Energy news in general

MattMattMattUK

Mstty said:

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

I am not sure he does though, he invaded Ukraine as he thought it collapse in weeks, would weaken NATO, divide the EU and make the West look weak. Instead Ukraine is fighting back hard with Russia taking huge losses and frankly demonstrating that it's military is no match for NATO or the West. NATO is expanding and members are hugely increasing defence budgets to counter Russian aggression, the EU apart from Hungary is united and the West has taken decisive action in supporting Ukraine. 

Russia has also killed the goose that lays the golden eggs, although admittedly it is squeezing them out very quickly in the short term. Russia is making a lot of money from gas at the moment, but that will only last a few more years at most, at which point it will be cut off from it's major markets and will be economically and politically isolated. Yes it can sell to China, after 5+ years of pipeline building, but China knows that it is the only real option and will negotiate hard on prices, it will also want security of supply from Russia so China will extract a very high price from Russia, buying it's gas, but doing so very cheaply. 

If Putin had chose global engagement and economic trade, rather than dictatorship, aggression, isolationism and war then Russia would be in a far better state. 

brewerdave

savers_united said:

It was always coming, but rising prices have likely put the rocket boosters under the idea. 

I still struggle to see why anyone is opposed to a smart meter. We have saved a few thousands since having them installed, charging our EV on a time of use tariff compared to filling up with petrol at out local garage. At half 10, the dishwasher and washing machine goes on, along with chargers for my power tools and anything else that can safely be left.

The wife has even done baking at midnight on the odd occasion she could not sleep. 

Even if you have a smart meter that allows it, you need to replace things like simple dishwashers and washing machines that don't have timers built in or be prepared to stay up to run them overnight - and not everyone is going to have an EV in the next 10 years, so can't see the "average consumer" gaining a lot.

Mstty

MattMattMattUK said:

Mstty said:

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

I am not sure he does though, he invaded Ukraine as he thought it collapse in weeks, would weaken NATO, divide the EU and make the West look weak. Instead Ukraine is fighting back hard with Russia taking huge losses and frankly demonstrating that it's military is no match for NATO or the West. NATO is expanding and members are hugely increasing defence budgets to counter Russian aggression, the EU apart from Hungary is united and the West has taken decisive action in supporting Ukraine. 

Russia has also killed the goose that lays the golden eggs, although admittedly it is squeezing them out very quickly in the short term. Russia is making a lot of money from gas at the moment, but that will only last a few more years at most, at which point it will be cut off from it's major markets and will be economically and politically isolated. Yes it can sell to China, after 5+ years of pipeline building, but China knows that it is the only real option and will negotiate hard on prices, it will also want security of supply from Russia so China will extract a very high price from Russia, buying it's gas, but doing so very cheaply. 

If Putin had chose global engagement and economic trade, rather than dictatorship, aggression, isolationism and war then Russia would be in a far better state. 

He is now in the long game. (Cue infinity wars song)

Yes initially he faltered with how.easy he though the Ukrainians would.turn to Mother Russia.

Now it's pain for the whole.world.and some sort of treaty and compromise and Ukraine losing out again

China and India will buy for decades to come. What's that 2.9 billion.peope compared to what 850 million in.europe.of you add the UK to that figure.

QrizB

Mstty said:

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.
Must do some calculations 

I was looking at this last night.

Small diesel generators seem to produce 2-2.5kWh per litre of diesel. If you can get red diesel for 80p/litre that's 30-40p/kWh in fuel costs.

However, you're also looking at the cost of the generator itself plus servicing etc. over its life. Service intervals on generators look to be every 1-200 hours, which is every 4-8 days for one that runs continuously.

An acquaintance with a coffee stand business has to buy a new (petrol) generator every year. I suspect that if he spent more and bought eg. Honda or Kubota it would last longer, but I don't know how the economics would work out.

savers_united

MattMattMattUK said:

Mstty said:

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

I am not sure he does though, he invaded Ukraine as he thought it collapse in weeks, would weaken NATO, divide the EU and make the West look weak. Instead Ukraine is fighting back hard with Russia taking huge losses and frankly demonstrating that it's military is no match for NATO or the West. NATO is expanding and members are hugely increasing defence budgets to counter Russian aggression, the EU apart from Hungary is united and the West has taken decisive action in supporting Ukraine. 

Russia has also killed the goose that lays the golden eggs, although admittedly it is squeezing them out very quickly in the short term. Russia is making a lot of money from gas at the moment, but that will only last a few more years at most, at which point it will be cut off from it's major markets and will be economically and politically isolated. Yes it can sell to China, after 5+ years of pipeline building, but China knows that it is the only real option and will negotiate hard on prices, it will also want security of supply from Russia so China will extract a very high price from Russia, buying it's gas, but doing so very cheaply. 

If Putin had chose global engagement and economic trade, rather than dictatorship, aggression, isolationism and war then Russia would be in a far better state. 

I don't think he saw much of future supplying the west, with the shift to net zero it was likely that Gas purchases / contracts were going to decline over the next decade and Ukraine had they got EU membership may have been able to step in and supply Europes reduced Gas needs towards the end of this decade, Year on year less reliance on Russian Gas is what he could see, his biggest negotiation tool slowly being removed. Where China and India are likely to be using Gas and other fossil fuels for another couple of decades or more it gives an outlet and keeps the Russian economy turning. But he is unlikely to get the terms he currently enjoys with the west, without China or India there are few other outlets for Russian Gas on a European scale so it will certainly be less profitable for Russia, so they squeeze what they can now. We in the west just need to accept a few years of pain with hope of a brighter future. 

Mstty

QrizB said:

Mstty said:

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.
Must do some calculations 

I was looking at this last night.

Small diesel generators seem to produce 2-2.5kWh per litre of diesel. If you can get red diesel for 80p/litre that's 30-40p/kWh in fuel costs.

However, you're also looking at the cost of the generator itself plus servicing etc. over its life. Service intervals on generators look to be every 1-200 hours, which is every 4-8 days for one that runs continuously.

An acquaintance with a coffee stand business has to buy a new (petrol) generator every year. I suspect that if he spent more and bought eg. Honda or Kubota it would last longer, but I don't know how the economics would work out.

Thanks for this, as always not quite as simple a calculations as things appear when the lightbulb hits you.

markin

Long term if Russia wins the war Its prime farm land, Apparently called Europes bread basket, So He's flooded us with extra mouths to feed and house and cut off the Gas and Food. 

China got a 30 year deal on the Gas.

ihatetrump

Surely all this current talk of offering incentives to use energy at 'off peak' times is really just a smart meter variant on the old Economy 7 meter and tariffs?

Here's a useful article from last September (before the current fertiliser hit the ventilator!)

https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/energy/economy-7-electricity-tariffs/

Talk about going back to the future!

littleteapot

MattMattMattUK said:

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.

Like you say, CHP units where quite common on large industrial/commercial premises and are about as clean+green as any fossil-fuel generated energy can get as almost all the energy in the fuel is put to good use (in winter anyway) and can save the company a lot of money if used to cover periods of high electricity prices, which are especially common in winter.

Mstty

ihatetrump said:

Surely all this current talk of offering incentives to use energy at 'off peak' times is really just a smart meter variant on the old Economy 7 meter and tariffs?

Here's a useful article from last September (before the current fertiliser hit the ventilator!)

https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/energy/economy-7-electricity-tariffs/

Talk about going back to the future!

I think it's a more fluid system it might be peak today is 4-6pm or 6-8pm. Turn stuff off and we give you money.