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Across Europe and the UK energy prices soared last week and wind power failed to produce any meaningful power. In the words of Norway’s energy minister, “It’s an absolutely shit situation.”
Even during this time of almost zero energy supply from “renewable, “green” energy sources, UK energy providers continue to claim they are supplying 100% “green” energy. So how does the “green” electricity scam work?
Let’s not lose touch…Your Government and Big Tech are actively trying to censor the information reported by The Exposé to serve their own needs. Subscribe now to make sure you receive the latest uncensored news in your inbox…
How Suppliers Deliver “Green” Power When Wind Runs out of Puff
By David Turver, 15 December 2024
Introduction
It has been a torrid week in the UK and continental European energy markets. A high-pressure system over the North Sea has meant low wind speeds and wind turbines across Northern Europe have struggled to produce much meaningful output. So how have energy companies managed to honour their commitments to supply 100% green electricity?
European Electricity Market Turmoil
Shortages of wind power have led to massive price spikes across Europe, with day-ahead prices reaching over €936/MWh in Germany and Denmark on Thursday (see Figure 1).
The UK has not been immune to these continent-wide challenges with day-ahead prices rising to over £400/MWh and one short-term bid being accepted for over £3,000/MWh on Thursday (see Figure 2).
The relentless push towards Net Zero with increased reliance upon intermittent renewables has made a mess of UK and EU electricity generation. Norway relies mostly on cheap, reliable hydropower for its electricity generation. However, the shortage of reliable generation in the rest of Europe has pushed up prices in southern Norway (see Figure 1 above) to such an extent that the two governing parties want to scrap an electricity connector to Denmark and there are also calls to renegotiate power links with the UK and Germany. Norway’s energy minister said, “It’s an absolutely shit situation.”
UK Market Mayhem
We can see just what a mess the UK is in by looking at a snapshot of demand and supply from 09:30 on Thursday morning (see Figure 3).
Demand was just shy of 42GW and our >30GW of wind capacity was producing just over 1GW, with solar providing almost nothing. We were reliant on almost 27.7GW of gas-fired generation (CCGT + OCGT) supported by 3.8GW of nuclear and 2GW of pumped and natural flow hydropower. Biomass (aka burning trees) was providing 2.4GW with another 1.7GW of “other” generation. The much-vaunted interconnectors, supposed to enhance our energy security were providing a net 0.17GW, because even though we were importing the full 3GW from France, almost all of it was being re-exported to other countries. We were sending 0.8GW back to Denmark over the Viking link which when it opened with great fanfare last year was claimed to increase our energy security. Moreover, the EU is advising members not to give the UK greater access to their energy market. This does not bode well for our future energy security.
This turmoil in electricity markets caused the price of the Agile Octopus tariff to rise to the cap of 99.99p/kWh (see Figure 4).
Now the cause of this spike cannot be blamed on elevated gas prices. On Thursday, spot gas prices were 110p/therm, which is about £37.50/MWh. At 50% efficiency, the marginal cost of electricity generation would be about £75/MWh plus about £14/MWh carbon tax, or around £90/MWh which is of course much less than the peak day-ahead price of over £400/MWh. The cause of this price spike is the systematic closure of dispatchable power plants over the years. Our last coal plant closed just a few months ago and our nuclear fleet has been allowed to dwindle. So, we are left with a bunch of ancient gas plants that cost an arm and a leg to keep in service but only used very infrequently. Generators can charge what they like because they know that the cost of the lights going out will be incalculable. This situation has been caused by a succession of incompetent energy ministers who for over two decades have prioritised virtue signalling over electricity costs and energy security. It is no surprise that we have the highest electricity costs in the IEA (see Figure 5).
What is both surprising and alarming is that with his new Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, Ed Miliband is doubling down on this madness. Apparently, he is considering holding the largest-ever auction of renewables subsidies next year in AR7. His sole objective should be to cut power prices, but if he has to offer record subsidies, then renewables simply cannot be cheaper.
100% Green Electricity Claims
On Thursday morning, gas was producing two-thirds of our electricity, but by 2030 Miliband wants gas to provide no more than 5% of our electricity over the course of a year. This got me thinking about how many of our electricity suppliers claim to be providing 100% green or renewable electricity.
Octopus claims to supply “100% green electricity” (Figure 6).
Ecotricity claims that their electricity is 100% green and just in case you were wondering, they even say that it is all animal-free (Figure 7).
They are not alone, because other large suppliers also provide 100% green energy tariffs. Eon offers a tariff that claims to be 100% renewable; EDF even offers the choice of which renewable technology you want your supply to be sourced from; Scottish Power claims to provide 100% green electricity from its UK windfarms; and SSE has a similar claim for one of its business tariffs. British Gas even claims to be providing “100% Natural UK Renewable Energy from solar, wind and hydropower generation” to some business customers.
How can all these electricity suppliers be providing 100% renewable or green electricity when wind and solar are generating the square root of naff all? Well, we should probably add hydro and nuclear to the list of green generators. Officially, burning trees as biomass is even classified as “green” even though burning wood produces more CO2 and particulates than burning coal. But even so, when gas is producing two-thirds of our output there is no way that all the big suppliers can be simultaneously providing 100% green energy. There is even less chance SSE and Scottish Power can be providing 100% of their power from their own wind farms when the total output from the entire fleet is little more than 1GW. If solar is producing nothing and wind very little, there simply cannot be enough green renewable electricity available during these times for all the claims to be true.
REGO Racket
We can get a clue about how they manage to make these claims from British Gas (see Figure 8).
In the small print, we see that the 100% Natural UK Renewable Energy is in backed by Renewable Electricity Guarantees of Origin (“REGOs”). Ofgem tells us REGOs are issued for each MWh of electricity generated by accredited generators of renewable electricity. REGOs can be traded independently of the power that is generated. So, electricity suppliers can sell electricity generated by gas or coal, but then buy REGOs produced at a time when there was a surplus of renewables and use the REGO certificate to pretend that the electricity they sold was in fact renewable. According to Good Energy (See Figure 9), the price of REGOs soared as high as £25. The cost of this nice little earner (£25/MWh) will of course be added to our bills.
Unfortunately, I cannot find any data for 2024 and prices may well have fallen. However, regardless of the price of these certificates now, buying a piece of paper can never negate the emissions from the actual generation. REGOs amount to little more than a greenwashing racket. Claims of 100% clean renewable energy from all these suppliers simply must be false. I do not expect Ofcom or the ASA to act any time soon.
About the Author
David Turver is a British retired consultant, chief information officer and project management professional. He publishes articles on a Substack page titled ‘Eigen Values’ where he writes about contentious issues such as climate, energy and net zero. You can subscribe to and follow his Substack page HERE.
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Categories: Breaking News
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Hi Gerry O_C, thenk you. I have respect for Coreys Digs.
…glad to hear Rhoda, thanks for the deletions…what i was writing is that recently ur short bio, which i hadn’t seen, on ur motivations and inspirations for ur work popped up when i came on here, and subsequently i seemed to find difficulty on rediscovering it, i found it interesting, is there any chance u could supply the link, please? …
Hi Gerry O_C, if you click on my name (immediately below the article title) then it should take to to another page which shows what you’re looking for.
…thanks again Rhoda!… i see now that’s what happened, i had fumbled in my haste and clicked on ur name…i’m surprised i hadn’t thought of that ’cause i do that on other sites and on Substack…interesting bio Rhoda…i take it that u’ ve written books, they’d be very interesting no doubt, and worth publishing…i know someone who did a great job self publishing a book which his wife wrote, must be really terrified of her lol! ’cause he did a fine job, a much more attractive publication than some publishing houses do, and then of course there’s the prospect of pdfs, i never got around to looking into their construction…have u come across Deirdre Manifold writing circa 1990… https://canisiusbooks.com/twg.htm …excellent bibliography, her book on Fatima Conspiracy can be read in pdf on line (link won’t copy), and she wrote on Marx also online possibly…and here’s one i intend to look into by Walter Brueggemann ‘The Land’…either Henry Lamb or Michael Coffman may have mentioned it, here’s my borrowed copy just now from the Internet Archive… https://archive.org/details/landplaceasgiftp0000brue…
The author says – “This situation has been caused by a succession of incompetent energy ministers who for over two decades have prioritised virtue signalling over electricity costs and energy security”.
I do not agree. Incompetence is not the cause. It is all planned. They make claims about energy security but they lie. Behind the scenes they are plotting to create energy insecurity so that they can impose energy rationing on us (on WEF orders). Sunak was one of the worst culprits. Look at the difference between what he said about North Sea oil and gas and what he actually did. His behind the scenes shenanigans actually caused several of the oil majors to give up on the North Sea and go elsewhere.
Traitors are in charge of the UK.
Hi Cheery Charles.
Did you not see this article.
https://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=249285
Excellent comment; you must be a flerfer!?
Bingo, nothing is by accident or incompetence with these corrupted souls
[…] Go to Source Follow altnews.org on Telegram […]
A word of warning should you try to tell friends about this green scam – they are likely to have read stuff like this below and could argue with you because they fell for the bluff in the MSM, and they might also watch the BBC
Two days ago in the Mail – “UK wind power hits a record high as it provides 70% of Britain’s electricity, promising data reveals”.
In it – “Britain’s wind turbines have set a new maximum wind record, reaching 22,243 megawatts for the first time on Sunday evening (December 15) – providing 54 per cent of the country’s electricity supply.
This beat the previous maximum wind record of 21,998MW set on January 10, 2023, reveals the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
Meanwhile, at 4:30am on Monday morning, wind accounted for 70 per cent of the country’s electricity supply – or 21,123MW.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14200757/UK-wind-power-hits-record-high-provides-70-Britains-electricity-promising-data-reveals.html
Does the Mail print blatant lies?
I suspect that there was a rare windy period that did produce that record amount, but it didn’t last for very long, the article went on to say –
“In all, 54 per cent of Britain’s energy was supplied by wind at around 6:30pm on Sunday, rising to 67 per cent Monday morning and since falling to 29 per cent, as of Tuesday morning.”
Spot the bluff, misinformation and blue sky dreaming in that propaganda piece in the Mail – “UK wind power hits a record high as it provides 70% of Britain’s electricity, promising data reveals”.
The bluff is that that it trumpets 70% in the headline, but in reality that was a momentary figure, a freak event when it was unusually windy and it happened at 4:30 am – a time of day when the demand is low. Wind power would NOT have supplied 70% of peak demand nor even average demand.
I’ll bet that at 8 am that morning, the figure was nowhere near 70%.
That Mail article shows the sort of green bluff we often get from the lying, warmist BBC.
wealth transfer the old problem reaction solution follow the money they now want Alberta’s coal to export to Australia in the firing of steel for wind turbines, yet Canadians can’t fire to generate electricity or anything else for that matter ! brainwashing at its best Themythiscanada.com
Hi Stuart James,
Have you seen this damage in Wales.
https://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=249285
Another global scam all about money and control.
Sheep suckered yet again!
And they all end up in a landfill site
[…] Wind power produces almost no energy yet UK energy providers still claim to deliver “green” ener… […]
We need to use nuclear energy.
When Hinkley C was decided upon, I had been brainwashed by the guff about wind and solar energy. Thanks to good information from reliable sources such as the Expose and Stop These Things! https://stopthesethings.com/2024/12/07/reality-collides-constant-blackout-threat-spells-doom-for-wind-solar-transition/ and the film https://www.climatethemovie.net/ I learned the truth.
Now I know, Wind and solar energy are dangerous, unreliable, expensive and above all NOT Green! Nuclear energy is very safe, clean, reliable and cheap. So long as we learn from the problems encountered in the building of Hinkley C, we need to invest in more nuclear power stations.
Woke maths –
[…] – Wind power produces almost no energy yet UK energy providers still claim to deliver “green” ener… […]