Hardman & Co Insight: UK power cuts - a real risk?

The risk of power cuts in the UK remains a real concern, driven by a combination of factors. The events of 28 April 2025, when large areas of Spain, Portugal and France experienced prolonged outages, have heightened concerns particularly as a recent Spanish report placed much of the blame on the national system operator, Red Electrica, and unnamed private generators. The UK’s own system operator, NESO, will have been monitoring such developments closely, especially given the growing reliance on renewables and ageing infrastructure. Although NESO’s 2025/26 winter outlook is broadly reassuring, ...

ICG Enterprise Trust plc: Investor seminar 2025: resilience and growth

The Hardman & Co Monthly: July 2025

The risk of power cuts in the UK, for a variety of reasons, remains real. Low plant margins (i.e. limited spare capacity at peak) in the UK are obvious enough. However, the events of 28 April 2025 ‒ when Spain, Portugal and parts of France were plunged into lengthy power outages ‒ were very disconcerting. A recent Spanish government report has now placed much of the blame on the national system operator, the Redeia-owned Red Electrica. There was some criticism, too, of unnamed private sector generators in causing grid instability. Redeia’s UK counterparty, National Energy System Operator (NES...