{"id":249842,"date":"2023-03-27T09:36:42","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T07:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=249842"},"modified":"2023-03-27T09:36:44","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T07:36:44","slug":"energy-industries-club-speech-on-energy-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=249842","title":{"rendered":"Energy Industries Club speech on energy security"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Paul Homewood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

h\/t It doesn\u2019t add up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a very good overview of the state of our current energy policy by Kathryn Porter, who is an energy consultant:<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Earlier this week I had the pleasure of speaking at the <\/em>Energy Industries Club<\/em><\/a> dinner on the subject of energy security\u2026here is a copy of my remarks\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good evening everyone, I\u2019m delighted to be here for the inaugural evening meeting of the Energy Industries Club.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel under some pressure with a dinner-time speech to be entertaining. I was scarred a few years ago at a dinner where an EU Commissioner gave a speech between the starter and main course. He wasn\u2019t brief. By the time the charred remnants of the main course were served even the most die-hard Remainers were dreaming of Brexit!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we successfully avoided that pitfall, but I still feel the pressure. I might be tempted to throw in the odd joke or witty one-liner. I\u2019ll do my best\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you may know, following the recent Budget, we have a new approach to energy policy: Gaslighting.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s kind of you to laugh but that\u2019s not actually a joke. That really is how I feel about large parts of our energy policy at the moment.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It goes something like this: we\u2019re going to have cheap, reliable renewable energy based on wind and solar but we\u2019ll need subsidies to get it going. What\u2019s that? The weather isn\u2019t reliable? Good point, OK right, so we\u2019ll need subsidies for non-renewable energy to come on when it\u2019s not windy and sunny. OK then.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not OK? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something about grid infrastructure? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh yes, I guess we don\u2019t have a much of that in the sea. Good point, we\u2019ll have to build some more. But we can delay some of it to keep costs down for consumers. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sorry what? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curtailment? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have to pay wind farms if we can\u2019t use the electricity they want to generate. Oh, that\u2019s annoying. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s still cheap though.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK now what?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Balancing?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s more expensive to balance the grid when generation varies with the weather.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK I don\u2019t care. Renewables are cheap and reliable. End of.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does anyone else feel like they\u2019re being gas-lit?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full speech is here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It covers a lot of ground, although it gets a bit wishy washy at the end, with talk of the \u201cneed to do something\u201d. She also seems to think more demand side response will make a big difference, though in my view this you cannot control grid frequency by hoping that people switch their electrical devices off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next speaker will apparently be Chris Stark, CEO of the Committee on Climate Change. I can give a pretty good guess about what he will have to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n