Bishop Hill Belgium asks "Can I borrow your power cable?"
Aug 20, 2014 Energy: grid Energy: nuclear Foreign Reader "Wellers" writes with an update from Belgium on the energy crisis there.
Yesterday there was more bad news regarding the two 1GW power stations already shut down in Belgium. They are probably shut down for good.
Predictably, the Energy Minister has come on air to try to allay the public’s fears. He appears to have a “cunning plan”, as Baldrick would say. Here is a quick translation I made from today’s De Standaard newspaper:
“There is an extra power station, but the cable is missing”
The walls of the nuclear reactors at Doel 3 and Tihange 2 are much weakened as a result of thousands of cracks. That would appear from the interim test results. There is a significant chance that the reactors will remain shut down all winter, and perhaps will never operate again. According to Energy Minister Johan Vande Lanotte, speaking on ‘The Morning’ show on Radio 1, there are solutions to prevent a black out.
According to Johan Vande Lanotte it is now necessary to "prevent panic". According to Vande Lanotte the last time was that we had a very high energy demand was on 17 January 2013. "On such a cold winter day we consume about 14,000MW. From this we get the idea that current production is 1000MW too short" said the minister.
Emergency
The Minister proposes a number of the emergency measures: import more electricity from abroad, restart Doel 4, adjust supply-side demand from companies, and use the capacity of emergency generators in our country. According to Vande Lanotte this emergency generation capacity in our country is rarely utilised.Also, it is little known by the public that there is overcapacity in generating networks in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. "For example in Maasbracht, 3 kilometers from the Netherlands-Belgian border, there is a new 1,300 MW power station completely idle." The gas fired plant in Maasbracht was indeed shut down on July 1 because it could not be run profitably due to low electricity prices. Much to the frustration of the minister this power station cannot yet be connected to the Belgian grid. The only thing missing is a cable of 15 km, it seems.
Nuclear Exit
The Minister does not believe that the government’s [nuclear phase-out] policy is guilty of causing the current problem. "It's the nuclear power plants that fail. If there is now a problem, due to the cracks in the reactor vessels and sabotage in Doel 4, you have to solve that. But government policy will never be able to prevent something being sabotaged or what appears to be a mistake.
Anyone with 15 km of copper cable and 50 pylons should contact the Belgian Embassy.
Note that the comment about Maasbracht being uneconomic to run relates to it being uncompetitive vs. coal and subsidised wind, biomass, etc. The plant started up in 2012 and was hailed as the largest and most efficient gas-fired power plant of the Netherlands.
Reader Comments (32)
Could this be the first Domino?
ToC
Didn't I read somewher that not one gas-fired power station is being built in Europe at the moment and that many gas-fired power statioons are being mothballed; the reason being that they can't run proifitably when they are continually being kicked off the grid by hugely subsidised bird mincers?
ToC
Could well be the classic "Double Six" drop!
The solution:
1,000 people to each donate one of these:-
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9147373.htm
No problemo ... what happened to all of that sustainable wind and solar power in the EU? Here's their chance to back up their lies with a demonstration of their ignorance.
All they have to do is get the wind to blow harder and the sun to stay above the horizon longer.
They have top men working on it right now.
Well that's the sort of thing you can expect on the Continent, mismanagement, over pay of subsidies to nonperforming 'renewables', rigged markets, etc, etc..
That couldn't possibly happen in the UK could it?
Maybe now is the time for the longsighted, save the world dreamers, to become myopic?
When your ass is frozen, somehow making it colder might not be the prime objective?
Long live our unpredictable chaotic weather system!
Dib dib dib!
are all these nukes not hopelessly written off and supposed to have been replaced, like 20y ago(with more modern technology)?? I thought in industry thermo equipment is dimensioned for 30y tops. a more static structure maybe 50y
Anyway there might be some good news in this, this being in belgium: when you blackout you are supposed to affect as few people as possible so you would take out the ones with the highest leccy consumption as that packs the most punch for the least humans affected.. that would mean to take out the areas where EU employees live..hooray !
"due to political factors in the governing coalition, the Belgian Senate approved the Federal Act of 31 January 2003, which prohibited the building of new nuclear power plants and limited the operating lives of existing ones to 40 years (to 2014-2025)."
"This can be overridden by a recommendation from the electricity and gas regulator (Commission de Régulation de l'Électricité et du Gaz, CREG) if Belgium's security of supply is threatened.
In 2007, the Commission on Energy 2030d energy policy study set up by the government said that a fundamental review of energy policy was required and in particular that nuclear power should be utilised long-term in order to meet carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction commitments, enhance energy security and maintain economic stability. It also said that the 2003 phase-out decision should be reconsidered as it would double the price of electricity, deny Belgium a cheap way of meeting the country's CO2 emission reduction targets and increase import dependency. Instead, the operating lives of the seven nuclear units should be extended.
In October 2009, the government received a further report from a commissioned panele. This recommended a ten-year life extension for the three oldest nuclear power reactors to 2025 and a 20-year life extension for the other four. The government then agreed to postpone the phase-out by ten years, so that it does not begin before 20253. This would allow the licensing of reactor life extensions, and GDF Suez expected to invest about €800 million towards this. However, the operators agreed to contribute a special tax of €215-245 million per year over 2010-14 for the concession (0.5 Euro cents/kWh), and more thereafter. GDF Suez also agreed to subsidise renewables and demand-side management by paying at least €500 million for both, and it must maintain 13,000 jobs in energy efficiency and recycling. The Energy & Climate Change minister said that the delay in closure "would guarantee security of supply, limit the production of carbon dioxide and allow us to maintain prices that protect consumer purchasing power and the competitiveness of our companies".
However, an election in April 2010 occurred before the agreed proposals were passed by parliament and the nuclear phase-out law remains in place"
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-A-F/Belgium/
Idiots
We have plenty of pretty useless windmills they could borrow.
And in a spirit of cooperation, we'd not ask for them back.
quote
Didn't I read somewhere that not one gas-fired power station is being built in Europe at the moment and that many gas-fired power stations are being mothballed; the reason being that they can't run profitably when they are continually being kicked off the grid by hugely subsidised bird mincers? Phillip Bratby
unquote
Suffolk CC recently approved a gas-fired station to be built at Eye, but it won't actually be constructed for a few years. You know CO2? Well, the Eye station should be good at CO2 -- it's an OCGT and it's in an area without access to borehole water, so retrofitting to CCGT standards will be difficult. Its purpose is to sit there gathering subsidies until a calm winter's day lets it milk the taxpayer for even larger subsidies.
AEP in today's Telegraph says that solar and gas together will rule the roost, but only after we get batteries to store the energy. Questions. How much does it cost to store a week's supply of PV -- £/GW? What is the output of a solar farm -- GWyears/hectare? I'm pretty certain that our Minister for Power, one Matthew Hancock PPE, gets his ideas from AEP so our energy policy for the next few years might be forming in the pages of the Telegraph as we speak.
I watched the St Edmundsbury development committee faffing on about a solar farm just north of Culford on Food Independence Day, 4 August this year, the notional day on which the UK stops being able to feed itself on home-grown food, and mentioned this irony to one of the councillors. It didn't matter apparently, it's poor soil. Sandy, you know. So that's OK, who needs a few extra tonnes of wheat? No-one -- until we don't have any.
Itzman's calculation that we need 6 billion AA batteries to store a fortnight's energy for the UK uses the English billion which I as a member of UKIP would endorse. 6*10^12 batteries is a surprisingly meagre hill and I need something with more impact -- halfway to the Moon would do.
Bish, may I make a non-party-political plea here? Next year there are lots of borough elections and we need people of all political persuasions who understand the climate scare and its energy insecurity implications to stand for office. The sheer waste and uncertainty of the current situation transcends politics, it is literally a matter of life and death for the poor and the old. Do what I did when I realised that posting on blogs and shouting at the TV wasn't achieving anything: stand, stand up and be counted.
JF
"I watched the St Edmundsbury development committee faffing on about a solar farm just north of Culford on Food Independence Day, 4 August this year, the notional day on which the UK stops being able to feed itself on home-grown food, and mentioned this irony to one of the councillors. It didn't matter apparently, it's poor soil. Sandy, you know. So that's OK, who needs a few extra tonnes of wheat? No-one -- until we don't have any."
WHAT
I live in East Anglia, I try to grow vegetables in East Anglia. I notice the weather. Last year, the sun basically did not get through the clouds for three months, that was May, June, July. It was of the most depressing summers of my life.
2011, 2012, and 2013 were rotten summers here. We have the first proper sunny July for about 20 years, and the amnesiacs at Bury St Edmunds get completely deranged and decide to try to build a solar farm.
Will they personally indemnify the costs? I think not. We need people in prison to deter the rest of these lunatics.
“There is an extra power station, but the cable is missing”
The kitchen drawer. That's where I always find my missing cables. Could take a while to untangle it though.
Anyone got a spare diesel generator?
What about the poor sods who live in apartments and flats?
Buy shares in STOR companies. Call it a feeling but a perfect storm is brewing, all it needs is mama Gaia to play her part...............Iceland............oh wait...............................
Hmm forgot this: http://en.vedur.is/#tab=skjalftar
Hasn't the British government got a few spare power cables now that it has or is shutting down our remaining coal-fired power stations?
The Province of Antwerp refused the permit for a very performant coal fired plant of 1100 MW a few years ago..
This is very bad for the reputation of Antwerp as an attraction pole for the chemical industry.
Of course, the Flemish Minister for the Environment, Joke Schauvlieghe, confirmed the refusal.(Kyoto and fine dust, you know).
It is evident that long lasting power cuts in Belgium will have catastrophic effects on public and private lives, industry and businesses in general.
It is important to remind who was in charge at the time these scenarios could be prevented ...
I wonder if dickhead davies is reading this and thinking .
Green sand Wrote: "Dib dib dib!"
It's "Dyb dyb dyb".
Do Your Best.
Nial (ex scout).
@ Julian Flood, Aug 21, 2014 at 7:09 AM
A week of electricity storage in winter, to provide for the 40GW demand, would require 6.7 billion large twelve volt batteries, that is 258 per UK family. I hope they all can make room for this.
If those two power stations are shut down for good, then I think I know where there's some spare pylons and cable.
Hope it don't black out the European Union Parliment building in Brussels.
According to World Nuclear News, these "cracks" were detected by a new form of ultrasonic examination. The vessel is now to be re-examined using the established methods to see if the cracks are confirmed. That will take some time.
Meanwhile Tihange 2 is coming up for the same examination which is likely to be protracted until the Doel 3 results are clarified. And winter draws near.
If cracks are confirmed, it will be absolutely critical whether they are due to manufacturing problems or a fundamental design issue. These reactors are very similar to a large number of units in France, Spain, Sweden and others, as well as the US, so a generic fault would be a nightmare. However that seems very unlikely since there are so many which have been in service longer without such problems.
It reads like they have "hydrogen blistering", usually caused by slag inclusions. The legal proceedings will be protracted, typical process is to look for the deep pockets along the chain of fabrication from ingot through to vessel fabrication. Usually the only winners are the lawyers and the litigation process can hinder common sense decision making to resolve the physical problems.
Personal view, bottom line is for governments to get the hell out of the industry to stop the market distortions and let pure economic considerations define the best available technology. Alternatively, not an option to be taken lightly, governments should assume full accountability for electricity supply, that means being the generator and distributor as per the old CEGB.
I have a cynical view of "privatization" as being nothing more than a money grabbing "ass-cover" by government bureaucrats, "See, it isn't our fault, those evil energy companies are the ones that F*** up, we just regulate the market". Yeah right.
I can fully understand the reluctance of electricity generators to build new capacity when "regulations" are based on flavor of the month and not sound engineering.
At the risk of sounding monotonous, they can get their power from wind turbines and solar cells and save energy by riding bicycles and using electric cars when attending the innumerable meetings in Brussels.
I am enjoying this.
They missed the economic solution - quadruple the price to domestic users. (or should I be whispering that?)
Can I just congratulate wellers for his black sense of humour?
Since I am of Dutch heritage, no doubt he realises what a big compliment that is. :)
Seriously, when the energy dominoes are teetering in some of the richest countries in the world, thanks to incompetence and neglect, you have to wonder what and when the political fallout will be.
Is this the UK next winter?
"It's the nuclear power plants that fail. If there is now a problem, due to the cracks in the reactor vessels and sabotage in Doel 4 ..."
Sabotage ????
Did I miss something? Are the Greens trying some new tactics?
Sabotage is suspected but not yet confirmed; it could also have been gross negligence on the part of one of the operating staff.
The idled gas-fired power plant at Maasbracht in the Netherlands to which the Belgian government wish to connect their grid is shown in this news clip (hope it works outside Belgium):
http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20140820_01225118
Beautifully shiney and new. The man speaking is the outgoing Minister of Energy (Belgium government in the process of transition).
The planned outage of Tihange 1 has been adjusted so the plant will be online through the winter. That should help a bit.