"Spare electricity capacity, which ran at about 5% over the winter months last year, would be nearer 4% this year, National Grid said.
Three years ago the margin was 17%"
(the reference is to winter 14/15)
From;
National Grid warns of lower winter power capacity - BBC News

The energy minister who said at that time (some 18 months ago)
""Dismissing fears of possible electricity blackouts, energy minister Matthew Hancock told the BBC: "We are absolutely clear we are taking the measures necessary in order to have secure energy supplies this winter.""

is the same guy who was ripped apart by Andrew Neil a few days ago:
UK Unleashed - News
(recorded for posterity in the blog post of 4 March 2016).

__________________
Dave

So no actual information to link to your statement that EDF are getting cold feet from PC interference then?

Yes our power supply is very close to the limits, fragile to power station failures - but then its been in that situation for roughly 16 years to my knowledge

"Now, or so it would appear, EDF itself may be having cold feet. This would be quite understandable. The collapse in oil and gas prices has eaten into the company’s profits - even though the company is predominantly a nuclear generator it will have been hit by the accompanying fall in wholesale power prices – and its stock market valuation has slumped to the extent that, earlier this month, it was relegated from the CAC 40, France’s equivalent of the FTSE-100 index, and replaced, ignominiously, by a shopping centre operator"
From:
EDF Has Right To Feel Nerves Over Hinkley
And,
"Onto that can be overlaid a political dimension: EDF is effectively controlled by the French government and Francois Hollande*, the French President, has shown a propensity to interfere in its affairs in a way that his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, did not"

EDF Chief Quits Over Hinkley Nuclear Plans

*There will be consequences if we, the people, choose to exit the EU - or words to that effect

__________________
Dave

This is down to cold hard cash, nothing more and certainly no "PC Nonsense"

Just spent another day on site there

OK, back to reality. This thread has been taken over by one radical climate change denier posting spurious links from discredited sources bought & sold by corporate pawns, lackeys of big energy polluters and their ilk. Garbage.

The majority of real HUBB travelers are not insane ... and see the reality backed up by scientific facts confirming Global Warming/Climate Change as it is. "PC nonsense"?

Do we really need to know more when we've got Scumbags like the infamous Koch brothers pouring HUNDREDS of millions into fighting, distorting and lying regards Science FACT regarding Climate change/Global Warming?
Pretty obvious where these deniers come from.

But staying ON TOPIC and ON Motorcycles .... I wonder how many HUBB travelers have been detoured or thwarted in their attempts to travel due to some "natural" weather disaster? Just in my short 40 years of travel, I've had several significant experiences. Mostly washed out roads which meant (in some cases) doing detours of hundreds of miles to get round the slide, flood or wash out, or waiting WEEKS in order to pass.

When I lived in Guatemala (2 years) a key bridge collapsed near the Salvador border ...and that route was closed for 6 months before repaired. Infrastructure? NOPE! There were work arounds riding a bike, but no way past for 4 wheelers who had to go WAY out of their way to get through.
(A day's drive on slippery mountain road)

Many of us have ridden through and survived things like unprecedented rain events ... some breaking all previous records, massive flooding.

This sort of thing is happening not in one or two regions ... but in DOZENS of places world wide on a regular basis. Same with longer, hotter heat waves, longer droughts, more severe storms.

Winter now brings record cold at weird times of year. As the planet heats ... all systems go haywire, upsetting previous seasonal weather patterns. Unprecedented number of examples continue to rack up the stats.

Just a "Weird" year ...? don't think so. This may be our "New Normal". If out on the road, keep a close eye on the weather, have alternate route or plans. Travelers generally have a better chance at survival than locals ... we have the ability to MOVE ON if things are dangerous. (If you CAN move on!)

So rather than DENY or CONFIRM Climate Change ... ad nauseam ... I'd rather hear more about actual stories where weather or natural disasters disrupted or ended your travel. Was the weather event unusual? Unprecedented? Record breaking?

Little did I realise how you Yanks are as infatuated with the weather as we Limeys.
But, then I saw on Al Jazeera English lang weather forecasting (a channel which goes off air in the USA next month) that you guys got a dump of snow and rainfall on to the drought striken land of your west coast recently.

Then there is the El Nino/La Nina influence - once every few years or thereabouts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014%E...i%C3%B1o_event

Tell us about your earthquakes, record breaking or otherwise.

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Dave

Still waiting to find out more about the "PC Nonsense" you posted about............................................. .......................

Those nearest the coal face are sometimes the last to see the issues.
EDF finance chief quits over decision to push on with Hinkley Point - FT.com

EDF is in trouble, as is the more general French economy, but the UK govn has hung a substantial part of the UK energy policy on large nuclear power plants and on this company in particular.

With debt at twice their capital value, EDF have more to concern them than building a single plant; hence the man who knew the situation best had to resign to silence himself.

__________________
Dave

Blindly repeating something doesn't make it a fact.

As I said it's down to money not "PC Nonsense" as you stated, can you or can you not justify your post?

Guess you've never been here? "Infatuated"?

Shame about Al Jazeera English ... no surprise with the current Trump-ett Fascists and Israeli run security industry running about free. Al-Jaz has been under attack since day one by Israeli backed agents.
I hope Al Jaz come back, only decent middle east news we get. (or got)

The "dump" of snow/rain was welcome ... about 20 inches in N. Cal so far for two big storms, a very good thing ... but the climatologists suggest it's a "drop in the bucket".

Reservoirs still at records lows, Snow pack still pitiful compared to normal years. We'll need maybe five more such storms to partially replenish water supplies and water shed areas. (Sierra) 5 years (some say 7?) of drought takes time to recover from.

This El Nino year could turn things around ...

Earthquakes generally have not been connected to climate change that I know of ... . I've been in a few major quakes, including in Peru' and Mexico and I showed up in Manaqua, Nica after a quake LEVELED the town. Spent a week there.

Some reputable studies now suggest Hydro-fracking may be responsible for Quakes in unforeseen locations.

Jury still out on this one but 'Fracking has been shut down in quite a few places with more to come mostly due to films like "Gasland" among others.

We've always had Earthquakes in California ... I love 'em. Keeps tourists and flat landers out. Welcome to California ... NOW GO HOME before you're crushed in a Earth Quake ... and we've got Great White Sharks too!



El Nino is relatively NEW ... tracked back to early 70's or so. I was in Peru' for the first El Nino there in 1975 (according to local Fishermen). Devastated the fishing industry for a year or two. All they could do was pray.
And they did ...

Al Jaz also gave a passing nod in the direction of Flint, Michigan and the ongoing man-made lead pipes problem.

Perhaps Sanders won the State because of that factor?

__________________
Dave

Ironic.

__________________
Dave

Idiotic


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good talk!

__________________
Paul "Every county of England, every country of Europe and every (part of every inhabited) continent of the Earth" 94% done! What's left? Central America, East, Central and West Africa, Australia & New Zealand

http://www.theguardian.com/environme...igures-confirm