From the Daily Skeptic
Author: Paul Homewood
The Labor manifesto promises we will have a zero-carbon electricity system by 2030. One of the “Five Missions” policy commitments the UK launched last year.
So it's reasonable to assume that Miliband actually has a detailed plan on how to achieve this and how much it might all cost. Astonishingly, soon after taking office, he asked the national energy system operator NESO to provide practical advice on how to achieve his goals.
NESO has now responded with some bad news.
Many energy experts have long argued that a zero-carbon grid is simply impossible to achieve on such timescales because you can't run the grid primarily on intermittent renewable energy. It turns out NESO, the organization whose job it is to ensure Britain has the power it needs every moment, agrees.
Their report to Ed Miliband emphasized that we need to retain a fleet of gas-fired power plants that can be started when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining:
This is a damning indictment not only of Labour’s energy policy but of the entire net zero agenda and its reliance on intermittent renewable energy.
Although NESO says natural gas generation can only provide 5% of our electricity, in many cases we still need half or more. Putting gas plants on standby can present its own problems. They need to be fully staffed, maintained and ready to start up when needed, all of which will cost a lot of money. With these plants idle much of the time, operators will demand billions of dollars in standby payments, all of which will be added to our energy bills.
The NESO report also confirms that Miliband's increased demand for wind and solar will significantly increase electricity bills, rather than reduce them as promised.
Not only are renewables more expensive to produce than natural gas generation, there are also indirect costs to consider, such as paying for spare capacity, storage costs, wind power and curtailment charges if too many grid upgrades occur.
Analysis of NESO data shows that if Miliband's plan goes ahead, annual costs could rise by £20 billion by 2030.
NESO also said that £48 billion of annual investment is needed between now and 2030 to achieve the target.
But all this spending ends up just duplicating the spending we already have.
If that wasn’t bad enough, over-reliance on intermittent renewable energy will mean we will eventually face energy rationing. According to NESO, households will have to switch off appliances during times of peak demand. Natural gas generation currently fluctuates up and down based on demand, of course.
NESO hopes the public will do this voluntarily! Good luck.
Unsurprisingly, Ed Miliband has touted the new report as proof that his clean power plan is both achievable and will lead to cheaper electricity. Both are outright lies.
But it looks like we're going to learn this the hard way.
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