Belgian brownout, German emergency, British plan
Sep 25, 2014
Bishop Hill in Energy: grid, Energy: nuclear

I recently chanced upon a report about the plans that Belgium has put in place to deal with its impending electricity crisis, brought about by the shutdown of several of its nuclear reactors. It seems that the country is to be divided into six zones, which will each take their turn to be switched off when the grid is about to be overwhelmed. A more detailed version of the plan, released last week, shows who will be affected, right down to street level.

We knew about the Belgian energy crisis already, but somehow seeing the brownout plans up close brings the whole thing home.

Meanwhile, in Germany it seems that the national grid operator is having to make ever more interventions to keep its charge operational,

Already 3500 emergency grid interventions per year – According to the TAB report of 2011: More than a couple days of blackout would be a national catastrophe – Germany sacrifices its uniquely reliable power supply for the ‘transition to renewable energy’.

And some major energy users have already been forced to shut down to keep things afloat.

The situation in Britain seems to be little better, of course, with calls for emergency generation capacity already having been issued. But don't worry, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey has a cunning plan, as he explained to Liberal Democrat Voice:

One of the five green laws we are proposing in our Pre-Manifesto is a Zero Carbon Britain Bill which would include a legally binding decarbonisation target and measures to end the use of unabated coal.

That will help, I'm sure.

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