Simon Clark 
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The British* electrical grid has massively reduced its carbon impact. Yay! But in the process it kind of broke. Boo! In this video lets talk about how to change that. Ooo!
*things are different in Northern Ireland!
Again, this video was not sponsored by Ripple, nor did they have any control over its contents. If you’d like to learn more about them, you can do so here: https://bit.ly/3Yov6Gb
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REFERENCES
1. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-coal?tab=chart&country=GBR~OWID_EUR~OWID_WRL~CHN
2. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/sep/30/end-of-an-era-as-britains-last-coal-fired-power-plant-shuts-down
3. https://www.energydashboard.co.uk/live
4. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/electricity-mix-uk
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levelized_cost_of_electricity#/media/File:Electricity_costs_in_dollars_according_to_data_from_Lazard.png
6. https://ca1-eci.edcdn.com/_720xAUTO_crop_center-center_none/Weighted-energy-prices.jpeg?v=1724955253
7. https://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/uk-household-electricity-prices-rose-to-levels-higher-than-those-in-any-eu-country/
8. https://www.energylivenews.com/2024/09/30/uk-has-worlds-highest-industrial-electricity-costs/
9. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/sustainable/sites/bartlett_sustainable/files/the_role_of_natural_gas_in_electricity_prices_in_europe_updated_may_2023.pdf
10. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/natural-gas-prices?country=~UK+NBP
11. https://grid.iamkate.com/
12. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/oct/07/ive-fallen-out-with-people-the-bruising-debate-over-uk-zonal-energy-pricing
13. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/review-of-electricity-market-arrangements-rema
14. https://madano.com/news/review-of-electricity-market-arrangements-shaping-the-future-of-the-uks-power-sector
15. https://heatable.co.uk/solar/advice/solar-panel-costs
16. https://grist.org/buildings/how-germany-outfitted-half-a-million-balconies-with-solar-panels/
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Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic
Some stock footage courtesy of Getty.
Edited by Luke Negus.
Why does the UK have such expensive electricity? Why are renewables so expensive? Are renewables like wind ruining the electric grid? This video explains how the British electrical grid became low carbon but broke, and how we can fix the problem of marginal pricing and how to save money on your energy bills.
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About The Author
Right so the net zero nonsense is making it all more expensive. Got it. The uk co2 worldwide contribution is 1% while China and India make up around 50%-60%. So we all pay loads more while other countries don’t give two hoots.
Sweden also has a pricing system like this. A couple of years ago I was thinking about this and realized that this pricing system really encourages collusion and suboptimal behavior. If the system is on the edge of managing to supply its needs with nuclear and renewables alone it is much more profitable to turn hydro power off to keep gas online. And if anyone ever questions why power plants are offline and gas power plants are running you can call it maintenance or keeping a reserve or something. Of course, if you own one dam that would be a stupid thing to do, but if you own 500 dams stopping production in 5 of them to quadruple the income from the rest is a no brainer.
Set up a system at any workplace where everyone gets paid overtime pay for the entire day if just one person needs to work overtime that particular day, see how that affects productivity. Now, the probability of that working goes down drastically the more producers are on the market, because it is a kind of prisoners dilemma and corporations are not known to play good strategies for prisoners dilemmas. But I would be shocked if it didn't happen sometimes.
Oh and I just checked the current prices in Sweden. I kept the word "quadruple" up there because it sounds fancy, at this particular hour it's not 4x, it's 10x within Sweden, 40x including Denmark who are also part of the same market.
One of the poorer explanations of the merit order principle. Simplified too much in my opinion, would have loved a more detailed view.
Imagine doing this Energy Co-Operative thing but on a Nationwide scale. Maybe use contributions from taxation to fund the intitial start up costs. Then the entire country can reap the benefits. Like some sort of Nationally Owned Energy Sector.
What a wild idea!
This is so stupid and manipulative 😅 The government, instead of working to get the people the most affordable and abundant energy, it is working with the energy mafia. Then the video suggests people should fend for themselves, by spending on solar or energy cooperatives and not bother the government . P.S. no mention about the home PV owner being paid the same price as the "marginal" mafia is getting 😉 OMG, why would we pay the citizen the same amount that we're spending on the mafia ?!? God forbid 😂
Still burning shit loads of wood at Drax
I'm seriously dubious about Ripple. They continually state their customers have some sort of ownership, but that's simply not true. You do not own anything. At best you are a leaseholder in 'common tongue' of a cooperative. Essentially you offset a venture who owns some or all of a generator (partially funded by the Welsh government). All you are really doing is offsetting your home energy bill at quite a high cost – and that source of energy may very well be fuelled by good old dino juice.
Tbh I wouldn't have a problem with this if they were honest about what you're really buying. It's essentially another form ROC in my opinion, ie: Paying someone else to make yourself feel better whilst you get to keep burning a finite resource.
You DID NOT mention the Crocodile Tears from the Wind and Solar producers that REQUIRE a Government BACKED Fixed price on their exported electricity so they can make more of a profit knowing the TAX PAYER is footing the BILL
Fun video 😀 Love to see countries getting mature, sad that UK probably will fail due to their political instability of the 2-party system – alternatively tearing down what the previous government created, much like the train wreck that is United States of America.
We smug people in Denmark, laughs a bit and have a firm focus on getting 100% (That is one hundred percent) of our energy needs from renewable sources as early as 2030 … just saying, (*giggle*)
important to understand the the UK grid is not "broken" – it has never been more reliable. Pricing structureas are about regulation and not the operation of the grid.
Most people are not interested in how electricity is generated so long as it comes out of the wall when it is needed.
Fully automated smart grid systems need to be as unobtrusive as possible and should not need a STEM degree from Oxford to understand.
Doesn’t take 10-15 years to pay back solar that figure is about 5-8 years old.
The problem with the math here (at the beginning) is that renewables aren't as cheap as they say. Yes, the cost per W has dropped to be the cheapest source, but if you want reliable power, you MUST build backup, and it all costs money and NONE of it is part of the "renewables cost" in these comparisons (this is also ignoring any subsidies). In the case of gas, if you use gas plants periodically, they cost almost as much to run as when idle. People still come to work, taxes and bills are paid, etc. The cost of fuel is only a portion of running a plant. The only way the UK will save money on gas is to use fewer peaker plants, and more solar isn't going to do that.
I'm sorry but please never try to make a mojito again.
Interesting study on the imported lpg gas in which the true environmental cost of producing and transporting isn't taken into account in our carbon intensity. This actually points that lpg is overall worse that coal.
I think we also need similar projects for storage. "I can't produce but I can store energy" you know, to cover the other side of renewables.
Would that be too expensive? Is the tech not there for distributed storage? Too inefficient?
Just so you know – 10kW solar plant cost 3k euros, 4k with all installation hardware, on standard sloped roof. Easily DIY. Less if you can get some incentives (in Lithuania it’s ~2K eur).
As I sit in my flat in Sawley, Derbyshire and look towards the Trent Lock area (Past Sawley Marina), I can see the aircraft warning beacons for East Midlands Airport situated at Ratcliffe-on-soar Power Station, Nottinghamshire, the last coal fired power station in the UK, which was recently shut down, as noted in this video….. I have passed this place many times on my trips from Long Eaton towards Leicester and London St Pancras on the train with EMR, and stopped right next to the Cooling towers at East Midlands Parkway (I even worked at this very station briefly in 2018), which my mates dad Stuart had a hand in constructing.
It's going to be very strange if / when these towers go, just like it was with Salt N Pepper (Towers) next to Meadowhall in Sheffield.
More Nuclear stations near the sea generating electricity, hydrogen and fresh water, which will be the next big problem.
Uk just converts coal fired power plants to wood pellet fired power plants and slaps a green sticker on it saying its renewable. The wood pellets are manufactured in Canada.. The carbon used for manufacturing and transporting by several ships and trains every week is not included. It actually takes twice as much wood pellets as coal to achieve the same energy output! So, that carbon figure is inaccurate.
Average is 7k😯 my company charges with battery storage a good deal more, like bruv 7k is low
The British economy is deliberately regulated to maximize the returns to the people who finance the politicians to get elected. This is called Liberal democracy.