June 23, 2026: The Night France Saved the British Grid
9 hours ago
- On 23 June, the British grid frequency dropped to 49.657 Hz for 48 minutes, the lowest of the year, but no blackout occurred.
- Massive outages (21.2 GW offline) and interconnector issues (ElecLink stopped, Greenlink out, IFA reduced) weakened the system.
- Solar power performed well, but sunset caused a rapid reversal of interconnector flows from import to export, aggravating the shortage.
- Wind and demand forecasts were significantly off: wind delivered ~1.7 GW less than forecast, and demand was concentrated in the south, not the north as predicted.
- The battery fleet discharged 6.3 GWh but ran out; emergency assistance from the Netherlands (cutting BritNed exports) and France (reversing interconnector flows) saved the grid, with the final rescue triggered by a phone call to Paris.