Will the power stay on?

[Kendhni]

It appears things may be worse than currently being stated ... story here
Of course it could also be another attempt at justifying large price rises.

It is obvious we have had years of under investment in the power infrastructure which has to lie at the feet of the power companies and the governments. The big problem being that now this has been realised we are many years away from fixing the problem.

If this is a serious issue then I think all parties should come together, determine the impact, the likelihood of happening and put in place plans to mitigate the risk. The government should then produce a statement and advertising campaign about how power can be saved. I don't think there has to be a problem here if everybody cuts back on unnecessary power usage ... I can;t remember the figure but we waste an awful lot of the power we generate.

[Frank Manning]

Many of our fossil fuel power stations now being closed due to carbon emissions were less than 30% efficient. Many of the oil fired ones have been out of normal use for several years, the coal fired ones were affected badly by the miners strikes, which led to them being converetd to dual coal oil firing or straight oil. If you convert them to gas which has a much reduced radiant heat transfer they become too hot in the back end and lose even more efficiency. Unless they are radically rebuilt with more convection heating surface. The newer gas fired gas turbine staions with exhaust gas steam boilers and turbines are far more efficient, but of course you have to have security of gas supply.

Governments have only ever been moved by political pressures, and since privatisiation the generating companies have only been moved by commercial pressures i.e. share price and profit. In both cases the consumer is way down the line of stakeholders.

[david63]

That report sounds to me a bit like throwing toys out of the pram syndrome because thye power companies are coming under scrutiny and they do not like it

[Kendhni]

That was my first thought as well ... but I am led to believe that our spare generating capacity is wafer thin so it could take very little to tip us over the edge.

[Dark Knight]

some time ago there was a piece on radio 4 abiout this and I seem to remember it saying we could last 2-3 days tops before we ran out

[Onelife]

There is an estimated 30/40 + years of coal under our feet and yet we are importing tons of the stuff from Russia. It’s about time we got a grip and invested more into producing more of our own coal... until such time that we have built enough nuclear power stations to become energy sufficient.

Frank will no doubt correct me if I’m wrong but I believe nearly 50% of our electricity comes from burning coal... in one form or another. This being the case why not nationalise our coal industry, create thousands of more jobs and stick two fingers up to the power companies who are holding us all to ransom.

Anyway sod it; we’ve just got ourselves a wood burner so I’m off logging.

Regards

OL

[Stephen]

Typical of you Onelife. 'I'm all right jack pull up the draw bridge' attitude.







Can you get me some while you're out mate

[Frank Manning]

Interesting point Onelife, and much of it depends on how seriously we take CO2 emissions and the resultant (or not) global warming. Drax is a case in point. There were lots of knock on effects of the great miners strikes and poor quality imported coal was one of them. 25 years ago I sat in a meeting in Vienna discussing NOx emissions from power stations in Austria, because they had been threatened with being shut down if they did not meet the new standards. When I suggested introducing a series of power outages to show what the ultimate effect could be, they were not amused, but it was a fact, the authorities dd not understand that they didn't have enough spare capacity to shut down their stations because of NOx or whatever the reason. For about 15 years Europe and Scandinavia seemed to be fixated first on Stack solids, then SOx, then NOx and now CO2. Much of that time with a lot of historical old power stations built during the years when fossil fuel usage was very gung ho.

What I fail to understand with our tidal ranges is why we dont be like the Dutch and build a series of barrages with reversible water turbines to generate power. No doubt the green lobbyists will tell me the dire warnings for wild life or something else.

[Quizzical Bob]

There is an estimated 30/40 + years of coal under our feet and yet we are importing tons of the stuff from Russia. It’s about time we got a grip and invested more into producing more of our own coal... until such time that we have built enough nuclear power stations to become energy sufficient.

Frank will no doubt correct me if I’m wrong but I believe nearly 50% of our electricity comes from burning coal... in one form or another. This being the case why not nationalise our coal industry, create thousands of more jobs and stick two fingers up to the power companies who are holding us all to ransom.

Anyway sod it; we’ve just got ourselves a wood burner so I’m off logging.

Regards

OL

Coal provided 39% of our electricity in 2012 up from 29% in 2011. There are a lot more than 40 years left depending on who you believe, maybe a couple of hundred at present rates. Rather than building HS2 wouldn't it be better to invest in Carbon capturing technology?

http://www.stockopedia.com/content/stri ... try-52581/

[Mervyn and Trish]

There is also 50 odd years of gas down there if we get 10% of what is available. So let's get fracking and stop being dependent on imports from unstable and ruthless regimes such as the Middle East, Russia (and Scotland?)

In the meantime let the politicians get some balls and face down the Eurocrats. One of the main reasons we are on this knife edge is that Europe says we must close down power stations that don't meet certain standards. My view is yes, close them down in due course, after we've built the replacements, not before.

[Frank Manning]

We all agree, but will we take to the streets and chain ourselves to the gates of Fawley P S or Didcot (4 x 500MW units fossil fired) etc to prevent their closure, as the Fracking Rent a mob do? I think not.

[Manoverboard]

We all agree, but will we take to the streets and chain ourselves to the gates of Fawley P S or Didcot ...

Can we do it in August when it's a tad warmer please

[qbman1]

We all agree, but will we take to the streets and chain ourselves to the gates of Fawley P S or Didcot ...

Can we do it in August when it's a tad warmer please

I'd like to be able to choose who I am chained to please

[Onelife]

Typical of you Onelife. 'I'm all right jack pull up the draw bridge' attitude.







Can you get me some while you're out mate

Sorry Stephen you’ll have to ask my wife ...I only point to it.....she picks it up

[Mervyn and Trish]

We all agree, but will we take to the streets and chain ourselves to the gates of Fawley P S or Didcot (4 x 500MW units fossil fired) etc to prevent their closure, as the Fracking Rent a mob do? I think not.

Of course you will Frank. And I'll be right behind you. Well quite a bit behind you. Probably behind Moby too.

So should we say June 31st next year then?

[davecttr]

Even nuclear might have a new lease of life if they adopt Thorium as a fuel rather than Uranium. Apparently it is much more easily available and has a lot less problems with waste disposal. Plus you can't make nuclear bombs out of it.

Wind is the craziest technology. You have to provide equal generating capacity for those bitter cold days in February when the wind decides it won't blow. Plus we are taking the cheap approach and installing rubbish turbines. Have you seen how many turbines in a wind farm are not working!.

[Frank Manning]

We all agree, but will we take to the streets and chain ourselves to the gates of Fawley P S or Didcot (4 x 500MW units fossil fired) etc to prevent their closure, as the Fracking Rent a mob do? I think not.

Of course you will Frank. And I'll be right behind you. Well quite a bit behind you. Probably behind Moby too.

So should we say June 31st next year then?

I cant make that day Mervyn or any month with an R, or any with only 30 or 31 days. But the thought is there.