EV Charging

[MacolmParticipant @macolm]

Ah yes, silly us, we should have spotted that with the near negligible cost of wind generation, we should then be more than grateful to pay the eye watering Contract for Difference prices. The UK has just about the world’s highest electricity prices, but it shouldn’t be difficult to further excel in this!

 

[Martin of WickParticipant @martinofwick]

 …..renewables produce almost free electricity. 

Really?  I’m sure HM Treasury will be relieved to learn that. Best set out your ‘innovative’ appraisal method and send it to them.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I drove past the large windfarm on Frodsham marshes yesterday. Not one of the turbines was moving. The marginal cost of wind power might be low, but the capital cost has to be recouped, and that should include the cost of the backup generation required when it isn’t windy. Cavity wall and loft insulation have made a significant difference to my energy bills, double glazing had a smaller but still positive effect. Unfortunately, lots of Edwardian and earlier houses don’t have cavity walls, and if you live in a conservation area you are not allowed to fit double glazing.

[Macolm]

On Macolm Said:

Ah yes, silly us, we should have spotted that with the near negligible cost of wind generation, we should then be more than grateful to pay the eye watering Contract for Difference prices. The UK has just about the world’s highest electricity prices, but it shouldn’t be difficult to further excel in this!

 

You may not, or don’t appear to, know that the ‘contract for difference’ is a means of paying for the capital expenditure of the assets, along with some reasonable profit for the investors.  These contracts last 15 years.  After that the energy will be at open market prices.  Too much production, after the contract ends, and curtailment of those turbines will cost nothing.  The grid will be simply able to stop their power being supplied to the grid.

I somehow doubt that will be the case, mind, as the generators will be arranging deals long before the contracts end.  At that point, the wind energy will be free and the costs to the owners will be maintenance, replacement and likely rental of their site from the government.  They will be free to sell the output at market prices.

The single over-riding requirement is to stop burning fossils.  That is inevitably going to cost investment.  Get used to it, ‘cos there is no other current alternative to reach the 2050 climate target reductions of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere.

Many on here will not see 2050 (I won’t, for sure), so exactly how selfish are people prepared to be towards their children and grandchildren.  Seems like quite a few on here?

[MacolmParticipant @macolm]

I am well aware of the way contract for difference works. It is, though, a simple way to get a handle on current relative costs. After a generous 15 years, the contribution to capital costs ends. Most other similar but un-favoured assets such as gas fired power stations will have budgeted a much shorter payback.

I won’t be here in 2050 either, so I do hope that the rest of the world will have copied out shining example by then (assuming it proves feasible to achieve “net zero” by this route).

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Michael, that is good news even if the lights are being hidden under some sort of bushel.

It seems that an awful lot of wind turbines are not rotating when we see them.

Either they are down for maintenance or repair ( So much for reliability and durability!) or are they not required, and so shut down.  Since wind produces only a small percentage of the load requirement, it seems strange.

The electricity produced may be free, but the obstacle is the capital cost of set up, and maintenance, in often unfriendly, or inaccessible environments. (Who wants to climb a wind turbine tower in the middle of a winter North Sa gale?)

To stop, or even better, reverse climate change we need to stop burning fossil fuels (But every living thing emits carbon dioxide, so maybe population (Animal as well as human) control should be considered.

But the world still needs oil, for lubrication, so we can’t stop drilling until an easily and economically available alternative is available. And without oil, we will have a lot less plastic from which to make things!

In Sweden, very many dwellings, where possible,have their own mini hydro electric plants, so perhaps that is another avenue that should be investigated in UK and any other country where the geography makes it possible.

We need to find as many as possible ways of generating emission free electricity, if only to charge our “Zero Emission” cars, and our increasingly electricity reliant life styles and businesses.

Maybe we should set an example by reverting to treadle powered machines for our hobby?

Howard

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Howard, I just looked at the Gridwatch site which shows electricity generation.

Wind is sitting just under 12 1/2 GW and the only fossil burning generation (gas) is less than 3GW. (biomass is the one type of fuel which I don’t consider as renewable – but is classed as renewable).  I expect it will likely be like that all night long.

 

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