Gridwatch and power generation today

Yeah Brian seems to be about a decade behind in the argument.

It was in the newly privatised Electrity Supply industry in New Zealand, where the bean counters closed one division becasue it didn't show a profit. It was the maintenence division. A major cable fault cost them a fortune in compensation to customers because it took so long to fix.

Yes David, solar and wind dont work on dull January mornings (and nights), yes Brian, better energy storage is needed, but in terms of CO2 its better to not waste money and burn so much oil and coal every year, the 'bean counter' / accountants did their sums.

I went to a talk by Ed Davey who was LibdDem energy minister: he was proud of being responsible for lots more renewable energy, and for a huge cable to Norway we can can export spare energy, store it in one of their Fjord pump water batteries, and import it a few hours later.

I dont know how the damage caused by mining and dumping Lithium etc fits into the equations - my taxes should pay for scientists to calculate the costs and benefits.

Insulating our houses means we have to import less oil, gas, coal etc.

George

Wind power is 30% tocay!

Wind power is 30% today!

Keeping power stations on standby, ready for when there's not enough wind or solar, is indeed a waste of money, as well as producing CO2, thus seriously impacting the object of having wind and solar in the first place. I wouldn't say there's absolutely no benefit, but it's much less that most Greenies would admit to.

Bearing in mind how much power we import from France and Belgium, there won't be much power sent down that cable. Almost all of it will come _from_ Norway. Making it a two-way cable is simply window-dressing.

What Fjord water pump batteries would that be then? AFAIK Norway doesn't have any pumped storage. Why should they? Nature lifts the water out of the sea and dumps it on the mountains, where it runs back into the rivers, reservoirs and hydroelectric schemes. No pumping required.

I'd agree with you there. But it's not always practical.

I get the impression the old farts so against any form of renewable energy actually want the planet to become uninhabitable in many places - and the sooner the better.

The only veterans in the US who starve on the streets are those who are actually stupid enough to blow their pension on drugs instead of food. The problem is morbid obesity, not starvation.

It is underway though ...

I know, years after d*****ad davey claimed responsibility..

I'd be interested in the reverse pairing.

I don't know of any truly socialist country that's ever been stable for any length of time. For some reason they all seem to end in chaos.

Andy

Norway didn?t.

I doubt you'd find any truly socialist country - despite what they might call themselves. Or a totally capitalist one either. All are shades of grey between the two extremes.

hasn't yet. Wait till north sea oil runs out.

Unlike the UK with its jam now mentality, Norway has made provision for when its oil runs out.

I wonder how many shades it might be :-D

Hmmm....demand up quite a bit. Just as well it is windy.

Nuclear seems to have increased; have they brought another reactor on line?

Cheers

Dave R

Not sure - there's one completely down for crack testing or something.

Thats hHunterston B. Down for graphite inspection

Then Dungeness B is down till end of Jan and End of Feb (reactor 1 and

Heysham 1/reactor 2 was tripped but due to resume today. Maybe that's it. Looks like another 500MW came on line which is about right.

Won?t end in chaos because the govt oil and gas operation operates all over the world now and they have saved the immense revenue steam and have plenty of hydro power too.