The May 29 Sunday Times cites a Whitehall document warning that the U.K. is likely to suffer major power outages this coming winter, if Russian gas supplies are cut, RT reports today. The Whitehall document predicts that imports of natural gas from Norway, from which the U.K. buys half its total supplies, could be cut in half next winter, as EU demand surges. Whitehall also warned that LNG shipments from the U.S. and Qatar could also be halved this winter, given fierce global demand.
Also citing the Times, Sky News adds that the government has modeled a “reasonable” worst-case scenario, which would involve rationing industrial use of gas (gas-fired power plants), leading to electricity shortages or rationing for households during peak usage times in the morning and evening. The shortages could last for more than a month. But a fantasy-ridden spokesperson for the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy told Sky News that, thanks to a 90-billion-pound investment in renewable energy over the past decade, “we have one of the most reliable and diverse energy systems in the world, and unlike Europe we are not dependent on Russian energy imports.”
