The government has responded to fears that there will be a gap in supply before the first initial capacity market delivery year (2018/19) with plans for an additional ‘early start’ auction for 2017/18. That could bring forward early start capacity from 2018/19 or provide an incentive to keep existing plant on the system. The early ­auction means that National Grid will not ­procure ­Supplemental Balancing Reserve (SBR) for the period, which many market participants will regard as a benefit (see previous article).