From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
h/t Doug Brodie
Another nail in the coffin!
From the Telegraph:
The costs of upgrading Britain’s energy grid for net zero threaten to spiral out of control, EDF has warned.
The French energy company, which operates the UK’s nuclear fleet, said a £70bn programme to modernise the grid faced a tripling in construction costs, far outstripping initial forecasts.
The energy supplier warned the companies charged with operating the UK’s high-voltage transmission system have been hit by surging inflation and lengthy procurement delays.
Rising prices mean that Labour’s target to decarbonise by the end of the decade – under the Clean Power 2030 plan devised by Ed Miliband, the former energy secretary – could cost billions more than expected, much of which will be passed on to households through higher bills.
Officials previously estimated that upgrading the grid would cost at least £70bn over the next five years, with the levies added to average annual power bills set to climb from £44 to £105.
EDF’s warning implies the final amount could be higher still.
The companies responsible for the “great grid upgrade” are National Grid, which operates the transmission grid in England and Wales, along with Scottish Power and SSE in northern Scotland.
The improvements are needed to connect new wind farms, improve old power lines and ready the grid for soaring electricity demand from technologies such as heat pumps and electric cars.
EDF said it supported upgrading the network but warned that the 2030 scheme was now so expensive the whole project should be re-examined.
Josh Buckland, EDF’s policy director, and Matthew Ball, its grid manager, warned in a blog post: “We estimate costs have risen two to three times since initial transmission operator forecasts – based on analysis of Ofgem’s own documents.”
They added: “Connections are subject to increasingly severe delays. Our own projects are suffering an average connection delay of two years, with the worst now over five years.”
Simon Gallagher, the managing director of UK Networks Services, which manages grid connections for businesses, said that Clean Power 2030 is “not achievable as currently designed”.
He added: “Those who support its aims, including us, believe the plans are too fast and too expensive.”
Full story here.
I thought we had learnt the lesson years ago that infrastructure projects invariably cost much more than originally budgeted and take twice as long!
Just think of HS2.
Remember as well that this £70 billion is just the first tranche of grid upgrades necessary for Net Zero. NESO have already stated that another £89 billion will need to be spent “beyond” 2030.
On top of that comes the truly frightening cost of upgrading the whole of our local, low-voltage distribution system, so that it can handle a doubling of demand.
In July, the Telegraph reported that OFGEM was already facing requests for substantial spending increases to build new power lines after a global equipment shortage triggered delays and higher costs. They also talked about a tripling of budgets.
