RE: Pull the shorts down17 May 2024 12:36
Actually I think we (not the actual we but the collective we of investors and speculators) are a big part of the energy problem in the UK. Energy should be a core government strategy with a designed integrated supply system aimed at collapsing the per unit price to the point of attracting energy intensive industry to the UK.
Right now what is happening is that investors are demanding ever increasing returns and offer very limited capital investment, so programs like SMR are struggling to get going despite obvious demand.
Rather than look at renewables as the cause of this it is much easier to lay the blame at the privatisation purge in the 1980s and 90s where the real damage was done. You can say the same for water too, same parlous state, same root cause.
Renewables are only ever part of a mix, they don't and shouldn't be intended to operate as base load. But there is a lot more to the picture than per unit pricing. We need a coherent joined up energy strategy. I don't see any party at westminster getting close to that at the moment.
For example:
Community heating: There is no need for every house to generate its own heat when it could be done on a community by community basis as is in many other parts of the world. Geothermal, ground source, large scale air source could generate heat and hot water for large numbers of houses, especially as many of ours are sited in close proximity.
Renewables: We have Europe's strongest winds and most tidal resources. Harnessing both with government capital rather than PE could create an oversupply of energy such that we could start exporting it back to the continent rather than buying French nuclear in. Then there is hydropower, solar, and geothermal.
Nuclear : The small modular reactor initiative needs some horsepower behind it, waffling and procrastination has gone on too long. Rolls-Royce have leading tech and we have a bunch of previously closed down sites which could readily be used. Wylfa, Trawsfynydd and more. Small safe reactors are the way to go as baseload.
Democratised Power : Why doesn't every house, office, or factory have solar panels? The return on solar now far outstrips costs, but why are we using greenfield sites rather than coating industrial buildings? No joined up thinking, no co-ordination is why.
EVs : EVs only make sense if electricity costs are far less than petrol or diesel. The only sensible way to drive adoption is to make the KWh charge lower by over producing.
Storage : Energy storage in batteries is not the answer, there are lots of ideas all round the world that can store small to massive energy loads. Batteries can be part of the mix, but things like compressed gas, water elevation, thermal storage and more should all be part of a joined up network.
Natural gas: Using local gas resources as part of a peak lopping strategy is part of the mix, we should never have to import gas with the reserves we have.
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