Posted on 01/23/2023 10:10:21 PM PST by dennisw
The UK’s grid operator asked three coal-fired power units to be ready to generate on Monday as it boosts electricity supplies during a cold snap.
It would be the first time this winter National Grid Plc uses the reserve. The units are warming up and will be ready to generate electricity early Monday if needed. Demand is set to surge during a spell of freezing weather in the UK just as wind speeds drop — curbing supply.
It will also use a new tool that pays homes to reduce consumption between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Monday, when forecasts show margins will be tighter than normal. The so-called demand flexibility service was tested during a cold spell in December.
“This does not mean electricity supplies are at risk and people should not be worried,” National Grid said on Twitter. “These are precautionary measures.”
(Excerpt) Read more at mining.com ...
Robert Mitchum?
Excellent description of a much maligned but valuable resource.
The idea that solar and wind generation is capable of replacing fossil fuel generation is a pipe dream, and always has been. The sun sets and clouds obscure it. Wind goes calm. In order to serve the same load after installing solar and wind generators we have to build the exact same fossil fuel generating capacity as we would have needed without solar and wind.
Solar and wind generation represent a doubling of required generating capacity investment.
Don't think so. They're too stupid. They need an "evil-environmental terrorist" tax to be levied upon them for not freezing to death!
Big wind
and Big sun
when winter comes
can’t get it done
but....
Big coal can save your soul!
Certainly UK and EU for that matter are capable of keeping the lights on. What is newsworthy is that they are having to abandon the “green renewable” pipe dream to do so. This will come as no surprise to reasonable people who have long seen through the narrative, but seldom so transparently obvious.
"The UK’s grid operator asked three coal-fired power units to be ready to generate on Monday as it boosts electricity supplies during a cold snap.
It would be the first time this winter National Grid Plc uses the reserve.
The units are warming up and will be ready to generate electricity early Monday if needed.
Demand is set to surge during a spell of freezing weather in the UK just as wind speeds drop — curbing supply."
" It will also use a new tool that pays homes to reduce consumption between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Monday, when forecasts show margins will be tighter than normal.
The so-called demand flexibility service was tested during a cold spell in December.
(My Comment) : Remember that "smart meter" your utility company had installed a while ago ?
Some people were incentivized to allow installation, with utility companies offering temporary reduced rates
That unit was installed so the the utility company can moderate your power supply remotely, and adjust your billing rate higher during peak demand (roughly 4:30 P.M.through 6:30 PM)
It seems that these "smart meters" only made the utility companies smarter through remote tracking and power distribution control.
Britain industrialized on coal. A strike in the coal mines meant Britain shut down.
It sometimes seems that this is one of those issues in which FR gets trapped in obsessive dualism: A is better than B, therefore A is good and B is bad, therefore under no conceivable circumstances has B anything to offer, and the possibility that B could usefully complement A, with a consequent net gain, is not considered.
Correction——
From January through December 2021, 379.8 terawatt-hours were generated by wind power, or 9.23% of electricity in the United States.
LOL Precisely!
👍👍👍
B is fine. Just don’t shove it down the worlds throat until it can do the job of A.
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