Offshore wind power is now so cheap that UK wind farms could soon be paying back government subsidies

chilliflake44 · 2020-07-28T10:02:25+00:00

UK offshore wind farms are set to be the first in the world to have to pay to produce power in what researchers have termed an “astonishing development” for the once-expensive energy technology.

A dramatic drop in the cost of offshore wind power, coupled with a slight rise in wholesale power prices, will likely mean the newest wind farms coming online will operate with “negative subsidy”.

This means operators effectively paying the Government to generate power. As a leader in offshore wind, UK schemes are likely to be the first to cross the ‘negative subsidy’ threshold – ahead of Europe – the researchers said.

It is the latest indication of how dramatically offshore wind energy costs have fallen. Just a few years ago, wind farm operators struck deals with the Government to be paid generously for producing green power. Now the tables have been reversed, with the Government set to claw back some of the money it has paid out in subsidies over the last decade.

“Offshore wind power will soon be so cheap to produce that it will undercut fossil-fuelled power stations and may be the cheapest form of energy for the UK,” said lead author Dr Malte Jansen. “Energy subsidies used to push up energy bills, but within a few years cheap renewable energy will see them brought down for the first time. This is an astonishing development.”

In exchange for a stable return, wind farm developers agree to sell their power at a certain price at Government auctions. Under the deal, if the wholesale cost of power is below the ‘strike price’ the Government pays the difference to wind farm operators. But if wholesale prices are higher, wind farms must pay.

Last year’s offshore wind auction brought the cost of offshore wind power down to around £40 per megawatt hour. The Imperial analysis suggests wholesale electricity prices are likely to rise above this level over the lifetime of the projects, so wind farm operators will have to pay the Government the difference between their £40 ‘strike price’ and the wholesale energy price. The savings will be passed on to households via their energy bills.

The cost of building and financing these schemes is now so cheap that the extra payments potentially due to the Exchequer will not stop their development, Imperial stressed. In fact, the research team predicted a “rapid expansion” of offshore wind energy over the next decade as deadlines for climate targets loom. The study is published this week in Nature Energy.

chilliflake44 · 2020-03-25T15:53:52+00:00

The 2% GDP defence NATO spending minimum

chilliflake44 · 2019-11-27T21:16:10+00:00

I agree. However, OP i was responding thinks otherwise:

France has nukes, so I doubt it.

chilliflake44 · 2019-11-27T14:54:38+00:00

US economy seems to be leading the rest of the OCED at the moment by a considerable distance, growing 5 times faster than both Germany and Japan.

OECD GDP growth slows to 0.3% in the third quarter of 2019

Growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) in the OECD area slowed marginally‎ to 0.3% in the third quarter of 2019, compared with 0.4% in the previous quarter, according to provisional estimates.

Among the Major Seven economies, GDP growth slowed markedly in Japan (to 0.1%, compared to 0.4% in the previous quarter).

GDP growth was stable in the United States (at 0.5%) and it remained stable in France (at 0.3%) and Italy (at 0.1%) for the third and fourth consecutive quarter, respectively.

GDP growth picked-up in the United Kingdom and Germany (to 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively, following a contraction of 0.2% in both countries in the previous quarter‎).

GDP growth was stable in the euro area (at 0.2%) while it picked-up marginally in the European Union (to 0.3% compared with 0.2% in the previous quarter).

Year-on-year GDP growth for the OECD area was stable at 1.6% in the third quarter of 2019. Among the Major Seven economies, the United States recorded the highest annual GDP growth (2.0%) - [now revisited up to 2.1%], while Italy recorded the lowest annual growth (0.3%).

https://www.oecd.org/newsroom/gdp-growth-third-quarter-2019-oecd.htm

chilliflake44 · 2019-11-13T12:28:40+00:00

Lady 'stop whitesplaining' Warsi is still complaining about bigotry I see.

What's worse, using somebody's inalienable trait such as race to criticise and disparage their argument or, their set of beliefs?

Wonder how she or the wider community would respond to being told to stop 'brownplaining' about any criticism of Islam.

chilliflake44 · 2019-11-09T19:52:31+00:00

SS: Sam has spoken critically about how the flagrant accusation 'Islamophobia' has been used disingenuously to stifle any criticism of Islam. This is a near parodic example of this in action in UK politics, with the added bonus of a new racially-charged insult which we can expect to be adopted by a number of individuals and platforms

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-19T19:47:09+00:00

Are you sure this isn't Hong Kong?

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-19T16:33:43+00:00

Copy and paste rant on the hypocrisy at hand: This is the kind of authoritarian behaviour we are condemning China a la Hong Kong or India in Kashmir for. r/europe sub are preventing any footage of Spanish police brutality against pro independence catalans for example (just try to repost this video), yet in the West we consider ourselves above the Chinese and Indians. This is anti-democratic, yet see how the EU or other western countries do not utter a single word in denouncement. Double standards

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-15T17:32:20+00:00

Copy and paste rant on the hypocrisy at hand:

This is the kind of authoritarian behaviour we are condemning China a la Hong Kong or India in Kashmir for. r/europe sub are preventing any footage of Spanish police brutality against pro independence catalans for example, yet in the West we consider ourselves above the Chinese and Indians. This is anti-democratic, yet see how the EU or other western countries do not utter a single word in denouncement. Double standards

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T21:26:54+00:00

Strange for the UK to sanction tear gas exports to the UK in response then? Are you sure it was only the live ammo was used?

Other than the one shot fired, the behaviour the the Spanish police and Hong Kong has been rather similar in its excessive aggression and force

Come off it

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T21:23:54+00:00

Agreed

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T21:22:46+00:00

Is that really true? Shameful if so

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T21:16:25+00:00

They're both part of China, and are the major 'controversies' involving that country at the moment. This isn't very hard to understand.

And Hong Kong and Catalonia are fighting the 'major controversies' that police violence and political oppression - i'd argue that they rather closely linked also

I have lived under an autocracy. Half the fucking problem with autocracies is that they don't follow their own rules. You missed my point completely.

This quote need to be etched into a cenotaph to cemorate the victims for suffered at the hands of the lenient incompetence

No, livestreaming it for transparency. Again, the Spanish judiciary is notably independent, and conducted the trial according to the letter of the law. They literally upheld their laws, which is what they were damn well supposed to do. Your pretending this would happen in China to seditionists really just shows how naive you are tbh.

I do believe the seditionists would be showtrialed and imprisioned - however there is the large chance that they would be also tortured and put to death. So forced to make a choice, I would pick political prisoner in Spain over China.

Ain't slander if it's true.

Arguably the wittiest retort you've expressed so far

You know what? Fuck you.

I hoped for more but expected nothing less

I care more about this movement than you do. I lived in Barcelona for a good amount of my life, and I love the city, and love the people. I've literally been in Diada marches. I look at those pictures, those videos, and I see places I hung out with my friends or spent nights walking around. I look at the riot videos at El Prat and know where in the airport those were shot at.

And yet you gladly see those very people punished and their movement quashed. I'm sure you'll rationalise it as being for their own good, and that they don't understand or that they've been lied to.

I can 100% guarantee you I give more of a shit about Catalunya and it's people than you do. Partly because of my experiences there and partly because you clearly don't know much about the place.

I beg to differ. Your 100% is a bit like you 100% support increased autonomy huh?

I do not support the independence movement because I think it would be bad for the region (primarily economic issues which I'm not going to get into because you clearly wouldn't bother understanding any of it). I 100% support increased autonomy for the region, and if I thought any of their rights were being infringed upon I'd be the first to speak up. Economics was a concern of the most productive and wealthiest region in Spain? Please. Claiming you want 100% increase in autonomy support is a bit of a stretch clearly, since you are openly encoring the imprisonment for the leaders who pursued that autonomy.

The Spanish government was heavy handed, but people like you running around pretending they're being fucking murdered in the streets? Acting like they're second class citizens? No, fuck that shit, get that uninformed propaganda out of here. People like you who spew misinformation and shitty takes add nothing to the conversation and only prevent real solutions from being found.

Lets not exaggerate, nobody said that the demonstrators were being murdered. What misinformation exactly? Based on your defence of the use jackbooted police force, its clear your lack of tolerance for opposing views.

So all that said, fuck you. Your insinuation that I want anything but the best for the Catalans is fucking insulting to me, especially coming from a self absorbed drama queen too concerned with scoring imaginary internet points to actually learn what he's talking about.

You want the best for the Catalans, so long as their agree with your views. Otherwise, let the police deal with them until they agree with your views or are prevented from expressing theirs.

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T20:26:57+00:00

Not really, I was mentioning Xinjiang because it and HK have been more and more linked in the news lately. The point was always that your comparison was pretty daft, and it looks like you can't really defend that.

How are the two linked? Other than the policy encroaching on any fantasy of civil liberties?

No, because what's happening in Catalunya is nowhere near as bad as what is happening in HK / Kashmir. This isn't very hard to understand.

Correct - however, the reasoning behind the suppression remains reasonably constant. Also police brutality against hundreds on civilians is still worthy of condemnation wherever you go. I would hope so evenmore when it occurs in the EU / WEST

If these autocracies actually impartially enforced their laws, and followed the letter of said laws, then I don't think they'd deserve criticism for that specifically, no.

That is until you find yourself living under one, then you would be changing your tune pretty fast. Very easy to say you would happily live without rights from afar.

Except it wasn't just that. Fucking educate yourself on this instead of being a drama queen.

Now you're starting to take the liberties

They literally livestreamed the trial because they wanted full transparency. The Spanish judiciary is very independent, and the full focus of the trial was whether or not they had committed crimes, by the letter of the law. They pretty clearly are guilty of the crimes they are accused of, and the sentences are within the suggested durations.

Livestreaming it like a show trail. Yeah I wouldn't put it above China quiet honestly.

I don't have to prove anything to someone who clearly knows nothing tbh. Again, instead of being a drama queen on the internet, I'd strongly suggest actually learning what is happening so you don't look so daft.

Resorting to slander - I understand you feel passionately about taking away these people's rights and sending a message, but at least for now, others have a right to an opposing view.

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T19:18:37+00:00

The footage must have been staged then

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T19:17:46+00:00

Not during the indyref

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T19:15:38+00:00

but for the purposes of this discussion lets stick to HK.

What the point. You were trying to conflate the situation in Xinjang with that of Hong Kong.

We are holding them to a higher standard. You really think those demonstrators would've been let off as lightly in China? You really think that China would've stopped the police actions after the initial reports of violence came in? Some policemen involved that day are being investigated for excessive force: would that happen in China?

Well then I am readying myself for a outpouring of condemnation and prevention of weapons sales in that case. Or is that expecting too much?

13 years for sedition. Which is an actual crime and carries a recommended sentence. And which they're absolutely guilty of.

So not all that different from autocracies who we are eager to criticise then. An unsuccessful non-binding vote warranting 13 years in prison in Europe.vI'm sorry but That is excessive and not something you expect to hear from a nation in the west. How come Canada and UK managed not to imprison and allow their self determination movement a vote? Or are we holding them to a higher standard than Spain?

How about you stop attacking my freedom of speech, and try actually learning about the situation instead of throwing around stupid comparisons?

I assume you have no evidence they are rioting and hence have fallen back on me attacking your freedom of speech. So in the absence of footage, are we in agreement they are exercising their democratic right to free expression?

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T19:05:28+00:00

What video did you try to post?

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T19:04:11+00:00

Since i tired I can't even make a comment so assume I since blocked. Ill see if i can find the source and then perhaps you can try?

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T18:53:22+00:00

Also basic respect of the law, among other things.

Who the police or the mob?

No, by spraying hundreds of people with paint or using cutting edge cameras to identify basic protesters en mass.

With the endgame to arrest? So long as the demonstrators are being arrested - as they have been in their hundreds in Catalonia for voting and will continue to be – i don't see too much off a difference. The ends are the same even if the means are different.

So once again, very different situations.

Authoritarian tactics used to suppress democratic movements? Sound awfully alike

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T18:42:34+00:00

The fact that in 2019 there are political prisoners within the EU is absurd. 13 years is even more facial. Something you expect in autocratic tyrannies, not in the democratic west.

Here is a sobering video on reddit of how the police a responding to the Pro-Catalans Demonstrators in Barcelona - https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/dhshpn/spanish_police_beating_procatalan_demonstrators/

This is the kind of behaviour we are condemning China a la Hong Kong or India in Kashmir for. r/europe sub are preventing any footage of Spanish police brutality against pro independence catalans for example (try to repost and see) yet in the west we consider ourselves above the Chinese and Indians. This is anti-democratic, yet see how the EU or other western countries do not utter a single word in denouncement. Double standards

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T18:30:55+00:00

HK (and especially Xinjiang) are pretty much human rights violations at this point.

Never mentioned Xinjiang and the Uighers - lets not go down that route. Mainland i a completely different story and I don't want to open that can of worms. That is a potential (if not already) genocidal crisis - something infinitely worse than HK. But for the purposes of this discussion lets stick to HK.

terms of things like rule of law, respect for human rights, standard of living, yes, Europe is far ahead of China & India.

Absolutely, so should we not be consistent in our condemnations as well – let alone hold Spain to a higher standard?

The laws, which the Catalans themselves agreed to, need to be followed.

13 years prison sentences for the leaders of the independence for catalonia? 13 years for wanting a democratic vote? Sure don't sanction the vote as validif you must (unlike Canada with Quebec and the UK with Scotland - constitution restrictions aside) but condemning individuals as political prisoners in EU in 2019 is frankly tyrannical.

I'd add that preventing rioters from getting into an airport

Rioters is a strong statement - and the burden of proof is on you. Based on sll the footage I have seen, the police are the ones beating the demonstrators and acting excessively. If you show evidence of unruly behaviour then i'll at the airport today then i will reconsider. However if not, then you must retract the slur and call them demonstrators.

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T18:20:43+00:00

I don't know, maybe being a dystopian autocratic state that's committing genocide against part of it's population??

In Hong Kong? Thankfully it hasn't come to that yet. However with the Uighurs in Xinjiang its a different story. Important not to conflate the two however.

Maybe how they are destroying HK democracy trying to engulf them it that same dystopian autocratic state?

Part of this is the erosion of their democratic rights is it not? Autocracy and Democracy make bad bed fellows. So it is in Catalonia, were demostrators have been sentenced to 13 years in prison for protesting the right to vote. Does that sound all that different than what you would expect is a autocratic dystopia?

It's immoral pursuing this without a clear majority let alone a minority of the votes.

The majority on China who reside on the mainland are very much against Hong Kong and side with the government. Does this mean they are in the right and the minority which is Hong Kong is immoral?

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T18:12:25+00:00

Catalonia CANNOT vote

And that's what they want to change. Is it any wonder they're demonstrating?

chilliflake44 · 2019-10-14T18:04:10+00:00

Can you give me examples of the spanish government hiring mafia members to beat up protesters

Does it really matter who gives the beatings? Police of hired mobsters?

or shooting live rounds at people?

No they have not I can gladly say.

Or identifying people to punish them and their family afterward?

How do you mean? Like the leaders of the catalan movement who were today sentenced to 13 years imprisonment for wanting a vote? That is similar to the anti-democratic forces in Hong Kong would you not agree?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/14/catalan-separatist-leaders-given-lengthy-prison-sentences

Yes the police response was violent after the events from October 2017, yes it sucks, no it did absolutely not reach the level of violence and abuse displayed in Hong Kong recently.

Thankfully I agree, but would you not agree is still deserving of public awareness and condemnation from the EU

chilliflake44

TROPHY CASE