Energy Matters Global and Domestic

[bobins]

Something happened on Tuesday that may have gone unnoticed........

New publicly owned National Energy System Operator to pave the way to a clean energy future

National Energy System Operator will support the UK’s energy security, help to keep bills down in the long term, and accelerate the government’s clean power mission.

"Britain’s energy system will be planned by a new publicly owned organisation as part of a new more strategic approach, which will help to deliver clean power by 2030.

The new National Energy System Operator (NESO) will help connect new generation projects with the electricity grid, working alongside Great British Energy to deploy renewable energy, so bill payers can reap the benefits of clean, secure, homegrown power.

It comes as the government today reached an agreement with National Grid to acquire the Electricity System Operator, which will be transferred to public ownership."

More details: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new- ... rgy-future

Note: This was first mooted several years ago and there have been numerous consultations in the interim.

[myglaren]

This is a bit disturbing:-
Energy smart meter issues creating north-south divide

The body that represents energy companies, Energy UK, has confirmed for the first time there is a regional divide - because of the way meters send usage data back to suppliers.

The technology used in the north of Great Britain can affect whether smart meters work properly - and could leave customers having to submit manual readings and receiving estimated bills.

The issues have also been confirmed by meter engineers who have spoken to the BBC.

(Beeb).

I am still holding out against one until it is imposed upon me.

[CitroJim]

Touch-wood - and I have my gas, electric and water on smart meters - I've never had a problem...

I've had the gas and electric on smart meters for what seems for ever now although the smart water meter is recent.

One good thing about the smart water meter is that the water board continuously monitor your water usage and create a statistical picture of use throughout the day. In this way they can advise if they think you have a leak.

A dodgy ball-valve or whatever will show up as a small continuous flow throughout the day and night. This, I think, is the good side of having a smart meter; a shame the gas board does not do the same - they might have seen my gas leak before I did!

Additionally, I get a weekly email showing my current water usage trends.

[myglaren]

I don't want a water meter as I use a lot on the gardens.

My son bought a house five or six years ago and the smart meters have never worked and he has never been able to get them out to check and fix it.

Two of my daughters tried to have smart meters installed but neither could get the gas meter smartened and are supposed to submit readings, simple enough you would think but the form they are presented with is for smart meters and in a different format that won't accept their readings.

One lives in the next street to me so that also discourages me.

[bobins]

A couple of years ago I had to monitor for a water leak at work. I kept an eye on the meter as the usage seemed a tiny bit erratic. I ended up shutting the stopcock just after the meter to try and troubleshoot - only to find the meter erratically spun the flow dial every now and then. It'd do nothing for a minute or two then spin and spin again 10 seconds later showing flow through the meter. I questioned this with one of the bods from the water company, his reply - 'Yeah, they do that....' Eh?
My guess is either air in the system or fluctuating pressure causing it to misread.

[CitroJim]

I don't want a water meter as I use a lot on the gardens.

I may have that issue next season Steve... I ought to invest in a few water butts and harvest rainwater I think...

My water usage, based on the fact I live here alone most of time, is rather high due, I believe, to how many times I run the washing machine... Most days as I generate so much washing related to my leisure activities. My running and cycling stuff is best washed after every use and so should the stuff I wear when working on the cars; overalls especially...

My attention to personal hygiene also likely uses more water than most. I can't stand feeling mucky, especially after a good workout...

I questioned this with one of the bods from the water company, his reply - 'Yeah, they do that....' Eh?

That's rather concerning It has been said that if the powers that be could charge you for air, they would and it looks like that's likely now happening

[myglaren]

[Gibbo2286]

Well that was worth watching, I'm on Octopus Intelligent Go and get the same detailed bills with all the graphics, I don't have a heat pump but I do have solar and a solar battery and an electric car, maybe I should try to do a post with my Octopus graphics on it.
One thing I didn't get from the video is what he considers 'a warm house', if he's happy in a T shirt in November maybe he needs a less warm house than me.

[mickthemaverick]

A good point Eric, I have our house set at 21C 0600-2200 then 18C for the night. The controlling thermostat is positioned as far away from a radiator as possible and as a result our house always feels warm when you enter. No solar or wind so just the Octopus supplied fuels. I have 5 appliences on standby all the time if not active, then iron, hoover and washing machine as and when needed. 9.5kW shower run 15 mins a day and many other 'tools and gadgets' used as and when including a 1200W garage door . A gas boiler running 6 rads and hot water and a gas hob. I pay £160 a month all year and quite happy with that!

[myglaren]

Work is under way to create what has been described as Europe's largest battery storage project at Coalburn in South Lanarkshire

Developers say the two huge neighbouring battery farms - one at the site of a former opencast coal mine - will store enough electricity to power three million homes.

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are being built across the UK to help balance the electricity grid, which is becoming increasingly powered by renewables.

Almost 90% of the electricity generated in Scotland last year was from low carbon sources like wind, solar or nuclear, according to figures from the Scottish government.

To help balance the peaks and troughs of renewables, the National Grid estimates that the UK would need to see BESS provision grow almost six times over by the end of the decade.

Beeb

[bobins]

^^^^^^

More on that story....

"The one gigawatt facility at Coalburn is being constructed in two phases.
It will be charged using excess power from wind farms with the electricity being discharged when demand is high or renewable generation is low.
The giant batteries will operate for two hours at a time before being depleted."

I fear we may need quite a few more of these if the undersea cables supplying power from afar come under more attacks from hostile states - a bit like what is happening now to other countries.... but moreso

[thorter]

The real purpose of these current battery banks is not to provide useful energy during periods of low wind generation. It is to stabilise the grid short term now that much of the inertia previously supplied by rotating generators has been retired.

If we make an optimistic interpretation of the garbled information in the press release, the capacity is one gigawatt for two hours, that is 2GWh. The past week average grid demand has been 35GW, so daily energy demand averaged 35 x 24 = 840GWh. Wind generation famines can easily last 10 days, and excess for recharging does not always follow immediately, so something like 25 days storage is needed, and thus we need to budget for 21,000 GWh of storage.

Given the intended roll out of electric cars and heat pumps, it is probably a good assumption that the wind generation capacity alone would need to be the current overall total. So we will need a further 10,500 of these battery farms!

[bobins]

No, I think the idea is we'll make up for the energy shortfall by importing energy from other countries. Oh..... hang on a minute

[Dormouse]

There is a huge Wind Farm out in the Forth Estuary that takes its connector cable to landfall in East Lothian to connect to the grid. Locals were happy that they got chosen above other sites as they got all the jobs associated with servicing the Wind Farm.
Grid now wants to build Battery Farms around this area to maximise the energy efficiency of the cable connector. Locals not happy as it will spoil the countryside and lower their property values.

Have we heard this before somewhere?

[bobins]

This probably won't appeal to many as most people aren't interested (!!), but for those that are - a very interesting article published by Watt-Logic yesterday on how the UK came ring-twitchingly close to electricity supply issues last Wednesday (and we're probably in the same position at the time of me posting this )

"On 8 January the GB power market came within a whisker of blackouts. NESO used almost every last MW available with just 580 MW of cushion – only two thirds of the contingency that should be held, and no-where near the single largest infeed loss which is supposed to be protected. And securing that minimal spare margin cost more than £21 million. This should be a real wake-up call about the dangers of relying on weather-based generation, but because NESO tells everyone things are fine even market participants may not realise just how close we came to demand control or blackouts.

.....Yesterday saw a blackout near miss in what turned out to be the tightest day the GB electricity market has seen since 2011. Wind power was 2.5 GW through the evening peak, solar was (obviously) zero and there were significant interconnector outages leaving expected capacity at just 5.7 GW. Had just one large power station tripped this evening, demand control would have been a real prospect.

In this post I will walk through what happened, and how close we came to wide-scale loss of load (demand control means the National Energy System Operator, NESO, will disconnect parts of the country to avoid uncontrolled blackouts). Friday is also looking tight so it’s worth understanding what happened on 8 January, whether the situation could have been managed better, and just how close we came to demand control."

https://watt-logic.com/2025/01/09/black ... ince-2011/

The whole post is a long read, but is a fascinating insight into the 'leccy market in the UK and how everything is balanced and (sometimes) planned. As I say though - it'll only appeal to those who take an interest in the realities of our wobbling electricity grid..... so that won't be many people