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Kate Morley

Later today Britain’s last remaining coal-fired power station will shut down, bringing to a close 142 years of power generation that began when the world’s first coal-fired power station, at 57 Holborn Viaduct in London, started operation on 12th January 1882.

When I created grid.iamkate.com in 2012, coal accounted for 40% of Britain’s power generation. It was overtaken by gas in 2015, nuclear and wind in 2016, and solar in 2019. As I write this, wind is producing 40% of Britain’s power.
30 September at 9:38 | Open on fosstodon.org
36 comments
paulwakeford

@kate I work in the building that’s now on that site. I’ll check if there’s any plaque etc tomorrow.

30 September at 9:56 | Open on aus.social
pa27

@kate It's just a shame we are charged fossil fuel prices for what should be low cost renewables. UK has the highest commercial electricity cost in the world. Crazy.

30 September at 10:06 | Open on mastodon.social
Wiredfire

@pa27 @kate As I understand it a part of it is regulation weirdness but also a big chunk is that “low cost” renewables are low cost in operation but still require ongoing investment while we continue to transition to them.

Right now the benefits to end users aren’t financial, but hopefully will be in the longer term.

30 September at 13:21 | Open on mstdn.social
Nick Perks

@kate So key question - does coal lose its line on the dashboard, or stay there at permanent 0%?

(Thanks for the site).

30 September at 10:23 | Open on mastodon.social
Kate Morley

@nickperks I’ve been thinking of updating the graph code to remove leading/trailing zeros from before/after a source existed. This will also benefit the all-time interconnector graph, as most interconnectors came online years after I created the site.

30 September at 10:45 | Open on fosstodon.org
MeaTLoTioN

@kate if wind is producing 40%, why aren't our bills 40% lower?! 🙂

30 September at 10:55 | Open on mas.erb.pw
Wiredfire

@meatlotion @kate Wind turbines cost money to build and maintain, with ongoing investment needed to further expand renewable energy sources is why 😉

30 September at 13:22 | Open on mstdn.social
Wolf480pl

@wiredfire @meatlotion @kate also AFAIK worn out wind turbine blades are a pain to safely dispose of

30 September at 14:15 | Open on mstdn.io
Wiredfire

@wolf480pl @meatlotion @kate I’ve heard that too. Seen the odd interesting project finding ways to re-use the blades as something else but that’s going to be a growing issue that will need a sensible solution. Granted that’s a small problem compared to storing nuclear waste or choking our atmosphere but still.

30 September at 15:32 | Open on mstdn.social
Wolf480pl

@wiredfire @meatlotion @kate tbh I wouldn't be so sure vs nuclear waste - I'd expect them to be much smaller in terms mass and expecially volume, but I don't have the numbers at hand.

30 September at 15:42 | Open on mstdn.io
Wiredfire

@wolf480pl nuclear waste is physically going to be smaller most likely but much much harder to store safely.

30 September at 17:20 | Open on mstdn.social
Samuel Leuenberger

@meatlotion @kate Your bill reflect the operation of the electric grid and it's overall availability : Windfarms requires interconnections and compensating power sources to ensure the grid frequency stability and power delivery when the wind is not blowing.
Incidently, past a significant share, the more wind you'll have on your electricity mix, the more *expensive* your bill will be!
pik-potsdam.de/members/edenh/p
30 September at 15:20 | Open on cyberplace.social
Steve Hill 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇪🇺

@meatlotion @kate Because auctions work to raise all prices to the price of the last most expensive generator that is currently in use, which is related to the relative inflexibility of energy demand. If demand is 30GW and 29GW is coming from renewables, that means the last 1GW is from gas. Why would you sell your cheap renewables for much less than the gas price in that situation (demand inflexibility means that you can only buy less renewables if you buy more gas).

30 September at 15:42 | Open on mastodon.nexusuk.org
Steve Hill 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇪🇺

@meatlotion @kate This is somewhat simplified - energy pricing is extremely complicated, but you get the idea.

30 September at 15:43 | Open on mastodon.nexusuk.org
Craig Cohen

@kate There's a lot of doom and gloom with tbe state of the environment, so it's victories like this that help me regain some optimism 🙂

30 September at 12:01 | Open on mastodon.social
tiny_m

@kate 40% wind! I had no idea it was so high. That's amazing

30 September at 12:10 | Open on indieweb.social
Jonathan T

@tiny_m @kate It fluctuates quite a bit from week to week and day to day. An account worth following if you aren't already is Winderful which shows how much energy generation Wind is providing in the UK over time: @winderful

30 September at 12:17 | Open on mastodon.me.uk
O(SINT) Positive

@kate

Thank you for your work raising awareness and giving hope!

30 September at 13:29 | Open on infosec.exchange
Shevek

@kate Esto le molará a @dictatriz incluida la web, si es que no la conoce ya.

30 September at 13:40 | Open on mstdn.io
MJ Dictatriz

@shevek hace un tiempo comenté en Twitter la reducción de emisiones del sistema eléctrico de UK, que consistió en cambiar carbón por gas mientras se invertía en renovables.

@kate

30 September at 13:47 | Open on paquita.masto.host
Paul Richards

@kate “As I write this, wind is producing 40% of Britain’s power.” 40% of Britain’s *electrical* power, right? Surely not 40% of all our power (ie, including gas heating, fossil powered transport, etc). ?

30 September at 13:46 | Open on mastodon.scot
Lazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈

@kate to think our ridiculous little island has achieved something positive for once.
It can happen

30 September at 13:47 | Open on mastodon.social
Steve Hill 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇪🇺
Samuel Leuenberger

@kate That's a nice dashboard, there's unfortunately a mischaracterisation of nuclear power in the info bubbles:
1) Sellafield Pile 1 occured 70 years ago on a military reactor, it has no relation with civil nuclear power generation.
2) Nuclear is an energy source even safer than wind, both are extremely safe compared to fossil power.

ourworldindata.org/safest-sour

30 September at 15:45 | Open on cyberplace.social
Annelies Kamran

@kate this is absolutely a tangent but now you'll need a replacement for the phrase "coals to Newcastle" because within five years the young'uns will have no idea what you're talking about 😁

30 September at 17:15 | Open on indieweb.social
Mike Nelson Pedde

@kate This is great news, so long as the coal workers are cared for... 🌞

30 September at 17:54 | Open on universeodon.com
Marty Fouts

@kate I am curious: is there any documentation on when Britain stopped using coal for purposes other than generating electricity? Is there any significant coal burning for any of those purposes still?

30 September at 18:10 | Open on mastodon.online
ashpole

@kate @siracusa On the website it says zero Battery Storage, where would domestic batteries be shown that export like my Powerwall.

30 September at 18:41 | Open on hometech.social
Axel Hartmann
eribosot
Sam Bryan
steve

@kate Also, at 17.00 today, the last batch of molten steel was poured into a crucible at the UK's last blast furnace in Port Talbot, South Wales.

30 September at 20:25 | Open on fosstodon.org
Den of Earth

@kate
In honour of UK's last coal plant going offline,
here's an oldie but a goodie:
youtu.be/ggg3C87UVCY

30 September at 20:48 | Open on mas.to
njvack

@kate I read the other day that Britain's current carbon emissions are at the lowest rate since the late 19th century

30 September at 20:54 | Open on ruby.social
Carl
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