From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
h/t Philip Bratby
Britain is poised to import a record amount of energy from France and other European countries this summer after mothballing a host of power stations.
The French state-owned operator EDF will sell much of the surplus power from its nuclear plants to the UK in the coming months after taking advantage of new undersea cables and a lack of domestic capacity, according to a new report from National Gas.
It said that the demand for gas in the UK was predicted to fall from 33.3 billion cubic metres (bcm) between April and September last year to 29bcm this year – a 10pc decline – because foreign energy is filling the gap instead of gas-fired plants in the UK.
Meanwhile, electricity imports are predicted to jump by 6.6 terawatt hours, potentially reaching a new summer record.
National Gas said: “This increase in electricity imports is being driven by increased availability of French nuclear generation along with an overall increase in capacity of interconnectors.”
Interconnectors are high voltage cables that link the electricity systems of neighbouring countries, allowing power to be traded across borders.
Britain now has three interconnectors to France, plus others to Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland and Ireland.
Another, the Viking Link interconnector from the UK to Denmark, went into operation in December, sharply increasing the UK’s capacity for importing and exporting electricity.
However, the flow is mostly one way, into the UK, meaning an increasing proportion of British consumers’ power bills is flowing out of the UK to utilities overseas.
The UK spent £3.5bn on electricity from France, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands last year, accounting for 12pc of net supply, according to earlier research from London Stock Exchange Power Research.
This week import levels have risen to 14-15pc of UK electricity – including 8.3pc from France and nearly 4pc from Norway, according to National Grid data.
A key bonus of the shift to overseas power is a cut in greenhouse gas emissions.
It takes a special kind of idiot to justify our throwing away of energy security by claiming that at least it cuts emissions!
I’ll leave it to the real experts:
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What could possibly go wrong, lol. On the bright side here in the US we may see the UK over an energy cliff in time to avert disaster….maybe not NY and Cali.
Mike, if California goes down, it will take the Western Interconnect down with it, including Missoula, Montana. In which case the Missoula city council, which I understand is ardently pro Net Zero, will be holding its public meetings in candlelight. We would hope that when the blackout happens, the council members will be asked a number of pointed questions concerning how and why the blackout happened.
When a government pays a company half a billion to go green, effectively erasing 3000 jobs, this makes perfect sense.
The race to the bottom is on.
The UK is the most screwed-up large European country, by far, with Germany not far behind.
The UK elites still think Britannia Rules the Waves, but those delusions ended with World War One
“The UK elites still think Britannia Rules the Waves,”
No, I disagree. The UK elites are consumed with self-loathing and that we must pay reparations of one sort or another to anyone for anything.
You have heard of the small boats and the English channel? There was a time when the British navy would have dealt with that – double quick.
Once again the UK and Germany take the lead in a societal suicide attempt.
My how things can change in one human lifetime.
When I was born, Britain was regarded as a doyen of industrial might and global influence.
Now it presents as a gormless lickspittle begging favor from the big kids on the block.
Me too.
I recall the 1950s when we were a world leader in nuclear power with predictions that electricity would be too cheap to meter.
But politicians listened to the green lobby and the miners’ Unions and threw it all away.
All the fears about nuclear proved misguided and left us with unnecessarily expensive and complex decommissioning costs that still serve as a drag on the industry to this day.
An unfortunate side effect of Thatcher’s war with the NUM (National Union of Mineworkers) was her using Global Warming as a tool to move away from UK dependence on coal for electricity generation to her preferred option of Nuclear. The seed was sown and has since flourished despite her later recanting but the damage was done and we didn’t get nuclear and ended up with renewables and wasting North Sea Oil revenues in paying for unemployed miners, shipyard workers and other former heavy industry workers. You could argue that the cure has been worse than the disease.
“Mistakes have been made, others will be blamed.”
The screw-uppers get promoted, others just get screwed
As I recall it was the ‘dash for gas’ in the North sea. The big nuclear project of the time was the THORP ( Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant) at Sellafield. Supposedly to recycle [the world’s] nuclear waste.
The dash for gas followed household conversions to natural gas (from ‘Town gas’) from the late 60s to mid 70s.
I remember it well – just as I remember the meter readers counting the money on the kitchen table.
Re THORP, Sellafield has had three reprocessing plants
Magnox Reprocessing Plantopened 1964, closed in July 2022 after 58 years of operation.
Sellafield MOX (mixed oxide) Plant (SMP) opened 2002, closed 2011 following the Fukushima accident – Japan was its main customer.
THORP opened 1994 and closed in November 2018. Will serve as a storage facility for spent fuel until the 2070s. Who knows if it might find a new role before then?
That stack of old pennies, then dividing the pile into theirs and our rebate.
A key bonus of the shift to overseas power is a cut in greenhouse gas emissions.
Yes we know that warm inner glow in South Australia with the interconnector to Victorian brown coal and the new interconnector to NSW black coal and ultimately Queenslands too. It’s a wonderful feeling waiting for them to ramp up fickle energy like us.
Being reliant on electricity from Europe.
What could possibly go wrong 😉
Many countries in Europe have also been badly infected by the anti-CO2 disease.
That CO2 disease has psycho origins
Does anyone remember what can happen to imported energy, like the Nordstream Pipeline?
Energy security- what a joke!
Poo tin will already have the interconnectors clearly marked on his charts.
The Viking addition raised the total GB grid interconnector capacity from ~8GW to ~9GW.
To me that’s more like a “non-negligible” than a “sharp” increase.
Also note the following from Wikipedia’s “Viking Link” page :
It isn’t just British politicians that are unable to think ahead — AKA “suffer from lack of joined-up thinking” — and fail to allocate the necessary “you’ll also have to upgrade the transmission lines / distribution network” spending.
It’s a global attribute of our glorious leaders.
What’s the efficiency loss of sending electricity through those cables?
How much does it warm the seabed?
Won’t anyone think of the oysters?
How much maintenance work do those cables need?
Article says:”…new undersea cables…”.
It was reported several weeks ago that undersea cables had been cut and disrupted communications in the Middle East and Asia. The UK will exist only on the good will of someone else from here on in. Blackmail maybe an ugly word but necessary in this case.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/04/business/red-sea-cables-cut-internet/index.html
I love this article for its sheer blatant propaganda, it’s not until the last sentence that you get some truth.
https://www.energylivenews.com/2024/04/12/uk-renewable-boom-plunges-electricity-prices/
You would think the Brits would know better.
“Britain is poised to import a record amount of energy from France and other European countries this summer after mothballing a host of power stations.” In the near future this might not be necessary because:
Decentralised power WITHOUT transmission grid now possible
BrLP: 80+ patents worldwide, 100+ patent applications
Hydrino®, New Renewable form of energy is Dark Matter
Extensive proofs – commercial scale
24/7, $20/kW cost, $0.001/kW/h generation cost
End of Climate Crisis
The electrical generation cost is believed to be less than 10% of any known power source. The world’s first continuous plasma sealed SunCell® has estimated electricity costs of $0.001/kWh. Can run essentially all power applications without fuel or grid connection, estimated $20/kW cost, $0.001/kW/h generation cost.
SunCell® can power devices completely autonomously of fuels/grid infrastructure, operating in any environment at greater power density than any prior known power source. Several other Climate Solution Technologies can also assist in giving a better quality of life.
And the Steorn Orbo creates Over Unity
Not
Just a different form of cap and trade.
Cap and trade does not reduce CO2 emissions, it merely shifts dollars with the middle man taking his percentage. Just ask Al.