Britain to hold two power capacity auctions early next year

LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - The British government plans to hold two electricity capacity auctions will be held early next year to secure back-up power, it said on Monday.

The government will hold an auction in Feb. 2019 for 46.3 gigawatts (GW) of back-up power to be delivered in 2022/2023 and one in Jan. 2019 for 4.6 GW to be delivered in 2019/2020, energy minister Claire Perry said in a letter to National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) .

Britain began capacity auctions in 2014, looking to head off future power shortages as coal plants close and as low electricity prices dissuade investors from building new capacity.

The auctions reward successful bidders for keeping power plants on standby so they can be called upon when renewable energy production is low or demand is high.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; editing by Jason Neely)