UK gas/electricity supply shortages this winter

[cupid_stunt]

I hope this winter boosts the renewables industry massively.

We need to hope the wind keeps blowing during any prolonged cold period, here's a couple of screen shots I've had lurking in a folder, both taken around 6am.

This was a good day, on 5/10/22, showing wind producing over 65% of electric, and gas under 20%, with us exporting almost 20%.



This was a bad day, on the 27/8/22, wind down to just over 3%, and gas over a whopping 83%, exporting just over 20%

 

[WouldBe]

Perhaps I should help out my elderly main breaker by eliminating a few extension cables ...
I briefly owned a Tesco "Value" plastic toaster that tripped the breaker even with the earth wire disconnected....
These day I might have offered it to one of the various online electrical mystery solvers ...

Circuit breakers work by comparing the current flow in the live and neutral. If there is a difference of the trip value (30mA) it trips.

 

[gentlegreen]

Circuit breakers work by comparing the current flow in the live and neutral. If there is a difference of the trip value (30mA) it trips.

The plastic toaster was a complete mystery. It tripped the RCD with no earth and plugged into a dedicated spur right under the CU.
Yes it is something of a stretch imagining 30ma going from live to earth in an extension cable due to capacitance in preference to the neutral ..

 

[kalmatthew]

I'm curious how rolling blackouts in a community would be able to differentiate between a GP surgery and the surrounding ordinary homes, or a care home, etc. I'm sure they will figure that out, as they will have to.

They can't and they won't its basically turning off a substation there can be no exceptions.

What happens for people relying on medical equipment. these will have battery back up but can they recharge to run again for another three hours if in use the next day. There will be some expectation that they have managed this risk already and some small numbers of generators the power distribution companies have for certain users.

If your on the priority services register (as you should be if you rely on the mains to stay alive. The distribution company should contact you in advance of the cuts and work out what you need then supply it, it might be a Ups or a small generator.

 

[two sheds]

For proper war spirit we need wardens to go round like they used to shouting at people "Switch that fridge off "

 

[MrCurry]

Isn't that pushing the cable close to it's limit? Iirc 1.0mm cable has a max current capacity of 10A.

Seems to cope. I’ve done it through the summer (only time I have enough sunshine to afford such a profligate energy using load) and the cable was not getting warm. I should really use my plug-in energy meter to see how many volts the dishwasher receives when heating water, but it’s clearly enough for it to complete the cycle successfully.

 

[gentlegreen]

For proper war spirit we need wardens to go round like they used to shouting at people "Switch that fridge off "

They want a lollypop man up the road, but that sounds a much better fit

 

[NoXion]

So the Tories' constant rhetoric works after all. Put all the blame Putin.

Remember who closed down the Rough gas storage facility. It was Centrica. In 2017. Under the Tories.

It's not like no-one warned them: Closure of UK’s largest gas storage site ‘could mean volatile prices’

Shutting down gas storage was a bad idea, I agree. But you also can't deny that Putin's war has made things much worse, and not just for people in this country.

 

[StoneRoad]

Society will cope, people, individually, will struggle. Yes they will have to tolerate it, but that might lead to a rise in antisocial behaviour. It all depends how bad things get, if at all.

I don't think comparisons to the 70s are helpful or even all that relevant, ours is a much different world witha greater dependence on tech and thus energy.

I'm curious how rolling blackouts in a community would be able to differentiate between a GP surgery and the surrounding ordinary homes, or a care home, etc. I'm sure they will figure that out, as they will have to.

ref your last point.
Generally speaking, the system can't differentiate.
Two options - declare the requirement for uninterrupted supply
or - get equipped with standby / back-up power

 

[two sheds]

I'm disappointed my air warden style option doesn't even get to number 3, Reduce energy demand by inspection and local control.

 

[Karl Masks]

ref your last point.
Generally speaking, the system can't differentiate.
Two options - declare the requirement for uninterrupted supply
or - get equipped with standby / back-up power

Maybe the government will supply such places with emergency power...............

 

[gentlegreen]

Bloody breaker tripped again today and near the same time.
Yesterday it was a 2-wire power supply, today it was possibly the breadmaker, but it would only have been about 100 watts and I'd boiled water for the preparation.
It reset painlessly so perhaps the poor old thing has got it out of its system.

If I wanted to replace the trigger-happy master breaker / RCD on my Wylex box it would cost almost as much as I paid for the whole box in B&Q !
Whereas I can buy a shower CU for £7.49 ! - just the challenge of making up tails and connecting directly to the bus bars ...

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The house is getting rewired and will need a new steel box - probably over 12 months' time

 

[Sue]

Maybe the government will supply such places with emergency power...............

Hospitals, sport stadiums etc have uninterruptible power supplies as standard due to the adverse consequences if the power were to go off. I wouldn't be surprised if case homes, for example, have them too for the same reasons.

 

[HoratioCuthbert]

Hospitals, sport stadiums etc have uninterruptible power supplies as standard due to the adverse consequences if the power were to go off. I wouldn't be surprised if case homes, for example, have them too for the same reasons.

Local authority carehomes do IME, not sure about private ones

 

[elbows]

3 quid per kWh if you avoid peak use and have a smart meter:

National Grid raises discounts for off-peak electricity use

Households will get a discount of £3 per kWh instead of 52p off bills, National Grid says.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[platinumsage]

3 quid per kWh if you avoid peak use and have a smart meter:

National Grid raises discounts for off-peak electricity use

Households will get a discount of £3 per kWh instead of 52p off bills, National Grid says.

www.bbc.co.uk

5p not to have a cup of tea, you’d save more on the teabag and milk.

 

[gentlegreen]

What does that even mean ?

 

[two sheds]

"£3 per kw/h" doesn't help

 

[gentlegreen]

Do they mean 30p per kwh off-peak ?

 

[two sheds]

No idea:

"For a consumer that could mean a typical household could save approximately £100, and industrial and commercial businesses with larger energy usage could save multiples of this," he said.

per year? per month? per minute?

and

Octopus Energy and E.On had warned that the proposed payment to customers of 52p for each kilowatt-hour of electricity saved during peak times was too low, and would not encourage people to sign up.

so still no idea

 

[WouldBe]

"£3 per kw/h" doesn't help

How are they going to work out what electricity usage you have moved from peak hours?

If they are just going to go on what you use after 7pm I could switch the 'immersion' heater on at 8pm. It takes around 15kWh to heat the thermal store so I should be quids in.

 

[two sheds]

it's only if you have smart meter - presumably they can tell from that. Still no idea how much is on offer though.

 

[platinumsage]

“Customers who take part will receive a financial incentive if they reduce their power consumption below their usual levels”

National Grid ESO and Octopus Energy launch trial to unleash demand flexibility this winter | ESO

National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) and Octopus Energy are launching a pioneering real-time project to determine if flexibility in household electricity can help better match supply and demand on the electricity grid this winter.

www.nationalgrideso.com

No point increasing your average consumption because it would cost a lot more to do that than you’d ever receive from this scheme which would only operate on occasional days if at all.

 

[WouldBe]

“Customers who take part will receive a financial incentive if they reduce their power consumption below their usual levels”

National Grid ESO and Octopus Energy launch trial to unleash demand flexibility this winter | ESO

National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) and Octopus Energy are launching a pioneering real-time project to determine if flexibility in household electricity can help better match supply and demand on the electricity grid this winter.

www.nationalgrideso.com

No point increasing your average consumption because it would cost a lot more to do that than you’d ever receive from this scheme which would only operate on occasional days if at all.

Only a trial.
Only for Octopus customers.


If you use a ups it can be charged outside peak hours then at peak times switch the power off to the ups and carry on using your gadgets as usual.

 

[platinumsage]

Only a trial.
Only for Octopus customers.

Ye that was just the trial on which the actual scheme this winter will be based, but the way it worked is relevant.

 

[two sheds]

Only a trial.
Only for Octopus customers.


If you use a ups it can be charged outside peak hours then at peak times switch the power off to the ups and carry on using your gadgets as usual.

Normally a ups only lasts a few minutes so you can power down the computer though. I discovered this when I was looking for battery backup for my system.

 

[WouldBe]

Ye that was just the trial on which the actual scheme this winter will be based, but the way it worked is relevant.

The link says the trial will take part if Feb and march so any actual scheme won't take place this winter.

 

[WouldBe]

Normally a ups only lasts a few minutes so you can power down the computer though. I discovered this when I was looking for battery backup for my system.

My sister's ups can power her TV and PVR and other light usage stuff for around 4-5 hours.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

If there's little wind*, and a seriously cold spell resulting in increased gas use for heating, and therefore not enough gas for electric generation, there's no choice but to cut the electric on a regional basis, it's the last option left.

What do you mean by 'I don't think people will people will tolerate that'? We'll have no choice, it is what it is.

It was also 'completely out of our experience' back in the 70s, but it still happened, and people coped.

* Wind often produces over 50% of our electric, but some days that drops to under 5%.

Last winter, when Texas had a massive cold spell and was experiencing power failures, our electric company instituted rolling blackouts of a couple hours each, so they could send power south. I never heard anyone complain, especially when people in Texas were freezing to death. I think people can cope with hardship if it's explained to them bluntly why it's necessary. When people balk, it's because they don't feel that the discomfort is shared, or they feel they've been misled.

 

[two sheds]

My sister's ups can power her TV and PVR and other light usage stuff for around 4-5 hours.

what make/model is it?