Can you imagine hydro dams being required to let out all their water without generating anything so it can be pumped back up later when the power to do it is available?
What's really needed is a system plan.
Trouble is, electricity has turned from supply of service to yet another way for a retinue of companies to make money. Like housing, the sector is dominated by people who want to make as much money as they can, and the only way out as far as I can see is the re-entry of government ownership, not necessarily of the whole system, but enough of it to keep prices down and provide a measure of certainty and future planning.What's really needed is a system plan.
The detail of it is far less important than that it exists and adds up to an overall functional, working system.
Fossil fuels, nuclear, hydro, intermittent renewables - all can be useful but it needs a proper plan, one that's calculated not guessed, to get good results from any of them.
Storage likewise can be located anywhere in the system, it doesn't need to be where the generation is indeed depending on circumstances it's more useful to put it near major loads especially non-industrial, but again it needs to be designed, built and operated as part of a system.
What we have now is the product of letting soft sciences and unproven economic theories run what ought be an engineering system based on hard sciences and real economics. That's the crux of it, everything else is just details.
Suffice to say I'd be somewhat more forgiving of the dominance of economic theories if those theories had resulted in lower prices. In that case it could be argued that some compromises on the engineering side are justified so long as it works well enough. But given retail price has literally doubled in real terms, well that shoots that argument to pieces. It hasn't just compromised engineering, it's failed economically too.
Looking at what actually happened today, AEMO's forecasting was almost exactly correct with the magnitude but not so accurate with the timing. Minimum demand dropped to 1878MW in Victoria versus the forecast of 1879MW but the low point occurred earlier than expected, at 11:35.
AEMO have now updated tomorrow's forecast which is now somewhat more severe, the forecast low demand being 1420MW at 12:00 so that is midday.
You can not benefit from free enterprise: competition and innovation if the government(s) keep changing the rules , adding nilly willy Net zero and other BS constraints and distorting the market with energy bonus cheques.
My view is historically some of the state authorities, acting under legislation that kept government at arms length, did give the whole capitalism thing a pretty decent go.A fundamental issue with socialism IMHO pretending to acknowledge capitalism but refusing to let go of collectivism authoritarianism..but that is another subject...
When the utilities were all State owned there was incentive to keep prices low to attract business and industry to each State. No State wanted to price themselves out of the market. I don't see such an incentive operating among private corporations who keep on sucking on government for concessions that go into their bottom line, with little passed on to consumers.
Yes dumb target forthe green vote, collapsing grid as a result, requiring millions in direct subsidies to keep the lights on and then more millions to appease the masses paying the full cost of green energy and might rebel, all that in a country which can provide billions with coal ,gas ,uranium.
In summation, way too many fck witts, with way too much say.What's really needed is a system plan.
The detail of it is far less important than that it exists and adds up to an overall functional, working system.
Fossil fuels, nuclear, hydro, intermittent renewables - all can be useful but it needs a proper plan, one that's calculated not guessed, to get good results from any of them.
Storage likewise can be located anywhere in the system, it doesn't need to be where the generation is indeed depending on circumstances it's more useful to put it near major loads especially non-industrial, but again it needs to be designed, built and operated as part of a system.
What we have now is the product of letting soft sciences and unproven economic theories run what ought be an engineering system based on hard sciences and real economics. That's the crux of it, everything else is just details.
Suffice to say I'd be somewhat more forgiving of the dominance of economic theories if those theories had resulted in lower prices. In that case it could be argued that some compromises on the engineering side are justified so long as it works well enough. But given retail price has literally doubled in real terms, well that shoots that argument to pieces. It hasn't just compromised engineering, it's failed economically too.
Looking at what actually happened today, AEMO's forecasting was almost exactly correct with the magnitude but not so accurate with the timing. Minimum demand dropped to 1878MW in Victoria versus the forecast of 1879MW but the low point occurred earlier than expected, at 11:35.
AEMO have now updated tomorrow's forecast which is now somewhat more severe, the forecast low demand being 1420MW at 12:00 so that is midday.
So not even able to be self sufficient..what a victory for the UK....Well it looks like the U.K has finished coal burning in power stations.
Britain flicks the off switch on coal-fired power after 140 years
The source of energy that made the Industrial Revolution possible has been abandoned by the UK earlier than expected, making the country a G7 leader.www.watoday.com.au
On Monday, the UK’s last remaining coal-fired power station will be turned off for good, drawing to a close Britain’s 142-year reliance on the fossil fuel to produce electricity. It will be done with surprisingly little fanfare nor sentimentality.
Home to the world’s first coal-fired power station, the Holborn Viaduct power station in London in 1882, the UK will be the first G7 country to stop using coal for power generation, one year earlier than first set out by the previous Conservative government in 2015.
Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, 170 kilometres north of London, has been generating electricity since 1968 via its four coal-fired boilers, eight vast cooling towers and 199-metre tall chimney.
Shutting Ratcliffe-on-Soar is a symbolic step in the UK’s ambition to decarbonise electricity by 2030, and become carbon-neutral by 2050. The date was brought forward in 2021 by then-prime minister Boris Johnson, as he sought to show the UK’s climate leadership before the UN annual climate change summit in Glasgow that year.
Germany plans to do the same by 2038, Canada by 2030 and Italy from the end of 2025, excluding the island of Sardinia. Most concede it won’t be as easy as it sounds.
Just 12 years ago, coal plants were supplying 40 per cent of the UK’s electricity, and the country only had its first coal-free day in 2017.
Last year, coal use by fell 23 per cent and is now just 1.1 per cent of the British energy mix, with 34.7 per cent coming from gas, 32.8 per cent from wind and solar, 11.6 per cent from bioenergy, and 13.8 per cent from its five nuclear sites. The rest is imported via interconnectors from mainland Europe.
In addition to the growth of renewables, another factor allowing the rapid phase-out of UK coal generation has been the fall in electricity demand since 2005, thanks to a combination of energy-efficiency regulations, LED lighting and the offshoring of some energy-intensive industries.
He says in eliminating coal from the energy mix, the UK has taken a crucial step in reducing its carbon footprint and improving air quality.
But looking ahead, Therkelsen says the challenge now is to ensure that the UK’s energy system remains reliable and affordable as it continues to transition towards renewable sources.
Well, gas isn't that much less polluting, and it's running short too.Well it looks like the U.K has finished coal burning in power stations.
Britain flicks the off switch on coal-fired power after 140 years
The source of energy that made the Industrial Revolution possible has been abandoned by the UK earlier than expected, making the country a G7 leader.
On Monday, the UK’s last remaining coal-fired power station will be turned off for good, drawing to a close Britain’s 142-year reliance on the fossil fuel to produce electricity. It will be done with surprisingly little fanfare nor sentimentality.
Home to the world’s first coal-fired power station, the Holborn Viaduct power station in London in 1882, the UK will be the first G7 country to stop using coal for power generation, one year earlier than first set out by the previous Conservative government in 2015.
Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, 170 kilometres north of London, has been generating electricity since 1968 via its four coal-fired boilers, eight vast cooling towers and 199-metre tall chimney.
Shutting Ratcliffe-on-Soar is a symbolic step in the UK’s ambition to decarbonise electricity by 2030, and become carbon-neutral by 2050. The date was brought forward in 2021 by then-prime minister Boris Johnson, as he sought to show the UK’s climate leadership before the UN annual climate change summit in Glasgow that year.
Germany plans to do the same by 2038, Canada by 2030 and Italy from the end of 2025, excluding the island of Sardinia. Most concede it won’t be as easy as it sounds.
Just 12 years ago, coal plants were supplying 40 per cent of the UK’s electricity, and the country only had its first coal-free day in 2017.
Last year, coal use by fell 23 per cent and is now just 1.1 per cent of the British energy mix, with 34.7 per cent coming from gas, 32.8 per cent from wind and solar, 11.6 per cent from bioenergy, and 13.8 per cent from its five nuclear sites. The rest is imported via interconnectors from mainland Europe.
In addition to the growth of renewables, another factor allowing the rapid phase-out of UK coal generation has been the fall in electricity demand since 2005, thanks to a combination of energy-efficiency regulations, LED lighting and the offshoring of some energy-intensive industries.
He says in eliminating coal from the energy mix, the UK has taken a crucial step in reducing its carbon footprint and improving air quality.
But looking ahead, Therkelsen says the challenge now is to ensure that the UK’s energy system remains reliable and affordable as it continues to transition towards renewable sources.
Coal is not running short by a looooonnnng way...
Well they are building more nuclear power stations and France is also, so my guess is nuclear will replace the gas as it is needed, either by domestic supply or import from the continent.
Plans to streamline the development of new power stations and introduce smarter regulation could speed up the overall process and, as a result, the delivery of nuclear power in the UK. This includes allowing regulators to assess projects while designs are finalised, and better join-up with overseas regulators assessing the same technology.
What is wrong with these French and UK people.Well they are building more nuclear power stations and France is also, so my guess is nuclear will replace the gas as it is needed, either by domestic supply or import from the continent.
Published11 January 2024Last updated11 January 2024
Biggest expansion of nuclear power for 70 years to create jobs, reduce bills and strengthen Britain’s energy security
Roadmap sets out how UK will increase nuclear generation by up to 4 times to 24GW by 2050.www.gov.uk
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Claire Coutinho, said:
Plans to streamline the development of new power stations and introduce smarter regulation could speed up the overall process and, as a result, the delivery of nuclear power in the UK. This includes allowing regulators to assess projects while designs are finalised, and better join-up with overseas regulators assessing the same technology.
Ministers will bring together the brightest and best from the nuclear industry and beyond as part of a ‘hackathon’ event to come up with ideas on how government and industry can accelerate new nuclear projects, while maintaining the highest levels of safety and security.
These plans will help build new supplies of affordable and clean domestic power so the transition to net zero doesn’t mean higher prices, protecting households from global instability.
The government is also today publishing 2 consultations, one on a new approach to siting future nuclear power stations and another on supporting the sector and encouraging private investment to roll out advanced nuclear projects. The proposals will attract investment in the UK nuclear sector by empowering developers to find suitable sites rather than focusing on 8 designated by government. Community engagement will remain critical to any decisions, alongside maintaining robust criteria such as nearby population densities.
Following its launch last year, Great British Nuclear (GBN) will drive the UK’s nuclear ambitions forward, including through the game-changing SMR competition which will soon invite short-listed companies to tender.
2 articles today in the AFR about solar roof panels, issue with grid,and push to battery.
www.statista.com
Well you can't blame nuclear for that, Germany has the same price and they are shutting their nuclear stations down.The UK has one of the highest electricity prices in the world.
Electricity price by country 2023 | Statista
The cheapest electricity prices in the world could be found in Iran in 2023, whereas the cost of electricity per kwh was highest in Europe.
Big problem the UK has is all their cities are "gas" cities. By that I mean gas, not electricity, is the dominant energy source and ubiquitous for heating, hot water and cooking to the point where not using gas at home is seen as unusual.
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