How much renewable power does the Uk now produce?

The latest quarterly government figures for energy output and use relate to the third quarter of 2021. It is true this was a poor quarter for wind and solar output of electricity, but it is worthwhile looking at what happened as this was an actual outturn after huge investment in renewables. Whilst itĀ  was unfortunate that the wind did not blow much and the sun did not shine much, it was also quite a mild period meaning the system was not fully stretched by high demand which would have been met from fossil fuels.

The Business Department Report says “Output from wind, solar and hydro was low due to prevailing weather conditions” . “Unfavourable weather conditions meant that renewable generation fell to 24.3TWh, the lowest value in four years… Wind was particularly affected , down 30% on the same period last year”

The renewables figure they cite for output includes a substantial contribution from biomass or wood pellet. Wind only delivered 15.1% of our total electricity for the quarter, solar 6.2%, with hydro at just 1%. This makes a total of 22.3% from renewables for the whole three month period , under one quarter of our needs. This should put into context the claims of those who say wind is now providingĀ  the answer.

All three remainingĀ  coal power stations had to be brought into use, with a 155% increase in coal based power on a low base. Overall coal imports rose 18%.

The policy furthered the trend of making us more and more dependent on imports. In the case of coal most isĀ  now imported. 48% of the imports came from Russia. Primary oils demand rose by 14% largelyĀ  met from imports.Ā  Domestic gas production was down by 11% also increasing dependence on foreign energy.

In 2021 the UK ran down its stocks of oil following a change in the stockholding protocol in January. The policy of closing gas storage is now being mirrored with the run down of oil stocks, further undermining our energy resilience as a country.

The Business Department needs to turn its attention to replacing more of these imports with UK energy. The National Security Council should be concerned about our growing reliance on the goodwill of foreigners when Europe as a whole is short of energy and when Russia intends to use its dominant positions inĀ  gas and coal as part of its diplomatic leverage.

210 Comments

  1. Mark B
    January 4, 2022

    Good morning.

    There are three problems that I see with so called renewables.

    First is that they are intermittent. One cannot with any certainty state that a wind turbine or a solar panel will generate ‘x’ amount of energy consistently and reliably.

    Secondly, cost. The construction and decommissioning costs can be quite high given that, due to the above, one would have to factor in more kWh output for wind turbines compared to oil, gas or coal fired stations. These fossil fueled power station are of a known kWh output and not reliant on weather or the time of day. They can be phased into a generating network with known and controllable output. The decommissioning is, I argue, more cost prohibitive as many wind turbines are located out to sea making such a task both difficult and dangerous. This increases the price of decommissioning. It also does not help if the life expectancy of such turbines is not as good as fossil fueled stations as both construction and decommissioning, not to forget on going maintenance, can be very challenging.

    Thirdly growth. A fossil fueled or nuclear power station can be relatively upscaled to meet growing demand. Wind and solar power stations consume more area per kWh and, in the case of solar, reduce our ability to grow our own food.

    Whilst I believe there is a strong case for local small scale generator capacity I do not believe that such systems are suitable for a national grid.

    The next GE is scheduled to be May 2024. By my reckoning that gives you, the CONservative Party and your leader about another 6 months to sort this and other messes it has gotten us into out. You need the next 18 months to convince people that you are still worth voting for, and I guess by the way some of you recent articles you know this.

    1. lifelogic
      January 4, 2022

      +1

    2. lifelogic
      January 4, 2022

      They do not even save any significant CO2 either after construction, maintenance and back up is accounted for.

    3. turboterrier
      January 4, 2022

      Mark B
      When you factor in the costs of safe blade disposal and the removal of the concrete bases which is suppose to happen as part of the planning permission it gets very expensive.
      Will it happen? Will it dick.

      1. Micky Taking
        January 4, 2022

        Raw material, energy consumption, H&S required , Manufacture, transport, installation resources.
        Then an enormous set of ‘blades’ to make use of doing what?, followed by a massive ultra-heavyweight block of concrete ideal for….

        1. Fedupsoutherner
          January 4, 2022

          Micky. Yes a concrete block the size of an Olympic swimming pool often built on an ancient peat bog releasing massive amounts of CO2.

          1. Micky Taking
            January 5, 2022

            FUS – you couldn’t think of what do with them either? I did think they would be useful when wanting to build a dam somewhere, but transporting them?

  2. Oldtimer
    January 4, 2022

    Those results count as a FAIL for the UK’s renewable energy policy.

    1. glen cullen
      January 4, 2022

      Under this woke government no-one ‘fails’……they’ll just build more windfarms

  3. Fedupsoutherner
    January 4, 2022

    Ministers from all parties have been warned over many years that this would hapoen This whole situation was avoidable if ministers had listened to the real experts and not those making a fortune out of wind and solar. That includes many MP’S who have their noses in the troughs pushing for renewables. It’s obvious that to rely on weather for our energy is folly and countries like Australia and USA have shown that power cuts are inevitable if too much reliance is placed on them . We are at the mercy of unfriendly countries for much of our energy now and that is a very stupid place to be. If we NEED fossil fuels then use our own. I am awake early unable to go back to sleep trying to figure out a way of reducing my energy bills but I can’t find a solution. We know prices will rise again soon and I just cannot see where some people are going to find the extra cash needed to heat and cook WHEN IS THIS GOVERNMENT, AND INDEED, all PARTIES GOING TO WAKE UP AND DO SOMETHING SENSIBLE? This country has never been so vulnerable to what amounts to foreign control. You’re posts on energy have been excellent John. Thank you.

    1. turboterrier
      January 4, 2022

      F U S
      Noses in troughs?
      Brilliant entry on energy as usual.
      Most of our politicians have their heads where the sun don’t shine when it comes to this subject. Totally clueless, ignorant and incompetent.

    2. SM
      January 4, 2022

      +10

    3. agricola
      January 4, 2022

      An off piste suggestion based on no knowledge of your circumstances. Sell up in the South of England and move south to at least the Med, Canaries might be better. Buy a modest house,ā‚¬400,000 should more than cover it. The cost of living is way below that in the UK, whatever you look at. You can run your fridge and other modest needs with a well thought out solar system because the sun shines. You can even refuel that electric car you have been thinking about, all for nothing. The only challenge is learning the language or some of it. You can then live the local life more fully while avoiding most fellow Brits.

      1. turboterrier
        January 4, 2022

        agricola
        I tried that for 5 years and like living anywhere it reads better than it lives.

        1. agricola
          January 4, 2022

          Don’t understand what you are trying to say. My four times a year holiday visits for 14 years followed by 14 years of permanent residence have convinced me of what I wrote. Only UK responsibilities will get me to give it up.

      2. Mike Wilson
        January 4, 2022

        I live in the South, in West Dorset. I have my gas boiler fired central heating set to come on at 17 degrees. It rarely comes on. Itā€™s cold out today, 5 degrees according to my car, but it is 17.5 degrees in the house. I am happy to wear a jumper indoors at this time of the year. Our gas bill is about Ā£400 a year – combo boiler heats the hot water.

      3. Fedupsoutherner
        January 4, 2022

        Agricola. I was a resident of Spain fir 5 years abd couldn’t wait to get back to the UK. The Spanish are too noisy late at night, I hate the way the shops close in the afternoons, our water was unfit to drink, and being a woman of a certain age, it was too damn hot especially at night. Add the problem of (criminals ed) everywhere breaking into houses and the fact that if you are old with illnesses the is nowhere to go to be cared for it isn’t actually as great as it seems. Give me Shropshire any day.

        1. Shirley M
          January 5, 2022

          Thank you FUS. That explains something that has always puzzled me. When Spanish homes are shown on TV they almost always have bars on the windows, and often the entrance doors have additional security gates too. Criminality must be quite severe to require such widespread actions.

        2. Micky Taking
          January 5, 2022

          and the bulls allowed into china shops!

  4. DOM
    January 4, 2022

    Good work

    It seems those who encourage UK energy dependency on foreign imports to compensate for useless and expensive non-fossil fuel sources of energy have indeed an ulterior political motive, have deliberate intent and appear immune to the harm they are now causing. It is the only possible conclusion for such destructive and malicious public policy action

    God forbid the UK was entirely dependent on non-fossil sources of energy which is the ultimate aim of those who propagate such bilge with intent to harm the economic and social interests of the UK

    Socialist ideology is destroying the goodness and decency of our nation and the Tory party’s refusal to oppose it has caused considerable damage

    1. Shirley M
      January 4, 2022

      +1 DOM. The thickest person on the planet could see the damage being done to the future of the UK by the energy policy (or lack of one). Is the government more stupid than a confirmed idiot? I doubt they are ALL stupid. If the energy crisis and damage is not caused by stupidity then it has to be by intent! If by intent, then we need to know who will benefit? It certainly isn’t our country or the majority of our countrymen.

    2. No Longer Anonymous
      January 4, 2022

      BBC Jeremy Vine today. All about keeping windows open in winter and wearing a coat to avoid Covid.

      How is this to square with heating costs ?

      During the show it’s a given that masks are here to stay forever too. To “keep us out of danger” as he kept saying.

      The BBC does not want this crisis to end. It’s loving it.

      1. glen cullen
        January 4, 2022

        The ‘keeping the windows open’ was only suppose to be for the plebs

    3. glen cullen
      January 4, 2022

      France is considering a plan to allow electricity producers to burn more coal after the nationā€™s grid operator warned of possible power shortages
      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-04/energy-starved-france-mulls-burning-more-coal-to-keep-lights-on?fbclid=IwAR2CJwm6ghtMslrIy6YOWnltKAJN_e2sMwXXVSi6-UgAkVaPwxGTk0zc4Kw

  5. Lifelogic
    January 4, 2022

    Indeed a good analysis. We clearly have total fools in charge of energy who have no understanding of the issues or the seriousness of the problem – driven by religion rather than engineering and by people who probably do not even have a physics A level between them. This is very dangerous indeed, economic and political insanity.

    “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.” as Richard Feynman put it after “politicians” had exploded some teachers and astronauts in the shuttle rather than listening to the honest engineers.

    But do not worry the brilliant Labour lawyer & MP and famous tweeter of her contempt for patriotic/white van men suggests we can use wave power as the “waves continue even when there is no wind”. Demonstrating she is not even at first base on the topic.

    We need cheap on demand energy this can only realistically come from fossil fuels short terms and better nuclear and fusion in the medium term. So get fracking and drilling please.

    1. acorn
      January 4, 2022

      If JR wants gas independence, the only option he has is fracking for it, mostly in the Red Wall constituencies of the Bowland Basin. The quantity of recoverable gas estimates get smaller every year. Somewhere between 25 to 130 trillion cubic feet (tcf) at the moment. The UK consumes circa 2.7 tcf a year,so that gives 10 to 48 years worth.

      Apart from having to get permissions to drill from several quangos, some brave minister would have to raise the earthquake pause limit from 0.5 to at least 3; if not the North American 4. Otherwise it will take years to get some gas.

      Also, the UK is offering a miserly 1% royalty payments to the locals. You can get 12% in the US!

      1. glen cullen
        January 4, 2022

        Let get on with it…..get fracking

      2. Peter2
        January 4, 2022

        0.5 is a lorry going past your house.

        But I agree that to encourage local communities to accept fracking near them, there needs to be far more of the benefit focused on their area.

        1. Micky Taking
          January 5, 2022

          What was Concorde’s score as it flew past?

  6. Lifelogic
    January 4, 2022

    “The renewables figure they cite for output includes a substantial contribution from biomass or wood pellet.” or young coal as I call it. Young coal is less efficient in CO2 emissions per MWHour especially after all the fossil fuels used to harvest it and transport it. So why include wood (but not old wood/coal)? It makes no scientific sense at all.

    If you want to reduce CO2 which is not actually needed anyway (as there is no imminent climate emergency) then chop down the old trees use the wood to build with or bury it and plant new trees in their place and repeat. Burning trees at Drax is a political con trick that will not help CO2 at all.

    1. Lifelogic
      January 4, 2022

      A very expensive and pointless political con trick too.

    2. BOF
      January 4, 2022

      LL. Agree. Especially Drax.

    3. Leslie Singleton
      January 4, 2022

      Dear lifelogic–We are basically talking sawdust which you would have to be crazy to grow, cut down and produce, load in to ghastly polluting diesel-powered ships and transport across the Atlantic before unloading and burning. Rather than honestly call it for instance sawdust-burning (or wood chip ditto if you like) they have started talking about biomass (weight of life???) because they reckon that will impress more people with how clever the process is. And won’t be long before wood burning domestic stoves will be made illegal. Ridiculous. Drax apparently meets certain criteria and these are OK they reckon for the next few years despite the fact that they are obviously nonsense.

  7. Ian Wragg
    January 4, 2022

    Even then renewable didn’t produce when most needed , ie at peak demand.
    Keeping fossil fuel stations on hot standby is a very expensive business. Never mind, it’s only our money.

    1. lifelogic
      January 4, 2022

      +1 v. expensive and v. wasteful.

    2. turboterrier
      January 4, 2022

      Ian Wragg

      Well said Ian.
      The part of our energy production that always seems to be ignored,that and the distribution infrastructure.

    3. Ian Wragg
      January 4, 2022

      What about the latest from the agricultural trashing department. Farmers are going to be paid to re wild.
      No mention of increasing food production just relying in more imports to keep CO2 production down.
      Government won’t be happy until every vestige of industry had gone then where do we get the money to import.

      1. alan jutson
        January 4, 2022

        Ian

        To both of your comments, yes they have lost the plot !

  8. Shirley M
    January 4, 2022

    The future for UK energy is bleak, with worse to come. People are beginning to realise the costs involved, indeed how can they avoid it when huge price increases are being imposed on the public and business due to the lack of government planning for the future. Lack of home heating will kill more people than covid and pressure the NHS with avoidable illnesses.

    Boris is trying to achieve the impossible, ie. sacrifice the UK to save the world from ‘climate change’. I do not doubt that Boris can destroy the UK, but it will not make a blind bit of difference to the worlds climate.

    1. turboterrier
      January 4, 2022

      Shirley M

      Exactly. Good post.
      Destroy the UK? Not a problem he is well over half way with his pathetic Band of Brothers. It has gone way past the pressure guages alÄŗ showing red.

    2. Donna
      January 4, 2022

      No, he’s not trying to save the world from Climate Change. He’s appeasing the UN/WEF and the Eco Charity-Quangos (plus ‘er indoors) and is polishing his credentials for the Globalist job he wants when he is out of Downing St.

      1. Mark B
        January 4, 2022

        +1

      2. Pauline Baxter
        January 4, 2022

        Donna. You’ve said it!
        I almost did but didn’t quite dare to.

      3. No Longer Anonymous
        January 4, 2022

        Yes. You’d think – having spent two years in various forms of lockdown, not doing much in the way of travel or entertainment – that we’d have saved a few carbon credits by now and that they’d cut us a bit of slack on green taxes.

    3. No Longer Anonymous
      January 4, 2022

      The future is bleak full stop and it is here and now.

      People reporting that their energy bills have doubled and this is just the start.

      The Tories are going to be battling the next general election against hardships that a good many people have never experienced.

      Now they can’t even say that “Labour will be worse” because IT COULD NOT BE WORSE !

    4. glen cullen
      January 4, 2022

      Spot On Shirley M

  9. Sea_Warrior
    January 4, 2022

    How many of your colleagues think like you do on this matter, Sir John? There must be enough of them to force a change of policy, surely? May I suggest that ‘Energy Security’ now needs its own Secretary of State.

    1. lifelogic
      January 4, 2022

      Indeed Lords Peter Lilley and Matt Ridley to oversee this please. Without reliable energy we have no sound economy, no real defence, no functioning hospitals, schools, no factories, transportā€¦ We also need a group of sensible and honest scientist and engineers to point out the reality of these idiotic policies. Policies such as we have on energy, net zero, the extended lockdowns, immigration levels, the bloated side of government and totally misguided and OTT Covid responseā€¦

      25% of the state sector off work in many areas it seems – will many notice?

      1. dixie
        January 4, 2022

        An economist and someone with a background in Pheasant breeding? You need to do so much better than that.

        1. lifelogic
          January 4, 2022

          Both read Nat Sci Oxford and Cambridge will probably have decent maths and physics A levels – Lilley switched to Economics later. The point is what they say now is largely correct.

          1. dixie
            January 4, 2022

            So what if they read natural sciences at some university 40 or so years ago, that doesn’t magically make them experts in the science and engineering today.
            And just because you agree with what they say doesn’t make them correct.

          2. lifelogic
            January 5, 2022

            Dixie – “just because you agree with what they say doesnā€™t make them correct” of course it does!

      2. Sea_Warrior
        January 4, 2022

        What was the absentee rate for the NHS on New Year’s Eve? Something like a tenth, with half ‘self-isolating’? I hope that Javid will provide an explanation of why so many of the others weren’t working.

        1. Andy
          January 4, 2022

          Because they have Covid or have been in contact with someone who has. And they work with very sick and dying people. It ainā€™t rocket science. You were warned. You gambled again. You lost. Again.

          1. Sea_Warrior
            January 4, 2022

            The number of NHS staff missing on New Year’s Eve was substantially more than the entire strength of the British Army.

          2. Micky Taking
            January 4, 2022

            yes we, and much of the world gambled on China being an open, honest, responsible nation to trade with.
            Well we really lost the bet, big time!

          3. No Longer Anonymous
            January 4, 2022

            Few of them are ill with covid or have symptoms. Were it not for dodgy testing we would not be in this situation.

            Died *with* or *of* covid is still a state secret for some reason.

          4. John C.
            January 4, 2022

            Stop this crude, meaningless abuse, Sir John. You are too tolerant.

          5. Bill B.
            January 4, 2022

            Andy, it ain’t any kind of science. It’s propaganda.

          6. Nottingham Lad Himself
            January 5, 2022

            Yes, in the village here in the North most of my immediate neighbours are down with covid19 – apparently spread in the local pub.

            Most of them were vaccinated, but nonetheless quite a few have been rather poorly. Nor are they old.

            It’s not just the NHS. Most services are suffering similarly-related staff shortages.

            You wanted to let this disease rip.

            Well done, you have what you want, now own the results.

      3. lifelogic
        January 4, 2022

        In the Telegraph today on new takeover rules where national security is involved – Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, said the overhaul represents the biggest change in Britainā€™s national security regime for 20 years. He added: ā€œThe UK is world-renowned as an attractive place to invest but we have always been clear that we will not hesitate to step in where necessary to protect our national security.ā€

        What sort of national security, economy and defences do we have Kwasi without reliable, cost effective and on demand energy? Get on to it Kwasi!

        1. X-Tory
          January 4, 2022

          Kwarteng is a LIAR. There is no point having more powers if you are not going to use them. I have pointed out before the number of cutting-edge scientific start-ups that he has allowed to be snapped up by foreign asset-strippers. We are losing the vital companies of the future, and Kwarteng is doing sweet FA about it.

      4. lister
        January 4, 2022

        Lilley’s ” I have a little list ” on youtube went down well at the time but perhaps it wouldn’t today.

  10. lifelogic
    January 4, 2022

    I usually agree with Charles Moore but perhaps not today.

    ā€œOf course Tony Blair should be knightedā€
    Charles Moore

    I have seen several articles defending him and listing all the ā€œpositiveā€ things he did other than his moronic wars. But they too all seems huge negatives to me. Did he actually do anything positive at all? I can find nothing? Even the dire Theresa May brought in opt out organ donation which will save many lives and quality of lives – but what single positive did PM Blair ever do?

    1. lifelogic
      January 4, 2022

      Blair surely only became PM due the John Major being such a disaster with his stance on the EU and his ERM fiasco. This destroyed the parties reputation for (relative) economic competence for many terms and gave Labour a huge landslide. Major did not even say sorry for his massively damaging and entirely predictable ERM blunder and has not even learned anything from it.

      Now we have Boris and net zero which will be even worse than the ERM if he does not do a U-turn rapidly.

      One could of course reasonable blame Thatcher for appointing such an obvious fool – initially as Chancellor and then even supporting him to be PM.

      1. Polly
        January 4, 2022

        What is the explanation?

        There is so much evidence strongly suggesting UK politics has been eaten alive by corruption since 1990.

        Nobody seems interested though. Even when the evidence is produced on a plate.

        That’s true, isn’t it, Mr Redwood?

        You’re not interested. Are you?

        Reply This site does not have the legal resource or research capability to pursue allegations against former highly placed people. I have no intention of posting allegations about events long ago. If you have evidence of past wrong doing of a criminal nature you should send it to the authorities for proper investigation. If you just wish to attack named people then try the professional media and papers who do get stories out of knocking people’s reputations.

        Polly

      2. Original Richard
        January 4, 2022

        lifelogic : ā€œNow we have Boris and net zero which will be even worse than the ERM if he does not do a U-turn rapidly.ā€

        I think youā€™re right to compare the Net Zero Strategy with John Majorā€™s ERM/Black Wednesday fiasco where John Major expended billions of pounds worth of foreign exchange reserves in an ultimately futile attempt to prevent Black Wednesday.

        This time Mr. Boreas Johnson will expend billions of pounds in a futile attempt to stop the lights going out and the Conservative Partyā€™s reputation for effective governance will be destroyed for a generation.

        The ERM fiasco was as a result of the pro-EU policies from the Britphobes at the Treasury and this time it will be as a result of following the ridiculous science denying, unilateral net zero CO2 booby trap devised by the Marxist Britphobes at BEIS.

        1. lifelogic
          January 4, 2022

          +1

    2. Fedupsoutherner
      January 4, 2022

      AgreeL/L. Pulling out of Afghanistan to go to Iraq and letting the Taliban get the upper hand again before going back into Afghanistan was a decision that cost many soldiers lives

      1. lifelogic
        January 4, 2022

        Plus hundreds of thousands of other lives.

      2. BOF
        January 4, 2022

        LL. +1

    3. Cynic
      January 4, 2022

      @LL Blair’s positive contribution – was his resignation.

      1. turboterrier
        January 4, 2022

        Cynic
        +1

      2. lifelogic
        January 4, 2022

        Rather late alas.

    4. BOF
      January 4, 2022

      LL. I signed the petition for one reason. Dr. David Kelly.

      1. lifelogic
        January 4, 2022

        +1 but many others.

      2. Paul Cuthbertson
        January 5, 2022

        BOF – I was going to make the same comment. However I did not sign the petition because Blair will get his knighthood regardless.

        1. Micky Taking
          January 5, 2022

          some of us prefer to make our views known, others sit on hands…

    5. Richard1
      January 4, 2022

      I think he should be, he was PM for 10 years. But itā€™s good to see the public outcry as we should remind ourselves what a disaster the 13 years of Labour govt under Blair and brown were. The Iraq war, the sale of the gold, the ramp up of leverage of the banking system and subsequent botched bailout, the Great Recession, the disastrous devolution policy and the signing of federalising EU treaties without referenda, amount to a terrible record, and one from which it will take decades to recover.

      By contrast, Margaret Thatcher, the other long serving post war PM, was even at the time of her resignation recognised as a world-historic figure who transformed the world by winning the Cold War together with Reagan, and implemented policies in the U.K. which have been imitated and followed all over the world to the great benefit of humanity. Blair will be a forgotten footnote in history in 50 or 100 years, whereas Thatcher will be remembered alongside Churchill as one of the 2 greatest PMs of the 20th century.

      1. Paul Cuthbertson
        January 5, 2022

        Richard 1 – You forgot the introduction of the postal voting system. That is why he stayed as long as he did.

    6. BW
      January 4, 2022

      He apparently got his gong for service to the country. He broke the U.K. with devolution madness costing billions leaving the nations of the U.K. bickering with each other on a permanent basis. He and his Iron chancellor nearly bankrupted the country. He brought human rights ā€œhomeā€ which is now abused by all who wish us harm. He took us into dubious wars costing billions.
      Well if service to the country is what is needed, I served my country and Queen as a soldier for 24 years. I served in the police for 15 years. 39 years service for Queen and country tours of Ireland, the Gulf, Cyrus when the Turks arrived 4 police commendations. So where is my honour for service to the country.
      I spent all my working life serving the Queen and I am not even allowed to wear her Golden Jubilee medal. Let alone any honour. You would have thought anyone with a campaign medal would have that small honour. So service to the country is not a reason for a knighthood and the top one at that.
      The honour system is clearly broken and has been brought into disrepute. It is clearly not fit for purpose.
      I hope the petition against the ex PM gathers pace. Then the MPs will have to debate it for an hour with a lot of hot air before knocking off and going for their subsidised lunches, patting themselves on the back for a good hours work.

      1. SM
        January 4, 2022

        Thank you for your contribution(s) to the UK. Unfortunately, the petition you refer to will have no effect, as the choice of members of the Order of the Garter has been in the personal gift of the Sovereign since an agreement with both Attlee and Churchill in 1946, and there is absolutely no requirement to act on, or solicit the advice of, the Government of the day.

        1. Pauline Baxter
          January 4, 2022

          Thank you SM for clarifying that, which I suspected was the case.

      2. lifelogic
        January 4, 2022

        +1

      3. Paul Cuthbertson
        January 5, 2022

        BW – incompetence always gets rewarded

    7. Donna
      January 4, 2022

      He did nothing positive for the UK. But but quite a lot for the millions of immigrants he shipped in here, most of whom were not highly educated individuals who were going to adapt easily to life in the UK and make a substantial contribution to our country.

    8. Sir Joe Soap
      January 4, 2022

      He replaced Major which was undoubtedly A Good Thing as the Conservatives, like today, were lost. Perhaps by being faux socialist he actually stopped the Marxist tendency we have today.

      Look at the tax rates in the early years and wince about today’s.
      Look at the employment regulations then and today.
      Look at the investment rules then and today.

      Remember A-day 2006? Want to put Ā£265K into your pension each year? You could do it then.

      I seem to remember investing and running a business in that period 2000-2007 was possible in terms of freedom to act and hire. No menopause champions then.

      I’d swap 2007 after 10 years of Blair for 2020 after 10 years of Tory rule any day.

      1. Micky Taking
        January 4, 2022

        phew….I couldn’t go THAT far.

    9. Andy
      January 4, 2022

      Blair made the country happier, healthier and wealthier.

      And when I say ā€˜the countryā€™ I donā€™t just mean a few billionaires and an angry bunch of ranting old people.

      His government invested in schools and hospitals, waiting lists went down.

      I only voted for the bloke once but he was head and shoulders the best PM we have had in my lifetime. The others donā€™t come close. Johnson is obviously the worst, followed by Thatcher.

      1. Richard1
        January 4, 2022

        Thatcher was a world-historic figure. The Cold War victory and the triumph of free market economics over socialism has lifted billions out of poverty. By contrast Blair, although undoubtedly a good political salesman (like Boris Johnson), left a trail of disaster and will be forgotten by history. The bank crash and Great Recession, the sale of the gold, the Iraq war, devolution and the EU treaties with no referenda – it will take us decades to recover from that period of leftist government.

      2. alan jutson
        January 4, 2022

        Clearly you do not have members of your family serving in the armed forces.

        He did not make many people in Countries abroad happier did he, just look at the mess he and others have left behind.

      3. Micky Taking
        January 4, 2022

        Wonderful government you voted for in 1997, reciting achievements to follow the election, but you didn’t vote for him ever again.
        Why ever not – Foot and mouth 2001?
        Then Iraq war from 2003?

        1. Andy
          January 4, 2022

          I am not a Labour voter. I just got to the stage that the vast majority did that I voted Labour to get the Tories out. In every future election I will vote for whoever is best placed to beat the Tory – until we have a fair electoral system.

          1. Peter2
            January 4, 2022

            Once elected Labour won’t vote for PR

          2. Micky Taking
            January 4, 2022

            you didn’t explain why you voted the once for Blair, or did you? You got the Tory out for Blair, and then I suppose you voted Tory in 2001 but that failed….
            No wonder unofficial polls come out with endless accurate predictions, there must be several million unfathomable voters like you.

      4. No Longer Anonymous
        January 4, 2022

        So it’s true. You lied about being a Tory voter as well then.

    10. Mitchel
      January 4, 2022

      Even more disconcerting than Blair is the similar appointment of Baroness Amos to the Garter.How this person-a New Labour apparatchick- has risen without trace through the system without ever seemingly achieving anything (apart from advancing “the cause”) or ever having a “proper job” is one of the great mysteries of the universe.

      Given that these positions are said to be in the personal gift of the Queen rather than the politicians,it can only be that the Queen has become a fellow traveller (either out of genuine belief or concern for the preservation of the privileges of the House of Windsor) or that the Queen had no part in it and the Royal Family is retained as nothing more than window dressing to further fool the masses.

      Either way,they together with the rest of the self-serving Establishment need to go.

  11. Bill B.
    January 4, 2022

    So fuel supplies have been run down because of ‘stockholding protocols’. I see the Department for Business monitors fuel stockholdings, but makes no recommendations as far as I can see about what should be done. We once had a PM who, seeing a crisis coming, ensured fuel stocks were massively built up, so we could get through it without shortages (miners’ strike 1984). Yes, a different kind of crisis, but also a different kind of Prime Minister.

    1. lifelogic
      January 4, 2022

      Different yes but not that different really.

      1. lifelogic
        January 4, 2022

        The least we can do is keep the three remaining coal fired powered stations serviceable and with big piles of coal next kept to them for when it is needed.

    2. Mark
      January 4, 2022

      While we were in the EU we had to maintain stocks equivalent to 90 days of net imports (which is actually also the IEA requirement) or 61 days of consumption, whichever was higher. We are still subject to the IEA requirement. In fact, some of the stocks we “held” when we were in the EU were held on our behalf mainly in Rotterdam and Antwerp. Now, some of the stocks at British refineries are in fact being held nominally on behalf of other countries in the EU.

  12. BOF
    January 4, 2022

    Those figure are a stark reminder that renewables fail us every day. Worse still we pay huge subsidies for failure, both when the wind blows and when it blows too hard.

    Are figures available Sir John, of just how much is paid out in subsidies, how much is paid to UK companies and how much to foreign interests?

    1. turboterrier
      January 4, 2022

      BOF
      https://www.netzerowatch.com/britons-face-record-bill-as-wind-farms-perform-poorly-again/
      Also Dr John Constable Renewable Energy Foundation.
      Both Web sites well worth a visit.

      1. BOF
        January 4, 2022

        Thanks TT.

  13. Brian Tomkinson
    January 4, 2022

    Another reminder that this is the worst government and Parliament in my lifetime. We live under an elective dictatorship and the calibre of ministers and MPs is at an all time low.

    1. Augustus Princip
      January 5, 2022

      Wait until you see the next one…
      Nothing will change until a popular right wing party emerges or we start voting for local independents.

  14. turboterrier
    January 4, 2022

    BOF
    Dr John Constable and his Renewable Energy Foundation provide a really good breakdown on payments.

  15. Richard1
    January 4, 2022

    A useful summary thanks, and very rare to see from a political figure. Letā€™s have much much more of such evidence and fact based discussion of this issue.

    One thing to add: renewables were 22% of electricity generation in this quarter, but electricity is 20% of total energy usage. So renewables, after years and tens of billions of subsidies and distorting regulation, accounted for c. 4% of total energy consumption. Absent some dramatic technological breakthrough such as nuclear fusion, net zero is an unobtainable nonsense. And itā€™s becoming clear it will be a very dangerous and expensive nonsense as well.

    1. Shirley M
      January 4, 2022

      +1 Boris reminds me of Oscar Wildes comment on hunting: ā€œthe unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatableā€, but in Boris’s case, “the indefensible in pursuit of the impossible”.

      1. Micky Taking
        January 4, 2022

        I would offer ‘rationalising lunacy’ – -it came to me on reading the regular contributions of nonsense.

      2. Mark B
        January 4, 2022

        +1

  16. Sea_Warrior
    January 4, 2022

    I see that the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, owned by the Chinese government, is active in our EEZ.

    1. Shirley M
      January 4, 2022

      Thanks, Sea_Warrior. I was totally unaware of this. So China benefits from our oil reserves. The same reserves that the UK are not allowed to benefit from, and instead we buy oil from foreign countries, some of which are hostile to the UK. Why does this not surprise me? Does the UK own anything in the UK these days (sarc).

      1. Sea_Warrior
        January 4, 2022

        I’m always on patrol, Shirley!

        1. hefner
          January 5, 2022

          Is that any different from what had already been reported in July 2020 : ā€˜CNOOC has for years been responsible for around a quarter of the UK North Sea oil production, including output from our biggest remaining oilfieldā€™ Guardian, 11/07/2020, Jillian Ambrose ā€˜Where in Britain does China spend its money?ā€™
          Do you have more recent references?

  17. Sakara Gold
    January 4, 2022

    “This makes a total of 22.3% from renewables for the whole three month period”

    What an achievement, to generate just under a quarter of the electricity needs of the sixth largest economy in the word by the renewable industry! All that free energy being harvested by our windfarms, so hated by the dinosaurs that post here.

    Again no mention of the obvious next step, which is to invest in one of the grid-sized energy storage solutions being developed by British firms. The links to which are so dangerously controversial that they have to be moderated.

    1. Peter2
      January 4, 2022

      Dont bother with links SG
      Just give us a few current examples of where grid sized storage systems are working successfully.
      Perhaps you would be able to give us an idea of set up costs versus their capacity.

    2. SM
      January 4, 2022

      But surely using coal or natural gas is just as ‘free’ as using wind, tides or solar – we have to pay for the means of gathering, control and delivery for all of them.

      1. alan jutson
        January 4, 2022

        Perfect reply !

    3. Micky Taking
      January 4, 2022

      Just over a fifth? or nearly a quarter? Glass half full, or half empty.

    4. lifelogic
      January 4, 2022

      Free? Why on earth do you think renewables are free?

      Grid storage is amazingly expensive and very energy wasteful too. Do you have any knowledge about energy, physics, energy engineering or energy economics at all? Just give these companies names or projects we can google them. Doubtless they are seeking vast tax payer subsidies?

      1. wanderer
        January 4, 2022

        +1. Totally deluded, like so many others. They also think that the BoE increasing the money supply out of all proportion is “free”. Happy times, free energy, free money!

    5. IanT
      January 4, 2022

      But it’s not “Free” is it?
      In electricity terms green stealth taxes are adding about 25% to our bills. It should be law that these eco charges are shown seperately on our bills….they are taxes and should be openly declared.

    6. oldtimer
      January 4, 2022

      Renewable energy is not “free” as you repeatedly claim. It only exists because substantial capital expenditure has been incurred to build it, taxation is raised on energy bills to subsidise these expenditures and the returns promised on them by the government to the investors not to mention ongoing maintenance costs. I am forced to pay through the nose for this “free” energy like everyone else.

      1. glen cullen
        January 4, 2022

        It gets worseā€¦theyā€™re not free, we subsidise them, they donā€™t make energy cheaper and we donā€™t know who owns them

    7. Mark
      January 4, 2022

      I hope you have schemes for 50TWh of hydrogen , or 40TWh of pumped storage in mind. That’s what would be needed to be have been able to rely on the wind last year, and they would need to have been over half full at the start of it too. Of course, we would also have needed enormous amounts of wind generation to feed the storage monster – over 150GW if we were relying on hydrogen.

  18. Donna
    January 4, 2022

    If you were a hostile foreign power, setting out to slowly destroy this country’s energy provision; weaken the economy and render it incapable of defending itself and providing for its citizens, this is how you could do it without firing a shot.

    Over the last couple of decades, since the Blair creature got into power, it feels like we are continually being attacked by our own Governing Class. And it’s got worse in the last 3 of them. One thing is certain …… they don’t work in OUR interests in fact they appear to deliberately work against them.

    1. Everhopeful
      January 4, 2022

      +1
      Of courseā€¦you are right!
      We have always been viewed as the enemy.
      And now they are moving in for the kill.

    2. Shirley M
      January 4, 2022

      Donna, +1.

    3. Sakara Gold
      January 4, 2022

      @Donna
      The party has done more to weaken the military strength of the UK in the last 12 years than any foreign power. Cameron/Osbourn’s malign 2010 SDSR (Strategic Defence and Security Review) scrapped so much equipment and service personnel that we will never be able to fight a major war again. Johnsons’ latest defence cuts – sold to us as another SDSR – have reduced the Army to 20,000 infantry and 125 tanks and less artillery than Belgium. We are weaker now than we have been at any time in the last 200 years. Many tasked with defending the realm are deeply suspicious about Johnson/Wallace motivation for doing this

      1. Donna
        January 4, 2022

        But they didn’t send our Armed Services Personnel to fight in various middle eastern wars based on lies, propaganda and with inadequate and non-functioning equipment which led directly to many deaths and disabilities.

        1. Sakara Gold
          January 4, 2022

          @Donna
          For once, we agree. I have blogged here many times about the profligate waste of taxpayers money and incompetence of the MoD in its mismanagement of procurement projects and indeed expeditionary warfare. You might find Frank Ledwidge’s excellent book “Losing Small Wars, British Military Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan” (now in its second edition) informative

    4. Iago
      January 4, 2022

      It’s my belief, Donna, that all policy of this government from foreign policy, defence, immigration to trade, energy, education and health, everything, is designed to dismantle and destroy this country and its indigenous people. There is not the political will to govern in the interests of the country, no wish to defend it. These people are globalists or, politely, cosmopolitan.

  19. Sakara Gold
    January 4, 2022

    The exceptionally warm spell experienced by the UK this winter demostrates climate change and global warming in action. You and the fossil fuel lobby that posts here want more fossil fuel imports. People have been burning carbon since the Neanderthals in the stone age. Don’t you think its time we moved on?

    This morning renewables were producing 33% – 12GW – of demand at 08:00 hrs

    Reply I am not part of the fossil fuel lobby and am opposed to more fossil fuel imports. I want an energy policy that works in terms of affordability and availability as well as green.

    1. Donna
      January 4, 2022

      The Met Office data for mean temperature in January shows that temperature ranges across the UK have barely changed in a decade. In the U.K., last year was 0.34Ā°C colder than 2020 and the coldest year since 2015. The 2010s were colder than the 2000s.

      There is no evidence of global warming in the UK.

      https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-temperature-rainfall-and-sunshine-time-series

      1. X-Tory
        January 4, 2022

        What an interesting link. A big thank you for that! I love the way you can change the ‘Climate Variable’ and the Period, and instantly get graphs showing how these have changed over the years. I notice that all the climatic changes that took place in the late 20th century seem to have tailed off in the last 20, and especially 10, years. Particularly interesting is the increase in the hours of sunshine we have had since 1980. I wonder if the sun might in any way have influenced the temperature …?

        1. glen cullen
          January 4, 2022

          Once again current policy based on dodgy data and misguided experts

    2. lifelogic
      January 4, 2022

      ā€œThe exceptionally warm spell experienced by the UK this winter demostrates climate change and global warming in action.ā€

      Not at all, it just demonstrates the weather has been a bit warmer this winter as it has been in the past and will be in the future. It will also be cooler too – perhaps even this month or next or maybe next year.

    3. Original Richard
      January 4, 2022

      Sakara Gold : “People have been burning carbon since the Neanderthals in the stone age. Donā€™t you think its time we moved on?”

      Windmills are 8th century and weather (wind) dependent.

      We should be using 21st century nuclear and not praying to the wind Gods.

    4. rose
      January 4, 2022

      We have never had a car and are not dinosaurs but it is very obvious we cannot do without natural gas and nuclear power, and that these must be domestic, not imported. Their record of safety and reliability cannot be wished away. Security of energy supply and its affordability are essential for a country to prosper. Designating gas and nuclear as green is one sensible thing the EU has done and we should follow. Though they will have to import their gas. I don’t mind solar panels on roofs but I really don’t want to see them on precious farm land when we have a huge population to feed in an unstable world. Domestic food security is as important as domestic energy security.

      Unreliable wind turbines may come to be seen by future generations as a blight on the environment, both in the sea and on land. Especially after several generations of turbines.

  20. Nig l
    January 4, 2022

    And in other news we read that the Sugar Tax promised to be specifically spent on childhood obesity has been swallowed up by the Treasury for general funding.

    This Government has zero integrity, a trait allegedly also of its leader so nothing surprises me.

  21. agricola
    January 4, 2022

    There are two aspects to this. First the shambolic delivery of energy, driven by government and the green zealots who control them from bedroom to demo. Second the extortionate price the population is forced to pay for these so called green indulgences. There are two reasons for high prices, green levies on fuel bills that transfer wealth from the poor to the wealthy, individuals and corporations. All this wealth transfer while we sit on our own sources of energy in terms of gas coal and oil, unused by green government dictat. To missquote our ancients, all those who a green government would destroy they first impoverish and systematically drive mad. The ultimate effrontary is that they call themselves conservative.

  22. Bryan Harris
    January 4, 2022

    The Business Department Report says ā€œOutput from wind, solar and hydro was low due to prevailing weather conditionsā€ . ā€œUnfavourable weather conditions meant that renewable generation fell to 24.3TWh, the lowest value in four yearsā€¦ Wind was particularly affected , down 30% on the same period last yearā€

    So when the plans were being laid to make us depend on the wind for our energy, didn’t any bright spark realise that the wind doesn’t always blow, that the weather is well known for not cooperating with our wishes?

    That is a pathetic excuse from The Business Department, but that’s all we get these days, excuses – certainly no real action to provide for our energy needs.

    Instead they are intent on making us use less energy, so that our requirements will squeeze into what they make available.

    Has The Business Department also been taken over by a foreign power or some global monopoly – It seems so, for they do not seem to be working for our best interests.

    1. lifelogic
      January 4, 2022

      Funny how they think they can predict the temperature in 100 years but not the lack of wind or sun this winter. Surely the former is far easier to predict than the latter?

      1. Bryan Harris
        January 4, 2022

        @LL +1 Indeed.

        You have to ask which science they are following?

  23. Andy
    January 4, 2022

    The full energy figures for all of 2021 arenā€™t out yet. When they are they will show a rather different picture. Itā€™ll probably be somewhere north of 40% – possibly even half – of all of our countryā€™s electricity coming from renewables.

    In 2020 renewables were our biggest power source. I didnā€™t notice the lights go out. In 2021 they probably will be again.

    Meanwhile the price of wind and sunshine is still free once you have built the technology to turn it into power. And yet a bunch of Tory MPs are telling you we need to buy really really expensive gas. I wonder if any of them have financial interests in gas companies? Perish the thought.

    Reply I doubt wind, solar and hydro were up to 50% last year, and we still need the other 50% to keep the lights on.

    1. SM
      January 4, 2022

      You might have had no problem in leafy Buckinghamshire, but friends in Northumberland were without heat and light – and at one stage, water – for days in November.

      ps. I have no idea of their political views, on Brexit or anything else, but they are undoubtedly pensioners, so presumably they don’t matter.

      1. Andy
        January 4, 2022

        They were without power for days because of a powerful storm. Climate change makes powerful storms more likely. Burning gas and coal worsens climate change. You do the math.

        1. Peter2
          January 4, 2022

          Even the IPCC says your theory is doubtful young andy.
          Looked over many decades there is little evidence of more extreme weather in the UK recently.

          1. hefner
            January 5, 2022

            As far as the UK is concerned, ignoring the conclusions of brightblue.org.uk ā€˜In deep water? Mapping the impacts of flooding in the UK since 2007ā€™ there is, as you say, ā€˜little evidence of more extreme weather in the UK recentlyā€™.

            Have you got friends in the Philippines who have been affected by the little breezy wind (120 mph) of typhoon Rai in December?
            Do you know how much weaker or stronger Imogen (01/01/2021), Surigae (16/04), Elsa (02/07), Fred, Grace and Henri (mid-08), Mindulle and Sam (22/09 to 02/10/2021) have been compared to tropical storms in previous decades?

            Can you give the reference in the last IPCC report proving your point when it appears that meteorological observations show that ā€˜a larger percentage of storms are reaching the highest categories – 3, 4 and 5 -in recent decadesā€™.

            Thank you.

          2. Peter2
            January 5, 2022

            If you actually read my post hef you might have noticed I was not taking about non UK countries.
            PS
            Did you know satellite observations have meant more storms etc are being found and recorded and that storm levels have been re defined?

        2. Micky Taking
          January 4, 2022

          during these powerful storms no wind farms will work, no sun will shine…

    2. No Longer Anonymous
      January 4, 2022

      Andy
      You simply cannot square your love of mass immigration with your love of going green.

      Hatred for the English seethes from your every utterance.

      1. Paul Cuthbertson
        January 5, 2022

        The MP who represents my constituency, not me, is Caroline Lucas. Say no more, but there again we have many dumb students here.

    3. lifelogic
      January 4, 2022

      And the so called ā€œrenewablesā€ produce lots of CO2 anyway in construction, backup and maintenance.

    4. acorn
      January 4, 2022

      NGC are showing for 2022, 40 GW of wind and solar generators available, and 40 GW of CCGT available. Plus another 20 GW of other technologies. There are now 20 GW of battery storage projects waiting for various quangos to give permissions.

      1. glen cullen
        January 4, 2022

        More jam tomorrow

      2. Peter2
        January 4, 2022

        These are impressive but are maximum potential outputs not yearly average outputs.

        1. Peter2
          January 4, 2022

          See the post by Mark below who lists the year averages.

    5. MMitchell
      January 5, 2022

      The overall figures for wind, solar and Hydro for 2021 are:

      Wind: 19% of demand
      Solar: 4% of demand
      Hydro*: 1% of demand

      Total: 24%

      These figures of course hide the major problem of the large variability in their supply.

      * excludes Pumped Hydro which is a net consumer of electricity

  24. John Miller
    January 4, 2022

    Most of the bloggers I have followed for the last 35 years have given up because they tired of saying the same thing. Any intelligent person who knows nothing about chemistry or physics can recognise a con trick.

    Listen to the Global Warming Policy Foundation. Remember the EAU emails. Remember the rebranding when the old brand was failing. Scrap Global Warming! Bring on the new shiny Climate Change!

    COVID should have taught us a lesson. Modelling gives the answers you want to show to the world. It is not science. Seek out the vested interests. Follow the money. Review people actions and not what they say. Remember Obama’s cheap purchase of some prime real estate, that “the Consensus” says will soon be under 800 feet of water.

    1. Mark B
      January 4, 2022

      +1

  25. Micky Taking
    January 4, 2022

    Tony Blair wall-to wall on radio today. Petition gathering speed at 550,000.
    Iraq the negative, Kosovo some sort of positive. Little said about everyday policies…

    I gather swinging of the blade when on his knees, will fall to Prince Charles.
    Of course ‘er indoors might have persuaded Blair to refuse. But didn’t.

    1. Donna
      January 4, 2022

      I strongly suspect that it was the lefty, politically-interfering, Charlie-boy who pushed for Blair’s completely undeserved Knighthood.

      I dread the thought of him succeeding his mother.

      1. Micky Taking
        January 5, 2022

        An impossible act to follow, and I am not a royalist, them being a useful part of tourist attraction, and in recent years a bonus for social website gossip and nonsense (I gather).

  26. alan jutson
    January 4, 2022

    Thanks for the figures and todays posting John.
    Just shows how far and fast we are going backwards.
    We also pay wind farms to shut down and not produce on occasions and when the wind is strong they are shut for safety reasons.
    Difficult to make it up really isn’t it, we are going backwards not forwards with security of energy supply.

  27. Everhopeful
    January 4, 2022

    I know!
    Letā€™s stop pussy footing around the edges of all this and address the core questions.
    Why are politicians and ā€œworld leadersā€ flying all over the place yet denying us plastic bags?
    Why are they trying to stop us from discussing the oh-so important issues with which, via the media, they are brainwashing and nudging us?
    Why are they suddenly abandoning all pretence of democratic liberalism?
    Why is our government sidelining Parliament?
    Why are our MPs so supine, acquiescent in the face of these obvious abuses?
    Why do they all want us to be ill, cold, hungry and eventually homeless and jobless?

    1. Everhopeful
      January 4, 2022

      Sorryā€¦a few notable exceptions for whom I am uber grateful!šŸŒø

    2. Hat man
      January 4, 2022

      Why, Everhopeful? Look up ‘mass formation psychosis’ for a possible answer. You will see that your notable exceptions are included in that analysis.

  28. Denis Cooper
    January 4, 2022

    Off topic, JR, I was wondering if there is any procedural device which would make it possible to test whether the House of Commons agrees with the nonsensical official position of the Irish government that:

    https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/11/15/levelling-up-7/#comment-1276472

    “any checks or controls anywhere on the island would constitute a hard border”.

  29. glen cullen
    January 4, 2022

    Renewables aren’t going to save GB….we need a different strategy

  30. Everhopeful
    January 4, 2022

    Governments have done everything possible to lower our domestic energy security.
    Dereliction of their basic duties.
    Along with defence of course.

    What is the point of the U.K. now?
    What is its future?
    A huge, concrete, refugee reception area ?

  31. Ed
    January 4, 2022

    The social and economic consequences of these insane energy policies don’t bear thinking about.

  32. Original Richard
    January 4, 2022

    Andy : “Meanwhile the price of wind and sunshine is still free once you have built the technology to turn it into power.”

    Absolute nonsense, especially for offshore windmills.

    In fact operating and maintenance costs are increasing as the windmills move further from shore and into deeper waters, as well as getting older.

    I presume you’ve never had to service a car and you’ve only ever had one car?

    1. Andy
      January 4, 2022

      Coal, gas and nuclear plants need servicing too. And you have to pay for the fuel.

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        January 4, 2022

        Andy – No one has ever tried to claim that they are ‘free’ !

        But at least they are reliable.

  33. gyges
    January 4, 2022

    JR, can you tell us about the renewable cash flows? Is it true that via the Renewable Obligation Certificate system, cash for energy is transferred to Scotland?

  34. Rhoddas
    January 4, 2022

    Energy security – drill/mine here through the transition towards nuclear & gas for base load.
    Food security – build big greenhouses (like in Holland) for our own soft fruit/veg, save loads on trucking miles. Others here have suggested alterations to DEFRA policies to feed the nation ourselves.

    Currently HMG is facing the wrong way with both sets of strategy/polices, with Sir John as almost a lone voice in the whole of Parliament…. incredible in 2 years from a manifesto which contained little hint of the above debacle, yet on this site most are aligned over these huge issues. For the life of me I fail to understand how we keep getting Governments that do so much wrong…. As for 25% of public sector workers on sick leave and full pay – don’t get me started!

  35. X-Tory
    January 4, 2022

    I have said before that I have no problem with renewables being PART of the mix of energy sources. I am strongly in favour of geothermal energy, for instance (which as I posted the other day could provide more than 20% of our electricity, and is a consistent and reliable source). I also believe that surplus offshore wind power (eg. at night) could be used to produce green hydrogen (this would allow the government to abolish the literally insane payments NOT to produce electricity).

    But the most important aspect of energy is that it is there when you want it. It must be 100% reliable. And the only way to achieve that is to have energy sources that are consistent 24/7. Currently, coal and gas are the best sources, and the cheapest (if the government did not deliberately distort the market with its mentally-subnormal ‘carbon levies’) and could be supplied entirely from our domestic resources (if the givernment allowed these to expand, rather than close them down in an act of treacherous national self-harm). But these are finite, so we need to think long-term and the best solution is undoubtedly NUCLEAR. So we need to fast-track the RR SMRs, and develop nuclear fusion as the permanent solution.

    The problem, Sir John, is that the government is NOT doing these things, despite your constant requests, both in these columns and in the wider media. And you seem to have no ‘Plan B’. Which is why, sadly, you have ZERO prospect of success.

    1. anon
      January 5, 2022

      Why not just overbuild renewables , retain and not destroy existing plant as backup. Until the tech matures.

      Incentivise development if storage and time shift and transition technology.

      Are such global energy policies meant to help engender ‘mass formation psychosis’ where they have been deployed?

  36. BOF
    January 4, 2022

    Of course wind turbines are not only about power generation. There is also the question of their lifespan which it seems is well short of that predicted. In fact 18 to 20 years is the norm instead of 30+. The huge turbine blades are not recyclable and have been dumped in large waste sites to cause another environmental disaster.

    This in addition to expensive servicing, especially offshore and we have not even started on the tragedy of millions of birds, bats and insects mashed by those enormous blades travelling at 120 to 180mph.

  37. John E
    January 4, 2022

    There seems to be a fundamental issue. We believe that CO2 emissions are causing the climate to change in unpredictable ways. But the renewables we are building depend on the climate conditions staying as they areā€¦.
    I guess the tides will stay predictable. Otherwise we need nuclear.

  38. BOF
    January 4, 2022

    Wind turbines are not only about power generation. There is also the question of their lifespan which it seems is well short of that predicted. In fact 18 to 20 years is the norm instead of 30+. The huge turbine blades are not recyclable and have been dumped in large waste sites to cause another environmental disaster.

    This in addition to expensive servicing, especially offshore and we have not even started on the tragedy of millions of birds, bats and insects mashed by those enormous blades travelling up to 180mph.

  39. glen cullen
    January 4, 2022

    It doesnā€™t matter how much renewable energy the UK develops, as I believe that Iā€™ll ever see a reduction in domestic energy bills using ā€˜renewablesā€™ in my lifetime

  40. Mark
    January 4, 2022

    I checked out the figures provided by National Grid at settlement period resolution which show the following averages for the GB grid for 2021:

    Wind 6,988MW or 21.7%
    Solar 1,281MW or 4.0%
    Hydro 370MW or 1.1.%
    Biomass 2,171 MW or 6.8%
    Nuclear 4,956MW or 15.4%
    Gas 12,245MW or 38.1%
    Coal 568MW or 1.8%
    Imports 3,349MW or 10.4%
    Other 209MW or 0.7%

    I excluded pumped storage from the calculations, and imports are gross, not net of exports.

    1. Mark
      January 5, 2022

      As an exercise, I took the half hourly wind production and overall demand (which averaged about 32GW, or 281TWh in total) and calculated by scaling up how much wind generation would be needed if we were to rely solely on wind and storage. I considered two storage options: a fairly efficient “pumped storage” with a 75% round trip redelivery, and using PEM electrolysers at 60% average efficiency, followed by 60% efficient hydrogen burning CCGTs to redeliver as power – an overall round trip efficiency of 36%. The volume of storage was set so that it was empty at the low point of the year (towards the end of September), and the required energy in storage at the beginning of the year (and also at the end of the year) calculated accordingly. The profiles for storage over the year are captured in this chart:

      https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ZmrQw/1/

      It shows we would need over 50TWh of hydrogen storage, capable of redelivering over 30TWh of electricity, or 38TWh of pumped storage, equal to over 4,220 Dinorwigs (9.1GWh each). The maximum amount required for redelivery generation was very similar in both cases, at a bit over 38GW. The pumped storage would need to pump at up to 55GW, while the electrolysers would need a capacity of 77GW – and the grid would have to deliver to them on top of demand. Round trip losses would be about 102TWh in the hydrogen case, but only 24TWh using pumped storage. The hydrogen route would require over 150GW of wind and the pumped storage over 120GW. Storage would have to be reasonably full at the start of the year, so we would have needed to build up a good surplus beforehand.

      The electrolysers would consume some 158TWh and operate at an average capacity factor of just 23.5%, while the CCGT units would operate at an average of 16.7%. The pumped storage would pump 97TWh and redeliver 72TWh for an overall utilisation of its capacity of around 35%.

      Until I see and can download the full data calculations that match this type of work, covering real weather and renewables performance including downtimes for damage to cables, regular maintenance, etc. over many years at hourly or better resolution I will have no confidence in the projection used by BEIS the CCC, OFGEM and National Grid for net zero. Their work seems to have about the same credibility as a Ferguson epidemic model.

  41. glen cullen
    January 4, 2022

    48 UK covid deaths today…send in the royal marines

  42. No Longer Anonymous
    January 4, 2022

    Just listening to Bush and Richie on Absolute Radio (Radio 2 has turned into Radio Snowflake)

    “We are broadcasting from home because our producer has tested positive with Covid.”

    The other presenter bursts out laughing in response.

    Rather like Newmania here a week or so ago when he joked about he and his wife testing positive. No concern about welfare because there really is very little risk. For this we are destroying Western civilisation ???

  43. Everhopeful
    January 4, 2022

    EU-UK Parliamentary Assembly.
    What on earth is that all about?
    Peter Bone seems to think it might be mission creep.
    We will be sucked back in!!

    1. glen cullen
      January 4, 2022

      Its real, its part of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement…we never left

    2. anon
      January 5, 2022

      Classic in-built permanent EU remainer majority once you include the EU. Brexit in Name Only.

      Time to leave the EU.

  44. Pauline Baxter
    January 4, 2022

    Yes well.
    The main culprit now is the Climate Change SCAM.
    It wasn’t your heroine Maggie Thatcher’s fault we closed our coal mines. It was the Trades Unions that caused it.
    I must admit that the idea of anyone going underground to mine coal is repugnant in this day and age. With modern technology would that be necessary, if we opened new deep mines?
    Anyway as you have pointed out we do still have access to our own other, fossil fuels.
    The figures you quote today make it abundantly clear that the U.K. just can not survive on sun wind and hydro, alone. Quite apart from the rocketing cost of living, crisis.

    1. Pauline Baxter
      January 4, 2022

      P.S. Everyone seems to have forgotten about the threat to ban internal combustion engine vehicles.
      This again, is a completely impractical policy. There will be no electricity in the grid, to run EVs, even if it was possible to provide charging points.
      The present government want to abolish private motoring. Along with U.K.’s remaining manufacturing capacity.

      1. glen cullen
        January 4, 2022

        Maybe thats why they’re building so many cycle lanes and installing so many energy meters

    2. Paul Cuthbertson
      January 5, 2022

      Pauline – Closing coal mines – I seem to recall the powers of the EU had some influence here also!!!!!

  45. XY
    January 4, 2022

    I’m struggling to believe that Britain is now run by such blinkered incompetents.

    The question is: how do we change it (for the better)?

  46. acorn
    January 4, 2022

    “Liz Truss has embraced the Big Lie of Brexit. The Foreign Secretary, who backed Remain, now shamelessly promotes the myth that leaving the EU has been good for Britain” (New Statesman). Lizzy, as our next PM, is going to make political prostitution the new normal for UK politics; and, UK voters will be kissing her feet.

    1. Peter2
      January 4, 2022

      Very unfair acorn.

      She was entitled to support Remain during the referendum campaign.
      After the result she has done her best to make the outcome a success.

      Do you think she should try to sabotage the result?

    2. Micky Taking
      January 5, 2022

      Did she say ‘I made a big mistake in wanting to stay within EU, but I have realised I was wrong’

      No? what a surprise.

  47. Fedupsoutherner
    January 4, 2022

    Just a few comments from some knowledgable people.

    Dr Benny Peiser. The Balancing Mechanism, which ensures that supply and demand are in balance hour by hour was forced to pat up to Ā£4000/MWh to get the coal fired Drax5 unit to switch on, at the same times as paying wind farms to switch off. The tens of millions that the grid is having to throw at the growing problem of unreliable renewables on days like yesterday are astonishing. Ā£1 millionto wind farms to switch off. Ā£5 million to get a single coal fired unit at Drax to switch on. This is unsustainable. The annual cost of the so-called Balancing Mechanism has quintupled in just three years, reaching Ā£1.8 billion in 2020/21 driven primrily by the vagaries of wind speed. This figure is likeley to be comfortably surpassed in the current year.(2021) On the 25th November 21 the daily cost of balancing the electricity grid rocketed to Ā£63 million smashing the old record of Ā£45 million set just 3 weeks ago.

    The government has done nothing to address the energy crisis – our huge shale gas resources remain untapped while they burden consumers with billions in absurd transfers for bailing out inept wind farms.

    Apparently the CCC is proposing to quadruple the tax on gas heating. All decided at COP26. They would like gas to be taxed at 20% and not 5%. The increase in taxation would be applied to the household bills after the imposition of other climate related levies, the overall effect on the cost of warmth and hot water to households would be severe.

    Dr John Constable, the Net Zero Watch energy editor said: It has long been clear that Lord Deben and his Climate Change Committee give too little thought to the cost implications of green policies, but this proposal for a huge increase in the cost of household heating and hot water suggests a degree of indifference bordering on cruelty. It would also be, of course, politically suicidal. No government would long survive the imposition of the new heating tax.

    Dr Benny Peiser again said, It si alsmost certain that energy companies, should they survive the coming stoorm will not repay the Ā£20 billion fund they are demanding and in any case handing out billions to energy suppliers while energy prices are going through the roof would go down like a bucket of cold sick with voters. By continuing to prioritise the Net Zero agenda over national security and economic stability, Boris Johnson risks turning a crisis into a national disaster.

    Just what is going on?

  48. Iain Gill
    January 4, 2022

    no to masks in school

    if anyone is listening

    1. DOM
      January 4, 2022

      The Socialist unions run the public sector and they run it to benefit themselves and their members. Don’t expect this government or indeed its MPs to confront that scam. Far easier to remain silent and put party above all else rather than to confront McCluskey and co and suffer electoral damage

    2. No Longer Anonymous
      January 4, 2022

      +1

      And if we are then FFP3s rather than the token cloth types that do nothing. Issued by the government like they did gas masks in the war.

      Masks are all about control.

  49. turboterrier
    January 4, 2022

    As mentioned or thought about on this site “Follow the Money”

    The London Array offshore wind farm for year-end 2020

    Turnover Ā£86.8 million
    Made up of subsidies of Ā£66.3 million

    All paid for by the taxpayer or energy bill payers. Nice little earner Del!!!!

    See the Not Many People Know That website for a comprehensive breakdown

    1. glen cullen
      January 5, 2022

      +1

    2. Paul Cuthbertson
      January 5, 2022

      TT -Yes – Follow the Money

    3. DavidJ
      January 5, 2022

      +1

  50. John McDonald
    January 5, 2022

    GB News covered Energy pricing with an effective 25% Green Tax .
    One Joke was that when the sun don’t shine and the wind don’t blow we still pay the companies that provide green energy even when not supplying energy.
    Drax power station ( converted from burning British coal) is burning wood chippings imported from America from chopped down trees was the biggest joke of all. The CO2 generate is classed a green.
    The point here must be that the difference is that in one case we are burning wood which has been compressed over millions of years as opposed to 20 or 30 year wood that has not be compressed.
    The ships from America are not sailing ships or solar powered.

    Sir John can you ask the government to show that the carbon foot print, and cost of import, is significantly better than Drax burning coal with the appropriate filters so it only emits steam and CO2.
    If all the trees chopped down where surrounding Drax how much CO2 would be absorb ?

    There should be a tax on chopping down trees ( something for Wokingham Council to think about as well:) )
    This green energy policy is more about Politicians making a name for themselves rather than focusing on worldwide deforestation and energy waste. We can always say it’s Russia’s fault for the increase in Energy prices. Very Green to supply gas via a pipe line as opposed to LNG in tanks from America

    1. DavidJ
      January 5, 2022

      This just shows the absolute folly of relying on so-called renewables.

  51. lojolondon
    January 5, 2022

    Great article, John.

    Two key points :
    1. “Renewables” proudly produced 25% of our requirements during the season known as “Autumn” – which is generally famous for being both windy and mild
    2. Expect that number to fall substantially during the season known as “Winter” – the coldest time of year, when most often a large High-Pressure cell blankets the whole of Europe, and there is not a breath of air for a whole week…

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