Little Emily’s Replacement No Better!

via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAThttps://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com

By Paul Homewood

h/t Patsy Lacey

Little Emily Gosden has now moved on to pastures new at the Times. But things at the Telegraph don’t seem to have improved, as her replacement Jillian Ambrose seems just as soppy.

This is her latest report:

In the North West of England a disused power plant site will play host to the next phase of Britain’s energy evolution.

The Roosecote plot in Barrow began flowing electricity from burning coal to homes across the country over 60 years ago. Decades later the plant was replaced with a gas-fired version in the Nineties. But within months Roosecote’s latest incarnation will mark far more than a shift in technology, as it ushers in a radical change of approach.

The project is as simple as it is groundbreaking. Energy giant Centrica will build the world’s largest energy storage depot, housing rows of hundreds of batteries. They are each the size of a briefcase but together are capable of storing enough energy to power around 50,000 homes.

The batteries can absorb the power which is not needed when gusty winds bring a flood of electricity, or a weekend afternoon of summer solar power. When renewables wane the power can be released back into the grid in under a second to provide cheap, clean energy.

For Centrica, the project is part of a £1bn strategy shift away from the old world of large-scale conventional generating plants towards smaller options which are a better match for an energy system increasingly dominated by renewable power.

http://ift.tt/2lMKwju

Presumably there was no mention in the Centrica hand out which she has evidently copied from, but she should be aware that the cost of the Roosecote storage plant is being subsidised to the tune of £1.1 million a year, through the Capacity Market mechanism.

This subsidy is guaranteed for 15 years, so Centrica are on to a nice little earner here, courtesy of electricity bill payers.

And the only reason we need such standby capacity is because of the ruinous renewable power strategy.

Our Jillian might also have asked Centrica just how long the Roosecote batteries will actually be able to supply power for. A few hours, days, weeks? They might be OK for storing solar energy overnight, but can they store enough in the summer to supply those 50000 homes all through the winter?

She also shows this chart, claiming that 54% of energy is lost by the time it reaches users. This supposedly makes the case for more localised supply.

In fact, historically power plants have tended to be built close to users. I wonder why she has not therefore questioned the sense in connecting wind farms to the grid, which in many cases are hundreds of miles from the primary centres of demand.