This graph first appeared in a report to the UK House of Lords Economic Affairs committee, published in 2008. It shows that peak demand for electricity in the UK will exceed supply sometime in 2015.
The main reason for this is that a number of coal fired power stations – including Drax, which supplies 7%of the UK’s total electricity – will have to close as they fail to comply with EU emissions regulation due to come into force in 2016.
However, thanks to some recent wheeling and dealing by the power companies and the British government, the EU has now agreed to give the UK a further three years grace before enforcing the regulations. We now won’t run out of power until 2019 – unless significant new sources of nuclear and renewable energy come on stream by then.