Energy news in general

tghe-retford

I don't wish to add to the pain and bad news but I am keeping an eye on the weather forums and the weather patterns they are predicting to see for this summer suggests a colder and unsettled season. In the next week alone we are seeing Autumn like temperatures and a washout Jubilee, the sort that has people turning on their boilers to heat their homes which will raise wholesale prices of gas in the UK. We needed a good summer this year to ease the pain as little as it could on the October price rise and onward but sadly the early indications show that Mother Nature is not co-operating.

Mstty

@tghe-retford Jubilee weekend says sunshine 18/19/18/19 for the four days here.

A dip down to 11oC one day this Sunday so this seem like scaremongering it won't be the same across the whole of the UK.

Regardless the heating would stay off here and everyone in the house is onboard with that so it doesn't affect other plans we have.

Alnat1

Seems because we haven't had a settled, calm sunny spell so far this year that it's been breezy on many days. Doesn't this mean the turbines are turning faster?

spot1034

Alnat1 said:

Seems because we haven't had a settled, calm sunny spell so far this year that it's been breezy on many days. Doesn't this mean the turbines are turning faster?

The graphs here show the amount of power generated from different sources. There was quite a long period just after Easter, lasting a couple of weeks, when there was little wind and consequently not much power generated from it. https://gridwatch.co.uk/

Alnat1

Thanks for that link Spot, interesting info

markin

Alnat1 said:

Seems because we haven't had a settled, calm sunny spell so far this year that it's been breezy on many days. Doesn't this mean the turbines are turning faster?

Its never windy when we really need it, But yesterday it was 50% for a short while, but the price still didn't go negative, it stayed at £40 a MWH

https://electricinsights.co.uk/#/dashboard?period=7-days&start=2022-05-20&&_k=75ynvs

markin

Blackout fears over Russia standoff: Six million homes 'could face power rationing' under Government's 'reasonable worst case' scenario - as ministers scramble to keep old coal plants open 

Ultrasonic

markin said:

Blackout fears over Russia standoff: Six million homes 'could face power rationing' under Government's 'reasonable worst case' scenario - as ministers scramble to keep old coal plants open 

Well, it may help some reduce their bills.

Uxb1

Trouble is its not easy to just "delay the planned closure" of a power station.
If we assume that the plant in question was planned to close on day X, then in the prior few years maintenance schedules and certification requirements would have been adjusted to end up with everything needing fixing, inspecting, maintaining, replacing or safety re-certifying just after the planned day of closure.
If someone who knows nowt about owt comes along and just asks if the plant could run for another year and not shut down at all on day X......well in many cases that is simply not possible, or rather not without a rather lengthly and expensive crash maintenance schedule being applied which will almost certainly require the plant to be shut down for a period.

GingerTim

"The government does not expect the UK to experience power cuts this winter, or the need for energy rationing, a No 10 spokesperson has said." (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2022/may/30/conservatives-denial-party-difficulties-tobias-ellwood-boris-johnson-partygate-uk-politics-latest?page=with:block-6294abf78f08e69c5bd592c6#block-6294abf78f08e69c5bd592c6)

Stock up on candles, folks!