Energy news in general

MattMattMattUK

savers_united said:

A large energy intensive manufacturer I used to work at one time would be asked to reduce their use during periods of load shedding.

There would be a number of these calls during the winter period, rather than get money back they would be hit with unit prices 10-20x that of normal rate so we would switch off as much as we could for 1 to 2 hour period.

So something like this may work in reverse, during days where energy supply is tight I.e Colder days, then the rewards may be higher as they struggle to balance the network.

Based on what I seen £6 is possible, as we were getting charged £4 per kwh during certain periods back a decade ago. 

The same for engineering company that I worked at for a short period, they had banks of diesel generators a it was cheaper to run those and get the rebate for load shedding than take the grid cost. I am fairly sure they almost always got at least a couple of hours notice, then someone would start up the generators and switch supply over bit by bit, different generators worked on different parts of the site and equipment. Their draw was not even that high in industrial terms, eg. the site was not huge, nor were they making metal or glass, but it seemed they used enough to make it worthwhile. 

I hope this is the start of proper ToU tariffs though, the technology is there and it makes sense, hopefully it is only a matter of time. 

Mstty

I could quite happily flip the power switch at those times and bring in the garden solar lanterns in winter and light the multi fuel burner. (Fridge freezer don't open it)

Depends on the details as to whether it is worth it or not.as I would burn about £1.00-£2.00 of fuel in the burner.

Mstty

@MattMattMattUK

On that note of diesel generators. At some point the point where electricity rises faster than diesel costs that is a possibility for the home. Especially the one room energy users that are prepared to go that far without integrating it fully into the electrical system.

Must do some calculations 

MattMattMattUK

Mstty said:

@ MattMattMattUK

On that note of diesel generators. At some point the point where electricity rises faster than diesel costs that is a possibility for the home. Especially the one room energy users that are prepared to go that far without integrating it fully into the electrical system.

Must do some calculations 

They did used to have the advantage of red diesel, I do not know where it would currently sit, but I imagine with the rebates and discount rates at other times the generators would still kick in.

If you want pure generating cheapness it is cheaper (or it used to be when I last had access to the figures) to generate electricity using a small gas turbine generator from mains gas, however the initial outlay for the generator set is around £5,000-6,000 for a 20kW system, with installation on top. For large commercial sites they are not that uncommon, and the price per kWp decreases significantly with scale. They do have to over-provision supply and/or rely on grid for some consumption and they will have less uptime than the grid, but I know going back 8+ years they could be quite cost efficient just or electricity generation, even more so when waste heat was recovered.

pochase

On another note here are the newest figures from Auxilion.

As expected of course no further changes to the October cap prediction, the window has closed. But we see for the first time the over £6000 cap for April. Almost 95p and over 26p per unit.

MattMattMattUK

pochase said:

On another note here are the newest figures from Auxilion.

As expected of course no further changes to the October cap prediction, the window has closed. But we see for the first time the over £6000 cap for April. Almost 95p and over 26p per unit.

The amount it is going to suck out of the economy all but guarantees a recession until at least 2024 and probably beyond.

I suppose on the plus side that means we will hit our carbon reduction targets...

bioboybill

This is all looking absolutely hideous. People are going to die due to the cold and hunger and this government don't care!

Northern_Wanderer

People might get a shock when energy prices rise again. But the other concern is the impact energy prices will have on business and the subsequent increases in prices of goods that will inevitably have to come.....

I know price of goods has been increasing, but can't see how businesses can possibly keep prices same with huge energy bills.

spot1034

Russia has announced it will stop flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for three days at the end of the month for 'maintenance'. This is presumably the main factor sparking another sharp rise in wholesale gas prices this morning.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/gazprom-says-nord-stream-1-pipeline-shut-three-days-end-aug-2022-08-19/

Mstty

That Putin knows how to play the game to get what he wants