As recent auctions have shown it is now cheaper to build wind or solar compared to gas based electricity
This war is going to make gas even more expensive
vaska00762 on
It’s been well known since the 1972 Oil Crisis that energy independence was necessary to ensure these things didn’t mess us up.
Seemingly, only France invested into nuclear and extensive high speed rail following this. I guess China and Spain followed this in the decades since.
And yet, in the Anglosphere, shifting away from energy dependency with middle eastern hydrocarbons to renewables and nuclear is “woke”.
takesthebiscuit on
We are trying but nimbys keep blocking development
And their insane demands are driving up the cost with frivolous law suits and planning challenges
ProgramDifficult1376 on
I agree but it’s pointless for prices, if they continue to link consumer electric prices to gas wholesale prices.
You can be on a 100% renewables tariff and be forced to pay the same as gas generated, even though gas generated electric only makes up around 1/3 of supply.
Ridgeld on
The answer is nuclear. Renewables are great on an individual and community level and to supplement the grid but relying entirely on renewables on a national level is a fallacy.
Darkone539 on
This is what people should have pushed the whole time. Energy security is an obvious bonus.
We do need balance though. Costs when there’s not a crises can not be so high. We need to deal with that somehow
ThatIestyn on
We have a long way to go but we dont do too bad on renewables as it is, but we still have astronomical high electricity prices compared to europe.
We need to detach ourselves from tying so much of our electricity prices to gas, and remove the huge profits that some suits are making off us.
This can be done now without a change to our renewable supply. Yes we are still tied somewhat but it isnt the main driver.
Important_Ruin on
Waiting for the Reform lot to start screeching about ‘woke renewables’ and other nonsense
NathanDavie on
I’ve been saying this since Russia invaded Ukraine. You can be scientifically illiterate and not believe in human accelerated climate change, but it’s pretty obvious that relying on energy infrastructure that goes up in price when maniacs start wars is not a good idea.
Deepmidwinter2025 on
Right wing media “but the costs…but the hills…but woke”.
Amazed at the lazy media that cite the cost 20
Years ago and act amazed that it’s now more expensive to fix because we didn’t do the work then.
Defiant_Size5991 on
It’s crazy that we’re still having the same conversation about energy security decades later. Investing in renewables and nuclear isn’t just an environmental choice, it’s the only sane economic and security strategy left.
qweezy_uk on
Absolutely, energy security is top of the benefits list for renewables. Which always gets lost in the net zero noise. This is why China is expanding renewables so significantly.
The problem is we need a lot of investment in grid infrastructure and energy storage. And that investment is too slow or won’t happen at all because it’s heavily politicised.
We can’t expect all of the benefits without paying for it initially.
The countries that get this right over the next years / decades will succeed while the US + others throw missiles around for the last barrel of oil and gas.
daiwilly on
At this point we should be on a war footing regarding energy. We should explain in plain English the pain of transfer but the complete necessity of it…and ultimately the pay off. It might also be good if British companies made and supplied the equipment.
Tall-Reputation-9519 on
Making the government grants people can get to install solar panels on their homes available to landlords would help too – I rent out one house and it would be ideal to put some solar panels on but in reality I’m never going to spend £7k [£4k after reducing my tax] getting them installed as I won’t see any benefit from them.
Get that figure down to £2k and I’d happily put them on.
BoneThroner on
There is no plan (not even a ridiculously expensive one) that would feasibly heat, light and move britain through a gloomy winter.
Not without an enormous amount of gas.
jenny_905 on
Double down *and* uncouple the price of electricity from gas.
Other countries have done so.
AnnieByniaeth on
Yes…. But perhaps more importantly we need to be looking at energy storage. Without effective energy storage we can’t move away from sources which consume things (I include nuclear here) and can be turned on and off as renewables come and go.
So for example tidal lagoons – these are not only predictable but can also be used as storage. Batteries would be great but probably need one or two more iterations of battery Innovations to be practical for mass storage at the size of a whole country.
These things will come in time, but I fear we’re not quite where we need to be yet. There are some things that we can do in a short term (like actually investing in tidal lagoons – Swansea bay, anyone?) but I don’t think we can completely solve the problem yet.
potato_face1234 on
Maybe stop using marginal pricing, it’s taking the piss now.
davepage_mcr on
I still miss the future where thorium pebble-bed nuclear reactors were a good idea. Small form factor, passively cooled (no meltdown risk), you could put one on an industrial estate to power a whole town. Talk about a distributed energy grid…
Andromidius on
I mean even without wars we need renewables.
And maybe we can work towards not having wars too. You know, for every other reason why wars are bad for humanity.
MCMLIXXIX on
Id say we should go at it, be the best there is and grab a big slice of the market before China dominates 100% of it.
Why the us didnt want to control the next few hundred years of energy production I dont know.
Miserable-Grass7412 on
How about we take the price increases out of the ridiculous salaries and bonuses for the top dick heads running energy companies? No? Ahhh thought not, that’d mean we live in a decent world that isn’t run by unscrupulous smaug ass mother fuckers, guess the little people will have to stuggle even more then i guess 🤷♂️
Technical-Mention510 on
One of those where it’s half right half wrong. We need to be self sufficient, but doesn’t have to be renewables which also just drives up costs.
galdan on
Only works if we all have solar panels batteries and heat pumps…that’s a significant cost
24 Comments
Renewable energy is secure energy
As recent auctions have shown it is now cheaper to build wind or solar compared to gas based electricity
This war is going to make gas even more expensive
It’s been well known since the 1972 Oil Crisis that energy independence was necessary to ensure these things didn’t mess us up.
Seemingly, only France invested into nuclear and extensive high speed rail following this. I guess China and Spain followed this in the decades since.
And yet, in the Anglosphere, shifting away from energy dependency with middle eastern hydrocarbons to renewables and nuclear is “woke”.
We are trying but nimbys keep blocking development
And their insane demands are driving up the cost with frivolous law suits and planning challenges
I agree but it’s pointless for prices, if they continue to link consumer electric prices to gas wholesale prices.
You can be on a 100% renewables tariff and be forced to pay the same as gas generated, even though gas generated electric only makes up around 1/3 of supply.
The answer is nuclear. Renewables are great on an individual and community level and to supplement the grid but relying entirely on renewables on a national level is a fallacy.
This is what people should have pushed the whole time. Energy security is an obvious bonus.
We do need balance though. Costs when there’s not a crises can not be so high. We need to deal with that somehow
We have a long way to go but we dont do too bad on renewables as it is, but we still have astronomical high electricity prices compared to europe.
We need to detach ourselves from tying so much of our electricity prices to gas, and remove the huge profits that some suits are making off us.
This can be done now without a change to our renewable supply. Yes we are still tied somewhat but it isnt the main driver.
Waiting for the Reform lot to start screeching about ‘woke renewables’ and other nonsense
I’ve been saying this since Russia invaded Ukraine. You can be scientifically illiterate and not believe in human accelerated climate change, but it’s pretty obvious that relying on energy infrastructure that goes up in price when maniacs start wars is not a good idea.
Right wing media “but the costs…but the hills…but woke”.
Amazed at the lazy media that cite the cost 20
Years ago and act amazed that it’s now more expensive to fix because we didn’t do the work then.
It’s crazy that we’re still having the same conversation about energy security decades later. Investing in renewables and nuclear isn’t just an environmental choice, it’s the only sane economic and security strategy left.
Absolutely, energy security is top of the benefits list for renewables. Which always gets lost in the net zero noise. This is why China is expanding renewables so significantly.
The problem is we need a lot of investment in grid infrastructure and energy storage. And that investment is too slow or won’t happen at all because it’s heavily politicised.
We can’t expect all of the benefits without paying for it initially.
The countries that get this right over the next years / decades will succeed while the US + others throw missiles around for the last barrel of oil and gas.
At this point we should be on a war footing regarding energy. We should explain in plain English the pain of transfer but the complete necessity of it…and ultimately the pay off. It might also be good if British companies made and supplied the equipment.
Making the government grants people can get to install solar panels on their homes available to landlords would help too – I rent out one house and it would be ideal to put some solar panels on but in reality I’m never going to spend £7k [£4k after reducing my tax] getting them installed as I won’t see any benefit from them.
Get that figure down to £2k and I’d happily put them on.
There is no plan (not even a ridiculously expensive one) that would feasibly heat, light and move britain through a gloomy winter.
Not without an enormous amount of gas.
Double down *and* uncouple the price of electricity from gas.
Other countries have done so.
Yes…. But perhaps more importantly we need to be looking at energy storage. Without effective energy storage we can’t move away from sources which consume things (I include nuclear here) and can be turned on and off as renewables come and go.
So for example tidal lagoons – these are not only predictable but can also be used as storage. Batteries would be great but probably need one or two more iterations of battery Innovations to be practical for mass storage at the size of a whole country.
These things will come in time, but I fear we’re not quite where we need to be yet. There are some things that we can do in a short term (like actually investing in tidal lagoons – Swansea bay, anyone?) but I don’t think we can completely solve the problem yet.
Maybe stop using marginal pricing, it’s taking the piss now.
I still miss the future where thorium pebble-bed nuclear reactors were a good idea. Small form factor, passively cooled (no meltdown risk), you could put one on an industrial estate to power a whole town. Talk about a distributed energy grid…
I mean even without wars we need renewables.
And maybe we can work towards not having wars too. You know, for every other reason why wars are bad for humanity.
Id say we should go at it, be the best there is and grab a big slice of the market before China dominates 100% of it.
Why the us didnt want to control the next few hundred years of energy production I dont know.
How about we take the price increases out of the ridiculous salaries and bonuses for the top dick heads running energy companies? No? Ahhh thought not, that’d mean we live in a decent world that isn’t run by unscrupulous smaug ass mother fuckers, guess the little people will have to stuggle even more then i guess 🤷♂️
One of those where it’s half right half wrong. We need to be self sufficient, but doesn’t have to be renewables which also just drives up costs.
Only works if we all have solar panels batteries and heat pumps…that’s a significant cost