Reply to post: Re: The UK mostly powered by coal?

Dyson to build electric car that doesn't suck

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

Re: The UK mostly powered by coal?

National Grid says coal stations are currently down to 3.8% of total capacity and falling

But rather more in terms of reliable baseload or despatchable on request. All those crappy wind turbines and solar subsidy farms add up to big "capacity" numbers, but they have miserable load factors, and generate zilch through the long still winter nights.

But you're right coal is reducing - gas is making up the balance, but as one of the energy suppliers said this week or last week, if the UK is going to electrify transport, we need one third more gross generating capacity. More problematically, we need to replace at least two thirds of current capacity that will soon be life expired, or technically and economically unsuitable for the higher load factors and different cycling of a system using far more electricity.

One crappy, wildly overpriced nuclear power station in Somerset isn't going to help much.

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