Tesco and Shell are to buy the entire output of a controversial solar farm under construction on the Kent coast that was approved against massive local opposition on the basis that it would power 100,000 homes. The Telegraph has more.
The two companies have signed deals to purchase all the electricity generated by Cleve Hill, which is poised to be the U.K.’s largest solar farm when it goes into operation early in 2025.
The project won planning permission despite massive local opposition on the basis that it would power more than 100,000 homes. However, 65% of the output has instead been purchased by Tesco, which says Cleve Hill will help it cut emissions by powering up to 144 of its supermarkets.
The remaining 35% of output will be managed by Shell as it buys up sources of renewable electricity to power its growing network of EV charging stations.
Vicky Ellis, of the Kent branch of CPRE, said: “This project was approved on the premise that it would power homes, not petrol stations and supermarkets.
“The irony of a major supermarket such as Tesco and a prominent oil producer such as Shell buying into the green energy market to run their petrol stations and supermarkets is not lost on us. We suspect this is another example of greenwashing.”
Cleve Hill is owned and financed by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, a U.S. investment fund based in Houston, Texas, which specialises in energy projects.
Worth reading in full.
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It’s as much as a scandal as the revelation that small businesses in Chicago in the 1930s were paying protection money to the racket. This is Organised Britain, 2024.
Also called Council Tax.
“...65% of the output has instead been purchased by Tesco, which says Cleve Hill will help it cut emissions by powering up to 144 of its supermarkets.”
So Tesco are going to run cables from Cleve Hill to 144 supermarkets.
And I’m a Labour voter. FFS!
Now that anyone can own a power station, there are different ways of selling the output. This ranges from what are called private-wire deals, a cable from one generator going to one factory, to ‘sleeves’ [Cleve Hill], where the actual electrons are not used by Tesco/Shell, but everything associated with the economics of producing them are met by Tesco/Shell, to Grid-only, where the power is sold to National Grid through one of the Big Six DNOs, such as eOn. Earnings from the latter have usually been below the former, but it is a simpler structure and AAA credit risk. It’s quite a complicated marketplace
Thanks for this.
Sometimes my sarcasm doesn’t travel well.
It does don’t worry
Thanks Freddy.
Viewing what is going on in the US with tech companies buying control of electricity/power generators ostensibly to power AI do you see the AI being a front for them to take control of power supplies?
I ask because I understand AI’s energy demands are so great that it will have to be powered by dirty electricity as “renewables” which will not provide enough electricity to meet AI’s demands and supply the rest of us. AI is going to be asked by Sam Altman how it can monetise itself apparently. So does it get ditched at some point and its developers are left in charge of the power supply?
You voted for Starmer? And admit it? Jesus. Starmer is a man with no soul, and publicly admits to having no inner life (e.g. doesn’t read books) – a sure sign of a personality disorder. His facility for lying all the time would suggest that.
First person I have seen admit to voting for the destruction of the UK and our Parliamentary democracy.
No. He really didnt, Jeremy.
Hux, your humour is too good
Thanks M A K.
I m not condoning this but the solar output will probably be connected into the grid & the electricity will reach Tesco etc through existing cable infrastructure .
Yes, I do understand how the system works Freddy. My Northern humour.
How many of Tesco’s stores will it power overnight..?
The idea of Tesco running its own nuclear plant so it can operate 24×7 scares the hell out of me.
Oh come on! They can’t even do decent stock control.
Maybe all the power will be used to power the pyrolysis of soft plastics that Tesco is still promoting, since it uses more energy than it produces in fuel.
London consumes a colossal amount of electricity yet generates virtually none. So why not cover all the open spaces in the capital – Hyde Park, Parliament Square, Clapham Common, Hampstead Heath etc. with solar panels? No need for long transmission lines!
Careful what you ask for… Don’t let Genghis hear that thought.
CPRE are complaining that the output was supposed to be for powering homes. The basic concept of the energy produced being put into the grid and disappearing in the mix seems too difficult for them to grasp.
“Tesco said the 15-year power purchase agreement signed with Quinbrook would help green its stores.”
Conveniently running out before the panels have to be scrapped by somebody else.
The panels can’t be recycled I’ve been told .
Not without some difficulty.
See https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-12266801/Millions-solar-panels-destined-landfill-theres-recycle-them.html
Cross balancing consumption on paper, over a period of time, not physically, presumably. Deals like that have been around for years, with most of the utility companies (like OVO) doing things like that. Renewable energy generation targets are financially tradable, after all.
So therefore the power supplied to the 100,000 homes now deprived of their promised solar output will still have to rely upon fossil fuel based infrastructure for their energy needs… But hang on – won’t Tesco also be relying on some of that too, since they’ll need a backup source to keep their freezers running? If it all defrosts the whole stock will have to be dumped because of food hygiene law!
In energy terms, the corporations are getting the lion’s share and local residents are getting the scraps.
The nearest large Tesco to us had a power cut about three weeks ago. They had to empty all their freezers. Must have cost thousands although I doubt the costs were borne by Tesco.
But if I understand correctly, this is a private solar farm, generating its own electricity (when it’s bright out), and agreeing to sell it privately, via the national grid (at a cost), to two large corporate customers. What’s any of that got to do with the public? Obviously there’ll be a subsidy element, but put that madness to one side for now
It does have to do with the public surely, because this would not have been approved without that lying guarantee that it would power 100.00 homes, not Tesco stores?
I think Vicky needs to familiarise herself with the concept of charging points for EVs. That’s where the majority of the power will be needed. The amount needed to run the pumps and keep the lights on is neglible by comparison.
It’s the increasing burden of charging all these vehicles that threatens to plunge us into darkness every winter.
Heat pumps require 4kW to 10kW depending on size and external temperature. That is significant. A battery charger requires about 7kW.
The calculation made for domestic supply is that each property on average will require 1kW to 2kW. Of course at times this will be higher in some properties if people are using cookers or clothes dryers for example.
Local supply equipment is set however to cope with the average over the number of properties it supplies, on the basis they won’t all exceed the average at the same time.
However the 4kW plus for the heat pump and 7kW for the charger will be continuous and if many of the properties served are drawing this power, the local equipment will fail. Even just heat pumps running continuously on many properties will surcharge the local supply and it will shut down.
This is the factor that the idiots in charge and other commentators either do not understand or ignore.
The focus is on how to generate power but there are no plans or preparations to upgrade local supply network to cope. Indeed no plans to do the necessary expansion and upgrade of the grid from power station to points of consumption.
I recognise that you are talking about average load and that you’ve already stated that there will be times when some properties will be drawing more and others less. This is just to emphasise the point.
Our cooker is rated at 9.6 kW. That would be with oven, top oven/grill and all four ‘rings’ going at the same time – it rarely happens but it has happened on at least two occasions that I can think of. These occasions were Christmas and Easter within the last few years – if we’re doing that, so will some of our neighbours.
In addition, our gas boiler is rated at 30 kW. If we all have to dump that in favour of electrically heated water, morning showers are going to become blackout time.
On top of that if we have to charge EVs we’ll probably need ‘smarts’ to stop charging the EV when we want hot water… and to hell with needing the full range of the car later in the day.
Lastly, our incoming electricity cable is an old 60 Amp supply (14.4 kW). Cooker, leccy shower and EV charging will not run off such a puny supply, so that means a new cable from the substation – and the same for most of our neighbours on the estate.
Thanks for the info.
“Tesco and Shell to Buy Up Output of Controversial Kent Solar Farm Intended to…
… make ££££tens/hundreds of millions from taxpayer funded subsidies and trading Carbon Credit Certificates on the Carbon Credit Market.
Will power 100 000 homes – for how long? Not at night and not for most of the daytime in Winter when demand for electricity is at its highest, not every day or even every week.
“… by Tesco, which says Cleve Hill will help it cut emissions by powering up to 144 of its supermarkets.”
Which is a lie. Tesco will buy electricity from the grid much of it from gas power stations but use the Carbon Credit Certificates they get from the solar power boondoggle to “offset” the CO2 emissions to pretend they are using only “green” electricity.
It is a scam, and merely an accounting trick on paper which will save no CO2 emissions.
Aside from who’s using it, why is this solar farm so close to sea level?
I thought they’ve decreed it will all be underwater by a week on Tuesday?
Seeing all the destroyed solar panels in Florida after Milton passed through made me smile.
No, no. You see if we put in these solar panels then the sea level will stop rising so then they won’t get flooded. Also, there will never be any more storms so they will last forevah.. /s
This is exactly what an acquaintance told me recently. He was deadly serious. It’s terrifying and hilariously funny at the same time.
Kerching, kerching jackpot
Unless the feed from this “farm” goes directly to Tesco and Shell premises and nowhere else all they’re doing is purchasing an amount of electrons equivalent to those motivated to higher states by this abomination and fed into the national grid.
Sorry, but I’ve obviously lost the plot. How do you buy the entire output of a solar farm and then direct it to specific premises? Surely it can only go into the National Grid for general use?
Smoke and mirrors.
So will Tesco and Shell fully fund the construction of this site or will it be subsidised by the taxpayer?
Does this mean that the 144 Tesco stores will only open when it’s sunny at Cleeve Hill?