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

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

#81

Post by 7952 »

FridayoLeary wrote: post #48
triceratops wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to make the same comments in every thread about renewable energy regardless of what's actually happening.

Nice to see you again. Yeah, i feel it's a political thing where green initiatives are being pushed against the interest and benefit of voters. The benefits are continually overhyped and frankly in the UK we are seeing none of them. I actually quite like the idea of renewables and don't entirely understand Trumps pathological hatred of them, but i don't think politicians hamstringing our economy to win green points w…

We have policies that are good in principal but when they interact with other policy become unworkable for a reasonable cost. But then you focus on one individual area of policy rather than the system as a whole.

Also, in my experience the green initiatives generally have terrible publicity and these kind of articles are just pointing out some positives in a sea of negatives. What we endlessly miss is that the British public generally wants Co2 reduced and have got that.

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

#82

Post by EliRivers »

jl6 wrote: post #14
adds68 wrote: post #3

Europe seems to be responding well since the Ukraine war, the picture now is a lot more positive than in 2022. The UK has postionined itself well, even without the mass uptake of local generation/storage in it's domestic market.

Electricity prices in the UK are painful, and galling when set by the price of gas, but it’s worth remembering that this model and all this expense has bought a major asset that will only become more important and strategic. The next milestones to hit are: * A 10x increase in generation capacity * A 100x increase in storage capacity * A 1000x increase in seasonal storage capacity * Electrification of heating * Electr…

Electricity prices in the UK are painful, and galling when set by the price of gas

It's painful indeed. Today, I watched the price go negative as wind and solar reduced the gas contribution to about 3% of the mix. As that gas mix rose to 5%, the price turned around and became painfully expensive again.

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

#83

Post by sefrost »

te_chris wrote: post #20
sefrost wrote: post #10

Does this cancel out the high energy prices people in the UK have been paying for the past decade+? Part of the reason the bills are high is because they subsidise the installation of renewable generation.

Yes. Obviously it does.

Is it obvious? Do you have the figures? One month of £1bn savings vs what cost over the last 20 years?

I support the roll out of renewables. I worked for a renewable energy company in the UK.

I just think a lot of consumers (industry and residential) have had to pay a very high price to get to the current situation. And lots of foreign private and other institutional (the Crown) organisations have benefitted most from this fast but expensive transition.

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

#84

Post by heyitsmedotjayb »

ufmace wrote: post #80
toomuchtodo wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any efforts to fix this?

Why should they? It's not the right time for that yet. Letting the price stay high despite renewable prices being lower means it's tremendously profitable to build new renewable sources, so there's lots of incentive for it to be done.

There's no incentive... Why invest in a less reliable source if you could endlessly purchase gas power for the same price? It slows the transition from fossil fuels and ensures that oil and gas never takes a loss.

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

#85

Post by gib444 »

blitzar wrote: post #75
gib444 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my electricity has been free to negative all day Like a gambler who only talks about their wins, people on these smart energy plans on the few days it goes very cheap only seem to pipe up with the current low unit price, and never mention their longer-term moving-average unit price...

> never mention their longer-term moving-average unit price 17.1p (last 6 months) no battery, no timeshifting

Very impressive! My smart meter install is happening next month. Can't wait to save 9p/kWh!

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

#86

Post by ZeroGravitas »

heyitsmedotjayb wrote: post #79
ZeroGravitas wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the highest possible price, it's roughly the same price but with less transparency and some fudge factors added due to uncertainty. In a world where renewables are cheaper the transparency speeds the transition

It floats oil and gas profits with huge public subsidy while ensuring nobody in the market realizes benefits from alternate sources. It slows/blocks the transition.

I have no idea what you are talking about.

I'm open to the idea that oil and gas are protected and subsidized in many different ways.

Accurate information on how much more they costs than renewables I don't see the link.

Accurate prices are good. Actions that stop the market acting on the accurate prices are bad.

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

#87

Post by heyitsmedotjayb »

ViewTrick1002 wrote: post #62
heyitsmedotjayb wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UK is legally required to set the price of electricity to whichever generator has the highest cost - which is natural gas. Its called marginal cost pricing.

That's how all commodity markets works. All of Europe runs on the same scheme. Do you think the Saudi's price their $10 per barrel oil at $10? The average price? Median? Or marginal? They price at at the marginal price. In the UK what this means is that cheap production like renewables and storage are incentivized to get built while the most expensive fossil production is shutting down. Then at some point renewables…

Saudi's use the government to price their oil internally low... on the free market they sell it at the price dictated by supply and demand. Renewables and storage are disincentivized because oil and gas is legally blocked from ever taking a loss. Whats stopping O&G from raising prices to keep their marginal producer status and ensuring a race to the bottom?

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

#88

Post by ViewTrick1002 »

heyitsmedotjayb wrote: post #87
ViewTrick1002 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's how all commodity markets works. All of Europe runs on the same scheme. Do you think the Saudi's price their $10 per barrel oil at $10? The average price? Median? Or marginal? They price at at the marginal price. In the UK what this means is that cheap production like renewables and storage are incentivized to get built while the most expensive fossil production is shutting down. Then at some point renewables…

Saudi's use the government to price their oil internally low... on the free market they sell it at the price dictated by supply and demand. Renewables and storage are disincentivized because oil and gas is legally blocked from ever taking a loss. Whats stopping O&G from raising prices to keep their marginal producer status and ensuring a race to the bottom?

How can they be legally blocked from ever taking a loss? It is a market. They bid.

There's a plethora of producers with varying equipment, startup times, ramp times, costs and so on.

As renewable penetration expands the most expensive, or least flexible ones are called in fewer and fewer hours until they shut down. If one oil and gas producer tries to raise prices a competitor steps in and fills the demand.

Did you think there was this one monopoly oil and gas power producing able to dictate prices at will?

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

#89

Post by heyitsmedotjayb »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #86
heyitsmedotjayb wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It floats oil and gas profits with huge public subsidy while ensuring nobody in the market realizes benefits from alternate sources. It slows/blocks the transition.

I have no idea what you are talking about. I'm open to the idea that oil and gas are protected and subsidized in many different ways. Accurate information on how much more they costs than renewables I don't see the link. Accurate prices are good. Actions that stop the market acting on the accurate prices are bad.

Why would anyone address the additional challenges and reliability concerns of renewables, when oil can be purchased for the same price? What kind of incentive does that set up?

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

#90

Post by triceratops »

heyitsmedotjayb wrote: post #84
ufmace wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should they? It's not the right time for that yet. Letting the price stay high despite renewable prices being lower means it's tremendously profitable to build new renewable sources, so there's lots of incentive for it to be done.

There's no incentive... Why invest in a less reliable source if you could endlessly purchase gas power for the same price? It slows the transition from fossil fuels and ensures that oil and gas never takes a loss.

Because the sun is free but you can sell it like it's gas.
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