Enabling the DSO transition - A consultation on the ESO’s approach to Distribution System Operation (2021)

A quick look at this is very disappointing. It seems all this is about money and how to charge consumers much more for less. Half-hour charging has never been mentioned to the Public, and yet seems to be fundamental to these proposals. The issues of supply and overall stability are not really addressed, or the extra supply generation which will be necessary to support electric vehicles and heating. I have estimated we need a 100% reliable 100GW to achieve the "Green Dream" in mid-winter, to replace Gas and fossil fuels. 100GW loosely equates to another 30 nuclear plants, or 1 million turbines of 1MW and 10% of nameplate output, or 300,000 at 30% which is a bit high averaged over a year. There must be supply somehow of the full 150GW total demand somehow, 24/7, otherwise living here in winter will be third-world at best.


This is the fundamental issue that is NOT being addressed, either the Government or the IET. I do not care how the admin works (as long as it does) but I do care very much about the feasibility and price of this electric energy. I have also estimated the cost of tripling our entire electrical infrastructure at £3Trillion, just where is this coming from, and who is going to pay? So far we have just about managed our generating capacity to keep pace with the removal of fossil fuels by changes to lighting (LEDS particularly) and gas backup generation when the wind is low or zero. There have been a couple of near misses of grid failure and many more nail-biting moments. It is ridiculous to change from gas to electric heating at great cost and then run it from gas turbines, even if the overall cost is about the same. The capital cost would be massive for no gain. Building 30 more 3GW nuclear plants in the next 14 years is obviously impossible, building one is appearing more unlikely by the day, and the prototype is still a long way from working.


Fiddling with distribution voltages is unlikely to make a significant difference, it would need all new transformers, even if 11kV cables were suddenly used on 33KV. Again cost, materials, and production capacity would quickly kill the idea. What is needed is an appreciation by the IET Committee concerned, and the wider membership that the plan is from cloud cuckoo land, we have none of the resources available to even contemplate it. Where is the sense of Engineering balance and skill needed to plan this? It is not this proposal which is simply tinkering around the edges of a severe problem Where have I seen that recently too?

A quick look at this is very disappointing. It seems all this is about money and how to charge consumers much more for less. Half-hour charging has never been mentioned to the Public, and yet seems to be fundamental to these proposals. The issues of supply and overall stability are not really addressed, or the extra supply generation which will be necessary to support electric vehicles and heating. I have estimated we need a 100% reliable 100GW to achieve the "Green Dream" in mid-winter, to replace Gas and fossil fuels. 100GW loosely equates to another 30 nuclear plants, or 1 million turbines of 1MW and 10% of nameplate output, or 300,000 at 30% which is a bit high averaged over a year. There must be supply somehow of the full 150GW total demand somehow, 24/7, otherwise living here in winter will be third-world at best.


This is the fundamental issue that is NOT being addressed, either the Government or the IET. I do not care how the admin works (as long as it does) but I do care very much about the feasibility and price of this electric energy. I have also estimated the cost of tripling our entire electrical infrastructure at £3Trillion, just where is this coming from, and who is going to pay? So far we have just about managed our generating capacity to keep pace with the removal of fossil fuels by changes to lighting (LEDS particularly) and gas backup generation when the wind is low or zero. There have been a couple of near misses of grid failure and many more nail-biting moments. It is ridiculous to change from gas to electric heating at great cost and then run it from gas turbines, even if the overall cost is about the same. The capital cost would be massive for no gain. Building 30 more 3GW nuclear plants in the next 14 years is obviously impossible, building one is appearing more unlikely by the day, and the prototype is still a long way from working.


Fiddling with distribution voltages is unlikely to make a significant difference, it would need all new transformers, even if 11kV cables were suddenly used on 33KV. Again cost, materials, and production capacity would quickly kill the idea. What is needed is an appreciation by the IET Committee concerned, and the wider membership that the plan is from cloud cuckoo land, we have none of the resources available to even contemplate it. Where is the sense of Engineering balance and skill needed to plan this? It is not this proposal which is simply tinkering around the edges of a severe problem Where have I seen that recently too?