The UK government announced last Friday, it will insulate the British people against energy price rises this winter – using money rather than more conventional insulating material.

A huge cash pile – up to £10 BILLION per month – will be tossed onto the country’s inflationary flames – cash which could still be spent (if HMG could be persuaded to act in time) on more effective measures, like building thousands of renewable-energy “microgrids”, which would tackle the energy shortage this winter, and every succeeding winter.
As the Chancellor was making his statement in Parliament, the sterling exchange rate collapsed. Currency markets are acutely aware that the government’s energy price guarantee is rather like King Canute ordering the tide to recede. The Utility companies that provide gas and electricity are concerned the problem is being addressed in the wrong way, even though it was their suggestion in the first place.

The Times reported last week that the power firms themselves don’t want to be herded into signing cut-price power supply contracts this winter.
Senior executives at several power generation groups, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Times that while they did not want a windfall tax, they now believed it may be the best option for this winter, since it would only target actual profits.
One said they would back a windfall tax if it was “implemented in a fair way and doesn’t stifle investment — so you get allowances if you’re going to continue to invest”.

The idea of a one-off levy is gaining popularity amid fears that other proposals for tackling excess profits may be too complex to implement at short notice, and could be even more damaging, according to industry executives. Ministers are understood to have held talks with companies including Orsted, RWE, SSE, ScottishPower, Drax, Vattenfall, EDF and Octopus.

Electricity producers in Europe have warned that they face a “Lehman Brothers moment” where the market for trading energy could collapse if liquidity evaporates. European power companies face margin calls in excess of $1.5 trillion owing to the wild price swings in the market, according to the Norwegian energy giant Equinor. Governments in Finland and Sweden have this week been forced to pump billions in emergency liquidity to prop up the sector. Germany has offered $7 billion in emergency loans to help the sector.
Cash-strapped British power companies are struggling to hedge against surging market gas prices, the governor of the Bank of England has warned, raising the prospect of emergency credit help for electricity suppliers.
HE said policymakers were working on ways to ensure that the energy trading market continued to function. Centrica, which owns British gas, was reported this week to have asked banks for billions in emergency credit to meet its margin calls.
A report by the TUC issued at the start of Labour Party annual conference in Liverpool, calls for a new British …

COP26 may have been a near-total failure, but I heard dozens of delegates congratulating each other on being present for what one called “the energy sales conference to end all sales conferences.” And its true that there were more representatives of the fossil fuel industry in Glasgow than any one country-delegation.

It would be ironic if the biggest achievement announced at Cop26 this week is not the international carbon-reduction route-map we were promised, but a groundbreaking business deal between the UK government and Rolls Royce for the supply of miniature nuclear reactors, each capable of powering up to a million households.

Ten years ago I was on the board of a micro-nuclear startup. The company lasted about two years until we were shut down by the American investors, who concluded we had come to market way too early to cash in – the story of my life.  At that point I was an energy novice. And I remained convinced that micro-nuclear was the answer to providing safe, reliable power at reasonable cost with very few waste disposal issues.
I kept studying the energy market, expecting micro-grids of all kinds to emerge, especially in developing countries. There has been a gentle rise in micro-energy technology but the thrust has always been big projects. Its time that changed.
Now Warren East of Rolls Royce says he will be able to bring in the first prototypes at a cost to the Exchequer of £35-50 per Megawatt hour – the industry standard unit of cost for energy of all kinds. And, he was quick to point out, this makes them competitive with wind and solar producers which, although they can produce electricity at a lower cost, have yet to solve the problem of how to store their energy for use at times when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow. Battery technology is advancing rapidly and still has a long way to go.
Paul Dorfman of the Nuclear Consulting Group, an independent think tank, told Radio 4’s Today programme,on Tuesday (9 Nov) that the mini-reactors are actually not that small – about half the size of conventional reactors – and that the Rolls Royce plan to site them within the perimeter of existing nuclear sites does not protect them from the threat faced by the current generation of nuclear reactors – which must be near the sea to guarantee sufficient cooling, where they cannot be adequately protected from flooding.
Warren East had to balance the need to make the reactors as small as possible for safety reasons, against the desire of both UK plc and Rolls Royce to make the project as big as possible. Policymakers and multinationals are addicted to big projects.
World Bank boss David Malpas told an interviewer last week: “The world bank is an institution that does big projects. That means how do you decommission a coal-fired power …

UK Parliamentary Petition

Decarbonise UK energy by funding locally-owned renewable micro-grids

About 75% of all global warming (ie carbon emissions) is caused by the production and consumption of energy. Please see our new video and sign our petition to persuade the government to act.

It will cost hundreds of billions to make electricity production in the UK carbon-neutral, but the current national grid is inefficient, with at least 8-10% of energy lost in distribution or transmission. And a further 30% wasted in the electricity production process.

The Government estimates it will cost a total of £500 billion over 20 years to decarbonise the grid, and it intends to spend most of that money through the energy companies which caused the problem in the first place. the UK should instead fund resident-owned renewable energy grids across the country. Power to the people.

More details

We believe the current electricity grid will be both supplemented and superseded by micro-grids, which can provide most of the benefits with fewer downsides – reducing waste, cost and carbon footprint. Micro-grids work locally within the grid system, but can operate independently of the grid if the need or want arises, to power homes, factories, cars or hospitals.

We are campaigning for 100,000 signatures for the parliamentary petition and then a government debate while Cop26 takes place.

Sign this petition

Share this petition

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Created by

Nick Rosen

Deadline

18 February 2022

All petitions run for 6 months

Official petition website: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/594570…

Whether you are living off-grid or just moving arond for business or leisure, keeping powered up is an important part of your preparations. Portable power stations are the smaller, lesser-known cousin of generators. These easily-packed gadgets can go with you on camping trips, to building sites — wherever you need electricity — to keep your phone, power tools and other electronics running.

We picked seven power stations to test for this list, ranging in price from $270 to $1,200. We focused exclusively on rechargeable battery-powered models, although gas models are available, too. While each power station does the same thing — provide power on the go in a compact design — each one has a different design and range of features.

Keep in mind that the prices  for each power station may change as retailers introduce sales and other updates.

Best overall

Jackery Explorer 1000

Click to view image.

The Jackery Explorer 1000 is by far the most well-rounded portable power station of the bunch. At 22 pounds, this powerful generator is fairly compact, especially compared with the 44-pound Ego Nexus model. Despite its smaller size, it manages to make space for three three-prong outlets, two USB-C ports, two standard USB-A ports and more.

Its display is easy to read, too, and it dominated the performance tests, exceeding its expected run time of 3 hours and 2 minutes (with three work lights connected to it) by an average of 8.5 minutes.

You can add on the 100W Solar panel for another $300

Fast facts

* Price (Amazon): $1,000

* Watt hours: 1,002

* Weight: 22 pounds

SEE AT AMAZON

Best midrange

Klein Tools KTB5

When you don’t need something quite as powerful as the Jackery Explorer 1000, the Klein Tools KTB5 is an excellent option. While it has roughly half the watt hours of the Jackery generator, it’s still a solid performer with a lot of power.

Complete with two three-prong outlets, two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports, you can charge pretty much anything you’ll ever need with this midrange power station. Bonus: It did well in my performance tests, averaging just 2 minutes less than its expected 2-hour and 29-minute run time (with two lights connected to it).

Fast facts

* Price (Amazon): $500, currently on sale for $465

* Watt hours: 546

* Weight: 12 pounds

SEE AT AMAZON

Best budget

Rockpals 300W

The Rockpals 300W is our pick for affordable portable power station. Not only did it average 2.5 minutes over the expected 2-hour 33-minute run time (with one work light connected), it’s only 7.5 pounds and has a ton of options, ranging from one three-prong outlet to four USB-A ports and a handful of other features.

$270 isn’t exactly budget, but it’s the most affordable model tested — and its strong performance and solid lineup of features give it even more value.

Fast facts…