Dear Editor
ON January 11 the Daily Telegraph reported on the loss of aging gas fired power stations.
We increasingly face a future in which we can only consume electricity when sun and wind intensity allows.
The Climate Change Committee estimates the overall gas fleet will be reduced to just under 15 GW by 2035 from around 30GW now
By then many of our 6GW aging nukes will have retired, to be replaced by around 4.6GW of new nukes, while grid MD (maximum demand) will have risen to over 80GW.
So around 20GW of despatchable nuclear and gas power plant – plus 20GW (questionable) EU interconnectors (ie 40GW total) – will have to meet a grid MD of over 80GW.
The National Energy System Operator acknowledges that planned battery capacity will not last for more than a few hours. It is also clear that hydrogen storage would need a lot more wind and solar capacity than is planned.
Why is no one minding the gap?
Roger J Arthur
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