Renewable energy sources - the good, the bad and the ugly

They are roughly 1.2m x 0.8m and weigh 110kg. They have a capacity of 13.5 kWh, so it will depend on what your panels generate if it is worth investing in. To purchase one and have it fitted will be somewhere in the region of 10k, that is based on 0% vat. You will only pay 0% vat when the system and installation is suppplied and fitted by a qualified tradesman.

 

I'm still making my mind up about this idea...

UK plans a fleet of small nuclear reactors to fight energy crisis (interestingengineering.com)

 

I don't know about the Holtec ideas, but Rolls Royce have been working on the idea for some time. It's a development of the reactors used in UK nuclear subs.
See here Small modular reactors
Very close to a prefab nuclear station. Will probably, initially, go into existing reactor sites with decommisioned reactors, as these have the electricity and transport infrastructure in place; also the principle of a nuclear reactor on that site has already been approved.
The SMR reactors should be safer and "fail safe" in the case of problems.
Downside:
NIMBYs will be out in force at the slightest hint of an SMR locally.
Waste fuel has to be dealt with.
At the end of life you have the waste reactor to dispose of.
I believe that most of the RN's decommissioned nuclear subs have been stripped of fuel, but still sit in naval dockyards with the reactors awaiting a solution. I suspect the USA has similar issues and the Russians have disposed of a number of reactors and subs into the Arctic ocean, others are stacked on land near Murmansk. Given global warming those under Arctic ocean could be an issue.

 

Certainly the air/air pumps are just glorified electric heaters when the ambient temperature is low, so hardly ideal, especially the further north you are.
If 'disruption' is a problem, why don't the government concentrate on incorporating them in new builds, along with solar. No disruption involved!

 

It was on the news that a local engineering company in our area are to build the SMRs.

Workington: Nuclear workforce will "quadruple", firm says

Hartlepool and Heysham 1 are due to stop producing power from 2024, so to have them manufactured by 2027 will be of importance.

 

I see today a report that says:
Great Britain produced a record amount of wind-powered electricity in 2022, according to the National Grid.
More electricity came from renewable and nuclear power sources than from fossil fuels gas and coal, the second highest after 2020.

Scotland is doing great in wind power mainly down to the fact we allow on-shore wind farms. There are dozens of turbines on the hills south of Edinburgh. The largest in-shore wind farm has 215 and there are an estimated 19,000 on-shore turbines in Scotland with plans to double that number.

 

Watched panorama regarding data centres, interesting if true, but it does make you think.

In Ireland they say the new data centres under construction would use the same energy as 200k new houses. In London, the GLA have said that new housing developments might have to be delayed until 2030 due to a lack of capacity in the grid. But its not all about energy, while the south experienced house pipe bans last year, did the data centres experience water restrictions, no.

New homes may be delayed by power grid capacity - BBC News