Helm Talks - energy climate infrastructure & more24 Apr

No such thing as free electricity

There is no such thing as a free lunch, and there is no such thing as “free” electricity. What is true is that there are going to be days in summer when supply exceeds demands and hence the value of electricity generated will be zero. Surpluses arise because a renewables-based system needs far more total generating capacity to guarantee supply at all times, including when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing. Using the UK as an example, meeting a peak demand of around 45GW may require roughly double the capacity compared with the “bad old days” of fossil-fuel-based generation, as well as twice the grid system and lots of batteries and storage. There are bound to be times when lots of that 120GW is generating but demand is low. But excess electricity does not reduce the costs. These don’t magically go away. Investors will build wind, solar and nuclear plants only if they are paid through mechanisms such as fixed-price contracts, and households also need to fund the expanded grid, balancing and storage required to handle the extra capacity. As a result, “free” electricity during certain periods will still be paid for elsewhere – ultimately by consumers and taxpayers. Renewables are a good thing, but they need to be accompanied by an honest public discussion about the real system costs of decarbonisation rather than the promise of free energy.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(90)

Why can't we build infrastructure in this country?

Politicians have been seeking for decades to put right the infrastructure crisis in this country that is rooted not in a lack of ambition, but in deeper economic and political constraints. Building in...

15 Juni 15min

Crisis? What crisis?

The International Energy Agency describes the current Iran conflict as the “biggest energy crisis in history”. While oil prices have risen sharply, they remain below the real highs of past shocks. How...

27 Maj 14min

Britain's negative-sum society

The concept of a zero-sum game was fashionable in the 1970s. The idea was simple: competing interest groups, and especially unions, would fight for ever-bigger shares of the nation’s cake, and their g...

17 Maj 14min

Sticky plaster energy policy is falling apart

Another day and another bit of sticky plaster is applied. With the highest industrial energy prices in the developed world, the government is increasing the number of companies that will get a bit off...

20 Apr 15min

Gas prices, gas mistakes and gas policy

The news is very much about gas price shocks, but this is to misunderstand the fundamental difference between temporary shocks and long-term trends. Gas prices spike when major geopolitical events occ...

24 Mars 13min

Britain's industrial energy price crisis

Britain is facing a deep industrial energy price crisis, with many major industries collapsing or shrinking because UK electricity costs are among the highest in the world. Recent closures—from refine...

17 Mars 15min

The energy security gap

The International Energy Agency, at its recent ministerial meeting (Feb 18th/19th), agreed on one top priority: energy security. Hybrid warfare, cyber-attacks and the ease with which modern energy inf...

24 Feb 15min