Is 2% margin on the power grid enough? What will happen to you if the lights go out?

There have been several articles recently about how the national grid is under increasing strain. (For example here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23093581)

High voltage pylons but will they carry electricity in 2015?

Historically, the National Grid maintained an excess of reserve generation capacity to deal with cold weather, equipment failure or transmission faults. That safety margin in the past was much higher (at least 10% and some sources indicate 15%).

Why the strain? Old Magnox reactors will be out of service by 2015, coal fired plants are becoming too expensive to run as a result of climate change levies and new nuclear reactors have not been installed.

National Grid does have an extensive range of top up generation capacity, from warm start gas turbines to widely distributed diesel generators but the safety margin is wafer thin  especially if we have more cold winters.

By 2015, some industrial users will be paid not to turn on their machinery so that the grid does not collapse.

This comes at a time when more than ever we rely on a constant supply of electricity to power trains, computers and all manner of control systems. No grid = no control.

Since individually we are unlikely to influence new power generation it seems more sensible to concentrate on dealing with the almost inevitable power cuts that will happen as the grid's reserve diminishes.

If you have equipment that must keep running (fridges for food stores or similar) it would be good to know when there is a power failure so that back-up plans can be actioned.

The EMM-Tek RMC301 has a power fail function that warns you if the primary power supply has failed. It does this by storing energy in Super Capacitors which provide enough reserve power to send up to three 'Power Fail' text messages to nominated users. When power is restored those same users get a follow up message confirming that power is back on.

Whilst this won't stop the grid failures at least an early warning will allow you to take actions to reduce or avoid loss and spoilage.

This feature also seems to have been popular with the leisure boating community as a warning when harbour side electrical connections get unplugged.

Take a look at the RMC301RC here. http://www.emmtek.co.uk/System-level-GSM-GPS-products.html