James

@flojack300 @latimeralder You were the one comparing windmills from the 1800s with modern wind turbines.

@jamzefish @latimeralder But we got much further than that - stop pretending otherwise - remember innovation, tech improvement, cleaner fuel.

'Wind Power' Oh dear. Apart from a short lived mini-revival yesterday, Britain's 'wind power' has been on strike since Wednesday morning...five days ago. Its now managing just 6% of our electricity supply - just about 1% of our total energy needs. Mr Miliband says we must rely on wind Mr Miliband is nuts

@hobson1999 @latimeralder Because more inertia would have made no difference.

@jamzefish @latimeralder No, they were studuliously avoided!

@latimeralder What's amusing is that one modern EV tug could tow 5 SS Monarchs plus the Temeraire.

Turner's masterpiece tells of a New Age (sunrise) as the new technology, powerful, controllable, steam-driven tug takes the abandoned hulk of a wind-powered ship to its doom in the breakers yard. Steam replaced wind because it was better - even in 1839 Nothing's changed since

@hobson1999 @latimeralder Entsoe we're pretty explicit, I thought, 'even with significantly higher inertia values, the loss of system synchronism would not have been avoided' I can't see one recommendation related to inertia.

@jamzefish @latimeralder Oh, and people died as a direct result! I read the more recent report released and whilst it did not state "lack of intertia" what it described certainly was!

@flojack300 @latimeralder Oh we remember...

@latimeralder Why does nobody remember? Windmills were a key power tool in the countryside - wind and water driven. And were abandoned when fuel and machinery that could be relied upon to perform consistently and reliably came into production. But the eco loons want to go backwards.

@AllisonPearson Why is it journalism now to post fake info?

It was the Conservatives who enshrined the Net Zero by 2050 in law. No other country was stupid enough. It is welcome that the Tories have realised it is madness for a major economy to pursue rapid decarbonisation when our competitors still use fossil fuels.

@hobson1999 @latimeralder I thought lack of system inertia wasn't the root cause? What was also interesting about Spain is that the press loves to go on about blackouts lasting weeks. Took 10 hours, I think.

@jamzefish @latimeralder We shouldn't be removing any more "rotating generators" unless we want a Spanish style blackout!

@2still_learning @latimeralder So our neighbours have excess, low-carbon generation off-peak, and it's not sensible to use it? Why not?

@latimeralder The bit that people are not emphasising enough : Almost 20% of power is coming from interconnectors, and we seem to be almost permanently importing That is not a good or sensible situation to be in

Another quiet day for 'wind power' today Its been having the sulks since Wednesday - 5 days ago. So what's keeping the lights on? GAS ('ccgt'). The stuff that our misnamed 'Minister for Energy Security' forbids us to even look for. He is our enemy. Not our friend

@latimeralder @GOENRI Why on earth would you need 200 hours of battery backup?

@GOENRI 200 hours of battery backup for Britain would need 6,000 GWh How much would that cost?

If we have gas, we can run a reliable controllable grid with nothing else needed But if we ADD wind to it, we have to pay for all the new wind infrastructure too. And its very unreliable. So we need to keep all the gas stuff too And that is why 'investing in wind' always drives prices UP!

@hobson1999 @latimeralder Nobody is removing gas. Blackouts 🥱

@latimeralder When I checked earlier, wind was producing 6% of installed wind capacity - we would need over SEVEN times the wind Lecky being produced to remove GAS generated Lecky from our grid - The UK doesn't even have a plan for that! Blackouts coming any winter from now.

@76543567890j @defossardf @KathrynPorter26 Response time of gas is minutes. Coal is hours. You wouldn't pick coal over gas for frequency control.

@defossardf @KathrynPorter26 it’s a few years to get meaningful supply out of the North Sea. long term not much left to drill. We do have F tonnes of coal in the uk. I bet we have coal back in the next 10 years. it’s better than gas at stabilising grid frequency (with renewables), so it’s sensible.

This is the best and clearest explanation so far on why we must reopen and exploit our North Sea reserves by @KathrynPorter26. Gas is traded regionally not globally. British gas from the North Sea can bring down European prices in the summer. It is significantly cheaper than LNG. We would also benefit from additional tax revenues, improve our balance of payments, and keep oil and gas jobs in Britain, as well as in the wider supply chain like refining. It looks the Energy Secretary is too dug in to change course, and Starmer is too weak to overrule him. telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/…

@kingcal91 @mikegardner_wb State owned corps still pay tax?

@jamzefish @mikegardner_wb Norway own 80% of the company, they don’t tax the profits they own them

A must watch. Centrica’s boss has to deal with idiots like Miliband and the juvenile green/ socialist mob at Westminster, so must choose his words carefully. He wryly points out, if oil producers are already taxed at 80% (when they turn a profit) how can they help with the cost of living? The last Government pandered to the clamour for windfall taxes and both they and Labour have left them in place, destroying the financial incentives for companies to invest in exploration and development of our remaining oil and gas reserves. This and the lunacy of banning fracking must be reversed if we are ever to regain a semblance of energy security.

@Jamesshawj @mikegardner_wb Certainly impressive. What puzzles me is that the people who have issues with state intervention and say the market should decide seem to use Norway as an example of what should be done.

@jamzefish @mikegardner_wb Norway has very different tax incentives / subsidies which the UK does not. Hence companies are happy to operate and pay 78% tax rate. Perks such as risk free exploration, dry hole, get your money back in tax rebate.

@SimonJonesMusic @latimeralder That depends on policy. How is the transition funded? That's what we should be reviewing.

@jamzefish @latimeralder That lowers prices how? Just be honest about it, we have spent ten fortunes over 35 years to reduce co2 emissions, that's the beginning and end of it. Not to lower prices, not to increase efficiency of generation, but to lower emissions.

That NO renewables fan has ever produced any chart of any sort showing where renewables have actually lowered prices really says it all. They're fans of a green delusion. That sunshine and breezes can provide for us all But not of real practical economical energy provision.

@SimonJonesMusic @latimeralder So you just decided to ignore this bit?

@jamzefish @latimeralder "That NO renewables fan has ever produced any chart of any sort showing where renewables have actually lowered prices really says it all" "Here's a couple" -> Charts only look at wholesale, because it's Ember

@SimonJonesMusic @latimeralder I was quite clear on my post I thought.

@jamzefish @latimeralder The post Latimer made shows that RE on the network increases costs, the Ember charts don't show anything different. So now you've changed your argument to categorise those costs as 'investment on the network'. So the next step to justify it as investment is 'emmissions'.

@mikeysmith Grok can't tell because Matt is like AI anyway

I am almost certain this tweet was written with ChatGPT.

@SimonJonesMusic @latimeralder You are repeating what is written on the charts and what I have pointed out. I'm not hiding anything. I'm saying this is what the debate should be about, do we want to invest in our electricity network. Note the status quo will need massive investment too.

@jamzefish @latimeralder It does - Ember, Carbon Brief, DESNZ and CCC all show a reduction at wholesale whilst hiding the increase at retail. When you look at retail, it always goes up with RE penetration no matter which country you look at.

@SimonJonesMusic @latimeralder Correct. Says that in the commentary on the charts.

@jamzefish @latimeralder You can't reduce the electricity price in the UK without reducing or removing the policy costs Spain started doing this in 2020 Ember chart only looks at wholesale price, irrelevant to the retail price, as the energy select committee was told and the RE industry knows damn well

@andyps1275 @latimeralder I understand enough about the energy system to know it's more complex than renewables are more expensive because you need gas backup.

@jamzefish @latimeralder If you can't understand from what's been said why it means that the cost of the gas generation ends up more expensive when it is the only solution then my life is far too short to try and explain it to you.

An unwitting renewables fan asked Grok to explain why countries with more wind/solar pay more than countries with less. I think she was hoping for a convoluted discussion about gas price. But Grok explained it very well. Because renewables are variable and so need backup and upgrades.