Energy news in general

mmmmikey

The_Green_Hornet said:

UK gas plants in line for large windfall payments to keep lights on this winter

More UK gas plants will be in line for windfall payments to help keep the lights on this winter after generators received multimillion-pound payouts last winter.

Britain’s energy system operator expects the UK’s winter power supplies to reach their highest level in five years, in part due to a rising number of gas plants willing to generate electricity during the colder months.

Gas plants are typically called on to generate electricity when wind and solar power are in short supply. During still winter periods when freezing temperatures drive demand for energy higher, they can often request large fees to fire up their generators.

In early January this year, two gas power plants in Hertfordshire and Flintshire, north Wales, were paid a total of £17.8m to run their gas turbines between 4pm and 7pm when demand for electricity was forecast to reach its peak.

UK gas plants in line for large windfall payments to keep lights on this winter | Energy | The Guardian

You have to look at the bigger picture to make sense of this. On the face of it, it can be much more expensive per mile to use a taxi instead of a car. But if you only do a few journeys per year it can be much cheaper to take a taxi. And if you're a 2 car family, is it better to have 1 car and use a taxi when needed, or have 2 cars? The answer is, it depends - there's no easy answer.

Fairly obviously, if you only use gas to generate electricity when prices are at their highest then the profits during those periods will increase. Which they need to in order to compensate for the loss making times when solar and wind power output is at it's highest.

This article is just daft stirring designed to sell newspapers.

HillStreetBlues

mmmmikey said:

You have to look at the bigger picture to make sense of this. On the face of it, it can be much more expensive per mile to use a taxi instead of a car. But if you only do a few journeys per year it can be much cheaper to take a taxi. And if you're a 2 car family, is it better to have 1 car and use a taxi when needed, or have 2 cars? The answer is, it depends - there's no easy answer.

Fairly obviously, if you only use gas to generate electricity when prices are at their highest then the profits during those periods will increase. Which they need to in order to compensate for the loss making times when solar and wind power output is at it's highest.

This article is just daft stirring designed to sell newspapers.

Isn't also like having to maintain a car throughout the year as will be needed in winter when taxis are in short supply.

Brie

HillStreetBlues said:

mmmmikey said:

You have to look at the bigger picture to make sense of this. On the face of it, it can be much more expensive per mile to use a taxi instead of a car. But if you only do a few journeys per year it can be much cheaper to take a taxi. And if you're a 2 car family, is it better to have 1 car and use a taxi when needed, or have 2 cars? The answer is, it depends - there's no easy answer.

Fairly obviously, if you only use gas to generate electricity when prices are at their highest then the profits during those periods will increase. Which they need to in order to compensate for the loss making times when solar and wind power output is at it's highest.

This article is just daft stirring designed to sell newspapers.

Isn't also like having to maintain a car throughout the year as will be needed in winter when taxis are in short supply.

are taxis in short supply in the winter?  if so why?

QrizB

An article from Ars Technica about the April blackout in Spain & Portugal.

Spanish blackout report: Power plants meant to stabilize voltage didn’t
The Iberian blackout was a consequence of grid management, not any power source.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/0

booneruk

QrizB said:

An article from Ars Technica about the April blackout in Spain & Portugal.

Spanish blackout report: Power plants meant to stabilize voltage didn’t
The Iberian blackout was a consequence of grid management, not any power source.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/0

My tongue is very firmly in cheek here - check out the Telegraph's take!


..and if you actually drill into it: "Plunging prices triggered a mass switch-off, which sent voltage and frequency fluctuations cascading across the national grids of both Spain and Portugal. Back-up systems meant to guard against such fluctuations were not in effect." 

I think the link you wanted to post was: https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/spanish-blackout-report-power-plants-meant-to-stabilize-voltage-didnt/

QrizB

booneruk said:

I think the link you wanted to post was: https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/spanish-blackout-report-power-plants-meant-to-stabilize-voltage-didnt/

Thank you, somehow I only copied half the link!

And 🤣 at the Telegraph headline.

QrizB

There's a longer, more detailed (and English-language) report here:

https://d1n1o4zeyfu21r.cloudfront.net/WEB_Incident_ 28A_SpanishPeninsularElectricalSystem_18june25.pdf

It's from RED Electrica, who I think are the Spanish equivalent of National Grid.

Chrysalis

VoucherMan said:

Interesting bit on the BBC's spending review page.

I'm one of those who often moans, albeit to myself, about the standing charge, especially as I can never find a reasonable simple breakdown of where it all goes, but a little over 3p a day to build a fairly reliable, long term supply sound like a bargain to me. Maybe a couple more to help keep the bills down when I'm older, but that's probably staying in fantasy land for now.

6. Changes to your energy bill

It is quite difficult to get your head around the numbers involved in the mammoth project to build a new nuclear power plant.

A total of £17.8bn of taxpayers' money has been pledged for the new Sizewell C plant in Suffolk to date.

The Treasury will borrow that money, but the interest on that debt is paid for through household energy bills. The government estimates that will be about £1 a month on a bill.

However, ministers stress that longer-term - perhaps in about 10 years' time - this domestically generated power will reduce household bills significantly, compared with bills had the plant not been built.

The chancellor also confirmed its manifesto plan to improve insulation in homes in order to reduce energy use and therefore bills.

I feel we need a better figure for the bill impact, what is this £1? is it based on average usage across everyone's usages like Ofcom cap, or is it calculated some other way as an example a £1 a month added on the SC?

Chrysalis

mmmmikey said:

The_Green_Hornet said:

UK gas plants in line for large windfall payments to keep lights on this winter

More UK gas plants will be in line for windfall payments to help keep the lights on this winter after generators received multimillion-pound payouts last winter.

Britain’s energy system operator expects the UK’s winter power supplies to reach their highest level in five years, in part due to a rising number of gas plants willing to generate electricity during the colder months.

Gas plants are typically called on to generate electricity when wind and solar power are in short supply. During still winter periods when freezing temperatures drive demand for energy higher, they can often request large fees to fire up their generators.

In early January this year, two gas power plants in Hertfordshire and Flintshire, north Wales, were paid a total of £17.8m to run their gas turbines between 4pm and 7pm when demand for electricity was forecast to reach its peak.

UK gas plants in line for large windfall payments to keep lights on this winter | Energy | The Guardian

You have to look at the bigger picture to make sense of this. On the face of it, it can be much more expensive per mile to use a taxi instead of a car. But if you only do a few journeys per year it can be much cheaper to take a taxi. And if you're a 2 car family, is it better to have 1 car and use a taxi when needed, or have 2 cars? The answer is, it depends - there's no easy answer.

Fairly obviously, if you only use gas to generate electricity when prices are at their highest then the profits during those periods will increase. Which they need to in order to compensate for the loss making times when solar and wind power output is at it's highest.

This article is just daft stirring designed to sell newspapers.

If I understand your analogy right you are saying this is cheaper than having some state owned infrastructure that has a fixed run cost regardless of time of day, and especially cheaper if it was just running all day without the burst emergency style charging (as then we would be paying for production that isnt used).
I get your point I think, but I think it is right this reported as there has to be a better solution than this, I actually think power cuts is preferable, but of course I know I will be a tiny minority on that.
I do understand why they charging a premium, as they not making money for all the time they turned off and its privately owned infrastructure.

superkoopauk

RTS switch off to be delayed (again!)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g2qp8wed0o