National Grid Resorts To Propaganda–David Turver
April 21, 2024
By Paul Homewood
h/t George Herraghty
https://davidturver.substack.com/p/national-grid-propaganda
David Turver takes apart this latest bunch of lies in the Guardian:
Full story here.
We are of course used to lies dressed up as “fact” in the Guradian.
But as David Turver asks, why did the National Grid feel it necessary to pay for such a blatant piece of propaganda?
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Since solar only works a few hours a day, you still have to pay for the gas, too. So, with solar, projects will cost £155/MWh.
Guardian readers must be low on the intelligence scale compared to, say, folks at the local pub late on Friday night.
Facts require intelligence to assess and assimilate. Religion on the other hand requires only a desire for mindless conformance.
I wonder why the National Grid pays to put its propaganda in the Grauniad, whose readers are already convinced that solar and wind are cheap, green and reliable. Perhaps it is because the National Grid knows that the Grauniad is the newspaper arm of the BBC, and therefore it will be reported as fact by the BBC on TV and radio, giving the propaganda a wider audience.
You are known by the friends you keep……
Cutting thru all the crap, the upgrade to the National Grid will require new pylons that are substantially larger than those used today- it would be interesting to show side by side models of both current and proposed replacement- people would then get a true scale perspective with regards to both height and footprint. One thing is a given, these monsters will require planning permission, and once the public realise that these pylons are not going to just blend into the background the protests will start, objection and objection. Then of course we have the world shortage of HV cabelling, another delay, then the shortage due to the UK inability to manufacture high tensile steel for the structural work.
Amazing! Truly unbelievable renewable engineering science will give us all abundant energy at the flick of a switch.
The original article in the Guardiab refers to the ” Electricity Generation Costs Report 2023″, pdf: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6556027d046ed400148b99fe/electricity-generation-costs-2023.pdf which refers to the Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) as:
The Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) is the discounted lifetime cost of building and operating a generation asset, expressed as a cost per unit of electricity generated (£/MWh). It covers all relevant costs faced by the generator, including pre-development, capital, operating, fuel, and financing costs. This is sometimes called a life-cycle cost, which emphasises the “cradle to grave” aspect of the definition
As previously mentioned by other posters, I cannot see reference to costs for backup or grid stability, both of which are essential elements for a reliable grid. The multi-trillion £££ cost for battery backup is potentially immense. Are there any other essential elements to add to the list ?
Perhaps the lack of costings for these essential elements should be on Tice’s “list of concise responses” ?
Exactly, I’ve made the same point several times. They should have to quote the price for providing power 24/365, not just for when it is convenient for them.
Are there any other essential elements to add to the list ?
Carbon taxes are a financing cost that applies to fossil-fuelled power generation but not to renewables, so that “tilts the scales” in favour of renewables.
If I’ve understood correctly: the cost calculation for renewables benefits from the failure to include cost elements for back-up and for grid stability. The cost calculation for fossil-fuelled is adversely affected by carbon taxes; additionally – in the (current) real world – there is also the additional cost of fossil-fuelled running inefficiently to provide backup for renewables.
..and the cost (tax) of running hydrocarbon fuelled backup for renewables should be carried by renewables.
Slightly O/T and the UK Pres is at it again (?) Europe’s largest floating windfarm approved off Peterhead coast ( “Owned in a 50-50 joint venture between Aberdeen-based Flotation Energy and Norwegian firm Vargronn – the Green Volt is Europe’s first commercial-scale floating windfarm.” )
Europe’s first floating wind farm, off the coast of Portugal, towers 210 meters above the North Atlantic.
etc etc etc Today …. https://gridwatch.co.uk doing really really well @ 2na half GW, with a fair demand ( would have been much higher if UK was manufacturing real stuff)
As I write there’s a Europe wide mid April nip. Our faceplate 25GW of wind is producing 2.8GW. I must write to my Tory MP again. Oh, I don’t think I can be bothered.
I must write to my Tory MP again.
My MP doesn’t reply to me
This is a really useful interactive website to demonstrate the point.
https://app.electricitymaps.com/zone/DE
Germany’s 69.5GW of wind capacity is running at all of 5.58GW (just 8% of rasting) and electricity generation is running at 501 grams CO2 (equiv) per kWh.(and that’s with the sun shining – they’ll be well and truly stuffed at sunset )
Meanwhile those naughty nuclear Frenchies are running at less than a twentieth of that figure at a world leading just 24g CO2 eq /kWh.
Perhaps France should follow that German example, close down the nuclear and fire up the coal plants (except France hasn’t got any of those!). Oh dear
Perhaps National Grid would care to explain why everywhere that uses lots of renewables has higher electricity costs than before then.
I couldn’t care less what the government or others say. Bills are much higher.
The F T says that energy costs for businesses have gone up by 400%, which has led to lots of places closing down .https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/uk-businesses-closing-energy-bills-cost-of-living-crisis_uk_62fcfc01e4b0a85a8197c961
But a lot of the subsidies for renewables are well hidden , like the carbon credits scheme , so people often do not realise how much it is all costing extra for the Net Zero insanity .
Drax , for example , gets £1.7 million per day .https://news.sky.com/story/power-giant-drax-told-by-own-advisers-to-stop-calling-biomass-carbon-neutral-12866031
But overall actually emits much more CO2 overall than coal fired generation .
So the whole net zero thing is just more lies to destroy the economy and bring about what the Marxist UN wants .https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/climate-change-scare-tool-to-destroy-capitalism/
Just ask German industry how their electricity costs are helping them compete.
The reason our Cost of Living crisis is in full bloom is down to Wind/Solar and the subsidies given such as daily standing charges with an average cost of £400.00+ pa or roughly 35% of the electricity bill. Reverting to Fossil Fuel Power which is 100% Organic our daily lives would improve almost at once. Like Zero Carbon, a mythical mist of lies that would terminate mankind if the co2 level dropped below 0.02% of the atmosphere, or termed Death of Plants, why has no one inside the Green Taliban told the truth instead they rely on the likes of Greta Thunderbox and Al Gore to spout acid rain to the atmosphere.
i have an inherited smart meter. At 4 am in the morning the daily total is already at 70p. End of day it is usually around £1.70. So that is 70p standing charge and £1.00 energy charge…. as you say, approx 40% on my usage.
I receive the National Grid “reports”. They are basically self-congratulatory management speak. It is hard to find simple information about the grid operation without going through lots of piffle about how well they are managing the grid. Their main focus is future energy scenarios and saving the planet by following our wonderous CCC’s outpourings.
As usual the “bottom line” reveals all: NG makes a lot of money from a highly distributed grid of Micky Mouse generators and batteries. Couple that the “green” virtue of a highly distributed grid of Micky Mouse generators and batteries.
There should be an independent Electricity System Operator, where money and “virtue” play no part.
Switching to green power could add £29 billion a year to household bills
High interest rates since the energy crisis could remain, increasing costs for the net zero transition
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/22/switching-green-power-net-zero-onshire-wind-bills/
Is my account here blocked?
No!
Clean energy requires conventional transportation to deliver and install it. That means more oil, not less.