Net Zero target

And I thought Milliband had set up a government leccy thingy?

So that's no a private company.
 
So demand is nearly 32 and we generate nearly 28.

Yet we have turned our supply off according to the link I put up.

Fuck me this is confusing.
 
Archie I'm being told by Scottish power that I get half price leccy between 11 and 4 at the weekend if I don't use too much leccy through the week.

So I need leccy. So why no supply the demand for folk?
Scottish Power and others do these offers because electricity is cheap at these times. It also encourages use when there is less demand. If the demand was there it would be supplied. What I think is happening is the wind farm electricity can be more expensive than other sources.
 
So demand is nearly 32 and we generate nearly 28.

Yet we have turned our supply off according to the link I put up.

Fuck me this is confusing.
The energy market is very complex. Renewables even more so given the mix of subsidies and guaranteed prices.
 
It's got me beat Archie. Cannae understand that at all.
 
If it's to expensive then why bother doing it?
It isn't always more expensive - depends on day to day market conditions. There's also a strategy to build renewable capacity for range of reasons: lower emissions; energy security; alternative to nuclear and so on.
 
I'll be deid before any of that gets built in this country 💀
 
I'll be deid before any of that gets built in this country 💀
Much of it is built now. I'm not a big fan of nuclear, but I have to recognise that France didn't have the big price jumps that other countries had as a result of the Ukraine war. Much of that is due to their large nuclear provision.
 
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So if nuclear is alright then why are we no building more nuclear leccy type things?
 
But they embraced this wind farm stuff that provides too much leccy so it gets closed down so we can buy Johnny Foreigner leccy?

That sounds like a decent policy 🙄
 
And this net zero is going to put loads of workers in the oil industry and every other business that has direct links to it out of work.

So we can buy foreign leccy?

Nope. Makes no sense mate.
 
So if nuclear is alright then why are we no building more nuclear leccy type things?

Super expensive and the general public think it's bad.

Scotland have backed out of nuclear while the UK is looking to build and open more plants.

EDF let the plants get into quite a poor state up here though, I think Torness is the only one still running. One of the others I think had damage to the cores and needed decommissioning about 10 years before it happened.


Haven't read too much into us shutting the turbines down, but they'll get turned off in poor wind conditions and the likes as well. I think there's more to it than what's being sold in here.
 
It just reads ridiculous that we generate enough power but close it down and buy power in.
 
It just reads ridiculous that we generate enough power but close it down and buy power in.

But we also generate enough to run the country through almost purely renewables. While being able to export around third of that to the rest of the UK.

I'm only looking at Scotland, so dunno about the wider UK, but energy in Scotland isn't an issue.

The costs of building battery storage for all that excess, plus replacing the batteries every however many years, and the infrastructure to support all of that, would vastly dwarf what you're all talking about up there.
 
And would it work? Or would the infrastructure be a shambles that needed repaired within months of opening?

It's great looking to the future. But there is also the here and now for us and our families.
 
Maybe we should be looking at how other countries provide power to their population. Its fairly obvious Westminster hasn't a clue. Martin Lewis has been campaigning for change for a few years now.
 
Maybe we should be looking at how other countries provide power to their population. Its fairly obvious Westminster hasn't a clue. Martin Lewis has been campaigning for change for a few years now.
And how they run there train services.
 
And how they run there train services.
And so much more. You'd think when they came over here and bought up Britain buy the pound they'd have brought over the good practice rather than rinsing the UK for all it's worth.

I wonder who allowed that?
 
And how they run there train services.
Well, since you ask, I can tell you a bit about NL oc.

They have invested heavily in EVs, wind power and solar panels in the last few years, part of the 'old-fashioned' lefty green way of trying to meet deadlines for 2030 in a responsible manner, now eroded by Trump et al's Realcunt dumb-right politics.

EVs have been a bigger hit here tha anywhere else in Europe outside Scandinavia I would say. But despite the high number of (mainly subsidised but that party is over now) vehicles and - to me staggeringly quickly designed and implemented power points on the streets - I get the impression from the few people and families I know with cars that they are thankful for the subsidies but I will do my bit to cut emissions by running a hybrid and that's it.

Solar power has been such a subsidised explosion (sic) that it has over-produced and like wind in UK is facing the problem of where to store that otherwise fleeting but powerful energy.

The electricity network needs years of work to efficiently divvy up its resources so more can be done to meet the needs of the suppliers - the average joe+family and his roof solar panels - and the existing and new huge industrial clients. The network cannot cope. Maybe a lesson there...

And yet NL is doing well in many energy ways - innovation is at all time high, Dutch water tech and savvy a worldwide winner, huge server factories (not so good for climate but hey...). But its agribusiness model has reached bursting point and has to change.

Meanwhile, trains are still heavyishly subsidised but earn more back with unequalled punctuality and speed in a heavily populated area in its existing infrastructure - which will be as bad as UK in about 20 years I reckon, as a lot needs to be done.
 
There’s a decent explainer in this thread of tweets….

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it’s crazy- we could be using that power to produce hydrogen that could then fuel industry and cars (apparently BMW are focussing on hydrogen not batteries to power their future cars).
 
I see all the new houses being built all have solar panels. Do the occupants get their leccy free?
 
I see all the new houses being built all have solar panels. Do the occupants get their leccy free?
Dunno about that but my daughter and her partner bought a house with solar panels and they get between £200 and £300 back every year which is not to be sniffed at. At my time of life though, I’d never get back the initial investment - wish I’d thought about it years ago.
 
Dunno about that but my daughter and her partner bought a house with solar panels and they get between £200 and £300 back every year which is not to be sniffed at. At my time of life though, I’d never get back the initial investment - wish I’d thought about it years ago.
I remember when there was companies installing and telling you you got money back but I thought that all got stopped.
 
You're making it sound as though the energy crisis policy hasn't been thought through!

They're actually doing something huge at Loch Ness. Basically, when there's lots of excess power as you describe and it's cheap, they're going to pump millions of gallons of water to another Loch up the hill. When there's a demand for power that water goes through a few turbines back into Loch Ness and, VOILA, electricity for the grid!

Goodness knows how long it will take to build but I suspect, even if they have to move Ben Nevis over a bit, it will be long before the nuclear crap at Hinckley.

The 'hollow mountain' at Loch Awe does this - interesting tours are available!
 
But we also generate enough to run the country through almost purely renewables. While being able to export around third of that to the rest of the UK.

I'm only looking at Scotland, so dunno about the wider UK, but energy in Scotland isn't an issue.

The costs of building battery storage for all that excess, plus replacing the batteries every however many years, and the infrastructure to support all of that, would vastly dwarf what you're all talking about up there.
It abosutely is an issue. The renewables industry is being built on two pillars of subsidy: direct subsidy to build renewable generation; and guaranteed prices for generators. So consumers do pay more. But that's the long term game to build the generation capacity.

So the critical point is price. If it's cheaper to buy elsewhere and turn off wind generation then that's what will happen.

I'm not saying I like the system, I'm just setting out what it is.
 
it’s crazy- we could be using that power to produce hydrogen that could then fuel industry and cars (apparently BMW are focussing on hydrogen not batteries to power their future cars).
I'm not saying you're wrong, but this is a very long term ambition. There is a very limited supply of hydrogen cars and the retooling of industry will take donkeys years and will be expensive. It doesn't offer much now.
 
It abosutely is an issue. The renewables industry is being built on two pillars of subsidy: direct subsidy to build renewable generation; and guaranteed prices for generators. So consumers do pay more. But that's the long term game to build the generation capacity.

So the critical point is price. If it's cheaper to buy elsewhere and turn off wind generation then that's what will happen.

I'm not saying I like the system, I'm just setting out what it is.

It shouldn't be an issue then.
We generate more than we use, 90% of our energy is wind or nuclear, two cheapest forms of energy.
We get screwed because of the fossil fuel prices, fuels that we don't or barely even use.

I know next to nothing about the suppliers, buying from generators etc, so you're no doubt right.

So we need more generators up here? We're too far away from them despite sending all our energy to them? Is that how that works?
 
It shouldn't be an issue then.
We generate more than we use, 90% of our energy is wind or nuclear, two cheapest forms of energy.
We get screwed because of the fossil fuel prices, fuels that we don't or barely even use.

I know next to nothing about the suppliers, buying from generators etc, so you're no doubt right.

So we need more generators up here? We're too far away from them despite sending all our energy to them? Is that how that works?
Wind isn't always the cheapest. The gas issue was that it's price was tied to electricity because it was used to generate power. When the Ukraine war broke out prices went through the roof and the rest is history.

I'm a big believer in renewables as the way forward, but there is the dilemma if it costs more than other supply then is that fair to consumers? But then I think we should have a vertically integrated nationalised energy system.
 
One of the founding members of NZBA is seeing sense.
HSBC has become the first UK bank to leave the global banking industry’s net zero target-setting group. HSBC was a founding member of the NZBA at its launch in 2021, with the bank’s then chief executive, Noel Quinn, saying it was vital to “establish a robust and transparent framework for monitoring progress” towards net zero carbon-emission targets.

The Gruaniad

More to follow I expect.