If Only....

 

Graph From GridWatch

If only yesterday's energy output could (in Most Part) repeated. Wind was producing the bulk of our electricity. The eco-loons would be very proud. 

But unfortunately this is not reflected every day. As I've shown, there are times when the wind doesn't blow and it's bitterly cold. In winter, solar is next to insignificant.

Interesting that even as the wind was blowing, the European interconnectors were supplying a big chunk of electricity to us. In the evening the alsort-coloured block at the top of the graph supplying almost 20% of our electricity.

Again, I can only surmise that the UK market pays well for French Nuclear and German coal-fired electricity. Enough so that they can supply some of their precious energy to us. I doubt very much if it is gas-fired electricity they are supplying to us, given the privations being enforced across Europe to reduce electricity consumption. 

The Swiss being the most recent. Considering plans to restrict private use of electric cars to essential journeys only if the energy crisis worsens. 

Switzerland. A bastion of freedom and democracy. A land of lakes and mountains. You'd think they'd be be abundant in hydro power rather than relying on external energy resources.

So, given it's so bad in Europe all of these things are being considered, why are they supplying so much electricity to us? I'm sure the Swiss wouldn't be best pleased, nor the Germans or the French. After all, there have been many requests from European politicians to reduce energy consumption, from having cold showers, to switching the lights off on public buildings and monuments early.

The EU is already talking about mandatory targets for energy reductions at peak times across Europe. Citizens have already been asked to not use appliances between 4pm and 7pm in order to reduce peak load. I assume so that greener options like nuclear can produce the bulk of the power and gas turbine power plants don't have to be brought in to fill in the peak demand.

Over the past month, watching the Gridwatch graphs has been interesting. From the windless cold snap, to yesterday's high wind/low solar/high interconnector graph.

It just shows how messed up energy supply in the UK is. Renewables aren't the solution, not until the energy produced by renewable sources can be stored efficiently.

We really need to get a grip on tidal power. It's a regular, reliable, and free source of power. We have some of the fastest tidal races in Europe. Harness that and channel all the renewable production into storage and then you'd go a long way to reduce fossil fuel production. The capacity still needs to be there, because there will be periods where we can be without wind for weeks. But then tidal power could produce a lot of power and channelled into storage it could be a reliable source of energy.

Bad Management or By Design? You Decide.

 So, Rishi Sunak says he will tackle inflation, with no clear plan of how to do that. Well colour me not surprised, given that this inflation cycle has been decades in the making. It'll take decades of judicious and prudent financial steerage to win the day. I mark him as just another manager without a clue.

The energy crisis has also been decades in the making, with not just closure, but complete eradication of our coal fired power stations, the complete hash of the nuclear reactor replacements and the reliance on interconnectors with other countries to top-up electricity supply. 

Not many people know that Norway is a significant and important supplier of electricity to the UK. Not only topping up our inability to generate adequate supply when renewables don't cut the mustard, but also being mainly hydro-generated it counts towards our green credentials.

Sadly this year's lack of rainfall has reduced the level of Norway's lakes, so their ability to produce more electricity that they need is curtailed.

And this is where the madness of relying on external energy shows itself: Norway have quite rightly said they will limit production of electricity to supply their own domestic needs. They are stopping the production of electricity for external customers.

And quite right too. I would expect nothing less from a domestic energy supplier.

And this highlights the folly of the under-investment in energy supply in the UK that has gone on for decades. 

It seems that senior corporate and government management in the UK relies on someone else bailing them out of the shit.

Corporate criminal management has done the usual corporate thing: maximised profits. Taking ever larger amounts at the front end and chronically under-investing in the back end. Whether it be research and development, or the energy industry's over-reliance on external suppliers or reliance on external contractors for the provision of nuclear. 

It's all (quite expectedly) gone tits-up.

We are reaping the whirlwind. We are now facing huge price increases for energy, we are also looking at rolling blackouts to manage energy supply. How severe the black-outs will be depends on how much wind blows and whether the skies stay blue.

Sadly both can be missing and as there has been no serious R&D on storing renewable energy, we will be buggered on a calm, still windless night. The lights will go out and hospitals will rely on diesel generators.

When all our external suppliers say they are cutting energy production to meet their own carbon targets, or because they have a drought, 

Right now we need to step up. We need to bring nuclear back in-house. We need serious R&D investment from the corporations that for decades have taken the money and just handed it over to shareholders. If necessary the government should mandate a huge percentage in R&D for the energy generators. They should also find a way of locking shareholders in so they cannot bail just because they get a lower return on investment.

We need a realistic look at managing the UK as a whole. There has been too much reliance for too long on criminal mis-management. There has been too much asset-stripping and maximisation of profits. 

If I was in power I'd be looking at locking up the boards of these corporations for running down what is essential a National Security asset. Previous political leaders, managers and senior civil servants should also be in the dock for not sorting the mess out whilst taking huge salaries. I'd call it taking money under false pretences.

Such is my anger towards what was, decades ago, the most far-sighted energy supply industry in the world. We were developing nuclear reactors using UK talent and expertise, we also had a power supply grid that was the envy of the world, we were world leaders.

But no longer. We're buying in nuclear, which has failed to deliver in a spectacular fashion, our national grid is overdue for maintenance, we are actually buying in parts rather than get them from UK suppliers. No doubt because the UK industry hasn't been maintaining the grid so suppliers of pylons have either folded or gone off to produce other things.

It's a joke. Except I'm not laughing. And neither will other parts of the population this winter.