The madness of the UK's energy system is summed up in the £55m paid to wind farm operators in the last couple of months to cease generation (temporarily) because the energy interconnection (distribution) system was unable to handle the electricity transfer from generation to use; at the same time £217m was paid (mainly to gas-based generators) to make up the shortfall in renewable energy the congested network caused.
The network build-out needs to be accelerated!
#energy
h/t Observer
@ChrisMayLA6 Transmission rather than distribution in the main, I think.
This shows it very nicely in real time with the "Curtailment Filter" on:
@ChrisMayLA6 BTW, there is some turn-*up* on a couple of English windfarms at the moment, which is new to me!
@Havoc_online @EarthOrgUK @ChrisMayLA6
Absolutely
The Tories went full NIMBY with onshore wind in England when in power creating a de facto ban thru planning regs. It has distorted the location of wind generation so much that multi-billion £ transmission cables are now needed to move excess capacity south.
@Havoc_online I live in Peebles, and the main barrier to building transmission infrastructure is NIMBYs who insist that the new transmission lines have to be underground.
@krans @Havoc_online @EarthOrgUK @ChrisMayLA6
And there are more efficient routes that run underwater along either coasts.
All of the seabed survey's were completed in the late 1980's for the Pan-European International Power Grid.
Running a transmission line along the East Coast of Scotland from Aberdeen to Hull would be way cheaper.
This could be integrated with the planned power lines running between England and Holland, and the potential power lines from Scotland to Norway.
Scotland could be selling wind-generated electricity to all of the EU.
@Havoc_online @EarthOrgUK @ChrisMayLA6
Remember that the UK nuclear power stations are always part of the UK's nuclear weapons programme.
They are not electricty-generating plants that produce nuclear waste as a by-product. They are plutonium factories that produce electricity as a by-product.
The designs that are used are completely in-efficient at both because of the pretence.
There are more efficient routes towards generating electriucity with radioactive materials that does not create fissile material, and there are more effective ways of manufacturing plutonium that does not waste energy making electricity.
Do one or the other, not make a dog's breakfast of both.
And, No, I do not like nuclear weapons, but if we do not have them, we'll be at the mercy of the countries that do have them.
Look at Ukraine and Iran.
@BillySmith Agree with you mainly, Billy - but surely we must work hard to continue the work started with the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and to eradicate both nuclear weapons and nuclear power everywhere?
Nuclear is a failed 20th century technology that should go the way of coal and steam.
@Sarahw @ChrisMayLA6 I don't. But this is also interesting:
https://app.electricitymaps.com/map/live/fifteen_minutes?signal=renewable-energy
Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Earth Notes
Havoc BSc MSc 💚
Raymond Russell
Gabriel Pettier
Mud Road
電気⚡️自動車 (Denki Jidousha)
Peter Brett
Billy Smith
Highlands & Islands Greens
Richard Michael Blaber
Shephallmassive
Sarah W