5 ms·
Electricity prices in the UK are painful, and galling when set by the price of gas, but it’s worth remembering that this model and all this expense has bought a
by jl6 6mo ago
Electricity prices in the UK are painful, and galling when set by the price of gas, but it’s worth remembering that this model and all this expense has bought a major asset that will only become more important and strategic.
The next milestones to hit are:
* A 10x increase in generation capacity
* A 100x increase in storage capacity
* A 1000x increase in seasonal storage capacity
* Electrification of heating
* Electrification of synfuels and synthetic chemical feedstocks
Full energy sovereignty is achievable within 10 years at wartime-spending levels. Probably 30 years otherwise.
Rehabilitation of nuclear is almost certainly required for the transition and a very good hedge / backstop regardless.
- pjc50 6mo agoYeah, we're (UK) only just at the "occasionally cheap 100% renewables" state, and it's maddeningly slow progress. But it seems like a lot of things are suddenly coming online, like battery storage, and the Scotland-England grid upgrade will happen in the next few years. https://eandt.theiet.org/2026/04/02/ps12bn-plan-upgrade-scotlands-electricity-grid-kicks https://eandt.theiet.org/2026/04/02/ps12bn-plan-upgrade-scot...
- rcxdude 6mo agoThe transition will probably be quite nonlinear: getting from zero to a few days a year of 100% renewables is about as much effort as going from a few days a year to most of the year.
- 7952 6mo agoPlug in solar could be like that.
- ErroneousBosh 6mo ago> and the Scotland-England grid upgrade will happen in the next few years. I hope not. We're currently getting shafted by National Grid pricing, and this is only going to mean we get to pay even more for electricity where it's generated while the south coast of the UK gets it cheap.
- benj111 6mo agoWe get that now. They were looking in to zonal pricing last year but backed out.
- EliRivers 6mo agoElectricity prices in the UK are painful, and galling when set by the price of gas It's painful indeed. Today, I watched the price go negative as wind and solar reduced the gas contribution to about 3% of the mix. As that gas mix rose to 5%, the price turned around and became painfully expensive again.
- crote 6mo ago> Rehabilitation of nuclear is almost certainly required for the transition Using nuclear means electricity prices will be set by the price of nuclear - which is even higher than the price of gas. Besides, it is economically impossible to operate it as backstop as almost all of its costs are in paying back the construction loan: run it 10% of the time and its cost-per-kWh is increased by 10x, run it 1% of the time and its cost-per-kWh is increased by 100x. With that kind of budget there are suddenly a lot of alternatives to nuclear as generation-of-last-resort.
- adrianN 6mo agoHow do you make money with a nuclear power plant when renewables deliver more than enough power 95% of the year?