From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
Contracts for Difference subsidy payments hit a record high last year, reaching £2.64 billion:
https://www.lowcarboncontracts.uk/resources/scheme-dashboards/cfd-historical-data-dashboard
Most of this was for offshore wind, which cost £2.02 billion.
Note that there was only one year when subsidies were negative, ie when generators paid money back to customers when market prices were higher than strike prices. That was in 2022 and even then the total was only £330 million.
This gives the lie to the “nine times cheaper than gas” claim, which I have seen some people still claim.
Last year, CfDs covered 35.7 TWh of generation, a little over a tenth of total electricity:
Subsidy…synonymous with Scam
CfD comes to my mind as ‘completely fleece the demos’. You would have thought with geopolitics being what they are some saner souls might be thinking not of throwing what money we have got into the unpredictable winds, but into things the nation really needs. Even defence.
I think in many ways, Britain is in the last chance saloon – for all the woke lunacy from climate catastrophe to nonsensical nanoaggressions. And we definitely have the government to deliver it. Take their pick for Archbish.
Archbishop of Canterbury defends £100m ‘slavery reparations fund’ – ‘Love thy neighbour!’ – GBN
It doesn’t matter that the Church had nothing to do with slavery, they have to signal their woke virtue by giving away the money that is supposed to be used for the upkeep of Church buildings etc. I think it could be borderline illegal. In any event it’s all showboating, and the costs are borne by Joe Public every time.
Was there ever a time when wind was getting cheaper every year? I cannot remember one.
“”the days when offshore wind got cheaper every year are over.
…
We are a very long way from the hopeful days of 2022 when offshore wind was still tumbling in price.
…
the rollout of offshore wind at these prices will not knock squillions off the price of electricity.”” – Church Times
And the killer claim: “Something has to be built because several nuclear power stations will soon close, and a third of the gas power plant fleet is nearing the end of its life”
So, they intend to build white elephants and expect them to knock a very large amount (squillions) off the cost of electricity. And when you learn who is in charge of the Mission Control unit it makes perfect sense.
Chris Stark, the head of “mission control” unit in the energy department, said the 2030 target for offshore wind is “on track” but it is “not essential” to hit it given the strong result in the latest auction
Trebles all round.
I think in many ways, Britain is in the last chance saloon
Agreed. The next general election must be held in August 2029, and the present government will almost certainly hold on to the last moment. Lots more damage will be done before then, and even if they are kicked out then, recovering from the mess will take huge time, effort and money.
The only good news to come out of UK politics recently is that the court has agreed to take the case brought by Reforn to overturn the suspension of the May local elections. To be heard in mid-late Feb. That could be a really interesting event.
“ … nine times cheaper than gas … “
I’m waiting for someone to tell me what I multiply by nine to get that “cheaper than gas” number.
Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences is a 1988 book by mathematician John Allen Paulos about innumeracy (deficiency of numeracy) as the mathematical equivalent of illiteracy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innumeracy_(book)
Yes I’ve always detested the stupidity of such expressions. [Number greater than one] “times” anything is always a BIGGER number, not a smaller one.
Speaking of numbers when it comes to understanding battery storage it’s not a lack of level 4 calculus, it’s 4th grade addition:
Cost Breakdown per MWh (USD)
Approx % Cost per MWh
Battery Modules & PCS
45–50%
$185k–$205k
Civil Works & Labor
20–25%
$82k–$102k
Grid Interconnection
10–15%
$41k–$61k
Commissioning & Compliance
3–5%
$12k–$20k
Engineering & Design
5–8%
$20k–$33k
Project Mgmt & Overhead
5–7%
$20k–$29k
Financing & Contingency
10–15%
$41k–$61k
TOTAL: $400k–$510k
Conclusion
Factory battery prices may be dropping, but installed, tested, and commissioned grid-scale storage costs are 3–4× higher than the cell price alone..
Numbers like that are 90% malarkey.
The other half is pure BS.
Bill Mollison told me that 87% of a statistics are made up.
I love it when someone says, “It is five times less efficient.” I don’t love it when it’s an engineer talking.
Nothing to see here climate changing folks move along-
‘You are the mug’: Joyce rubbishes Labor’s renewable scheme using taxpayer funds
What about the “climate change impact” when considering the removal and “disposal” of all those offshore wind turbines and their subsurface supports when reality sets in and their kWh electrical output as delivered to land grids NEVER proves to be cheaper than that produced by FF-powered power plants?
That’s a heck of a way to run an electric grid.
The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
Once again, what is the value of generation that cannot respond to load demand?
Thank goodness DJT saved America from a destructive advocacy-directed policy path to a subsidized electrical system, subsidized transport system, subsidized illegal immigrant wave, subsidized health insurance industrial complex, subsidized mass student loan defaulters, and subsidized European defense.
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
— Margaret Thatcher
CfD subsidies are just a polite term for socialism-favoring business contracts, almost always made at the expense of taxpayers.
Wind and solar don’t work, stop pretending that they do. Fossil fuel and nuclear do work stop pretending that they don’t. Lying and cheating is not okay.