Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

NedS

Martyn1981 said:

NedS said:

Contracts for difference (CfD's) have also been extended from 15 years to 20 years for wind and solar for the latest AR7 round, which seems reasonable given the lifespan of these assets, but also adds a 33% uplift to the overall cost.

Now that last line is really interesting.

First off, I totally get where you are coming from, so apologies for any pedantry, but it's not necessarily a 33% uplift to the overall (grant scheme) cost, but a 33% uplift to the subsidy period. [But I appreciate the two could very well end up as the same though.]

Yes, agreed, poorly worded on my behalf. I was really just highlighting that one must also consider the change in term when comparing the strike price of 15 year AR6 contracts with that of 20 year AR7 contracts.

Exiled_Tyke

michaels said:

 

On the other hand, if renewable penetration continues to increase then potentially there will be more curtailment in later years and this means the cost per used unit of production is higher.

And with falling costs over the longer term a 20 year CfD means an extra 5 years locked in at costs that may by that point be much higher than the cost of new generation.

I'm not saying either of these two will apply but just there are lots of scenarios where 20 years is more than 33% more expensive than 15 years.

This got me thinking about the future of TOU tariffs, growth of EV use and whether it will become viable for the electricity companies to control more of our households than just the EV charger. If they could run the heating (particularly hot water) and may be even some appliances then I wonder how much curtailment could be taken out as well as emergency peak usage of non-RE production.  

Martyn1981

Bit of early news on the latest UK 'bootstrap' to shift leccy around the eastern side of the UK. Eastern Green Link 5 has now completed early consultation, with next stage consultation expected in 2026. EGL5 will also be 2GW, like the other 4.

EGL 1 & 2 are in construction, with expected completion 2029
EGL 3 & 4 are in advanved planning with tendering, with expected completion 2033

Eastern Green Link 5 (EGL 5)

June 2025 update – close of stage 1 consultation

The stage 1 consultation for EGL 5 has now closed. This first stage of consultation allowed us to share our early proposals for EGL 5, answer questions on the project and gain your feedback. 

The feedback we receive during this stage 1 consultation, along with outputs from technical assessments and environmental surveys, will shape the development of our proposals for EGL 5. We will present updated proposals for EGL 5 during our next stage of consultation, planned for 2026.

Eastern Green Link 5 (EGL 5) is a new primarily offshore high voltage electricity link, with associated onshore infrastructure, between Scotland and England. 

EGL 5’s subsea offshore cables would run from Scotland and make landfall on the Lincolnshire coastline at Anderby Creek.

Once onshore, the underground high voltage direct current (HVDC) cables would route to a single proposed converter station located either to the north-east of Bilsby or to the north-west of Huttoft, within East Lindsey.

QrizB

Exiled_Tyke said:

This got me thinking about the future of TOU tariffs, growth of EV use and whether it will become viable for the electricity companies to control more of our households than just the EV charger. If they could run the heating (particularly hot water) and may be even some appliances then I wonder how much curtailment could be taken out as well as emergency peak usage of non-RE production.  

If it was priced right, I'd be happy to fit a smart switch controlled by Octopus to my HW tank immersion heater to let them control my HW heating (much like they do my EV and IOG).

It would need to be closer to £50, though, rather than the £900 I paid for the EV charger!

QrizB

Does Fox News count as news?

Sharing this mostly for amusement value, but also to illustrate the vapidity of US journalism.

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:iu4j537hox5huj4bwnwgub4z/post/3lusv7apm4d24

(The link takes you to a 40-second video clip, starting with DJT giving energy "advice" to Europe then talking heads commenting on it).

The Bluesky comments on the clip are as scathing as you'd expect.

Netexporter

I saw some US politician claiming you can't store electricity. A nation ruled by idiots.

Edit: Ah, the same idiot as in your clip

ed110220

Netexporter said:

I saw some US politician claiming you can't store electricity. A nation ruled by idiots.

Edit: Ah, the same idiot as in your clip

Meanwhile battery discharge is California's largest source of electricity from sunset to midnight and it's worth remembering that if California was a country its GDP would be exceeded only by China and Germany (and the USA as a whole of course). https://www.caiso.com/todays-outlook/supply

NedS

QrizB said:

Exiled_Tyke said:

This got me thinking about the future of TOU tariffs, growth of EV use and whether it will become viable for the electricity companies to control more of our households than just the EV charger. If they could run the heating (particularly hot water) and may be even some appliances then I wonder how much curtailment could be taken out as well as emergency peak usage of non-RE production.  

If it was priced right, I'd be happy to fit a smart switch controlled by Octopus to my HW tank immersion heater to let them control my HW heating (much like they do my EV and IOG).

It would need to be closer to £50, though, rather than the £900 I paid for the EV charger!

I've handed my battery over to Octopus as part of their IOF tariff. The App shows I'm part of a 1080 property VPP, and the other evening we were contributing ~6MW to the grid between us (interestingly, this figure only appears to include the forced export from the battery, not the excess solar that I'd naturally be exporting anyway).

Octopus discharge my battery daily during the 4-7pm peak down to it's 20% reserve to support peak grid demand, and pay me 29.8p for the privilege. The battery then sits at it's 20% reserve until the following day where it recharges during the middle of the day helping to mop up all that summer excess solar. Octopus can change the regime around daily to support the grid as required.

My spreadsheet modelling tells me no other tariff can get close to IOF in summer where we are large net exporters, so to be able to help balance the grid in this way rather than just dump huge amounts of excess solar on the grid during the middle of the day when it's least needed seems like a win-win to me.

michaels

29.8p per kwh?  What has the import cost you?

NigeWick

My spreadsheet modelling tells me no other tariff can get close to IOF in summer where we are large net exporters,

How about if you import 23:30 - 05:30 at 7p per kWh, use the battery throughout the day and export all your solar at 15p per kWh? Obviously, doing all your washing, dishwashing etc at that 7p per kWh?