National Grid, which owns six of the UK’s nine interconnectors, and which profits from the trade in power, has said the cables prevented 12 potential blackouts in 2023.
ESO said: “We expect to have sufficient operational surplus throughout winter even when we consider the expected natural variation of demand, wind and outages.
“As with previous winters, there may be some tight days where we need to use our standard operational tools, including the use of system notices [when heavy users are incentivised to cut power consumption].
“The year-on-year change is due to increased interconnector capacity, new gas generation, growth in battery storage capacity and the effects of increased generation.”
Mel Evans, Greenpeace UK climate team leader, said: “It’s fantastic to see that sharing renewable electricity with [countries like] Denmark is working so well.
“So imagine how much more secure our supply would be if we shared more with other nations, had more storage on the grid, and brought more offshore wind online.”
Under the most ambitious interconnector scheme, the Xlinks project, now in planning, four 2,500-mile cables would be laid from the UK to Morocco, connecting with solar and wind farms built in the Sahara desert.
The £20bn scheme would provide as much electricity as Hinkley Point C.
Separately on Thursday, a new report warned that the UK needs to triple the rate at which it is installing offshore wind farms and ramp up manufacturing if it is to meet net zero targets.
At current rates of installation, the UK will miss its 2030 targets for offshore wind capacity by 18 years, as well as missing out on revenue and jobs from a thriving renewables sector, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank.
The Government has set an ambitious target for the UK to have up to 50 gigawatts (GW) of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030. Labour’s proposals are even more ambitious, with 55GW, as part of a push to decarbonise the energy grid.
In response, the IPPR called for a £3.2bn investment in British manufacturing facilities, to build at least one additional turbine blade factory, two nacelle and tower factories and two extra foundation factories.