Portugal runs solely on renewables for 6 days

[dan_b]

Would love to know more of the details- but this hopefully is a sign of things to come here in the UK by 2025 when National Grid says it will be able to run zero carbon when renewable generation conditions allow...

https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/cl ... s-in-a-row

[Mart]

Thanks Dan, really good news and a great piece to read. Looking forward to seeing the zero FF periods extending, and the annual consumption of FF's dropping. Hopefully the UK can do similar at some point this decade, with low carbon generation (including nuclear).

But it may be a job for 'Interconnector Man', as we need more, internal and external, to shift the wind gen at times.

[dan_b]

Yeah as mentioned National Grid's plan is to have periods of zero fossil generation during 2025 when conditions allow (sufficient wind and solar) - so not all that far away now really.

https://www.nationalgrideso.com/future- ... the%20time

[Oliver90owner]

I expect that, at times, the UK could operate with zero gas generation for short periods. The problem is restarting the grid, after any serious black-outs, so spinning reserve is retained.

Last winter, the UK was exporting as much energy, to Europe, as possible (due to the invasion of Ukraine) but if conditions had been ‘normal’ the UK might have been able to import sufficient european energy to be able to make do without any of our spinning generation.

Another 6GW of wind generation would go a long way towards the goal of extended gas-free generation.

Hinkley C will/should be starting mid 2026? How does that fit with closures of our old nuclear fleet? Net capacity gain or loss?

[dan_b]

Current nuclear fleet sees all but one plant, removing approx. 4.5GW stopping generating by 2028, leaving just Sizewell B at 1.2GW.
If Hinkley C does come online in 2028, that would bring us back up to about 4.5GW - so basically parity there or thereabouts.

Sizewell C will add another 3.2GW, but no earlier than 2030.

Bradwell B - who knows what's happening with that now. Was supposed to be a 2GW of Chinese reactor tech online by 2030 but I'd say the chances of that happening are basically zero.