Record wind and solar saved UK from gas imports worth £1B in March 2026

Post by Maxion » Tue, Apr 07, 2026, 2:55 PM UTC

ahhhhnoooo wrote: post #17

edent wrote: post #13

I'm in the UK and am currently being paid to use electricity. My energy provider uses a tracker tariff which can change every half hour (it does have a maximum cap to prevent the issues seen in Texas). Prices are currently negative, so every kWh I use right now means the electricity company pays me. Nuclear promised energy which was "too cheap to meter". But solar actually delivered.

If you had a big enough battery, could you sell electricity back to the grid later? Get paid to charge the battery, get paid to discharge the battery? It seems silly, but actually... it's driving useful behavior I suppose. Then again, maybe a good government would notice this and just fast track grid storage rather than distribute that work to all the citizens.

Post by blitzar » Tue, Apr 07, 2026, 2:57 PM UTC

FridayoLeary wrote: post #4

We have some of the highest electricity prices in the world. The politicians obsess over net-zero at the expense of dealing with the issues affecting most people.

Post by triceratops » Tue, Apr 07, 2026, 3:06 PM UTC

FridayoLeary wrote: post #4

We have some of the highest electricity prices in the world. The politicians obsess over net-zero at the expense of dealing with the issues affecting most people.

Post by edent » Tue, Apr 07, 2026, 3:12 PM UTC

ahhhhnoooo wrote: post #17

edent wrote: post #13

I'm in the UK and am currently being paid to use electricity. My energy provider uses a tracker tariff which can change every half hour (it does have a maximum cap to prevent the issues seen in Texas). Prices are currently negative, so every kWh I use right now means the electricity company pays me. Nuclear promised energy which was "too cheap to meter". But solar actually delivered.

If you had a big enough battery, could you sell electricity back to the grid later? Get paid to charge the battery, get paid to discharge the battery? It seems silly, but actually... it's driving useful behavior I suppose. Then again, maybe a good government would notice this and just fast track grid storage rather than distribute that work to all the citizens.

Post by edent » Tue, Apr 07, 2026, 3:15 PM UTC

modo_mario wrote: post #24

cjrp wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I believe some EVs allow this too.

I don't think that would ever commonly be viable or at least not for a long time. EV's are a lot more than batteries and are proportionally stupidly expensive. If the electricity net arbitrage was worth the degradation of the battery then .... companies would do it themselves and just build the batteries for cheaper at scale.