This is a general thread for discussing Energy Issues, with emphasis on the EU / UK, but other regions are fair game as well.
Initially I’m going to focus on just one story: France is restarting all their nuclear reactors. You know, the ones with corrosion problems? It will be interesting to see if they are going to fix them all on the double quick, or just going to say “good enough for one winter” and fire them back up.
https://www.euronews.com/2022/09/04/frances-edf-plans-to-restart-nations-entire-nuclear-fleet-by-early-next-year
France’s EDF plans to restart nation’s entire nuclear fleet by early next year
By Joao Vitor Da Silva Marques with AFP • Updated: 04/09/2022 – 22:51
(Note that the date is in Euro format, so that “9” in the middle is September. USA mode it would be written 9/4/2022. That’s why I use “4 Sept 2022” as it is unambiguous.)
France plans to restart the nation’s entire nuclear fleet by early next year. One of the largest producers of nuclear power in the world, state-owned EDF is trying to avoid disruption to its energy supply over the winter at all costs.
The minister of Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, said the company was on board with the schedule.
“As you know, 32 reactors are shut down, some for stress corrosion and others for routine maintenance,” said Pannier-Runacher. “EDF has undertaken to restart all the reactors this winter. We are monitoring the situation closely with weekly updates and we are being especially vigilant to ensure that this schedule is kept.”
Ambitious timetable
According to EDF’s projections, 27 nuclear reactors must restart by the end of December, followed by 5 others between early January and mid-February 2023.
However, many question the company’s ability to do it, especially for the 12 reactors stopped for stress corrosion. Repairing them requires long and complex operations. The President of the Nuclear Safety Authority, Bernard Doroszczuk, warned that other problems could also be detected, leading to the new closures.
Sounds like somebody is worried about a long cold winter in the dark.
Perhaps this would be a good time for a bit of a re-think about that whole “shut down gas, coal, oil, and nuclear power” Gang Green Screwed Deal, eh?
https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/wireStory/uk-energy-bills-skyrocketing-happening-88833260
UK energy bills are skyrocketing. Why is it happening?
A cost-of-living crisis in Britain is about to get worse
By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press
August 26, 2022, 2:55 AM
UK energy bills are skyrocketing. Why is it happening?
A cost-of-living crisis in Britain is about to get worse
BySYLVIA HUI Associated Press
August 26, 2022, 2:55 AM
On Location: September 5, 2022
LONDON — A cost-of-living crisis in Britain is about to get worse, with millions of people paying about 80% more a year on their household energy bills starting in October.
The U.K. energy regulator on Friday announced the latest price cap, which is the maximum amount that gas suppliers can charge customers per unit of energy. It means people will pay 3,549 pounds ($4,188) a year for heating and electricity.
Scores are already struggling to make ends meet as inflation soared to 10.1% last month — the highest in 40 years — and the rapidly spiraling costs of energy and food are certain to hit the poorest the hardest.
So maybe it would have been a good idea to NOT blow up those coal fired power plants and shut down the nukes, eh?
Chickens, home, roosting.
How about the future? Anything looking better further on after “whatever” gets done to fix this?
Under the revised price cap announced Friday, average household energy bills will jump to 3,549 pounds a year starting Oct. 1. They will go still higher when the price cap is updated again in January, expected to exceed 4,000 pounds.
U.S. bank Citi forecast that the huge energy cost increases could drive U.K. inflation to 18% next year. The Bank of England predicts a recession starting later this year.
Um, nope. Well, just think of it as a Sample Run for the Net Zero crash… /snark;
Germany has put the brakes on shutting down reliable power, at least a little bit:
(I was only going to quote a little, but they put up a few nags about “make an account” to get one more free article; so there’s a high probability that in the future folks can’t “hit the link” to see what I was pointing at. So instead I’ll be quoting very heavily.)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-05/germany-to-keep-nuclear-plants-in-reserve-to-ease-energy-crisis
Politics
Germany Keeps Its Nuclear Plants Alive as EU Seeks Crisis Fixes
Germany will keep two plants available in policy shift
EU is working on measures to cap prices, improve liquidity
ByArne Delfs, Ania Nussbaum, and Rachel Morison
September 5, 2022 at 12:00 PM EDTUpdated onSeptember 5, 2022 at 1:15 PM EDT
Germany moved to keep two nuclear plants available this winter in a policy reversal, as European leaders scrambled for emergency fixes to the deepening energy crisis.
Moscow’s move to switch off its main gas pipeline to Europe sent gas and power prices surging on Monday, adding urgency to politicians’ efforts to stem a crisis that risks turning into an economic, social and financial disaster too.
In a hastily arranged call, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron made an energy pact to help each other through the winter, as they forged a united front ahead of EU negotiations later this week on crisis-fighting tools.
So, OK, France is panicked enough to be doing a mad dash restart of reactors, and Germany is halting the shut down of 2 of them. Both are in trouble. So they promise to share their lack of power? Um… how’s that work again?
Were it up to me and I was in charge in Europe, I’d just ask “Why can’t we drop the sanctions WE imposed and just start up Nordstream 2? Call off the crisis??” But it would seem I’m not a very good politician (since I think crisis is something to fix, not something to exploit…)
European Union energy ministers are set to meet on Friday, and the proposals on the table so far include power-demand curbs, measures to boost liquidity in the sector as collateral demands skyrocket and a price cap on gas. In a measure of how the bloc is ready to rip up long-hallowed policies, there’s even a draft proposal to make it cheaper to pollute to reduce the cost of electricity.
Germany’s move to keep two nuclear plants in reserve also marked a policy shift that was a difficult move for Scholz’s coalition government. Economy Minister Robert Habeck insisted that the nuclear exit enacted in the wake of the Fukushima disaster was still in place but two plants will be kept in reserve in case they’re needed — for this winter only.
“I will do everything to ensure Germany’s energy security,” Habeck said. “This way, we can act if worst comes to worst.”
Hours earlier, officials and executives predicted that Germany will struggle to meet its targets of filling up gas storage with Nord Stream shut.
With Germany short of gas and France short of electricity as its once mighty nuclear fleet has been hit by a series of issues, the two countries agreed to back each other up through the winter.
France will complete works in the coming weeks to be able to export gas to Germany “each time it’s needed” this winter, Macron said. At the same time, Germany will boost power output to be able to export more electricity to France when demand peaks.
Um, isn’t a lot of their electricity made by burning gas? So if gas is in short supply, how will Germany be able to export more electricity to France? And if the French reactors are not making enough electricity how will France be able to export gas that would be needed in peaking gas turbines?
Somehow this all seems a bit long on “show” and short on “how to”…
I suspect the “power curbs” will be the big “fix”…
Power Mix
Europe gets about a fifth of its electricity from gas
French power prices for the start of next year are about 30% higher than in Germany as Electricite de France SA struggles with its nuclear plants. Usually, a major exporter of power at peak times, France is demanding imports this year — one of the reasons European prices are so high.
As Macron called on French citizens to cut their demand by 10%, Habeck said more measures would be needed. Both countries back an EU-wide windfall tax on energy profits, Macron said. Macron also called for oversight of “speculation” on energy prices, and backs calls to sever the link between gas prices and those of power.
Why does this look like a giant FUBAR with everyone promising to borrow from the next one in the circle to make more power? Sort of a “We can all borrow 100 GW from our neighbor and since there are 10 of us, that makes 1000 GW of new power!”…
Or maybe, to quote the Microsoft support site about a bug I was researching “This behaviour is by design”… i.e. someone want’s it broken.
(Also playing the limited “free” articles game:)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaellynch/2022/08/31/germanys-energy-crisis-dispels-several-myths/?sh=176abf6125e9
Germany’s Energy Crisis Dispels Several Myths
Michael LynchSenior Contributor
Germany is undergoing an energy crisis now as severely reduced gas flows from Russia threaten to leave it with a cold, dark winter. Much of its problem is self-inflicted and demonstrates the perils of populist but irrational energy policy.
Many eyebrows were raised when Greenpeace announced that, given the seriousness of the current situation, they would not oppose more coal fired power being brought on-line, although they insisted that hard coal, not lignite, be used. (Greenhouse gas emissions are slightly higher for anthracite, but other pollutants, including sulfur, tend to be much lower.) This serves as an important lesson about climate change policy and public attitudes towards higher-cost but cleaner energy supply.
Oh God! Greenpeace is so stupid they can’t understand that soft coal (AKA Thermal Coal) is better for running a power plant? Or that plants have scrubbers to remove things like sulphur?
The rest of the article is also a bit daft. Not horribly so, just not worth wasting time reading it.
Whatever…
It looks to me like this has the potential to be a great Learning Experience for Europe (and the rest of us). Go ahead, close those nuclear plants. Don’t replace the missing gas. Keep those coal plants closed. This is the goal of the Net Zero and Green Broken Deal, after all.
Just think of it as a small preview of things to come under Green Global Warming absurd policies…
Subscribe to feed
Musings from the Chiefio 