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

A lot of work is underway with upgrading the interconnections.

Essentially the network needs to now need to work in reverse from how it was designed 😕

More local battery storage would solve this faster, probably.

@simonzerafa

Maybe - but likely not an either/or but both!

@ChrisMayLA6

Both. Battery storage would be useful for a black start situation anyway 🙂

@simonzerafa @ChrisMayLA6 I was thinking that. Batteries are spectacularly dropping in cost, and do not have the zoning/NIMBY issues of power lines.
@martinvermeer @simonzerafa @ChrisMayLA6 you'd be surprised by how much NIMBY you get to battery stores. Everyone is convinced that they will burst into flames at the slightest bump and burn the whole village down.
@ianturton @simonzerafa @ChrisMayLA6 Oh yes - but they are point objects, not line objects.