PM Timmy_Goat

Sorry I was out last night but just a few points in response to your post.

I think an important point is that we are moving away from the load tracking ‘predict and provide’ model of a fossil system. It is not just about dispatchable power any more. Whilst this will be important there will be other possible solutions.

E.g. demand response already exists for some large electricity users. E.g. it can be cheaper to pay someone not to use electricity than to generate it. If you are a customer of Octopus or a user of the Loop app you can get involved in this over the winter. They are going to pay people to help shave the peak at certain times.

Other possibilities involve using some kind of Carbon Capture with limited fossil (e.g. for peak demand) or bigger networks / more interconnectors e.g. this ambitious X-Links project:
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On the storage side there are multiple possible technologies that are in development. The cost of batteries is falling sharply like solar did, but in the long run it seems hydrogen will probably play some kind of role at a grid scale.

The electrification of heating and transport does add an additional challenge but there are some studies that look at using car batteries as a form of flexibility on the system.

I would completely agree that this is a daunting and difficult challenge but if you believe that the consequences of climate change are as serious as the science suggests then it is something we need to get on with urgency. And there are examples of other places which have 100% renewable systems. Denmark is a good comparator for the UK in some respects (e.g. no major hydro) and is 75% renewable electricity now. There are positive examples in all sorts of places. We just need to do it everywhere and quickly.

Just Stop Oil are basically saying that we need to get on with this kind of stuff rather than issuing new licenses to extract oil and gas from the North Sea. Whilst their tactics are clearly divisive, I think that basic argument is valid and is supported by a range of other bodies including the government’s own Committee for Climate Change, the International Energy Agency and the head of the UN.

Posted By: Knitted Jesus, Nov 12, 09:19:25