Unreliable renewable energy is hitting quality

The quality of British electricity is falling because unreliable renewable generation is becoming an increasingly large component in the power supply, causing more flickering in households and potentially triggering outages.

Because electricity flows constantly, power grids need to maintain a stable current, known as fault level. The problem might not be fixed any time soon as the technology to store electricity, and so balance renewable supply, is in its infancy.

Britain’s power grid is balanced around a frequency of 50Hz. Any major deviation above or below this level hits the quality of electric supplies, causing flickering of light bulbs and, in the worst case, blackouts.