More evidence of pointless and profligate UK spending on ridiculous ‘net zero’ pipe dreams - plug in facilities that cost so much they won’t be used
stupid is - as stupid does
From here:
“A £24million taxpayer-funded Net Zero system at one of the UK’s busiest ports has never been used because it is too expensive to run, it has emerged.”
“The Sea Change project in Portsmouth was completed last year to enable ships to switch off their engines and plug into the electricity grid when berthed to cut emissions and boost air quality.”
“The system is four times more expensive than marine fuel - and energy firm Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has not yet connected it to the National Grid.”
“The project, which allows ships to plug in at three of Portsmouth International Port’s five berths, was allocated £19.8million by the Department of Transport in September 2023 and received £4.6million from the city council.”
“’We’re putting in shore power, but the cost of electricity is at a scale that’s so high that it’s far too expensive for the ships to actually plug in.”
“Last year Portsmouth’s biggest customer, Brittany Ferries, introduced two hybrid ships that can be plugged in as part of a £479million investment.
But the vessels are still burning marine fuel when berthed.
A spokesman for the firm said it could not plug the ships in as it costs ‘around £2.5million a year more’ than using engines.”
Note the last paragraph:
“A Cabinet Office memorandum calls for ‘dynamic alignment’ of British law with EU rules on renewable energy.”
A ‘dynamic alignment with EU rules that result in ridiculously expensive unreliable electricity that is consigning the EU to an industrial wasteland with ‘net zero’ economic growth.
His sort of crap is endemic throughout the UK, from concreting coal mines and chopping down forests for wood chips at Drax, instead, to paying o tun off ind turbines to banning oil and gas exploration in the North Sea (while Norway supplies the UK with natural gas from adjacent fields)- the list of stupid ‘ net zero’ rules is endless.
Onwards!!!
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I shake my head in disbelief Peter. There is NO joined up thinking at all.
I have 6 solar panels and a 3KWh storage battery. The only time I fill my battery is in summer. Yesterday I only generate 1%. Undersupply in winter and oversupply in summer when demand is lower. When are they going to wake up.
Sometimes I think it's a legal form of money laundering.
Nuclear power, North Sea oil and gas and as a stopgap oil and gas from Russia.