On the outskirts of Easington, a small coastal village in east Yorkshire in the north of England, a loud, prolonged whirr this week heralded a significant moment in the UK’s push to strengthen its energy security.
At the Easington gas terminal, the sound of compressors starting up signalled that gas would soon be transported onshore via pipeline from Rough, Britain’s largest storage facility, 18 miles away in the North Sea.
The injection of gas from Rough — whose surface area equals the City of London and Westminster combined — into the national network via Easington for the first time in five years helped meet increased demand for heating and electricity generation on a cold, flat Tuesday.