By William Mathis | Updated on Oct 12, 2026 at 07:53 PM
Britain’s grid operator sought emergency assistance from France on Monday evening, requesting as much as 1,200 megawatts of additional electricity through an undersea interconnector to help maintain the security of the power system.
The National Energy System Operator made the request after the return to service of a power-system asset was delayed, reducing the network’s available capacity Monday afternoon, according to a post on X.
NESO has been making greater use of day-ahead restrictions of interconnectors in order to ensure there is sufficient supply of electricity in Britain following an incident in June when the grid faced unusual strain while it was exporting power to neighboring countries. The action Monday was taken with a different tool to ensure power supplies with a few minutes notice, according to market messages .
“Emergency Assistance are formal operational tools available to system operators when immediate action is required to maintain system security,” NESO wrote in its post on X. “Electricity supplies remained secure throughout and there was no interruption to customers.”
NESO said it took the action after some power asset that was set to return to service would be delayed. That reduced capability of the power network Monday afternoon.