The UK spends a record £250m a month on electricity imports – watts?

not many people know

Paul Homewood

h/t Philip Bratby

The UK is importing electricity from abroad at a record price of £250m a month after the closure of coal-fired and nuclear power plants, new analysis shows.

In the second quarter of this year, about 20% of the grid's electricity demand was met through interconnectors with neighboring countries, according to energy company Drax.

The amount of electricity imported from abroad is twice the amount produced by wind and solar farms, about 12.2 terawatt hours. This is also about four times the amount of electricity exported.

Drax said the total cost Input power The current monthly amount is over £250m – equivalent to around £3bn if continued over a year.

the company stated The use of interconnectors continues to increase The UK has closed many of its aging coal and nuclear power plants.

Coal generation is coming to an end entirely as part of efforts to net zero carbon emissions, and no new nuclear power plants have come online since Sizewell B in 1995.

The analysis of Drax was conducted by researchers at Imperial College London as part of the company's quarterly Power Insights report.

Ian Staffell, an expert on power systems at Imperial College London, said: “Many of the UK's traditional generators, such as coal and nuclear power plants, have been decommissioned in recent years.

“Fewer dispatchable generators means less competition and higher prices, making cheap power from the continent more attractive for imports.

“As the Government works towards its ambition to have a clean grid by 2030, it must bear in mind the need to retain sufficient dispatchable generation capacity on our system for energy security and affordability reasons.

“The UK will always need weather-independent power to keep the lights on.”

However, Mr Staffel added that interconnectors could also help drive UK energy security If domestic power generation is adequately maintained.

For example, if Labor succeeds in its target of making the national grid net zero by 2030, he said there would be significant generation capacity, much of which could be exported, bringing money into the UK.

“Being able to store this power domestically through more storage capacity or sell it abroad is an attractive proposition,” he said.

“During periods of strong winds in the North Sea but calmer weather on the continent, exporting electricity could be profitable for the UK and help lower electricity bills for consumers here.”

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I don't know what planet Mr. Staffel is on! When it’s windy in the North Sea, it’s almost certain to be windy in Northern Europe, our export destination. We will eventually export at super low prices;

It will not be the wind farms that lose money, it will be us.

It's actually surprising that despite tens of billions of dollars in subsidies for renewable energy, twice as much wind and solar energy are imported. What is also very scary is that we are now so dependent on European power over which we have no control.

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