The Energy Secretary, Claire Coutinho, warned recently that Labour’s plans to decarbonise the electricity grid by 2030 could lead to blackouts. It was a bit rich, given that her own party’s plans will have exactly the same effect, the only difference being five years later.
Unfortunately, neither party seems to have any understanding of how our energy system works, nor any policy for how to keep the lights on when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine.
As energy experts know, there are often times during the year when wind power generation is at extremely low levels in the U.K. These wind lulls can last for weeks on end in winter, often cutting wind generation to less than 5% of capacity.
Solar power is no better. In mid-winter, output averages below 2% of capacity, and none is available at the peak demand periods of breakfast and early evening.
Reliance on imported power from Europe also carries with it an extreme risk. Not least because wind lulls around the U.K. usually mean similar conditions on the other side of the North Sea. Politicians who waffle on about energy security are happy to play Russian roulette when it comes to getting electricity from Europe.
National Grid projections say that peak demand for electricity could double to 100GW by 2035, thanks to extra demand from EVs, heat pumps and so on. Decarbonisation will mean that we will only have around 10GW of dispatchable and baseload capacity by then, mainly nuclear, biomass and hydro – power that we can rely on day in and day out. On top of that, we may have 20GW of interconnectors to Europe.
Clearly, we cannot rely on wind and solar to bridge the gap, no matter how many wind and solar farms we build. Twice nothing is still nothing!
In February I wrote an open letter to Claire Coutinho, following one such windless spell, asking her what plans she had to maintain the supply of electricity in 2035, once all the coal and gas power plants had been shut down. A colleague of mine, who happened to be one of her constituents, forwarded my letter to her.
We received the usual bland reply, assuring us that the Government was working on plans to provide low carbon alternatives, including nuclear, tidal power, hydrogen and storage. Her letter exposed the shocking naivety of those in charge of our energy policy.
So we replied with another letter, pointing out that none of the solutions would be available at scale in 10 years time. Hydrogen, for instance, would need hundreds of billions spending on electrolysers, distribution networks, seasonal storage and a new fleet of hydrogen burning power stations. On top of that, there simply would not be enough wind and solar capacity to provide the power needed to produce the hydrogen in bulk.
Carbon capture, which has still not been proven at scale, would also require a new fleet of gas power stations, as most existing ones cannot be modified. There are no plans, however, to begin building these.
As for energy storage, this is a pipe dream. Batteries are only capable of storing enough electricity for an hour or so’s use. They are useful for short term balancing of the grid, on a minute-to-minute basis, but will be useless when we go days on end with little wind power.
None of these “solutions” will be ready in 10 years time, never mind the five years proposed by the Labour Party.
The only way we can prevent blackouts is to start building new gas power stations now, and lots of them. We currently have around 30GW of gas power, but many plants will shut in the next few years, either because of old age or because they are not economically viable.
At a minimum we will need 50GW of new capacity, along with a plan to keep existing plants open as long as possible.
All of this was explained to Coutinho. It was therefore a great surprise to receive this reply from her Department. (My highlights).
In short, everything I had said was correct. It simply is not possible to shut down all coal and gas power stations and hope to rely on renewables. And now even the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero has acknowledged the fact.
So why did Claire Coutinho not admit this in her letter? Does she not understand how our energy sector works? Is she just spouting the propaganda fed to her by a small clique of advisers? Or does she know that she was talking nonsense, but didn’t dare admit that the Government’s decarbonisation plans are impossible to achieve?
Let’s be absolutely clear about the implications of the Castro letter. It drives a coach and horses through the Net Zero plans of both the Tories and Labour.
It is no longer possible for either party to pretend that we can decarbonise our power grid in the timescales they propose. Neither will it be possible at all without massively expensive alternatives, such as carbon capture, hydrogen and energy storage.
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“Anti Lockdown movement is large and growing” AIER.
Anti sceptic Babylon Bee is often outperforming covid zealous The Onion in satirical circles so, to start on a lighter note.
Ed. Sceptic Joe Rogan made an appearance here yesterday, I did not know his was the largest podcast in the English speaking world as AIER says above.
Sometimes my eyes glaze over as I scan the daily ’roundup’ of doom and gloom or another expert report giving a sceptic conclusion on something we all know that is not going to be read by government or SAGE.
We need more material like this from AIER
The HART bulletin is a good one to show to those still suffering from derangement syndrome.
Agreed, they covered some very good points but the AIER article might be therapeutic for LS readers who post about seeing no end on sight.
From what I’ve seen the Onion avoids anything to do with covid, vaccines, masks etc. Too hot to handle. Satire not permitted.
AIER is reporting on sceptics position in US – they must be STREETS ahead of us in that regard because we are very much in a shouted down and denigrated minority here
They have some real conservative/Republican states, who are refusing to kowtow to the lunacies of Fauci and the CDC.
“Covid March, answers needed from the BBC” CW.
Concludes with a beautifully edited six minute video which gives the best impression of the size and eclectic nature of the event I’ve seen thus far.
No wonder the police waited until the evening before trying to wade into the few hundred still partying in Hyde Park.
Yes, I found that film quite moving.
I was there. I’m still taken a back at how much positive energy there was that day. I felt a lump at the back of my throat several times, still do. And seeing that beautiful film brings those feelings all back.
Same here. And yet none of my acquaintances even knew it happened.
I hope they do now !
The same it was so uplifting, so persuaded my wife to come as well on 24 April; she is now hooked. Next rally Worldwide Freedom Day on 15 May, various around the country, but the next big one in London on 29 May. See standupx and white rose uk for more details especially nearer the time
See you there! 29th May.
“Busy Carmarthenshire pub threatened with fine or closure after opening for one day” Wales Online.
Usual tale of over zealous council officials threatening a business that is doing its best to comply.
Their response
‘Director for Communities said “we have been supporting and continue to support the hospitality industry . . .”
So that’s another word to add to the list bastardised by lockdown. Trans
“We have been strongarming and continue to strongarm the hospitality industry . . .”
Carmarthenshire is a hotbed of Covvistalinism.
Until this week, while you could into a shop or go get yourself a haircut, our riding centre could not give you a riding lesson in the outdoor school unless you were aged under 18. Cretins.
They should ban horse riding. It can be fatal.
“A horror story waiting to happen” Talk Radio.
Nice short concluding video with Right Said Fred who fear ‘mission creep’ over the vax passport; it’s not mission creep, full implementation of some version of CCP Socal Credit is the aim right from the start.
CNN medical expert espouses idea of ‘you’ll get your freedoms when you’ve been vaccinated’. OMG does she not even understand the implications of what she’s saying?!! She’s living in a free country! The western world is NOT under a CPP dictatorship! And never will be. Look to the people on the London march on 24th as one reason why!
Impfung macht Frei
She’s lost the plot.
She’s explaining the plot. She’s not lost it. She knows what she’s saying.
It’s looking ever more likely that America will win out over lockdown but expect the zealots to scream ever louder as their ship of fools slowly sinks.
Glug glug.
Not enough life jackets.
What a pity.
That statement scared the bejaysus out of me. That is what we are up against.
Same AIER article, the BBC might like quoting CNN but its not what it once was.
She understands.
Isn’t she the one who said there was a small window to implement/impose vaccines and vaccine passports, otherwise people might go out and enjoy themselves without either…?
CCP-style social control is the aim.
Very happy to see Fred and Richard Fairbrass!
“I’m, too sexy for this mask, too sexy for this mask
How sexy? Don’t even ask
…
I’m, too sexy for this jab, too sexy for this jab
I don’t need it, I’m FAB”
Minister Nadhim Zawahi told Sky News that the roadmap cannot be accelerated safely, the Telegraph reports, as there is still a “sizeable percentage” of the population for the “virus to go after and infect”
The flaw in this thinking is that the virus is at very low levels because of seasonality so infections will not rocket.
The government and SAGE still don’t comprehend seasonality.
Even Josef Stalin Dungford is proposing to accelerate Wales’s emergence from the concentration camp. Senedd elections coming up, you see. A bit of popularity is worth all the corpses that will undoubtedly pile up in our streets.
Do they comprehend anything?????
Nope.
Yes.
They’re lying. They have other motives.
Flat Earthers who don’t believe in seasonality, but in asymptomatic transmission.
We’re toast with such people in charge.
No, I disagree. Seasonality is an inconvenience to them
Of course they do – it just doesn’t suit them to say it out loud because it would dilute the project fear campaign. They have to keep this going as long as they can. The arrival of spring and then summer is horrendous timing for them.
I thought they were supposed to have scientists ? Spring seems to arrive the same time every year, followed by summer.
The other thing is that the “sizeable percentage” is made up of that slice of the population to whom Covid is a trivial illness – always assuming that they even know they’re infected!
We might know that – but sadly the average member of the population doesn’t know that and will still be swayed by the fear because they have now been so completely indoctrinated and they will buy in to the highly unscientific Zahawi statement – I am still trying to imagine a virus chasing after people.
The flaw is that those not yet vaccinated are those not particularly vulnerable to CV19 anyway because of age, or have natural or acquired immunity.
As Carl Vernon said yesterday, if it doesn’t make any sense, it’s a lie, or its not real.
Zawahi is lying. What he says doesn’t make sense.
‘Those not yet vaccinated are those not particularly vulnerable’? Please don’t ignore the many in the ‘vulnerable’ groups who have refused to allow this poison into their (our) bodies.
AIER is a brilliant site. They’re very cogent classical liberals who haven’t lost their minds to Trump Derangement Syndrome.
some of the best stuff written throughout this whole charade has been from AIER. If anyone will be justified in saying I told you so it will be them
The ‘Conservative Woman’ site has been brilliant throughout as well. Although of course a lot of people will never look at it…
That ‘Dr.’ Wen is a sick but honest creature. It’s her second assault and slip of the tongue now.
The key word in this one is ‘moment’, sheeples.
“Covid has emboldened our modern censors” Spectator.
Alex Belfield YouTube has been suspended for a week by YouTube apparently because he quoted something by Chis Whitty (h/t Mahyar Tousi YT), probably something Whitty no longer stands by.
Alex’s channel has gone from 200k subscribers at Xmas to 290k today and has had a cumulative total of 100 million views. He does not confine himself to Covid lockdown issues but the tone is slanted in that direction whatever the topic he is discussing.
Vaccine passports for injections which are still under clinical trial and which have already caused an unprecedented level of adverse reactions and deaths in those who have been injected?
The people who have taken this are part of the trial, but most of them are completely unaware of this fact, because the NHS and their Doctor and their government has lied to them. They have been criminally deceived by those they trust the most. We have to let the people know this. We have to get people to face up to the reality that they have been lied to in a way which seriously endangers their health, because that is the truth and we cannot allow this to go any further. We have more than enough proof that it is totally reckless to do this, and illegal and totalliy immoral.
These injections use experimental methods of inserting genetic code into the cells of the injected which causes the cells to produce spike proteins and this process comes with massive known and unknown short, medium and long term health risks.
Coronavirus vaccines have been worked on for decades but all failed animal trials because many animals became very ill after they were vaccinated and then came into contact with the wild virus, causing a paradoxical enhancement of the disease called Antibody Dependent Enhancement or Vaccine Enhanced Disease, leading to cases of serious illness and death.
This is a combination of genetic injection techniques which have never been approved before plus these are Coronavirus vaccines and all the research conducted over a period of decades suggests Coronavirus vaccines have a specific problem in that they make subjects more ill from Coronavirus than if they had no vaccine at all, and this can lead to death where no death would have otherwise have occurred. When you balance this with the actual risk of Covid19, which 99.97% of the under 70s survive with no intervention according to the best sources, and for which you can get effective treatments for like Ivermectin, there can be no doubt that this vaccine rollout is nothing but pure evil. To then restrict the freedom of the public on the back of it is surely a step too far, no?
That we are even having this conversation is proof positive that we have reached a stage where we are left with no option but to start taking steps to inform our fellow citizens what is being done to them in a very big way and how the government is tricking them into taking huge gambles with their health which are completely unnecessary and harmful to their future interests and wellbeing.
Informed consent disclosure to vaccine trial subjects of risk of COVID‐19 vaccines worsening clinical disease
Results of the study
COVID‐19 vaccines designed to elicit neutralising antibodies may sensitise vaccine recipients to more severe disease than if they were not vaccinated. Vaccines for SARS, MERS and RSV have never been approved, and the data generated in the development and testing of these vaccines suggest a serious mechanistic concern: that vaccines designed empirically using the traditional approach (consisting of the unmodified or minimally modified coronavirus viral spike to elicit neutralising antibodies), be they composed of protein, viral vector, DNA or RNA and irrespective of delivery method, may worsen COVID‐19 disease via antibody‐dependent enhancement (ADE). This risk is sufficiently obscured in clinical trial protocols and consent forms for ongoing COVID‐19 vaccine trials that adequate patient comprehension of this risk is unlikely to occur, obviating truly informed consent by subjects in these trials.
Conclusions drawn from the study and clinical implications
The specific and significant COVID‐19 risk of ADE should have been and should be prominently and independently disclosed to research subjects currently in vaccine trials, as well as those being recruited for the trials and future patients after vaccine approval, in order to meet the medical ethics standard of patient comprehension for informed consent.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ijcp.13795
I agree with you, but I think there are 2 inherent problems – firstly people are too brainwashed to believe that the vaccine they think they are so lucky and relieved to get could be harmful and won’t protect them and secondly the bulk of the population would have great difficulty trying to understand what you are trying to explain to them – we understand it because we have been reading and talking about it for the last 10 months or so; the average person on the street wouldn’t be able to take in what you are talking about. Add to that that there is now a vastly declining minority of people who have not been vaccinated, which means it is too late – the harms have been done already. All you would be able to do would be to deter some people from having second and subsequent doses.
The thing is that now they have had it, they might listen. The government is already modelling for the Antibody Dependent Enhancement.
SPI-M-O: Summary of further modelling ofeasing restrictions–Roadmap Step 2
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/975909/S1182_SPI-M-O_Summary_of_modelling_of_easing_roadmap_step_2_restrictions.pdf
“32. The resurgence in both hospitalisations and deaths is dominated by those that have received two doses of the vaccine, comprising around 60% and 70% of the wave respectively. This can be attributed to the high levels of uptake in the most at-risk age groups, such that immunisation failures account for more serious illness than unvaccinated individuals.”
Found the following paragraph in The Atlantic article mentioned above:
Emphasis mine.
Excuse me? We are wearing masks, not because they do any good whatsoever, but because we need to “set social standards and norms appropriate for a pandemic.”
I think the word for that is “Bullshit”.
And I think that same level of system-wide bullshit has infected Britain as badly as it has the United States (and many other places besides.) The useless face-nappy has become the meaningless lapel badge showing that “you care”. Another piece of worthless virtue-signalling. Except this time seriously impinging not just upon any concept of individuality and personal liberty, but the very act of being a human being living in society.
Indeed: a lot of American liberals wear masks even outside: not to protect themselves or anyone else against the virus, but to “own the cons” (to make a paraphrase).
Face masks are the Left’s equivalent of MAGA hats. It shows their virtue and adherence to the cause.
And it humiliates everyone else.