Will the lights go out?

[pederito1]

That is interesting, Suff. I thought France had power supply buttoned up and thought too that some stations were on the coast and could use sea water. My genny is 5.5 and I bought it some years ago when the government folly became apparent. It has happily only been used by my fencing contractors on loan but I am sure needs another run now. It should provide some heat if needs be though I have a portable gas stove as well. A solar farm? oh dear not I think a very good use of arable land. Dig, dig, dig for victory and keep you warm in the process. And what happens when it snows?

[Suff]

Solar farm as in 3-7kw on the roofs and a battery bank in the 20 - 60kwh range plus an 11kwh charge inverter....

Not the ground, Mrs S would kill me....

Fortunately I have a lot of roof space....

[victor]

don't be too sure about the gas bob Ostrich ,Putin will turn your gas off as soon as it starts to get colder

[Gal]

What is pretty worrying is that in the 70s when the power cuts happened, well life went on!

Back then though we didn't rely on energy in quite the same way as we do now - most if not all shops use card machines which need electricity to function, as well as 'zappers' to check items on to the conveyor belt, so many things we wouldn't be able to use!

Scare mongering I reckon - large pinch of salt required here.

[Workingman]

Sorry, Gal, my OP was not intended as scare mongering, I was simply wondering why we have been constantly reassured, since the middle of summer, that winter power would be OK. The last instance was after two nuclear plants were found to have cracks and would no be able to run at full power, and would eventually have to shut down for repairs. That, however, was before the fires at Ferrybridge and Didcot put both partly out of action. Collectively these events have left National Grid, at its own estimation, with only a 4%, or possibly 2.8% spare capacity.

All I am questioning is how such margins for error can be said to be comfortable when it is not known how the winter weather will pan out. I have an electrical camping power pack and a gas camping stove and I will make sure that I check them out thoroughly before winter sets in. I might never use them, but they will be there - just in case.

And I'll be getting in more than a pinch of salt for the steps and footpaths.

[Suff]

The scaremongers have been those going on about a winter colder than 2010. Can't see it happening. 2008 to 2010 was driven by the lowest solar minimum in 100 years. We're at solar maximum. Granted the jet stream is wandering all over the place, but, really, there is little sign so far that we are about to drop into one of the coldest winters on record.

Power in the UK is an issue. Ferrybridge is one of the largest generators in the country. Little has been done to ensure supply, doubtless because of the cable across the channel which can bring power in from Europe if needed. Not exactly a "plan of champions" for the UK is it??

[Kaz]

Point taken Gal, but some smaller shops could operate on cash only in an emergency - I've known it happen when the card machines have 'gone down' It is very much a different world, however, from 40 years ago, that's for sure!

What can't be argued with is that the National Grid does have a hugely reduced spare capacity, even from ten years ago, so I think it is a possibility we might have some shortages

The big problem is that we have needed new power sources for a long time, but successive governments have fudged the issue as it is a political hot potato

[Workingman]

A few yers ago the local sub station was hit by lightning taking out a large area. The Co-op brought out one of those manual wind up calculators with a print out roll, and the zap guns could still be used as bar code readers for prices. It worked quite well if you had cash, which reminds me..... put some cash money aside.

[Kaz]

Yes, there would certainly be a case for having some cash to hand

[Suff]

In a world which is digitised to the extent that ours is, every medium sized company and above should have some form of emergency power.

That they don't is a monument to how reliable our power services really are.

I assume that will change. When the chips are down and our major power supplies are not reliable, people may start to realise just how ridiculous all these wind farms are for baseload power. More energy to be had from office methane "wind" than Wind turbines.....

They'll all learn. One day.