant reduction in demand as a result of high prices, the conditions for this scenario are met for now.” Unlike many European countries, Britain, where around 80 per cent of homes are heated by natural gas, has no large-scale gas storage after Centrica closed the Rough facility in 2017. The outage has left the UK with storage capacity equivalent to around four to five days of winter gas demand, down from 15 days previously, and limits its stockpile in the event of any supply disruption.
