Bishop Hill Your money or your lights
May 4, 2015 Energy: grid Keith Anderson, the head of Scottish Power has an article in the Herald in which he reveals that his company is willing to take steps to keep the lights on. But only if a large enough bung is sent Scottish Power's way.
One thing that remains constant in this period of change is security of supply. To help achieve this, ScottishPower is investing around £8 billion over the next five years, mainly in renewables and networks. But with renewables, the wind doesn't always blow, so having sufficient flexible back-up generation is vital. We plan to invest in further gas-fired generation to do exactly that. And 50 years after our Cruachan pumped storage plant first provided the benefit of instant generation to meet demand peaks, we intend to double its capacity if it proves economic to do so with appropriate incentives.
The next 12 months are going to be rather interesting.
Reader Comments (16)
This was easy to predict; I did so in 2005 and started to warn about the problem once I realised the aim was to enrich elite insider subsidy farmers by giving them (1) an oligopoly and (2) allowing them to reduce supply to increase the price of electricity. The central generators are also in the game.
Ultimately, the intention is to kill off the inner cities and the poor, to reduce population. It was never about saving fossil fuel use because with Diesel STOR, it increases for a given tranche of windmill power, compared with coal fired power stations.
An interesting turnup
"Nick Clegg could back Tory plans to end onshore wind subsidies"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nick-clegg/11580558/Nick-Clegg-could-back-Tory-plans-to-end-onshore-wind-subsidies.html
No doubt Labour/SNP deals will see the increase in the subsidies.
As Rupert Darwall said, once you start to distort the electricity 'market' by subsidising zero marginal cost renewables which have priority grid access, all other generators start to become uneconomic and as the amount of renewable capacity increases all these other generators also need subsidising. There is now no competitive electricity market. Electricity consumers are being held to ransom and all those PPEs in charge of policy cannot understand the result of their policies. You might have thought that even Ed Miliband would have eventually twigged that having a price freeze is incompatible with passing on increasing subsidies to consumers through price rises.
More investment required to make renewables, less unreliable. It must make perfect sense if you have a degree in PPE.
I worked in a very politically correct company once who were "getting into renewables". The company car park was full of SUV's - mainly to take the kids the half mile to school.
"And 50 years after our Cruachan pumped storage plant first provided the benefit of instant generation to meet demand peaks, we intend to double its capacity if it proves economic to do so with appropriate incentives".
With appropriate incentives. I wonder what they mean!
It must be better economically to just build and use the backup power generators since they will be working for more than 75% of the time.
Oh, sorry I forgot they get a subsidy to ruin the countryside with bird mincers.
NCC 1701E
As MDGNN?
For at least 10 years I asked the question what do you do when the winds not blowing, the suns not shining and it's slack water? Usually met with silence, and or a look as if the brain had just shutdown.
Move the Trident Nuclear Submarine base down to the Royal Navy base in Devonport.Finally cut Scotland adrift.
Or in this case unplug it.
"we intend to double its capacity"
To slightly less than 1GW for slightly less than one day? There have been whole weeks with no wind and, in Scotland, probably whole summers with no sun.. :-)
Charming Quark: You had me at: "An interesting turnip - Nick Clegg..." Then I realised I could have mosread.....or not...
Doubling the capacity of the Cruachan Reservoir would probably require increasing the height of the dam by at least 33-50%, plus doubling the number, or power of the turbines. That would take the site off-line for a minimum of 2-3 years, and would still provide less than 0.9GW at full capacity. BTW, the original construction cost the lives of over 30 workers.
Isn't it the Statutory Obligation to maintain the supply of power?
Maintain the supply of power.
If available funds require that a choice be made between
(1) power generation which guarantees that supply, or
(2) an alternative which cannot guarantee that supply,
then the choice is clear,
The the Statutory Option (1) supply must be supported.
If Scottish power fail to do this, and opts for option (2),
in direct contradiction to it's Statutory Obligation,
and power supply is proven to be inadequate,
would not any future Enquiry highlight this?
And apportion blame accordingly?
@SandyS: there is a solution to the problem but it will bankrupt many wind farms as Grid power prices slump. That is of course the aim, then the windmills can be refinanced without subsidies, the mostly foreign owners having lost a bundle!
The glut of methane enables this tactic: 10 million small fuel cells in homes, plus close coupled solar on roofs to act as standby for windmills and allow half homeowners to exist without Grid Power if the subsidy farmers push their luck!
jamesp
I have fond memories of those summers.
NCC 1701E
That's a big investment, especially when the rental portion of the housing stock is increasing; no landlord is going to invest more than they have to. Most homeowners won't invest without similar subsidies as those current for solar pv.
@SandyS: the cost of the power generation module is the same as nuclear pro rata. Otherwise it's a simple condensing boiler.
You get 2 year payback on standby sales.