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1,000 km of Pylons Needed to Hit Net Zero Targets

by Richard Eldred
3 November 2024 7:00 PM

To meet its legally binding Net Zero target by 2030, Britain needs to construct a staggering thousand kilometres of new power lines and pylons. The Telegraph has the details.

A further 4,500 km (2,800 miles) of undersea cables will be needed so ministers can hit their clean energy targets, analysis from the National Energy System Operator (Neso) reportedly says.

It comes after years of warnings that Britain’s legally binding Net Zero targets, which aim to “decarbonise” the electricity generation system, risk triggering blackouts and forcing people to switch off electrical appliances at times when the grid can no longer meet demand.

Commissioned by Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, a new Neso report suggests the electricity grid needs £40 billion of investment per year in new cables and renewable energy sources to deliver Mr. Miliband’s Net Zero demands, according to the Sunday Times. …

The U.K. is importing record amounts of electricity from Europe just to keep the lights on, the Telegraph revealed this week, with net imports of 26.3 terawatt-hours between January and September setting a new record. …

Increasing reliance on interconnectors – giant undersea power cables such as the 1,000-megawatt BritNed link between the U.K. and the Netherlands – also exposes Britain to geopolitical risks, critics say.

Three years ago France threatened to cut off electricity supplies to Jersey after the Channel Island’s authorities declined to grant extra permits to French fishermen wanting to operate in its waters.

Worth reading in full.

Tags: Climate changeEd MilibandEnergy PolicyLabour PartyNet Zero

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27 Comments
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Gezza England
Gezza England
8 months ago

Nothing highlights the complete stupidity of Net Zero better than having closed down our steel production because of Net Zero we will have to import all the steel for any pylons that do get built from China. Or India maybe as the company that has closed our blast furnaces is building some more in India.

15
0
soundofreason
soundofreason
8 months ago
Reply to  Gezza England

No. No! We can build the pylons from plastic which we can make from our North Sea o…

Oops.

13
0
Jabby Mcstiff
Jabby Mcstiff
8 months ago

I was talking to a stroke patient in hospital and he worked in power infrastructure. He said that if we needed to change ours the skill base simply doesn’t exist. You couldn’t just pick up a squad of English workers and expect them to know about it. This is wild talk because the skills have been lost amongst the natives and the recent immigrants to this country look well-meaning at best. These guys aren’t Mensa. Trust me you aren’t building anything.

12
0
Sue
Sue
8 months ago
Reply to  Jabby Mcstiff

Apropos that matter, here ‘s something to add into the mix.
https://thecritic.co.uk/countdown-to-energy-apocalypse/

1
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
8 months ago

I find the very suggestion that hitting nut zero in any time scale absolutely barking mad. Nut zero is an impossibility and that’s all there is to it.

17
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
8 months ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

Indeed. I would also question the phrase “legally binding”. Britain is not “legally bound” to anything. The Climate Change Act 2008 makes it a duty of the Govt to meet certain targets. The Govt of the day made that law and the current Govt can repeal it. What will the Govt do if it doesn’t meet the target? Beat itself on the bottom with a Woman’s Weekly?

18
0
soundofreason
soundofreason
8 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

I’m sure Victoria Wood be proud!

6
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
8 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

Absolutely tof.👍

“Legally binding.” Only when it suits.

8
0
Gezza England
Gezza England
8 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

The actual target is set out in secondary legislation – regulations. These can easily be changed.

1
0
JohnK
JohnK
8 months ago

Inevitably, a lot of the old pylons are in the wrong place with various shutdowns. I live quite close to one or two of the traditional lattice shaped ones, but I’ve seen a few of the modern T-shaped ones, which have built for Hinkley C: https://www.nationalgrid.com/national-grid-energise-worlds-first-t-pylons

3
0
NeilofWatford
NeilofWatford
8 months ago

1000km?
English miles please.
Don’t use the globalists language

7
-1
soundofreason
soundofreason
8 months ago
Reply to  NeilofWatford

625 miles – a less punchy number.

3
0
MajorMajor
MajorMajor
8 months ago

Just like communism that was always a few hundred thousand corpses away from implementing the perfect society net zero will always be a few hundred thousand wind farms away from supplying us with electricity.

8
0
EppingBlogger
EppingBlogger
8 months ago

I had wondered when energy blackmail would start. I anticipated it would start with France. I did not know it had happened under the last government; they kept quiet about it didn’t they.

I am amazed the usually sensible CI would allow themselves to become dependant on a predatory opponent.

CI need a couple of mini nukes.

3
0
Judy Watson
Judy Watson
8 months ago
Reply to  EppingBlogger

Please give me a clue – what is CI?

1
0
Just Stop it Now
Just Stop it Now
8 months ago
Reply to  Judy Watson

Clue’s in the article – Channel Islands

1
0
Matt Dalby
Matt Dalby
8 months ago

£40 billion a year would add at least £1,000 to every household’s bill depending on how the cost was split between domestic and business consumers. Assuming that the cost is added to the standing charge, meaning everyone pays the same amount extra, which pays for infrastructure, rather than the per unit cost of the electricity used some people (such as myself) could see their bills treble. How are people on low incomes meant to find an extra £1,000 a year?

3
0
soundofreason
soundofreason
8 months ago
Reply to  Matt Dalby

Ah. but to save the planet anything is worth it!

4
0
EppingBlogger
EppingBlogger
8 months ago

Around Aldeburgh, south of Sizewell, there are many posters calling for no pylons and claim that nuclear power is not CO2 free. I guess the owners want renewables without the grid distribution and deny the CO2 used to build windmills and solar panels.

4
0
Purpleone
Purpleone
8 months ago
Reply to  EppingBlogger

As many others have said here, these peoples trap grasp of reality, and what is actually required to engineer it, are some distance apart… e.g. light years

0
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
8 months ago

https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/article/party-political-system-must-be-abolished

A very interesting article outlining why we need a wholesale overhaul of our political system.

1
0
Marcus Aurelius knew
Marcus Aurelius knew
8 months ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

Britain needs a successful Guy Fawkes.

2
0
soundofreason
soundofreason
8 months ago
Reply to  Marcus Aurelius knew

Does anyone else think there have been fewer fireworks this year? People unwilling to waste so much money?

My dog certainly approves.

2
0
Gezza England
Gezza England
8 months ago
Reply to  soundofreason

Plenty around my way. While waiting for the display to start at my chosen one on Saturday there were 3 others visible and the main one in my village was last night.

1
0
Dinger64
Dinger64
8 months ago

Undersea cables, electrical or fibre optic, are completely made by using Hydrocarbon fuels in their mining, construction and materials! So are high tension cables and pylons.
How do you carry on replacing and maintaining all this hydrocarbon based infrastructure when your ultimate goal is to ditch all of it?

Cables-subterraneos-2
Last edited 8 months ago by Dinger64
2
0
Gezza England
Gezza England
8 months ago
Reply to  Dinger64

You can use plant based insulation like the soya based stuff used on cars that the rats have found so tasty…..ah….

0
0
coviture2020
coviture2020
8 months ago

What provision is there for when the caravan of pylons confront a solar farm or wind Mills which by then are “the countryside”?

0
0

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