The Coming Dark Age - Revisited
I did not know whether to laugh or cry when I read these articles in the Independent today (HERE) and (HERE) In these articles the outgoing head of OfGem moans about the looming "Energy Gap" and inevitable price hikes that are on their way. Evidently, we are now so far down the road the only option we have to potentially avert the crisis is to build gas plant using expensive imported gas.
Dare I point out that I first blogged about this in 2010 ( HERE ) and I was a long way from being the first. In the industry this has been an issue for the last 10 years. Both of the last governments (but particularly the last Labour administration) are guilty of letting this drift. Due to the time scales the looming energy supply catastrophe can only now be potentially offset by gas - whatever the cost.
That AND possibly keeping old and decrepit coal plant running.
What a state to get into.
All because vacuous politicians have preferred to pursue the fools gold of renewables and simultaneously shun new nuclear.
But nuclear companies are no different than any other large ruthless corporate entity. Worldwide today, it is a lucrative sellers market for nuclear manufacturers. So now, when we are at or past crisis point the politico's are being held to ransom. The nuclear companies are demanding their pound of flesh. What a turn around.
We are told that "power cuts are unlikely" This is almost certainly just more wishful thinking.
Our generation capacity is going to fall to almost parity to what is needed. Any outage is going to stretch things to breaking point. A large outage in a serious cold snap or a double break down is going to see serious and widespread blackouts.
What will the politico's do? I reckon they will try and wing it. They will hope for mild weather and no breakdowns. God help us all.
This is terrible.
All of that money! All of that national resource wasted on the useless unreliable wind. All of the prevarication and navel gazing over nuclear and shale gas. All of that "Do Nothing and Hope It goes away" attitude.
At best the end result will be a stretched and unreliable power supply dominated by ancient coal and expensive imported gas, with wind adding little but a feel good factor for the technically illiterate.
Of course there will a diminishing contribution from our old first generation nuclear plant as well.
Inevitably this is going to be forced into an ever extended lifespan and run flat-out just to save the asses of our great and good.
What a waste. What a scandal.
Labels:
energy crisis,
energy prices,
gas prices,
nuclear energy,
wind power
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6 comments:
Addsome extremists closing down power stations for days on end in the middle of winter, and the nightmare will be complete.
See the video in today's Guardian 'How to Occupy a power station'
which is basically glorification of anti-democratic, criminals -
They'll probably all get off with a slap on the wrist, as is usually the case.
You'll recognise them in a few years' time herding the Untermenschenschen into the cattle trucks.
Sadly I have to say I agree with you. With these fanatics, like the Nazis before them,"the cause" is all important. The truth comes a very poor second. With the Nazis it was the god of Eugenics and the demon Jews. With this lot it is the god of Green Energy and the demon fossil fuels. Rationality goes right out of the window.
We saw with the animal rights nutters how keen they were to start planting bombs under cars and burning down buildings. I don't expect it will be long before this lot ramp up their criminality and start similar actions against "Climate criminals" or whoever else is currently top of their hate list.
It is appropriate that this insane moronic bigotry is centred on Germany.
What else would you expect from Hitlers children?
I always used to say "Will the last person to leave the country turn the lights off" but it seems they are going to turn them off while we're still here.
This crisis is, of course, largely down to two factors (1) uncontrolled immigration (2) uncontrolled procreation
Now you weren't expecting me to say that were you?
Dear Anonymous,
Your comment is not going to be posted.
I don't mind being called a "moron" neither do I mind having stuff published here being referred to as "anti-German shite", While neither of these descriptions actually add much to the debate, I would happily publish them, if only in order to reply.
But, your mindless anti Jewish name calling is not going to appear on the same pages as more reasoned arguments. Legitimate comment does not involve degrading racial slurs or the denial of proven historical facts (i.e. the holocaust).
I take it your comment was prompted by my last statement regarding Germany and their addiction to the false god of renewables. Actually, I would agree my last sentence on my last comment was too general and if it caused offence to the average German I apologise. But having said that, I do think the whole of the so-called Green movement both here and especially in Germany has too close a resemblance to the Nazi's in the early '30s.
Of course only a few people would fall into the bracket of "Hitler's Children", but that is how the whole calamity of the early-mid 20th century happened in the first place.
I am pleased to receive comments either for or against my arguments. The only times other than this where comments have not been published involved advertising sites and a bout of trolling one commentator (or group) got into (12 long comments in a few hours ).
If you want to comment again that is fine, just keep it on topic and avoid the degrading and unnecessary racial slurs.
Regards
Billo
Question - would we be better off now if Hitler had won the 2nd WW or is Germany's current success the result of Hitler losing?
This article may help alleviate your ignorance of our energy market... http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/129792
Of course Germany has been a success because Hitler and his National Socialists lost! Just as the Soviet Union with its own particular socialist dogma lost 50 years of progress due to its own dogmatic and fanatically blind "religion".
Greens, National Socialists, Trotskyists, Communists et al (ad nauseum) all put their "beliefs" before the hard and sometimes bitter facts. They have faith! Just pity the poor heretics who end up in the camps or gulags.
The reason we get held to ransom by the likes of BG or nPower is precisely because political cowards have gone out of their way to appease the fanatics. The same fanatics who put their dogma a long way before the welfare of the population.
IF this had been sorted out ten years ago rather than left like a festering cancer there would be no possibility that we would end up with power cuts, and the energy cartel would have had their guns spiked.
As to the piece in the Morning Star - Interesting!
Actually I agree with a considerable part of it. It is a shame it rolls off the edge into the usual stupidity revolving around the gospel of wind power. It also fails to mention that the German population is suffering huge energy price inflation, much worse than our own debacle. Fuel poverty in Germany is a viciously accelerating trend - even worse than here. Add to that they are BUILDING coal plant to try and dig themselves out of the hole they have got into.
The real problem here is that due to 15 years of vacillation our available power generation (of whatever type) will fall to (optimistically) 5% above demand in a few years.
The reason why the energy companies are running their obsolete coal plant into the ground is because coal today is cheap, mainly because the USA has massively reduced its coal usage due to the shale gas revolution. This has caused a glut of cheap coal. Conventional gas is expensive so the currently expensive gas plant is mothballed in favour of running the coal plant harder.
When the coal plant is shut down (forever in 2014) and the expensive conventional gas plant restarted, there will simply not be enough plant irrespective of cost.
As for the anti nuclear rhetoric in the MS - don't make me laugh! The only technology that gets 3 times cost is offshore wind!! Today!!
Of course the energy cartel are screwing the government over nuclear! They are doing it because they can! Because the Labour Party (followed by the Coalition ) sat on their hands for the last 10-15 years to appease the zealots instead of planning for the future.
Thanks for the link to the Morning Star article is was "mostly" interesting, certainly better than the usual technically illiterate rubbish published in the Guardian or Mail.
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