4 ms·

Energy Trends UK, October to December 2021 [pdf]

52 points by zeristor 5y ago

bbq 5y ago
Similar content for the US with a focus on trade: https://usitc.gov/research_and_analysis/tradeshifts/2020/energy.htm https://usitc.gov/research_and_analysis/tradeshifts/2020/ene...
mFixman 5y ago
For all of its problems, the UK government is fantastic at providing useful information in a clear and readable way.
- KineticLensman 5y ago
  > the UK government is fantastic at providing useful information in a clear and readable way Not if you are trying to get a new driving license from DVLA after a medical issue caused suspension of an old one. There is no online mechanism at all, either for the application itself, progress tracking or payment.
  - palcu 5y ago
    I think the DVLA is pretty unique in how dysfunctional it is as a British agency. I think the move to Swansea was very poorly executed. But you cannot criticise it because Very Serious People have said that devolution is always good.
    - dazc 5y ago
      Hasn't DVLA always been in Swansea?
  - mFixman 5y ago
    I'm currently going through the immigration process in the UK. Operations managed by UKVI are efficient and a pleasure to use, while everything managed by outsourced companies like Sopra Steria is inefficient and awful. I don't drive, but if I were to guess I'd say that the painful parts you are going through are outsourced to some shit company designed to nickel-and-dime you.
    - KineticLensman 5y ago
      > I'd say that the painful parts you are going through are outsourced to some shit company designed to nickel-and-dime you One problem is that DVLA doesn't have an integrated back-end database that stores all driver data consistently. Some of their systems are new and whizzy (e.g. participating in an online auction for personalised number plates) but others are from the stone age. Medical license application is also made worse because it requires the DVLA to interact with the NHS, using paper forms to request medical info and for the NHS doctors to request payment from DVLA for performing the medical reviews.
mxmilkiib 5y ago
https://data.gov.uk/dataset/9bcf12c5-ed7d-4d45-9938-6cd0fda584b9/energy-trends-quarterly-data https://data.gov.uk/dataset/9bcf12c5-ed7d-4d45-9938-6cd0fda5...
londons_explore 5y ago
Classic UK government... Produce a 30 page document reviewing energy trends, but fail to mention the key element that led to reduced demand in that period ... Price! The energy price increased 900% for gas spot prices. 600% for day ahead electricity prices. Anyone commercial who hadn't bought the right long term contracts was forced to shut down. When a good chunk of factories shut down, of course demand falls. And yet the report mentions frequently the 'recovery from covid' in an upbeat way, but never the massive price increase causing lots of industries to just shutdown.
- arpinum 5y ago
  > When a good chunk of factories shut down Do you have a source or way of quantifying the claim of the amount of factories shutdowns and the primary cause being energy prices?
  - londons_explore 5y ago
    Well we know of a bunch of factory shutdowns due to energy prices: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/business-58641394.amp https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/business-58641... Businesses I work with have also closed things down due to pricing.
youngtaff 5y ago
It’s interesting to see how much we’re relying on green rather than fossil fuel energy for power generation at the moment https://grid.iamkate.com/ https://grid.iamkate.com/ Wonder if this year will be the year green sources outstrip fossil ones Still got lots to do on the domestic heating front of course
- dfawcus 5y ago
  Unlikely, if you look one there at the pie chart for average use of the past year, you'll see that 41% fossil fuel, 26% renewable, 17% Nuclear, 7% Biomass. We are running down the last few nukes, and it'll probably take a decade or more to get the new ones, if that ever happens. For renewable, one should read 'intermittent' (it is mostly wind turbines), and the back fill for that is gas-turbines, so we need equal fossil fuel generation capacity to the wind generation capacity. There are periods where our little island has weeks without wind, as has happened over the last year, including during the last winter. If you look at the production graphs, specifically the past year (weekly averages), you can see those spikes where there was no wind, and we had to fully utilise all of out fossil fuel plans - including inefficient OCGT (and possibly diesel) plants. Unless and until we can have an efficient storage mechanism (batteries can not cut it), we will be dependent upon gas turbine generation. So one can anticipate high energy costs for around 20 years, until we get new nukes online - if we ever do.
  - youngtaff 5y ago
    Looking at the yearly averages for production fossil and green energy are getting pretty close Ok so it’s an average but there have been days in March where for the daylight hours solar had exceeded gas generation I suspect the pie chart differs from the line chart due to timing i.e. pie chart is a rolling last 12 months, and the line chart is based on calendar years but not sure

52 points by zeristor 5y ago

bbq 5y ago

Similar content for the US with a focus on trade: https://usitc.gov/research_and_analysis/tradeshifts/2020/energy.htm https://usitc.gov/research_and_analysis/tradeshifts/2020/ene...

mFixman 5y ago

For all of its problems, the UK government is fantastic at providing useful information in a clear and readable way.

KineticLensman 5y ago
> the UK government is fantastic at providing useful information in a clear and readable way Not if you are trying to get a new driving license from DVLA after a medical issue caused suspension of an old one. There is no online mechanism at all, either for the application itself, progress tracking or payment.
- palcu 5y ago
  I think the DVLA is pretty unique in how dysfunctional it is as a British agency. I think the move to Swansea was very poorly executed. But you cannot criticise it because Very Serious People have said that devolution is always good.
  - dazc 5y ago
    Hasn't DVLA always been in Swansea?
- mFixman 5y ago
  I'm currently going through the immigration process in the UK. Operations managed by UKVI are efficient and a pleasure to use, while everything managed by outsourced companies like Sopra Steria is inefficient and awful. I don't drive, but if I were to guess I'd say that the painful parts you are going through are outsourced to some shit company designed to nickel-and-dime you.
  - KineticLensman 5y ago
    > I'd say that the painful parts you are going through are outsourced to some shit company designed to nickel-and-dime you One problem is that DVLA doesn't have an integrated back-end database that stores all driver data consistently. Some of their systems are new and whizzy (e.g. participating in an online auction for personalised number plates) but others are from the stone age. Medical license application is also made worse because it requires the DVLA to interact with the NHS, using paper forms to request medical info and for the NHS doctors to request payment from DVLA for performing the medical reviews.

mxmilkiib 5y ago

https://data.gov.uk/dataset/9bcf12c5-ed7d-4d45-9938-6cd0fda584b9/energy-trends-quarterly-data https://data.gov.uk/dataset/9bcf12c5-ed7d-4d45-9938-6cd0fda5...

londons_explore 5y ago

Classic UK government... Produce a 30 page document reviewing energy trends, but fail to mention the key element that led to reduced demand in that period ... Price! The energy price increased 900% for gas spot prices. 600% for day ahead electricity prices. Anyone commercial who hadn't bought the right long term contracts was forced to shut down. When a good chunk of factories shut down, of course demand falls. And yet the report mentions frequently the 'recovery from covid' in an upbeat way, but never the massive price increase causing lots of industries to just shutdown.

arpinum 5y ago
> When a good chunk of factories shut down Do you have a source or way of quantifying the claim of the amount of factories shutdowns and the primary cause being energy prices?
- londons_explore 5y ago
  Well we know of a bunch of factory shutdowns due to energy prices: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/business-58641394.amp https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/business-58641... Businesses I work with have also closed things down due to pricing.

youngtaff 5y ago

It’s interesting to see how much we’re relying on green rather than fossil fuel energy for power generation at the moment https://grid.iamkate.com/ https://grid.iamkate.com/ Wonder if this year will be the year green sources outstrip fossil ones Still got lots to do on the domestic heating front of course

dfawcus 5y ago
Unlikely, if you look one there at the pie chart for average use of the past year, you'll see that 41% fossil fuel, 26% renewable, 17% Nuclear, 7% Biomass. We are running down the last few nukes, and it'll probably take a decade or more to get the new ones, if that ever happens. For renewable, one should read 'intermittent' (it is mostly wind turbines), and the back fill for that is gas-turbines, so we need equal fossil fuel generation capacity to the wind generation capacity. There are periods where our little island has weeks without wind, as has happened over the last year, including during the last winter. If you look at the production graphs, specifically the past year (weekly averages), you can see those spikes where there was no wind, and we had to fully utilise all of out fossil fuel plans - including inefficient OCGT (and possibly diesel) plants. Unless and until we can have an efficient storage mechanism (batteries can not cut it), we will be dependent upon gas turbine generation. So one can anticipate high energy costs for around 20 years, until we get new nukes online - if we ever do.
- youngtaff 5y ago
  Looking at the yearly averages for production fossil and green energy are getting pretty close Ok so it’s an average but there have been days in March where for the daylight hours solar had exceeded gas generation I suspect the pie chart differs from the line chart due to timing i.e. pie chart is a rolling last 12 months, and the line chart is based on calendar years but not sure