In the coming years we need to deliver an energy system that is affordable, sustainable and secure. These imperatives will drive a vast wave of investment as we embark on the transition to a low-carbon future.
So the costs are going to be vast then, right? Investment being a cost?
If we get this right, the rewards could be huge. Experts estimate the UK’s net zero economy could be worth £1 trillion by 2030.
Netzero’s going to be half the economy?
It could also create tens of thousands of new, well-paid, skilled jobs right across the UK.
Jobs are a cost too – so that’s more costs as well?
If we make the most of our first-mover advantage, we can deliver a huge boost to growth and prosperity. But if we stand back and allow ourselves to be left behind in the global energy transition, we risk paying a very heavy economic price.
What the fuck is this man saying? That we’re in competition with France about how we heat our homes? How?
You what you pustulent fool?
Being proactive will make the energy transition affordable; dragging our heels means it will be a huge burden.
Technologies are getting cheaper. Therefore delays in installation make installation cheaper.
And who’s Chris O’Shea when he’s at home, Torygraph doesn’t say? Oh look. CEO of Centrica. Quelle surprise!
Do they pay for column space on the Torygraph now? Or they given it out of the goodness of the editor’s heart?
Technologies are getting cheaper. Therefore delays in installation make installation cheaper.
The old tech adage: ” Don’t be an early adopter”.
I remember the good old days when CEOs used to favour less tax & regulation, not more.
How I wish he was a hypocrite! The scary thing is that he might believe this shit.
“remember the good old days when CEOs used to favour less tax & regulation, not more”
Isn’t this more a function of the market position of the firm? If you’re an incumbent and the main fear is new entrants during a period of technological change, then regulatory barriers start looking very attractive, no?
He’s angling for subsidies. Centrica closed down its gas storage facility (formerly the “Rough” gas field) because the goverrnment would not give them a large subsidy. The unexpected (by most of us and, in particular, the Energy Department) War in Ukraine resulted in a surge in gas prices so and winter shortages so Centrica is reopening the storage. O’Shea presumably thinks that time he asks for a subsidy they will give him one.
‘Therefore delays in installation make installation cheaper.’
I’m naturally hoping that if we delay long enough, the nonsense will go out of fashion and we won’t need to do anything at all.
You can tell I was a bureaucrat, can’t you?
It could also create tens of thousands of new, well-paid, skilled jobs right across the UK.
It might, or it might not.
Any time you see “could” or “might” in an article, replace it with “might not” and you’ll have something as accurate as the original.
“As many as” is another weasel phrase.
I may be able to offer some helpful advice here…..Shenzhen, China has a totally electric public transport system of buses and taxis.Truly amazing, carbon free, a Greenie dream. Shenzhen also has two nuclear power stations, which no doubt is useful.
I like that first graph-fart-thingie….
He’s projecting the UK power output to be almost triple current output in 30 years.
Of which 60-ish percent would be “variable renewables” ( = variable output, and never when you need it..)
So… assume an effective yearly net output of roughly 20% of rated capacity of variable renewables..
At the 500-ish TWh the graph states for 2050, you’d need about 2500 TWh in actual capacity to do this consistently ( assuming no transport problems….), or roughly 3 times the entire projected energy generation..
And you’d still run into the problem of brown/blackouts, because those variables will collectively not generate enough on the Bad Days when they’re actually needed.
How to tell people are spouting bullshit, without them telling you they’re spouting bullshit…
Incidentally… The UK had Different Weather than Clogland for a couple of weeks, but here we ran into a different first-world problem due to a combination of maximum sunshine and Perfect Wind: The renewable system choked up.
There was so much power produced by the windmills and solar panels that the price for delivering electricity to the network went negative, so much so that peeps with older installations/contracts ran into hefty bills per day because their home systems wouldn’t shut down..
And even the modern smart systems got confused as hell…
Worse.. the situation almost caused local blackouts because local municipal grids could not handle the sheer amount of power generated, so failsafes cut in, giving a backlash further up the line.
Let’s just say you don’t see the breakers at our local distribution station go very often, other than for maintenance, but they do indeed make lovely sparky arcs..
Other than that, the companies that manage the grid have already announced that there can be no new commercial energy contracts issued for the foreseeable future in three provinces, nor can existing contracts be expanded, with two more provinces having placed strict limitations on the contracts available.
The grid, simply put, is at max capacity in many places.
And it’s not as if those companies have been sitting on their arses.. They’ve been investing heavily in expanding and reinforcing the grid over the past decade or two, and still going at it, in preparation for that “Net-Zero” electrification thing.
So there you have it.. In Clogland there’s significant areas that already comply with “the Green Dream”.
Except that even in a small, compact country like ours, with some pretty good engineers and alllll the cooperation from the State.. We’re not even close to making it work.
And that’s with most cars still running on Fossil, and Industry still heavily running on gas…
How people envision making this work for the UK, which has things like actual distance, real Geography of the vertical kind, and true Middle of Nowheres…
And, as the article projects, triple capacity on 60% variables, and robust enough to compensate for the inevitable Wobbles..
Honestly.. Good luck with that..
Interesting Grikath. Have they worked out the size of the batteries they’ll need to cover the inevitable blackouts when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine? Will they need one months backup, or six months?
It doesn’t sound as though they’ve built any of them to cover those Inevitable Wobbles.
I really don’t think you should stop drilling for gas just yet.
PS. We’re still shutting down coal burners here in Oz. That dreadful leftist Gordon, who I sometimes see at the library, was unkind enough to point out that we’re fortunate here in Queensland. The government hasn’t got around to privatising electricity generation, so they can’t point the bone at someone else when the blackouts come. Alas I had to agree with him.