The UK electricity network is clearly not what it used to be. Can it be any coincidence that as coal power disappears thanks to ‘net zero’ type climate obsessions, leaflets like this start arriving on the domestic mat like this one today?
SP Energy (aka Scottish Power) covers parts of southern Scotland, North West England and North Wales. If other energy providers are doing the same type of leafletting or similar (emails etc.), let us know.
One section is about ‘Storms and Severe Weather’ but the one about ‘Preparing you for extreme events’ gets to the heart of the matter: ‘the possible but unlikely scenario of an energy shortage due to the current energy landscape’. They can’t even bring themselves to say electricity (see leaflet title)!
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
What is an “extreme shortage”?
And why would there be a shortage of generating capacity? They do not explain why that might happen now but didn’t happen in the past.
A gas shortage, also reducing electricity generation, is possible due to lack of storage and reliance on LNG shipments, plus only one coal power station left. Last winter wasn’t too bad for temperatures but a harsher one could be a problem.
Nobody knows unless or until it happens.
Huh, contrary to Oldbrew offering them a plausible excuse of their own manufacture, the REAL Shortage is of their Brainpower / comprehension/ etc, etc. Failure to grasp the situation of REALITY –> HOW THINGS WORK. and not quite as per the TV Series ( though in itself, being quite interesting)
Phoenix44 asks “What is an “extreme shortage”?”
One answer would be; ‘something no one would have imagined’ when no matter how one fiddles the switches and the fuses, there just is no juice in the wires.
In 47yrs in this ‘business’ there were several times when that reality was round the corner, and not for a matter of hours but for much longer. And the variety of reasons are many. And you don’t get to know what they were, again for a variety of reasons.
With hindsight I’d say that advice is wise.
Tower blocks could have a problem if there isn’t an emergency generator to run the lifts. For people in individual houses a small 5kW generator is the answer, if they can find one.
The best answer is to round up a group of the ‘net zero’ loons and put them in a treadmill connected to an alternator and use a cattle prod to keep them running.
Finally, the government had better get a move on building 3 or 4 new coal fired generators.
The ‘current energy landscape’ is largely the result of net zero type policies. Now we’re supposed to accept this means power cuts if renewables don’t cut the mustard, because no coal and very few gas power stations get built any more, even to replace the old ones.
British Energy Secretary Warns Of UK Dependence On Foreign Regimes
Oct 18, 2023
UK Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho warned on Wednesday that Britain will see North Sea oil and gas production halve by 2030, placing the UK at the mercy of external forces should the Labour Party government come to power and refuse to allow new offshore drilling.
Coutinho said the UK would be forced to import up to 80% of its oil and gas by 2030, rendering it “subservient to foreign regimes” and “decimating the same people and communities that we need to come with us on this green transition journey”, as reported by the Telegraph.
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/British-Energy-Secretary-Warns-Of-UK-Dependence-On-Foreign-Regimes.html
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‘Transition’ to solar power leaves people with little or no electricity on windless nights. A few nuclear plants and some imports from France won’t do the job. If they could do the job the renewables rush would be largely redundant.