XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.politics.uk, soc.culture.uk
XPost: alt.politics.usa

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/15/energy-bills-rise-200-pound-per-year-scottish-wind-turbines/

Energy bills will rise £200 a year within a decade to pay
for wasted wind power as new turbines in Scotland are paid
to switch off, according to new forecasts.

Poor electricity grid infrastructure means energy created
by turbines in Scotland cannot reach homes in England on
very windy days.

. . .

But ... but ... I thought "renewable" was supposed
to be much CHEAPER ! They SAID so !!!

Thing is, you have to be able to effectively/affordably
STORE 'excess' power. The UK does not have the means.
It's actually rather difficult - well, expensive as
hell at the very least.

Elon Musk sells GIGANTIC lithium battery packs for
the purpose - but at a gigantic pricetag. Also
the batteries have a limited lifetime AND all the
safety issues we expect from lithiums. His main
customer has been Australia - where they park
the things WAY out-back.

Sure, other options have been explored. Giant
flywheels, pumping water uphill, but there's
always problems so we don't see these fixes.
IF more efficient catalysts for converting
water to hydrogen can be found (things ARE
improving there) maybe that's how you do it -
but again you've gotta park such facilities
FAR away from anybody and there's a lot of
up-front costs.

The UK went whole-hawg into windmills quite a
while back - all that North Sea wind seemed
perfect. I think most of the things are made
in Denmark though, not the UK. BUT, as now
apparent, they SKIPPED the whole storage part
of the equation. Now they pay maint costs,
but miss much of the power potential.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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