‘Clap for Our Carers’ Caused Spike in Electricity Demand

Thursday’s ritual of clapping for the NHS and care workers caused a “huge” 950MW spike in electricity consumption last week, National Grid Electricity Systems Operator (ESO) has said.

Electricity demand soared just after 8 pm, as people returning from clapping outdoors put a kettle on and switched on lights.

National Grid ESO tweeted: “Wonderful to see Great Britain collectively clapping last night! Our control room saw a huge 950MW spike in electricity demand – what we call a ‘pickup’ effect – when you all went back inside to stick the kettle on and carry on with your evening.”

The grid had seen a similar pickup on previous Thursdays but the effect was magnified last week by the overcast weather.

National Grid often witnesses spikes in demand related to popular TV programming. The largest pickup ever seen was 4 July 1990, directly after the penalty shootout in the England v West Germany FIFA World Cup semi-final, when consumption soared by 2800MW. Other notable pickups occurred after the final episode of the 1980s television sensation The Thorn Birds and after the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana.

Meanwhile, the lockdown has driven up domestic energy consumption—and our household bills. Supplier Octopus Energy calculated that in the week before the lockdown was imposed, but when many employees were already working from home, domestic energy demand was up for 30% of households, adding an average of £4.78 to their weekly energy costs.

While no data has been released about the UK’s household energy consumption under lockdown, in Ireland, under a similar ‘shelter in place’ order, domestic energy consumption during the day is up by almost 30% and overall household energy use up by between 11% and 20%.

However, while we’re using more energy at home, overall demand is down, as large energy consumers like factories, office places and schools have closed. Electricity demand was down a tenth the first week of lockdown, and National Grid has forecast that it could fall by as much as 20%, putting stress on the Grid. 

Roisin Quinn, the head of National Grid’s control room, said: “The assumption will be that lower demand makes it easier for us to do our job, with less power needed overall and therefore less stress on the system. In fact, as system operator, it’s just as important for us to manage lower demand for electricity as it is to manage the peaks.”

Low electricity demand increases the likelihood of local grids overloading and their vulnerability to sudden changes in frequency, making blackouts more likely.

However, National Grid has assured the public that they have measures to cope with both spikes in demand and low consumption, including disconnecting flexible windfarms, restricting electricity imports from Europe and using hydropower installations as ‘virtual batteries.’