Image credit: BBC Scotland
Sooner or later, preferring ideology to practicality in electricity generation is going to cause trouble. But are leaders aware of the issues, or in Scotland’s case do they just assume the rest of the UK will bale them out in an emergency?
H/T The GWPF
Scotland faces being plunged into darkness for days says The Herald Scotland, possibly resulting in deaths and widespread civil disobedience, due to the country’s over-reliance on green energy, a new report has warned.
A massive gap in the electricity system caused by the closure of coal-fired power stations and growth of unpredictable renewable generation has created the real prospect of complete power failure.
According to the Institution of Engineers in Scotland (IESIS), there is a rising threat of an unstable electricity supply which, left unaddressed, could result in “deaths, severe societal and industrial disruption, civil disturbance and loss of production”.
The organisation is also warning that the loss of traditional power generating stations such as Longannet, which closed in 2016, means restoring electricity in a “black start” situation – following a complete loss of power – would take several days.
Its new report into the energy system points to serious power cuts in other countries, which have resulted in civil disturbance, and warns: “A lengthy delay would have severe negative consequences – the supply of food, water, heat, money, petrol would be compromised; there would be limited communications. The situation would be nightmarish.”
IESIS is now calling on the Scottish and UK governments to transform their approach to how the electricity system is governed, with the creation of a new national energy authority with specific responsibility for safeguarding its long-term sustainability and avoiding blackouts.
The startling warning comes against a background of increasing reliance on “intermittent” energy sources such as wind and solar power.
Continued here.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
Is there a copy of that report available anywhere? It could be interesting reading even though it appears that the engineers are also backing renewables rather than their complete abandonment which is the logical requirement for reliable energy supply.
Here ya go…
http://www.iesis.org/efore/engforenergy.pdf
Report: Like the wings of an aircraft (Box 2, page 8), the parts of
an electricity system are interdependent. Making a change to
one part can have important effects throughout the system.
If these interactions are not considered when making system
modifications, an electricity system can become unstable
and fail.
. . .
The increase in price from 2004 is likely to have
been mainly due to the introduction of renewable energy
generation. From 2004 to 2017 the increase was at an
average rate of 4% p.a. compound.
The trouble with short-sighted energy policies…
– – –
See also: BOX 4 The intermittency of wind and solar energy production
Click to access engforenergy.pdf
Meanwhile in South Australia we are being assured that there will be electricity available in the hot weather predicted by the Bureau of Meteorology. As the latter also claim that Spring has been warmer than ever this year when I have had the (gas) heater on in the last 2 mornings of November – an unprecedented occurance in the 15 years I’ve lived here – I have doubts.
Thanks DB.
Their general thrust is good but it is all built on a false premise. As engineers they should know that you can’t build anything, even a report, on unvalidated data taken from unvalidated computer models.
The first mistake is in
BOX 1 Weather forecasting – computational technology in action
The accuracy of weather forecasting for a few days ahead has
improved dramatically in recent years. At the core of weather
forecasting is the use of computational technology that includes:
* Use of computational models i.e. mathematical models of
the atmosphere, that seek to predict how the weather will
change.
* Use of data to assess and improve the accuracy of these model.
This technology is being constantly developed by the
UK Met Office.
Where it appears that they accept the ‘CO2 raises temperature and is bad’ propaganda peddled by the greens and supported by the Met Office.
If they discounted the need to reduce CO2 emissions using renewables and instead looked at nuclear and HELE coal plants as being the way to both reduce emissions and supply cheap reliable power their report would be worth something but the governments wouldn’t accept it and it is doubtful that even this watered down version will be either.
Reblogged this on Utopia – you are standing in it!.
the determination to wear blinders at all costs IS costing – a lot. All you have to do is look at Australia for proof of the lunacy of wind and solar as a general power source. Can you say blackouts? Yet this cautionary tale is tossed away because it flies in the face of emotional investments in the stupid ‘green’ movement. The only thing green about it is the color of the bales of money ripped off for these travesties.