Energy Blackouts This Winter?

[BigAl1 143]

26 minutes ago, West 77 said:

I more or less agree with you.  For decades the UK didn't have a long term energy strategy unlike the French who invested early in Nuclear.  It wasn't until David Cameron came to power that serious long term future  planning started.  The Cameron government actually made a decision regarding the Nuclear power station.  Also since then there has been massive investment in renewable energy.

Ah but has it been built yet

32 minutes ago, Hans-solo said:

Never thought of that

Put the microwave in the bedroom?

[Meltman 313]

Only 5 winters to survive then!

[Annie Bynnol 612]

1 hour ago, West 77 said:

I more or less agree with you.  For decades the UK didn't have a long term energy strategy unlike the French who invested early in Nuclear.  It wasn't until David Cameron came to power that serious long term future  planning started.  The Cameron government actually made a decision regarding the Nuclear power station.  Also since then there has been massive investment in renewable energy.

Gordon Brown and the Labour Government sanctioned a new era of Nuclear Power stations in 2007 and signed a deal with French Government(EDF)

 

Cameron sticks his oar in and with his cronies managed to create an financial mess which will cost the British taxpayer extra £billions by involving private investors and failed foreign contracts,  paying off the Chinese,  £2 billion loan guarantees and bribing EDF with ludicrous payments and sky high interest rates. A contract EDF can walk away from.

 

Tory privatisation policy means that two Nuclear Power stations will close before winter ends and operators refusing to start up Gas generator. 

The private operators continue to hike the price they demand for operating 'standby' plant and the Tory Government continue to reduce the safety margin between generation and demand despite the increasing threat of Power Station failure and National Grid frailty.

 

While the risk of widespread outages is still small, the Tories will have:

taken nearly twenty years for the Tories to have built one new nuclear Power Station of the eight planned by Labour.

increased our dependency on Russian gas.

allowed private companies to close down our spare capacity.

increasingly weather dependent for supply.

lost control of supply to foreign investors.

manipulated and massage demand and supply figures.

 

 

 

[Hans-solo 14]

2 hours ago, BigAl1 said:

Ah but has it been built yet

Put the microwave in the bedroom?

Now there's an idea then I can see what I'm doing when I'm re winding my dvd collection

[Cyclecar 24]

Science can be a nuisance. 

 

The electricity grid system in this country is a twentieth century construct. It has served us quite well. But the imposition of electric vehicles (EV) and now the bright idea to dispense with gas central heating and mandate that everyone install heat pumps will overload the system. Period. 

 

I won't go into all the kilowatts and gigawatts, there are plenty of calculations posted elsewhere by people with the qualifications. And they are sensible engineers, not swivel-eyed fantasists. But even with more power - from nuclear, sun and wind,  wood pellets, or imported via the French connectors there just won't be enough. There will be rationing, or worse. 

 

The heat pump principle utiliseses a compressor, which needs power. Perhaps 1 to 1.5kW in total, so multiply that by a few million houses and add in those that have plugged in their EV overnight and you begin to see the problem.

Edited October 22, 2021 by Cyclecar
Spelling

[Bargepole23 337]

1 hour ago, Cyclecar said:

Science can be a nuisance. 

 

The electricity grid system in this country is a twentieth century construct. It has served us quite well. But the imposition of electric vehicles (EV) and now the bright idea to dispense with gas central heating and mandate that everyone install heat pumps will overload the system. Period. 

 

I won't go into all the kilowatts and gigawatts, there are plenty of calculations posted elsewhere by people with the qualifications. And they are sensible engineers, not swivel-eyed fantasists. But even with more power - from nuclear, sun and wind,  wood pellets, or imported via the French connectors there just won't be enough. There will be rationing, or worse. 

 

The heat pump principle utiliseses a compressor, which needs power. Perhaps 1 to 1.5kW in total, so multiply that by a few million houses and add in those that have plugged in their EV overnight and you begin to see the problem.

https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/journey-to-net-zero-stories/can-grid-cope-extra-demand-electric-cars

 

This contradicts some of your statements above. I've read similar in the letters page in my IET magazine, from fellows of the Institute. So not swivel eyed fantasists.

[crookesey 635]

What this forum needs is a ‘Be Scared Thread’,