UPDATE 2-British summer power, gas supply outlook good - Grid

(Recasts, updates throughout)

By Daniel Fineren

LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - The UK should be comfortably supplied with power this summer, despite grid work affecting Scottish electricity generation, with coal providing the bulk of Britain's electricity, National Grid (NG.L) said on Wednesday.

Gas supplies should also be comfortable, with more gas expected to come from Norway as its huge Ormen Lange gas field increases production over the year, Alan Smart, the director of energy operations manager at the company told a seminar.

National Grid expects that about 76 gigawatts of power generation capacity will be available over the summer, enough to maintain a healthy supply cushion despite grid work cutting off up to a gigawatt of Scottish power generation, or about one large nuclear power reactor.

"Provided there are no significant supply shocks, we would expect that this level of generation is more than adequate to meet demand this summer," he said.

The network operator expects coal-burning power plants to make up most of Britain's electricity supply this summer, despite an operating limit placed on many power stations from this year by the European Union's Large Combustion Plant directive.

"At this time, we do not see any significant risks to security of supply arising from the LCPD," Smart told the seminar organised by UK energy regulator Ofgem.

"The electricity prices and fuel costs of coal and gas for summer 2008 indicate that coal will be the preferred fuel for baseload generation this summer."