Tim Foster, Director of Energy for Business, Conrad Energy
September marked one year since the closure of the UK’s last coal-fired power station – a symbolic milestone for the UK’s progress in decarbonising its energy system. The energy transition is necessary and is accelerating quickly, but replacing predictable thermal generation with weather-dependent renewables introduces a new set of operational challenges. And as renewable energy sources such as wind and solar continue to make up a greater share of electricity generation, the need for new forms of stability and flexibility is growing rapidly.
Hurdles on the path to Net Zero
Unlike traditional power sources such as coal and gas, which can provide steady baseload generation, renewables are inherently variable – solar power peaks during the day and summer months, while wind generation can fluctuate by the hour. This intermittency, combined with the retirement of synchronous generation, has created a grid that is more volatile and harder to balance in the event of sudden changes in supply and demand. This has required grid operators to think differently.
For businesses, an unstable grid can translate into higher exposure to price spikes, capacity constraints, and the risk of curtailment or disconnection. These pressures can escalate into business continuity risks, from downtime and operational disruption to potential reputational damage. For energy intensive operations even short periods of grid fluctuations can halt production lines, affect logistics and compromise critical activities. Additionally, unexpected and increasingly volatile costs, including imbalance charges and penalties for exceeding capacity, add another layer of uncertainty.
Building business resilience
At a national level, operators are responding by investing in new infrastructure designed to stabilise the grid.
NESO is expanding procurement programmes for stability solutions, including synchronous condensers to restore lost inertia and fault level. Alongside this, there are a number of other clean stability solutions that can be deployed. These include battery energy storage systems that can respond instantly, provide real-time frequency support, and use grid-forming inverters to help maintain stable voltage and frequency.
These developments are essential, but largely outside the control of individual businesses. For organisations looking to mitigate their own risks and keep costs down, flexible supply contracts can help shield exposure to volatile market conditions. Smarter energy management is also becoming essential, shifting usage to periods of lower cost or higher renewable generation, or automating consumption changes when the grid is stressed. These automated responses become even more important as sites electrify. Alongside this, real-time monitoring and advanced visualisation dashboards are helping organisations anticipate periods of system stress, respond proactively and avoid costly imbalance charges.
Behind-the-meter energy generation, such as on-site or near-site solar, can be an effective means of achieving this smart energy usage. Providers of behind-the-meter Power Purchase Agreements increasingly include sophisticated data insights to support tailored optimisation strategies. Utilising behind-the-meter energy also helps provide a valuable layer of resilience by reducing reliance on the wider grid.
Keeping momentum
The UK has already established itself as a pioneer in the energy transition and is on a strong trajectory. Compared with other European countries, such as Spain and Portugal which experienced blackouts earlier this year, we are in a relatively strong position – but not out of the woods just yet.
As the environmental and political landscapes shift, new challenges will continue to present themselves. The sector is well-accustomed to the difficulties of Dunkelflaute – low wind and solar throughout the winter leading to a drop in the output of wind and solar assets. But this summer, which was among the hottest on record, raised a new challenge – Hitzeflaute – high temperatures and low wind speeds.
This heat poses a challenge because it results in fluctuating demand due to decreased output from wind – which isn’t necessarily covered by solar assets that are less efficient when exposed to soaring temperatures – whilst demand for cooling increases sharply.
With extreme weather conditions seemingly the new normal, agility and continued investment in infrastructure, innovation, and supportive policy will be needed to strengthen grid stability and ensure businesses are not left exposed.
By pairing national infrastructure development with smarter, more flexible strategies at the business level, the UK can continue to set the pace while building an energy system that is both green and resilient.
This article appeared in the Jan/Feb 2026 issue of Energy Manager magazine. Subscribe here.