There is a Great Grid Upgrade going on. It has its own website. From there you can find a link to a childish and patronising video explaining why it’s great. How much misinformation can you spot?

Lowering energy bills

Power from the wind and sun is much cheaper than imported gas. Progress towards green electricity is the most effective way to ensure energy affordability, with home-grown renewable power expected help to lower energy bills in the long term.

I call that one out. It’s becoming tiresome to acknowledge that the marginal cost of electricity generated by the wind and the sun is cheaper than gas whilst also having to point out that by the time whole-system costs are considered, gas remains much the cheaper option. There are many aspects to these extra costs – a few of these include subsidies; curtailment costs (£500 million so far this year alone, and counting); inefficient running of despatchable power sources such as gas-fired power stations, which have to ramp up and down on demand to accommodate the vagaries of unreliable renewables which are given the unfair advantage of primacy in the system; battery storage projects (however limited their utility); the costly difficulties of accommodating the intermittency; and of course, things like the Great Grid Upgrade itself, which is only necessary because of the dispersed nature of wind and solar farms. The Great Grid Upgrade website, funnily enough, doesn’t mention the cost of the Great Grid Upgrade, though it does tell us that it comprises seventeen major infrastructure projects. Bear in mind that this is only in England & Wales. The costs of similar activity in Scotland has to be added on as well. Admittedly, some of this cost would be necessary by way of updating existing networks, but the bulk of it is attributable to accommodating renewables. National Grid tells us as much itself:

To carry this clean energy from where it’s generated – like out in the North Sea by wind turbines – to homes and businesses, we need to build new electricity transmission infrastructure, as well as upgrading existing infrastructure.

According to the Guardian (and the information seems to be broadly confirmed by other sources) this is going to cost £77 billion up to 2030. £35Bn of that is to spent in England and Wales by the National Grid; north of the border SSE is budgeting up to £31BN, while Scottish Power is looking to spend (of course the Guardian uses the word “invest”) £10.5Bn. That’s roughly £2,850 per household. On current estimates. We all know, though, that such estimates usually turn out to be under-estimates. In return, we are told that this should help to reduce the amount of money paid to renewable energy developers to turn off their projects when renewables risk overwhelming the power grid. Apparently ScottishPower estimates that this could [weasel word] save households up to [more weasel words] £167 on their energy bills by 2030. In other words, renewables are already adding – via constraints payments alone – around £167 per annum to consumers’ bills, but if we pay another £2,850 or so per household to accommodate renewables’ geographically scattered nature, then we might remove that part of the increased costs of renewables from our bills – but in the meantime, as more and more renewables developments bombard our beleaguered countryside – those costs might go up before – if – they go down. Genius! Next?

More clean energy for all

The Great Grid Upgrade will enable the electricity grid to carry more clean energy to communities in every part of England and Wales, helping us all reach net zero faster.

First of all, I call out the hijacking of the word “clean” in connection with renewables. To my mind, renewables are neither clean nor green. They are blighting huge areas of the UK’s countryside, damaging peat, killing birds, bats, insects and sea life, devastating local communities, taking agricultural land out of use and destroying wildlife habitats, necessitating hundreds of miles of pylons, and the latest imposition on long-suffering communities is a tsunami of battery energy storage system BESS planning applications. Apart from the fact that BESS won’t remotely deal with the intermittency problems of renewable energy sources, they are also associated with many environmental problems. There are numerous reports dealing with the danger of battery fires and issues associated with mining for their necessary constituents, but I will cite a single study from just over a year ago, as it makes the case against BESS (whilst trying to be supportive) pretty comprehensively:

While the integration of battery storage systems offers numerous benefits for the renewable energy sector, it also brings forth significant safety and environmental concerns (Abaku, & Odimarha, 2024, Familoni, Abaku & Odimarha, 2024, Fetuga, et. al. 2023). The operation, maintenance, and end-of-life disposal of batteries pose risks to human health, property, and the natural environment. Safety hazards such as thermal runaway, fire incidents, and chemical leakage can have catastrophic consequences, necessitating stringent safety measures and protocols (Abaku, Edunjobi & Odimarha, 2024, Familoni, Abaku & Odimarha, 2024, Igbinenikaro & Adewusi, 2024). Additionally, the environmental impacts associated with battery manufacturing, resource extraction, and disposal raise concerns about sustainability and long-term viability (Fan et al.,2020).

Then there’s the claim about all this helping us to reach net zero faster. The patronising video even claims that achieving net zero is pretty much the National Grid’s job. The implication – especially from the video – seems to be that we have to achieve net zero because of climate change. More than that, we have to accelerate our progress towards it – because of climate change. No explanation is offered, however, as to how this will affect climate change, given that every year the rest of the world adds more greenhouse gas emissions than would be saved in their entirety if the UK achieved net zero tomorrow.

Energy security

The Great Grid Upgrade will connect clean energy that’s produced right here in the UK, making our energy supply more self-sufficient and less reliant on imports.

There’s the “clean” energy claim again, but this time with the additional benefits of self-sufficiency and a lesser reliance on imports. One of the problems with this is that intermittency means that by the time the grid is mostly reliant on renewables, we will inevitably be dependent on imports via the interconnectors to keep the lights on (as in fact we already are today). Those interconnectors are subsea cables, as are the cables from the vast swathes of offshore wind farms on which we are to be made increasingly reliant. Then there is the subsea cable from the Vking Energy Wind Farm on Shetland (which seems to be switched off as much as it is working, this far in its life) to the Scottish mainland. All of these subsea cables are weak links in an increasingly uncertain world, a world in which our Prime Minister seems to be preparing us for war.

That this is highly problematic is recognised by Parliament. MPs and Lords are examining threats to undersea cables in an inquiry launched on 24th January 2025 by the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS). Bizarrely (or perhaps inevitably, given Parliament’s unwavering belief in net zero) the Committee seems to be more concerned about internet cables than anything else, though I would argue that if a hostile state switches off the country’s electricity supplies, that will be at least as problematic. I suggest that everything the Committee says about internet cables applies with equal validity to undersea electricty cables:

Although the Government has taken steps to improve maritime security in recent years, concern is growing about both the capability and intent of hostile states. Defence Secretary John Healey told MPs last week that the UK was monitoring Russian spy ship Yantar, which he said was mapping critical underwater infrastructure.

A number of cables in northern European waters – including those providing links between Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and the Shetland Islands – have been severed over the past few years. Over 50 Russian vessels have been observed around areas of high cable density in the Baltic Sea. Further afield, concerns have been raised about Chinese sabotage—particularly around Taiwan.

The inquiry will explore the UK’s ability to defend our subsea infrastructure, and how this might change in the coming years as technology develops.

Making the UK increasingly dependent on undersea cables for our electricity supplies doesn’t improve our energy security. It undermines it.

Jobs and economic boost

By the end of the decade, National Grid will support over 55,000 more UK jobs, and be contributing £14.5bn a year to the UK economy.*

That asterisk takes us to a footnote which simply advises us that the claimed jobs numbers and contribution to the UK economy are from “National Grid and Oxford Economics May 2024. Economic contribution is based on gross value added (GVA)”. No link is offered, and despite the wonders of the internet I have been unable to find the research to which this footnote refers. Suffice it to say that in the absence of justification for the claims made, I remain highly sceptical about them. After all, the promised green jobs haven’t yet materialised and to date much of the money spent on net zero is leaching out of the country to foreign-owned companies, many of whom use foreign staff in their construction work.

Conclusion

At the end of the video, one of the two presenters, in contemptuously dismissing the claim that net zero is “a scam”, laughs and throws away his prop (a card with questions on it that are revealed as sticky strips are peeled away). “Scam”, he snorts. Of course it’s not a scam, he means to suggest – how could anyone be so stupid? I agree. Scam is the wrong word. It’s dangerous, it’s based on a logical misconception, and it’s deranged. Although it’s not a scam, it’s already costing us all dearly, and it will cost us a lot more – both financially and environmentally – before the nightmare ends.

32 Comments

  1. No doubt additional jobs* will be created by all this work, but how many have been destroyed (or never created) by our having some of the most expensive energy in the world?

    * economically, jobs are a cost, not a benefit of a project

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Just a word from the Scottish Borders … I have mentioned from time to time the huge number of wind farm applications in our area, now with BESS applications — and to crown all this, we now have SPEN “consulting” on the Cross Border Link. A huge high voltage line right across the Borders — including a beautiful part of the Tweed Valley — to NWEngland. It picks up from all these applications, and so needs further feeder lines. Huge new sub station called “Gala North” which is actually just outside Lauder, which will have SIX new lines feeding in and out. Even our local Tory MP has now become totally anti all this, having been equivocally in the past. The access to the sub station? Down a minor B road, which starts by running through a large new housing estate in Lauder….

    Liked by 1 person

  3. heriotjohn,

    Thank you for the report from the Scottish borders. I am aware of the tsunami of applications, and of locals’ concerns about them, and the fact that your Tory MP has seen the light (or sniffed the electoral wind direction). I think things will change rapidly after 2029 (next UK general election date) but a lot of damage will have been caused by then, both economically and environmentally. By the by, I think BESS will be the new battleground.

    Like

  4. I live in Kent – the closest county to mainland Europe. Here we have Interconnector France Angleterre 1 (IFA1) from France at 2GW, ElecLink via the Channel Tunnel at 1GW , both connect at Sellindge a few miles from where I live. There is NemoLink from Belgium at 1GW which connects even nearer to me at Canterbury. There is also BritNed at 1GW from The Netherlands and soon to be NeuConnect at 1.4 GW from Germany with both connecting on the Isle of Grain. That makes 6.4GW of power flowing through the county from interconnectors alone.

    So now let’s consider energy security. Church Lane is a quiet road that runs from the A20, under the M20 and alongside the Sellindge sub station on its route to Aldington. I travel it frequently and can confirm there is precisely zero security at the sub station. Wire fences are more for show than keeping out the determined.

    National Grid has to run a minimum emergency “back up” to cover any unexpected loss of generation known as the “Infrequent Infeed Loss Limit” (IIFL). This is determined by the loss of the largest generator i.e. one unit at Hinkley Point C (when operational) and is 1.8GW (formerly 1.42GW.) Sellindge sub station almost continuously handles 3GW of imports alone…….do I really need to add anymore?

    The UK grid can be crashed by minimal unfriendly activity at any time. Meanwhile down on the south Kent coast under 5 miles from Sellindge, hundreds of predominantly young men arrive illegally almost every day. And yet those of us down here who raise concerns are obviously swivel eyed loony racists!

    Liked by 3 people

  5. Mark,

    I don’t think it is unreasonable to add to the hidden costs those involved every time the national grid crashes as a result of its lack of inbuilt inertia. We cannot expect to recover as readily as the Iberian Peninsula did recently, and yet what did that emergency cost its economy?

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Good question, John. As good sceptics, we mustn’t simply accept the first number we read on the internet, but here’s one estimate to be going on with:

    “Post-blackout in Spain and Portugal, companies count the cost”

    https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/post-blackout-spain-portugal-companies-count-cost-2025-04-29/

    …Spain’s main business lobby CEOE estimated the outage would shave 1.6 billion euros ($1.82 billion), or 0.1%, off gross domestic product, noting it could take oil refineries a week or more to resume their operations fully, and that some industrial ovens had been damaged.

    The meat industry estimated losses of up to 190 million euros as fridges lost power, among other factors. The blackout lasted more than 12 hours in some areas of Spain.…

    …As industry faced some of the biggest challenges, at Volkswagen’s (VOWG.DE), opens new tab plant in the Navarra region, where 4,600 people work, output only resumed at 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday. The factory had lost production of about 1,400 cars since Monday, a company spokesperson said.

    Volkswagen’s Spanish brand SEAT also said output at its Barcelona plant, where around 14,000 people work, was not fully restored to normal operations after power supply returned at 1 a.m local time.…

    Liked by 2 people

  7. As for energy security, it’s worth taking a look at OFGEM’s website:

    https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-data-and-research/data-portal/wholesale-market-indicators

    Scroll down and look at the graph titled “Electricity generation mix by quarter and fuel source”. It can readily be seen that as renewable generation has increased over the years, there has been a commensurate increase in imported electricity from a fairly stable 1-2 % less than 20 years ago to approximately 8% now (with the exception of 2022 and the start of the Ukraine war when everything was turned on its head). That says everything we need to know in terms of ‘home grown’ energy and security of supply. We are more vulnerable than ever we were 10-20 years ago in terms of the potential for aggressors to cut cables. So much for Miliband’s relentless dirge about renewables enhancing our energy security in the UK.

    Liked by 3 people

  8. Energy Voice breaking news: “NESO whistleblower flags grid stability ‘scandal’ Claire Coutinho said she had been contacted by a whistleblower “at the heart” of NESO.

    This could be interesting……

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Post on X from Coutinho:

    “On 2nd June I raised concerns about the security of our electricity grid. I was told by Ed Miliband that I was scaremongering.

    Since then I have been contacted by a whistleblower within our grid operator, the NESO. They allege that operators are being instructed to hide information that shows the grid is not being operated securely.

    Worse, they allege that Corporate Affairs interefered with operational decisions to stabilise the grid – risking blackouts to protect NESO’s reputation. Despite this coming from within the operator, the Minister doubled down on calling this ‘scaremongering’ rather than wanting to know the truth.

    This Government is asleep at the wheel. They must urgently investigate these allegations.”

    Liked by 2 people

  10. From that vid – “I call them pylons, there’s a big pylon appreciation society out there as well so yeah. And pylon of the day website. There is, there is. So pylons are really important to National Grid because they’re the most efficient way to transport energy across the UK. Originally we built pylons in the 1950’s and our grid wasn’t fully connected…bla bla bla”

    Pathetic.

    Like

  11. “Grid operator accused of cover-up over blackout threat

    Tories allege bosses ordered control-room staff to hide information and not keep permanent records”

    https://archive.ph/0nlp5#selection-2245.4-2249.102

    Britain’s grid operator has been accused of covering up system failures that threaten to trigger blackouts.

    Bosses at the National Energy Systems Operator (Neso) allegedly ordered control-room staff to hide information that showed the grid was not being run securely, according to Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary.

    This allegedly involved ordering staff not to keep permanent records of operational decisions, to ensure there was no paper trail.

    Members of Neso’s corporate affairs team, who manage media and government relations, also allegedly interfered in the control room, telling operators what to do in an attempt to protect the organisation’s reputation.

    Ms Coutinho said a whistleblower had informed her that this approach was in place in late June when the grid’s frequency destabilised and dropped below Neso’s strict operating limit – a move that can trigger widespread blackouts.

    On Tuesday, Ms Coutinho put the allegations to Ed Miliband and other Labour ministers.

    She said: “I have been contacted by a whistleblower at the heart of Neso, our grid operator. They allege that senior managers have ordered control room operators to hide information that shows the grid is not being run securely.

    “They also allege that corporate affairs interfered with operational decisions needed to stabilise the grid in order to protect Neso’s reputation. If true, this is nothing short of a scandal.”

    Ms Coutinho has also written to the Information Commissioner’s Office demanding it open an investigation into the alleged incidents.

    “I have been contacted by whistleblowers who allege that, during periods of system stress, senior Neso managers have instructed operators in the control room to keep ‘live documents’ with no version history,” she said in the letter, addressed to Paul Arnold, the information commissioner.

    “This is allegedly in order to ensure that there is no audit trail or records of how key operational decisions are made and ensure that full records are not preserved for the purposes of Freedom of Information.”…

    Liked by 1 person

  13. dfhunter,

    It’s a pity that WordPress doesn’t supply laughing emojis along the lines you can use on Facebook….

    Liked by 1 person

  14. “Great Britain’s grid operator issues fresh warning over power supplies in heatwave

    Neso asks for extra supplies from electricity generators to cope with added demand on Thursday night”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/09/great-britain-grid-operator-issues-another-warning-over-power-supplies-in-heatwave

    Great Britain’s energy system operator has warned that “extreme temperatures” could hit power supplies on Thursday night, as the UK entered its third heatwave of the year.

    The National Energy System Operator (Neso) issued a notice overnight asking for extra supplies from power generators to cope with the added demand from households turning on fans and air conditioners to cope with the high temperatures.

    It comes only weeks after Neso issued pleas for extra electricity during last month’s heatwave, when the UK recorded a provisional high of 37.7C at Lingwood in Norfolk on Friday 27 June, smashing the previous June record of 35.6C, set in 1976….

    …In a statement, Neso said it was “giving participants the opportunity to make any additional generation or flexibility available during the forecast period.

    “Our forecasts indicate tight electricity margins during tomorrow [Thursday] evening’s peak period,” the operator said. “This is due to extreme temperatures across Europe, reducing the availability of some generation.”…

    …While households are not expected to experience any supply interruptions, the notice raises the prospect of Neso again paying much higher than average prices to gas power plants to ensure electricity demand is met.

    Across the Channel, the French state-owned utility company EDF warned that the latest heatwave was putting a strain on its nuclear reactors, which regularly export power to the UK and Germany…

    Liked by 1 person

  15. “While households are not expected to experience any supply interruptions, the notice raises the prospect of Neso again paying much higher than average prices to gas power plants to ensure electricity demand is met.”

    So without gas plants as back up, what would have happened I wonder.

    Like

  16. So without gas plants as back up, what would have happened I wonder.

    I wonder that too, especially when Miliband’s grand plan kicks in with gas to provide no more than 5% of the UK’s electricity. I wonder if he knows?

    Like

  17. “Grid Expansion Chaos

    Soaring costs and significant delays demonstrate the need for independent scrutiny.”

    https://davidturver.substack.com/p/grid-expansion-chaos

    Well worth a read, as always:

    …First, the good news: slipping schedules means they will not spend all the money earmarked for grid expansion, which ought to mean our bills do not go up as much as feared. The bad news is based on the limited data available; it looks like the costs of this work is soaring out of control….

    …As a reminder, the UK already has the highest industrial electricity prices in the developed word and amongst the highest domestic prices. Prices are set to go higher because the cost of transmission is set to increase markedly over the coming years. The cost of the transmission system, measured by the allowed revenue, was £2.8bn per year as recently as 2020/21. Allowed revenues are forecast to more than triple to £8.9bn for the current 2026/27 year and rise substantially again to £13.6bn by 2030/31…

    …It looks like NESO’s forecast might be an under-estimate based on some recent decisions by Ofgem on transmission project spending. Back in late 2022, Ofgem published a list of projects that were required to hit the then Government’s 2030 target in its Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) framework. The total cost of these projects according to Table 6 of that document was estimated to be about £23.3bn. ASTI projects are only a subset of what is required to meet the current 2030 targets. In December 2025, Ofgem warned that over £70bn of transmission network upgrades (euphemism for grid expansion to connect remote renewables) would be required over the next five years….

    …the increase in the total cost of the projects ranges from 85% to 400% with a simple average increase of 234%. This indicates that the cost of these ASTI projects is exploding. If this average increase was applied to the original estimate of £23.3bn, the outturn will rise to almost £78bn, further impacting electricity bills.

    The ECF is supposed to fund things like land purchase and making early purchase commitments for long lead-time items like transformers. Originally, Ofgem was supposed to limit this early funding to 20% of the original cost. Now the cost of this early funding has exploded to 72% of the original total project cost for the SPT part of TKUP and for almost all projects ECF is already well above 20% of the original cost.

    It certainly looks like NESO’s forecasts for transmission costs may well be an under-estimate. It also appears as though Ofgem is prioritising its duty to support Net Zero over the interests of consumers….

    …Taken together, this analysis shows that overall grid expansion programme is in chaos. There is no chance it will be delivered on time and to budget. It is high time this programme is subject to external scrutiny by the Public Accounts Committee and National Audit Office. On any rational analysis it cannot represent value for money for consumers.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. “Britain’s biggest community solar farm forced to shut over grid overload fears

    Timing of Devon switchoff ‘could not be worse’, says board, as members face an estimated £2m in lost revenue”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/12/solar-farm-forced-to-shut-derril-water-biggest-grid-overload-fears

    Britain’s biggest community solar project has been forced to shut for the duration of its first summer by the government’s energy system operator to avoid overloading the local grid with renewable energy.

    The north Devon solar farm was ordered to shut weeks before record high temperatures across Europe led to power supply warnings, due to concerns that the large amount of rooftop solar in the area could destabilise the power grid by triggering a “thermal overload”.

    The shutdown is expected to cost the cooperative scheme’s nearly 10,000 members about £2m in lost revenue before it is allowed to restart again in September….

    …”We are not clear on what triggered the shutdown, which came on the Friday before the half-term heatwave with no notice,” the board told the Guardian. “However, it does seem the network operators knew there was a looming problem.”…

    Liked by 1 person

  19. “Lawyers to investigate claims of GB power grid cover-up over blackout risk

    Operator brings in independent legal firm to look into whistleblower allegations relating to June heatwave”

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/13/lawyers-to-investigate-claims-of-gb-power-grid-cover-up-over-blackout-risk

    Great Britain’s grid operator has brought in independent investigators to look into accusations that its staff were involved in a cover-up over the power system being at a greater risk of blackouts during the heatwave.

    The government-owned energy system operator will face the scrutiny of an external legal firm after a whistleblower claimed that control room staff were warned against leaving a paper trail relating to efforts to stabilise the power system during record high temperatures in late June….

    …Industry data shows that power grid frequency fell below operational limits as the high-pressure heat dome curbed renewable energy generation and triggered unplanned outages at gas plants, while demand for electricity to run air-conditioning systems surged.

    The whistleblower alleged that during this period senior bosses ordered control room staff to ensure that there was no audit trail or records of key decisions made relating to managing fluctuations in the electricity system….

    …Neso said in a statement on Monday that despite the unprecedented conditions, the grid had operated securely and the frequency and voltage of the power system had remained within statutory limits.

    The grid’s frequency slumped to below Neso’s operational limits of between 49.8Hz and 50.2Hz used to guard against the risk of blackouts for most of the period between 17.30 and 18.30 on 23 June. But the lowest recorded frequency was 49.66Hz, which is still well above the statutory lower limit of 49.5Hz required by the government’s regulations….

    …The system operator was forced to raise the alarm over electricity supplies twice in the last week of June as a result of the impact of the heatwave.It is estimated to have paid out millions for a few hours of emergency electricity generated by gas power plants…

    Like

  23. I usually keep an eye on how the grid is performing via the Iamkate website but, since early afternoon, the formatting has fallen apart – as displayed on my old computer. Has anyone else had similar problems or is it my system? Thanks

    Like

  24. MikeH,

    The iamkate website seems to be working ok, even if the implications for the grid and for our bills are not OK. The price is a little below £150 per MWh, gas is providing us with more electricity than wind and solar combined, and the interconnectors are providing almost as much as the combined output of wind and solar. It’s not good.

    Like

  25. I appreciate that the cookies policy relating to the Guardian website puts people off reading articles there, but I suggest this one is worth a read. If even the Guardian is printing this, then perhaps things really are serious:

    “‘Risking blackouts’? How Great Britain’s grid operator was dragged into a political row

    Neso denies allegations aired by Tory MP that staff took part in cover-up over decision-making in heatwave”

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/22/risking-blackouts-great-britain-grid-operator-neso-heatwave

    The headline seems to downplay things, but the article content is really rather alarming.

    Like

  26. Mark,

    Thanks for your reply. The formatting of the website is still all over the place on my desktop so I will investigate. Maybe it’s time to move on from Windows 7 Professional?!

    Like

  27. A snippet from the Guardian article:

    However, a former employee told the Guardian that the prolonged period of lower than usual frequency may suggest that the system operator was running low on politically palatable options to address the strain on the grid before more serious interventions, such as disconnecting factories, might have been needed.

    “When I saw the grid frequency data I thought it just couldn’t be right because it was at the lower end of the operational limits for such a long time. A 0.2Hz change might not seem very large but in technical terms it represents a much greater vulnerability. At these levels there is a risk that something unexpected might happen which the system would be too strained to absorb,” they said.

    Like

  29. Jit, Thanks for that. I tried DDG but that requires Windows 10 or later. The time may have come to modernise which fills me with dread, being a technonumpty. My kids laugh because, if there are 19 ways to do something right on a computer and one wrong, I will unerringly pick the wrong option! Worse, tech doesn’t like me. For example, my TV occasionally starts turning itself on and off at random times; the solution is to turn off the nearby router extender – bizarre!

    Like

  30. Mid-late afternoon on a very warm sunny mid-summer day, and the price of electricity is £138.14 per MWh. Gas is providing more than wind, and the interconnectors (net) are supplying almost 3/4 of the supply from solar.

    Like

  31. “Net zero race ‘risks blackouts and higher bills’”

    This is behind a paywall, and the Times guards its copyright jealously, so I will just post a couple of snippets:

    …The report found inaccurate forecasts were pushing up costs for consumers and raising the risk that Neso would be unable to keep the network stable to keep the lights on safely.

    Cornwall Insight, the energy consultancy, was commissioned by Neso and completed its report weeks before last month’s heatwave, when whistleblowers and experts claim Britain came close to blackouts….

    …Cornwall Insight said the growth of wind farms, solar panels, batteries and other new sources of electricity meant the control room now had “reduced visibility of the capacity which is supplying and taking power from the GB network”, making it much harder to predict supply and demand.

    One control room whistleblower claimed Neso was “flying blind, every minute of every day. We are risking total blackout.”…

    Of course, one of those additional sources of electricity that NESO won’t be able to see will be provided by the plug-in solar panels that the UK government has just authorised, despite concerns over their safety. I really do wonder if the people in charge have the slightest understanding as to how the system works and as to how much they’re doing to increase the risk of blackouts.

    …The source added that “the engineers have been raising these issues for two years” but did not feel they had been listened to.

    “We don’t have an opinion on net zero, we just want the system to be safe, but the execs are too scared politically to say renewables are making the system unsafe. It will get worse week by week because we are connecting more things that we cannot model.”…

    Liked by 2 people

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