They're stealing ou...
 

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They're stealing our electricity now

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"Stealing"
"Our"
?


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 2:57 pm
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Stealing?  Given away with love, along with the joyful paying of higher standing charges.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 3:00 pm
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Once it's up and running go and cut through it with a wire cutter, that'll show em.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 3:00 pm
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You should start a petition to keep it for the locals. You could use it to power giant artificial suns on the tops of the hills so that poor kids don't have to go abroad to get some sun and then put solar panels on everyone's roof so they get free electricity.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 3:06 pm
 beej
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Pretty sure the generating companies are getting well paid for it.

What they're stealing is your wind and rain.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 3:09 pm
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You should start a petition to keep it for the locals. You could use it to power giant artificial suns on the tops of the hills so that poor kids don’t have to go abroad to get some sun and then put solar panels on everyone’s roof so they get free electricity.

Well, there is/was discussion recently that those close to the wind turbines or the sodding great powerlines hoofing it down to you flatlanders might get a discount on our leccy. Believe it when I see it.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 3:10 pm
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They can huv the wind and rain fur free!!


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 3:11 pm
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The real bonus will be when the percentage of electricity generated by gas is low enough to decouple the electricity price from the gas price. Once that happens all our electricity bills will drop substantially.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 3:17 pm
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Well, there is/was discussion recently that those close to the wind turbines or the sodding great powerlines hoofing it down to you flatlanders might get a discount on our leccy.

I don't recall ever being offered a discount on my electricity for living amongst the open cast coal mines that used to fuel power stations, less the case when they closed and it turned out they'd given the money that was supposed to be set aside for reinstatement to the shareholders instead.

Why do people how live near pretty little windmills feel they need some special kind of compensation that non of the rest of us have had for all of the rest of the the country's infrastructure?


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 3:21 pm
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Once that happens all our electricity bills will drop substantially.

If you look up "Naive" in the dictionary, this will be used as part of the description for it ?


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 3:35 pm
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The issue is that Scotland is a renewable energy powerhouse, with the wind potential alone being huge; but the amount of electricity it can produce already outstrips both the demand in Scotland and the capacity of existing powerlines to take it elsewhere in the UK.

Planning rules (and Nimbyism) being what they are, this is the only way the UK realistically shifts further to renewable energy.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 3:45 pm
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Pretty sure the generating companies are getting well paid for it.

Indeed..... and most of them are not Scottish hence the ? over "our".


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 4:11 pm
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Why do people how live near pretty little windmills feel they need some special kind of compensation that non of the rest of us have had for all of the rest of the the country’s infrastructure?

More to do with the standing charge IMO.

Why are people charged to generate up here but paid to generate close to London? Why is the power used locally before export still subject to the effective export charge? (Export in this context being from one DNO to another).

So we pay more for our power to be generated and consequently consumed whilst those at the receiving end get it for cheaper than we do.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 5:01 pm
quirks and quirks reacted
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Some of the cable links have already been laid near Murton and Seaham for a link to the highway. Quite a lot of trees were removed to dig the trench.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 5:18 pm
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The real bonus will be when the percentage of electricity generated by gas is low enough to decouple the electricity price from the gas price.

Unfortunately dude, until someone comes up with a way to store significant volumes of wind/solar excess generation to use on cold, flat and dark days you're still going to be paying for standby gas generator for donkeys years yet. It'll be all more expensive for having carbon capture in future too.

OP, there's already DC links from Scotland to the south, one tips up right next to Connah's Quay power station in Wales at an existing massive 400kV substation.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 5:21 pm
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British electricity while it works Scottish electricity when it fails (Andy Miurrayism in action ;-)). It will also be barely articulate but refreshingly frank on gender issues.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 5:25 pm
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We have to steal it, coz you lot wouldn't give us the steam off your shit if you could help it!


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 5:58 pm
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@BUTR

I'm not sure you're going to be getting any of it either. Theres a good chance it will be sold on via the interconnecting power links to Europe.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 6:06 pm
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Well, there is/was discussion recently that those close to the wind turbines or the sodding great powerlines hoofing it down to you flatlanders might get a discount on our leccy. Believe it when I see it.

My village has a wind farm just up the road. The generating company give a reasonable amount to our parish council to spend on various community things. Does that count?

Yes, this is a Scottish one and I'm more than happy for the electricity to go to wherever it's needed, we have plenty of wind, if that can help other parts of the UK burn less gas then we all benefit surely?


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 6:06 pm
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@BUTR

I’m not sure you’re going to be getting any of it either. Theres a good chance it will be sold on via the interconnecting power links to Europe.

Why should Europe have to home hordes of Scottish electrons. Surely they have to be given asylum in the first safe country they pass through?


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 6:14 pm
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Why should Europe have to home hordes of Scottish electrons. Surely they have to be given asylum in the first safe country they pass through?

As it would appear with all immigration, theres good money in it for someone.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 6:16 pm
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Octopus customers next to certain offshore wind farms get discounts when it's windy. Not for anyone in Scotland though.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 6:35 pm
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Stealing? Given away with love, along with the joyful paying of higher standing charges.

Will the companies generating electricity still be charged more for connecting to the National Grid in Scotland?

https://www.thenational.scot/news/19840368.transmission-charges-tories-accused-great-scottish-renewables-robbery/


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 6:41 pm
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Yes, this is a Scottish one and I’m more than happy for the electricity to go to wherever it’s needed, we have plenty of wind, if that can help other parts of the UK burn less gas then we all benefit surely?

Alternatively we could encourage more generation closer to the consumer instead of dealing with transmission losses. Let's see the South Downs and New Forest have as many wind turbines as the Highlands or Dumfries and Galloway. It would maybe focus more minds onto energy use reduction if everyone was dealing equally with the consequences.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 7:03 pm
quirks and quirks reacted
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If they continue to grant planning permission for wind turbines in Dumfries and Galloway it's going to feel like living in a stockade.!


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 7:07 pm
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Nice to see they use a picture of an offshore wind farm that's off the English coast!

It's basically a story about a joint venture with SSE (Headquartered in England) and National Grid (Headquartered in England) to make profit for their shareholders (all over the world).


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 7:26 pm
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More to do with the standing charge IMO.

Why are people charged to generate up here but paid to generate close to London? Why is the power used locally before export still subject to the effective export charge? (Export in this context being from one DNO to another).

So we pay more for our power to be generated and consequently consumed whilst those at the receiving end get it for cheaper than we do.

this.  the way the "market" works is bollox!


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 8:02 pm
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I thought they were saving the South of England for nice nuclear power stations to use when it's not sunny and not windy.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 8:14 pm
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I thought they were saving the South of England for nice nuclear power stations to use when it’s not sunny and not windy.

Hopefully, potentially having a new one built on the site of the old one soon near us, need more focus on future requirements across the board.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 8:37 pm
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Octopus customers next to certain offshore wind farms get discounts when it’s windy. Not for anyone in Scotland though.

If you're on a dynamic tarif, you get cheap leccy (sometimes paid to use it) whenever it's really windy and demand is low. Regardless of where you live.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 8:55 pm
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We need to use less power not make more.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 9:13 pm
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Let’s see the South Downs and New Forest have as many wind turbines as the Highlands or Dumfries and Galloway.

A good chunk of that is driven by the average wind speeds across the year I’d assume. Wind turbine maps seem to correspond pretty strongly to where the wind blows most. Big turbine fields in the south east tend to get stuck out at sea where it’s windier. The South Downs is going to get another cable through it as the second part of Rampion kicks off, it’s just the best place to build the turbines is a few miles further south.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 9:29 pm
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It’s basically a story about a joint venture with SSE (Headquartered in England)

SSE are headquartered in Perth, Scotland.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 9:33 pm
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Just needs some huge diodes hidden in the seabed that will keep the flow one way


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 9:37 pm
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Alternatively we could encourage more generation closer to the consumer instead of dealing with transmission losses. Let’s see the South Downs and New Forest have as many wind turbines as the Highlands or Dumfries and Galloway. It would maybe focus more minds onto energy use reduction if everyone was dealing equally with the consequences.

What? Like the Gunfleet, London and Gabbard windfarms?

Begrudgingly I'd agree with the Tories, the de-facto ban on onshore wind development in England was probably a good thing as whilst every little helps, it's pissing in the wind of the problem. Offshore development can be and is of a completely different scale.

I don't mind wind turbines in the landscape.  But it pisses some noisy people off and that energy and money is better put into big projects that can actually deliver. Not on fighting nimby's over the small stuff.

The lack of a similar ban in Scotland was a devolved matter anyway.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 10:10 pm
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We need to use less power not make more.

Energy, yes, but electricity consumption will need to increase. Decarbonising heating and transport means shifting from fossil fuels.


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 10:20 pm
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the de-facto ban on onshore wind development in England was probably a good thing

Protecting English countryside at the expense of Scottish countryside?


 
Posted : 13/08/2024 10:26 pm
 poly
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I assume it’s so that when Scotland gets Indy there’s a way to easily export electricity to England and continue to have them “subsidise us”?


 
Posted : 14/08/2024 12:27 am
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Protecting English countryside at the expense of Scottish countryside?

The Scottish government could have followed the Tory's, they didn't.

Arguably if they had then it might have driven even more investment into offshore generation and then we wouldn't have to listen to the SNP bleat over how Labour halting new oil and gas licences is bad for Scotland rather than good for the whole world.


 
Posted : 14/08/2024 8:26 am
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Protecting English countryside at the expense of Scottish countryside?

There's always the little issue of England being generally less windy than Scotland cos geography!

Add that to the fact that onshore power needs more wind anyway and it makes much of England unsuitable for large scale wind farms.

Offshore is another matter but geography is always the prime dictator.


 
Posted : 14/08/2024 9:02 am
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Not just onshore that was blocked in the South by the tories:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-34188026

The NIMBY lobbying against this one was off the chart given that it would have been visible by the Poole harbour yachting set.


 
Posted : 14/08/2024 10:38 am
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I assume it’s so that when Scotland gets Indy there’s a way to easily export electricity to England and continue to have them “subsidise us”?

You do realize that little / none of the generation is owned by "Scotland" or "The UK".  I would assume that post independence that the national grid would need to continue to exist in a slightly more complicated way to distribute energy generated by private companies to private individuals..

And if for a moment we think of it the other way where somehow the rUK and iScotland become socialists utopias and nationalized all their generation.  Scotland would be ******.  It might produce more renewable energy than it uses on a longer term average.  But renewables are cheap, and if Scotland was selling that energy to England, it would likely be at a time when England also had lots of wind, so wouldn't want it, so the price would be low.  Then because Scotland has vetoed Nuclear in it's own backyard, it's going to be reliant on some very expensive energy from England on windless days.

All that's moot and hypothetical though, because neither side actually own the infrastructure.


 
Posted : 14/08/2024 10:55 am
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I would assume that post independence that the national grid would need to continue to exist in a slightly more complicated way to distribute energy generated by private companies to private individuals

Not really, the border DNOs broadly conform to the old SSEB/CEGB demarkation, it would be edge cases that didn't.

Scotland would be ******. It might produce more renewable energy than it uses on a longer term average. But renewables are cheap, and if Scotland was selling that energy to England, it would likely be at a time when England also had lots of wind,

Okay, so Scotland is one of, if not the, windiest place in Europe. Not the UK, Europe. Meanwhile, the south of England has more solar intensity to make up for that. In between is a sliding scale between the two extremes.

So whilst it might make sense to build offshore wind off the English and Welsh coasts for self sufficiency if it's the taxpayer paying, as a private company it doesn't make sense if you can build it where the best ROI is. In the same way that all that wind power needs to be sold so does the solar so it should even out.

As for nuclear, watch this space. SNP won't be in power forever, plenty would welcome a Hunterston C or Torness B station.


 
Posted : 14/08/2024 12:57 pm
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Let’s see the South Downs and New Forest have as many wind turbines as the Highlands or Dumfries and Galloway.

Begrudgingly I’d agree with the Tories, the de-facto ban on onshore wind development in England was probably a good thing as whilst every little helps, it’s pissing in the wind of the problem. Offshore development can be and is of a completely different scale.

I don’t mind wind turbines in the landscape.  But it pisses some noisy people off and that energy and money is better put into big projects that can actually deliver. Not on fighting nimby’s over the small stuff.

Much more likely that onshore is pointless in many places because the geography doesn’t allow for strong, steady wind so a complete waste of time and resources. Solar, on the other hand, is in many places in the southwest, to the annoyance of some locals, as they see it as losing productive farmland, ignoring the fact that not all farmland can produce high quality food crops, or is suitable for cattle, so the  farmer being paid to allow the land to be used for energy production should be seen as an advantage, and sheep can be grazed under the panels, which keeps the grass down, and the sheep benefit from the shelter.

There’s also solar farms being set up on land like former rubbish tips, which once capped are unsuitable for anything else, so perfect for covering with panels. They’re not unsightly, mostly hidden behind hedges, and from a distance a bit like a large stretch of open water.


 
Posted : 15/08/2024 12:37 am
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to the annoyance of some locals, as they see it as losing productive farmland, ignoring the fact that not all farmland can produce high quality food crops,

Also that, if you live in a capitalist economy, the utilization of resources is determined by the profitability. If a solar farm pays more than growing food, a capitalist should welcome the solar farm.


 
Posted : 15/08/2024 1:37 am
 poly
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You do realize that little / none of the generation is owned by “Scotland” or “The UK”.

I do, but you seem confused how ecconomies work.  Scotland (the country) don’t own any distilleries, Germany (the country) don’t own any car factories, etc - it’s still very important to their economies that (a) there is work; (b) there is export opportunity.

my post was not meant to be taken any more seriously than the original suggestion it was being stolen!

And if for a moment we think of it the other way where somehow the rUK and iScotland become socialists utopias and nationalized all their generation.  Scotland would be ******.  It might produce more renewable energy than it uses on a longer term average.  But renewables are cheap, and if Scotland was selling that energy to England, it would likely be at a time when England also had lots of wind, so wouldn’t want it, so the price would be low.  Then because Scotland has vetoed Nuclear in it’s own backyard, it’s going to be reliant on some very expensive energy from England on windless days.

just as well Scotland has been investing in hydro for decades, including pumped storage and finally signs that tidal might be viable on the same sort of vague maybe one day timeline of Indy!

All that’s moot and hypothetical though, because neither side actually own the infrastructure.

its like roads, rail etc - owning the infrastructure isn’t the important thing - having the ability to move your “product” to your “customer” is essential.  Throughout civilisation economic success has been achieved in areas with highly interconnected networks (whether roads, ports, trains, water or telecoms).  Power is no different.  Regardless of whether you care more about a uk or Scottish economy this is a good thing.  That bit of wire actually has ripples way beyond Scotland too - it makes the uk marginally less dependent on Russia and the Middle East.  Thats good for almost everyone!


 
Posted : 15/08/2024 8:24 am
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Just because you had the toaster and the digital watch while we were still painting ourselves blue  is no reason to have a "us and them" attitude these days. If you don't want us using "your" electricity, put up a giant windbreak along the west coast.


 
Posted : 15/08/2024 8:29 am
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I'm not even sure why the scotch are complaining, isn't England using their surplus supporting their industry?


 
Posted : 15/08/2024 8:44 am

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