{"id":342707,"date":"2024-09-12T08:08:36","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T06:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=342707"},"modified":"2024-09-12T08:08:38","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T06:08:38","slug":"britain-spending-record-250m-a-month-on-electricity-imports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=342707","title":{"rendered":"Britain spending record \u00a3250m a month on electricity\u00a0imports"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

h\/t Philip Bratby<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Britain is importing record amounts of electricity from abroad at a cost of \u00a3250m a month following the closure of coal-fired and nuclear power stations, new analysis shows.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some 20pc of the grid\u2019s power needs were met through interconnectors with neighbouring countries during the second quarter of this year, according to energy company Drax.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amount of power imported from abroad was double the volume generated by wind and solar farms, at about 12.2 terawatt hours. It was also about four times the amount of power exported.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drax said the gross cost of <\/em>importing power<\/em><\/a> currently amounted to more than \u00a3250m per month \u2013 equivalent to about \u00a33bn if sustained over a year.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said <\/em>the rising use of interconnectors<\/em><\/a> followed the closure of many of Britain\u2019s ageing coal and nuclear power stations.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coal generation is on track to end completely as part of efforts to reach net zero carbon emissions, while no new nuclear power plants have come online since Sizewell B in 1995.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analysis for Drax was carried out by researchers at Imperial College London as part of the company\u2019s quarterly electricity insights report.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iain Staffell, an electricity systems expert at Imperial College London, said: \u201cMuch of Britain\u2019s conventional power generators like coal and nuclear stations have retired in recent years.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFewer dispatchable generators means less competition and higher prices, making cheaper electricity from the Continent much more attractive to import.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Government must be mindful of the need to retain sufficient dispatchable generation capacity on our system for both energy security and affordability reasons as it works towards its ambition of having a clean power grid by 2030.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBritain is always going to need weather-proof sources of power to keep the lights on.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Mr Staffell added that interconnectors could also help to boost <\/em>British energy security<\/em><\/a> if domestic power generation was sufficiently maintained.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Labour succeeds in reaching its targets to make the national power grid net zero by 2030, for example, he said there would be so much generation available that much of it would be available for export, bringing money into the UK.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cBeing able to either store this power at home through more storage capacity or selling it abroad is an attractive proposition.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring periods of high winds in the North Sea but calmer weather on the Continent, exporting power could be potentially lucrative for the UK and help to lower bills for consumers here.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/business\/2024\/09\/09\/britain-spends-record-250m-month-electricity-imports<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know what planet Mr Staffell is on! When it is windy in the North Sea, it is almost certain to be windy over Northern Europe, where our exports will go. We would end up exporting at ultra low prices;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and it won\u2019t be the windfarms making a loss, it will be us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is actually astonishing that imports are double wind and solar power, even despite the tens of billions in subsidies thrown at renewables. It is also very scary that we are now so reliant on power from Europe, over which we have no control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Britain is importing record amounts of electricity from abroad at a cost of \u00a3250m a month following the closure of coal-fired and nuclear power stations, new analysis shows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":342711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818056,691819635,691821577,691819630,691818154],"class_list":["post-342707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-climate-change","tag-coal","tag-drax","tag-energy-crisis","tag-net-zero","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1r9x","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":239009,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=239009","url_meta":{"origin":342707,"position":0},"title":"Wind Power Collapses During Calm Weather Means Soaring Power Prices & Power Rationing","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/10\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"These days, when calm weather sets in, and the limited remaining capacity from dispatchable coal and gas-fired plants is spent, Britain\u2019s (hopeful) power consumers soon find themselves sitting freezing in the dark.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/0Screenshot-2023-01-10-213745-1.png?fit=987%2C782&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/0Screenshot-2023-01-10-213745-1.png?fit=987%2C782&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/0Screenshot-2023-01-10-213745-1.png?fit=987%2C782&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/0Screenshot-2023-01-10-213745-1.png?fit=987%2C782&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":452826,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=452826","url_meta":{"origin":342707,"position":1},"title":"Britain: Time To Go Back To Coal","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/29\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Among our \u201cclimate leader\u201d jurisdictions, Britain is a serious contender for the top spot. 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