Last week National Grid admitted its complete failure to predict the rapid advance of small-scale renewables. Four years ago it estimated that 0.5 gigawatts would be installed by 2021. Already, the total is 11GW, and an extra 13GW is now considered likely. That’s an under-estimate by a factor of nearly 50. Accordingly, National Grid has now slashed its forecast for the building of big block power stations by more than 50%. More…

And now eight new battery storage projects are to be built around the UK after winning contracts worth £66m to help National Grid keep power supplies stable as more wind and solar farms are built. EDF Energy, E.On and Vattenfall were among the successful companies chosen to build new lithium ion batteries with a combined capacity of 200 megawatts (MW), under a new scheme to help National Grid to balance supply and demand within seconds. More….

Thanks to the wonderful No2Nuclear Power for these items.