Special report: Redesigning the UK's energy grid for a greener climate

The UK's electricity grid is struggling to catch up with the shifting energy map, as renewables replace fossil fuels and the grid’s infrastructure and management systems race to catch up.

According to exclusive calculations for Sky News, 71,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide - the annual emissions of 44,000 petrol cars - was emitted in the year to October because the grid underused green battery storage.

Sky News' Ed Conway takes a close looks and the different forces supporting and opposing an over hall to United Kingdom's electricity grid.

#electricity #netzero #climatechange

[CarlTSpeak]

Major infrastructure projects are always locally unpopular.

The UK wouldn't have an electricity grid at all if we'd been so fixated by local objections in the past.

Objections contributed towards making HS2 pointless trying to satisfy them cost the taxpayer nationwide so much.

Compensate and build.

Jenkin claiming not NIMBYs when they literally are campaigning on not having the infrastructure near them is pretty funny, too.

[matty]

The wants of the few should not be put before the needs of the many.

[davek]

Unfortunately pylons are necessary if we want to have electricity.

[kirkhamandy]

Perhaps we could mitigate the problem by lowering the load on the grid by simply disconnecting the NIMBYs. I just watched a BBC report about wind turbine blades being transported through Hawick town centre, and yes! the complaints about being stuck in traffic an extra 20 minutes rolled forth. There's nothing people won't complain about. We really need to start giving them something real to complain about to distract them.

[mbarker]

Rich people object, poor people accept...

[timevans]

If the government opted to install a compulsory 1kw of solar on every new house being built, they would add infrastructure at the point of use at no cost to the economy or the public. Every year, the infrastructure would increase in capacity. The solar wouldn't need to be metered. It could simply be connected to the houses electrical infrastructure. What isn't used by the household could go back into the grid. Th3 cost per new house would be small. The increase in capacity of the grid would be substantial over time

[Sensibleman]

The country should have stronger laws to make critical infrastructure smooth. People will always object to everything but do they even understand the impact of climate change?

[iainmcintosh]

I get so fed up with these NIMBY’s. Happy to use the power, so long as all the pylons and generators are up north. Just concerned about their over valued houses, as opposed to the long term competitiveness of the U.K. and lower power bills. Frankly, I’d just do as the French do and go ahead and build, without forever consulting. Or else, cut of their power supplies and then see how they feel a month later.

[rheung]

The battery in electric cars could be reimagined as some forms of city wide “grid”, and those home with solar as millions of mini power plants, however, the inertia of keeping grid stable as 50Hz is indeed a big challenge. Thanks Sky for illustrating the deep challenge for transitioning to renewables.

[markstockton]

These people are demanding poverty for others so they can have a nice view.

[bigjdk]

Why not subsidise rooftop solar big time, combined with electric cars which also double as grid storage when plugged in. And start using energy depending on the weather, by varying the price in real time. Many loads can wait until the sun’s shining or there’s a drop in demand, like Economy 7 works now.

[hilarymiseroy]

The fact that the control room featured is in the National Grid HQ in Warwick is not a secret. The location of the back up facility is less well known though.

[alisterhamilton]

Excellent report by Ed Conway and Sky News. Growing complexity against a background of an exponentially increasing mineral resource extraction requirement and collapsing net energy from indigenous oil and gas makes this approach to energy transition very challenging indeed.

[thenoodlebuddy]

Lol we're not NIMBYS! We just dont want them in our backyards

[sig]

The UK has a link to Norway for pumped hydro excess . If the Morocco link goes through Plus the fact we have the top 2/3 biggest wind turbine farms . I think we are on a good path . But I also think each county should either generate their own power or have a battery within its borders to store from another source then under ground cables linking to each other . UK government must pass a law like they have in France where all petrol forecourts must have solar on the roof. Same with schools and car parks hospitals etc .

[colintwyning]

Electric is the modern fuel the age of burning stuff is gone.

[rabhaw]

Is it impossible to build more hydro power stations in the UK ? Maybe they cannot get enough graft by using them ? they are pollution free and can run for over 40 years that I know of, there are hundreds of Lochs in Scotland that I'm sure can be utilized with modern technology but maybe they can't siphon off enough cash from them to fill their pockets. Maybe the main suppliers Centrica and Genie will hold too much power for that to happen?

[simonyapp]

Pylon’s don’t hurt bats or birds. But I agree an undersea grid study needs to be completed.

We may need more power in the future but we currently use x10 amount of gas very inefficiently. And the amount of power currently be wasted in for example in refining petrol can be used instead in heating our homes.

[sprogg]

They should calculate the cost of above ground pylons and the extortionate cost of underground cables, and then offer to increase the NIMBYS electric bills to make up the difference.

[TomNook.]

The ones who object to increased power infrastructure should be detached from the National Grid.