Cavity wall insulations crash by 97% following green deal introduction (UK)

[kristopher]

3. The energy efficiency program was sabotaged to provide market for nuclear power

The UK had a very effective efficiency program that they changed last year. At the time of the change government analysts stated unequivocally that the program as designed would be a complete failure. The response of the nucleo-maniacal Conservative government, of course, was to lick their chops and press on with great gusto.


From a Citigroup analysis of investment in new nuclear plants in Europe (with a focus on UK).

...Should EU countries go half way towards meeting their renewables target of 20% by 2020 that would be an extra ca. 440TWh. Even if EU went only half way, which by all means is a very conservative estimate, that would still be ca.220TWh of additional generation. Under its conservative ‘scenario A’ forecast, UCTE expects 28GW of net new fossil fuel capacity to be constructed by 2020. On an average load factor of 45% for those plants that’s an extra 110TWh.

Therefore under very conservative assumptions on renewables, we can reliably expect an extra 330TWh of electricity to be generated by 2020, leaving a shortfall of 16TWh to be made up by either energy efficiency or new nuclear.

There are currently 10GW of nuclear capacity under construction/development, including the UK proposed plants that should be on operation by 2020. If we assume that energy efficiency will not contribute, that would imply a load factor for the plants of 18%. Looking at the entire available nuclear fleet that would imply a load factor of just 76%. We do believe though that steps towards energy efficiency will also be taken, thus the impact on load factors could be larger.

Under a scenario of the renewables target being fully delivered then the load factor for nuclear would fall to 56%.