GB Grid Stability Digest
The week on the grid — 2–8 November 2026
Issue 2026-w45
Frequency spent 13 minutes outside 50 ± 0.2 Hz across 14 separate excursions, the longest 3 minutes, ranging 49.744 Hz–50.264 Hz.
The system imbalance price peaked at £450/MWh in settlement period 20 on 2026-11-06.
Wind and solar peaked at 38.9% of GB generation at Mon 10:45.
Vital signs
| This week | vs last week | |
|---|---|---|
| Inertia min / avg / max | 155.8 / 214.5 / 256.8 GVA·s | ▲ +18.0 GVA·s (min) |
| Frequency range | 49.744–50.264 Hz · 41.4 hours beyond ±0.1 Hz | ▼ −0.043 Hz (min) |
| Peak wind + solar share | 38.9% (Mon 10:45) | ▼ −24.5 pp |
| Peak demand | 23.2 GW (Tue 00:00) | ▲ +0.2 GW |
| System price max / min | £450/MWh / £124/MWh | ▲ +£100/MWh (max) |
Event of the week
LAGA-1, a EP UK INVESTMENTS LIMITED fossil gas unit, went out unexpectedly at Sat 05:30, taking 805 MW of its 905 MW off the system — back after 60 minutes. REMIT gives the cause as "Turbine"; 4 other unplanned losses over 300 MW were reported in the week.
Balancing auctions
NESO's day-ahead auction bought £4.45m of frequency response and reserve across 7 delivery days this week.
| Avg price | vs last week | |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamic Containment Low | £3.11/MW/h | ▼ £1.23 |
| Dynamic Containment High | £2.17/MW/h | ▼ £0.53 |
| Dynamic Moderation Low | £9.96/MW/h | ▼ £0.37 |
| Dynamic Moderation High | −£2.25/MW/h | ▼ £2.26 |
| Dynamic Regulation Low | £21.62/MW/h | ▼ £1.49 |
| Dynamic Regulation High | −£19.26/MW/h | ▼ £5.21 |
| Positive Quick Reserve | £4.64/MW/h | ▲ £0.47 |
| Negative Quick Reserve | £3.16/MW/h | ▲ £0.12 |
| Positive Balancing Reserve | £5.98/MW/h | ▲ £3.09 |
| Negative Balancing Reserve | £0.00/MW/h | — |
| Positive Slow Reserve | £4.62/MW/h | ▲ £2.73 |
Dynamic Moderation High and Dynamic Regulation High cleared below zero: providers pay to deliver them, because absorbing energy from the grid charges their batteries for free.
Daily auction analysis →Demand flexibility
NESO called 3 Demand Flexibility Service events this week (3 turn-down) and bought 619 MWh of flexibility for £151k. That is 8% of the 7,540 MWh it asked for.
| This week | vs last week | |
|---|---|---|
| Events | 3 | ▲ 3 |
| Cost | £151k | ▲ £151k |
| Avg accepted price | £244.15/MWh | — |
| Largest provider | Infinis Limited (44% of MWh) |
Worth reading
Learn: Battery storage and grid balancing
Grid-scale batteries respond to frequency deviations in under a second — far faster than thermal plant. They’re now a core part of GB’s stability toolkit.
Read the explainer →Get this in your inbox
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Data: Elexon BMRS · NESO · Carbon Intensity API · Sheffield Solar · All issues
Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).