From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
The Net Zero lunacy gathers pace:
From the Telegraph:
Britain risks electricity rationing by the next general election unless its fleet of ageing gas-fired power stations is urgently upgraded, a new report has warned.
More than a dozen of Britain’s gas-fired power stations are so old that they may not last until the end of the decade and key parts required to upgrade them take years to arrive on order, energy consultancy Watt-Logic said.
It called on Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, to face up to the threat amid growing concern over UK power supplies, which still rely largely on gas despite the expansion of renewables.
“Without urgent action to secure dispatchable generation and stabilise the gas network, the UK faces escalating risks of supply shortfalls and widespread system failures well before 2030,” the report warns.
“It will be difficult to meet existing demand without rationing, let alone any additional demand from electrification.”
About a third of the UK’s electricity is generated by gas-fired power plants – but on windless days, this proportion can double.
Kathryn Porter, from Watt-Logic, warned that in five years time – just after the next general election – many of those gas plants could be offline and there are currently no plans to replace them.
She said a third of the fleet had been built in the 1990s and “while most received upgrades in the 2000s, in most cases this did not involve replacing rotors [a key component prone to wear]”.
“This means the anticipated retirement dates are becoming imminent and there is no replacement and minimal upgrade plans in place,” she added.
It means the risk of electricity rationing during the winter months will increase over the next five years – peaking between 2028 and 2031 – because of the loss in energy production.
The loss will be made worse by the planned shutdown of the UK’s ageing nuclear stations. Eight of the 10 remaining reactors face closure before or in 2030.
Full story here.
We have been warning this would happen for years.
But still NESO and DESNZ continue to bury their heads in the sand and gaslight us:
Responding to the report, a Neso spokesman said: “Great Britain has one of the most secure energy systems in the world… our engineers are confident Britain’s grid will continue to operate safely and securely as more renewables connect to the network in the years ahead.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “The National Energy System Operator, has been clear the faster we decarbonise, the more secure we are.
“Gas will continue to play a key role in our energy system as we transition to clean, more secure, homegrown energy.
“That’s why we are also delivering the biggest upgrade to Great Britain’s electricity network in decades to deliver clean power by 2030 and beyond.”
Yes, we used to have “one of the most secure energy systems”, but we certainly have not now. As for more renewables making us more secure, NESO know this is untrue.
It was them who warned in their Clean Power 2030 report in 2024 that we would still need our full fleet of gas power stations for many years to come. They know full well that wind and solar power cannot supply all of the power we need day in, day out, even with contributions from nuclear, biomass and imports.
You can triple wind and solar power capacity, but three times nothing is still nothing.
Miliband knows that the real problems will start to kick in after the next election, so he will do his utmost to destroy the country before then, knowing he won’t have to face the consequences.
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