We recently closed and demolished Didcot ‘A’ coal-fired power station, an efficient, reasonably modern plant with a generating capacity of about 1.44 gigawatts.
Why? not at least keep it under hibernation, but no we have to cull it as no common sense is allowed in the great cause of cutting CO2 emissions. Lets examine the facts -enormous 259 gigawatts (180 Didcots) of new coal-fired capacity are under development in China. That’s on top of the 993 gigawatts of coal-burning capacity China already possesses (690 Didcots).
The UK’s whole electrical generation capacity, in all forms of power, is 85 gigawatts (59 Didcots). If we gave up using electricity entirely, it would make no difference at all to the impact of Chinese coal burning on the atmosphere. Nothing, sweet fanny. If we completely abolish all our fossil-fuel generation, including gas, it would likewise not matter in the slightest – except to us, our economy and our standard of living. As a small island with a generation of You tube influencer’s preaching to the young starry eyed Greta’s about climate change, do they not realise China’s planned increase, yes, increase, in coal power is three times the size of our whole electricity-generation industry – wind, nuclear gas, and all. India is also increasing coal generation and last March reached a coal capacity of 200 gigawatts (139 Didcots).
I have said it before in previous blogs, the third world countries that we use to think of 50 years ago, are outstripping us with their own power stations consumed by millions of tons of coal, which we abolished to the idiots who tried to take us nuclear and look where that has got us. And as for Wind farms springing up on shore and off shore, these only function thanks to huge hidden subsidies, paid for by the poor, and are vulnerable to power cuts unless it is backed up by fossil fuel or nuclear generation, plus diesel turbine engines as a last resort.