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Dan Grey

@dangrey.bsky.social
1.6K followers 154 following 7.1K posts

Energy and transitioning from fossil fuels. Complex issues I try to shine a light on. Ex-UKAEA and Met Office, now working in community energy. Occasionally politics Exeter, UK

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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 22h
Anyone on Octopus Cosy? Anyone without a battery using it? How do you use it; only run your heat pump in the cheap periods? octopus.energy/smart/cosy-o...
octopus.energy
Cosy Octopus | Smart Tariff for Heat Pumps & Electric Boilers | Octopus Energy
Cosy Octopus is a 3-rate tariff with 8 hours of cheap electricity daily. Perfect for heat pump or electric boiler users. No exit fees or tie-ins.
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
As EV sales surge in Germany and France saving consumers billions of euros and insulating them from the stupid acts of imbeciles, their respective heads of government... Move to slow the transition down?!
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
It's cheaper up-front than solar
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Heat pump Heat pump Heat pump
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I wonder how they are a) insuring these sailings b) finding crews to risk them, given the rate at which Iran is hitting ships passing through the Hormuz
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I haven't watched an over-the-air TV broadcast in years. I bet there's quite a few people like me
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The catchment of the valley Wimbleball reservoir lies in isn't big enough to fill it up over winter, so South West Water has to pump water into it from the River Exe over winter. But there has to be enough rain to put enough water in the river for it to be pumped up...
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
BBC has a story on it
bbc.co.uk
More restrictions possible as South West reservoir level drops
More water usage restrictions may be introduced as Wimbleball reservoir drops to just 18% full.
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The water level in the reservoir that supplies Tiverton, Exeter, Exmouth and surrounds is Not Looking Good
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The economy was recovering in 2010 until the Tories' austerity cuts snuffed it out. For all we know Brown, riding high on the success of the London 2012 Olympics, could well have won again in autumn 2012
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
So I would have said no, but I'm an EV driver who can charge at home. What is an issue is the price of public charging for those who don't have a driveway (~30%). That's a big issue.
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
♥️
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Reposted by Dan Grey
ECIU @eciu.net · 06/10/2026
Labour urged to keep Boiler Upgrade Scheme under national control @nesta_uk report warns that devolving heat pump subsidies to local authorities could disrupt installations www.energylivenews.com/2026/10/05/...
energylivenews.com
Labour urged to keep Boiler Upgrade Scheme under national control - Energy Live News
A report warns that devolving heat pump subsidies to local authorities could disrupt installations
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Let's just be realistic for a moment: there is not going to be 73 GWs of data centres built. The UK demand from hyperscalers is about 5% of that. Every land promoter and their dog is dreaming up with DC schemes at the moment and very, very few will be built.
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Maybe Trump has given up trying to bend Iran to his will, and the "terror plot" provides useful cover for a failing, flailing president.
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Worth noting that the US also flew its two forward-deployed electronic warfare attack aircraft back to the US from Germany, and one of the two American aircraft carriers operating in the Gulf of Arabia has departed. You could think Iran managed to scare the US military out of Fairford, or...
bbc.co.uk
Donald Trump says a 'threat' led US to move bombers from RAF Fairford
The Pentagon confirmed on Sunday it had removed the B1 bombers from the base in England back to their home stations in America.
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The Tories want to abolish the Environment Agency to enable businesses to pollute our air and water as routine. Does Badenoch think this will appeal to the voters who gave Cameron and Johnson majorities?
bbc.co.uk
UK oil refinery broke toxic pollution limits dozens of times
Pollution was spilled into local rivers and protected sites, documents shared with the BBC suggest.
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I think Modo and others offer services aimed at the latter. Re the former, NESO has a wider programme of forecasting improvements, although they're clearly behind the curve (the 23 June incident being the prime example) www.neso.energy/what-we-do/s...
neso.energy
Systems Operations | National Energy System Operator
From hospitals to households, telecoms to transportation, our society relies on electricity. Our control centre makes sure there is always a reliable and safe supply as we move megawatts around the co...
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Bloomberg's oil columnist: "I’m anticipating a slowdown in the rate of growth of demand, rather than an outright drop in overall oil consumption. The latter still seems far off." That's going to age badly. The rest of his column is him explaining how EVs are taking over, having bought one himself 🤷
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
They are working to catch up though (GC0166) www.neso.energy/document/381...
neso.energy
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
👇
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Ah I'm slightly hypocritical – I'm on fixed export (12p/kWh)
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Explored more here
truthdig.com
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Matt Yglesias
The centrist contrarian struggles to comprehend that some people orient themselves politically on the basis of moral and ethical commitments.
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Also the MO of today's British newspaper columnists
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
If you know you know; if you don't, 👇
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I might start calling this the Porter Principle
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Agile is much cheaper overall – it would take me ~15 years to pay off a battery with that kind of rate of saving, at which point it would be worn out and need replacing
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
However the numbers in Jaap's post are for registrations too. So UK is being outperformed by Germany right now.
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Answering my own question – it's registrations
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Question; is that literally sales (people signing on dotted lines) or deliveries (people being handed keys)? In the UK the best data is registrations which is obvs different again, as it includes stock builds as well as deliveries to customers
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I think there may well be. Registrations is probably much closer to deliveries than to sales
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Disappointingly EVs only made up 28% of new car registrations in September in the UK. Up 36% on the same month last year, but still too low
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Tbf it's not the low-end of the market that's taking off. Sure, manufacturers have a much smaller margin on the low-cost cars than on the more expensive cars, but citizens on lower incomes get to share the benefits of EVs. That seems OK to me, even if Renault Group shareholders don't
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
There have been dozens before this
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
No significant change to my Octopus Agile average unit price in September, with being able to charge the car in negative-priced hours a couple of times balancing out the expensive evenings August was 15.57p per kWh
My September 2026 electricity price on the Octopus Agile tariff was 16.46p/kWh
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
As you'd expect, it's complete anecdotal rubbish, with no actual evidence whatsoever. This is, genuinely, a line from the article: "There's some anecdotal information, but not a lot of really serious, extensive studies done yet." 🤦 web.archive.org/web/20261003...
web.archive.org
Why electric cars might be making some passengers feel sick
Research shows there are several reasons people might experience motion sickness in electric vehicles.
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Really? Is this the absolute crap that passes for news from the BBC now?
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Meanwhile work on Tata Steel's electric arc furnace at Port Talbot is continuing apace, with start-up expected early 2028
tatasteeluk.com
When will customers receive their first low carbon steel products?
We’ve talked about the processes, but what about the products?
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
British Steel really is a disaster; losing huge amounts of money with no plan for what to do with it.
publications.parliament.uk
Government's intervention in British Steel Ltd
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
news.sky.com/story/britis...
news.sky.com
British Steel losing £1.3m a day - and there is no 'credible' survival plan yet, MPs warn
British Steel costs £1.3m of taxpayers' money a day to support, after the government intervened to save the blast furnace from closure in April 2025.
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Another reason for getting rid of blast furnaces and recycling steel in electric arc furnaces instead Reminder: the UK exports more scrap steel for recycling abroad than it smelts "virgin" steel. Tax-payers have spent over £700m keeping the loss-making coal-burning Scunthorpe steel works open
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
💯
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I would say this. If you've chosen an EV you probably look after your cars and aren't a dickhead
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Electric cars are much less likely to fail a MoT than their fossil equivalents For cars aged three-to-eight years, with mileages from 90,000 to 120,000 miles, EVs are 25% less likely to fail a test
fleetnews.co.uk
MOTs show high-mileage electric cars ‘prove more durable than petrol’
BVRLA analysis of 47.4 million MOTs reveals electric cars significantly less likely to fail than petrol equivalents.
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
That's what's it's there for
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It's a bit hard to discern exactly what proportion of new public transport buses are electric (total sales figures seem to include coaches and minibuses), but honestly it should be 100%. There is no reason to still be buying diesel buses.
sustainable-bus.com
Zero-emission buses exceed 2,500 units (+62%) as UK market posts 17-year high - Sustainable Bus
Bus, coach and minibus registrations in the UK increased 10.4 percent in 2025 to 9,259 units, with zero-emission vehicles...
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
This is sensible imho, but the real solution is electric vehicles. We have to end our fossil fuel dependency as quickly as possible; it's causing so much pain. Here's an idea: the government could expand the ZEBRA electric bus programme until the UK public bus fleet is fully decarbonised
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Question; when (on average) do we see withdrawals exceed injections? It must be getting later and later as the climate warms.
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
JERA bought in but handed the Morgan lease back. TCE is re-letting Morgan which has a DCO now, so that will be interesting. Seems JERA Nex bp are continuing with Mona after EnBW exited. I thought BP were leaving JERA Nex bp but apparently not. Yet to win a CfD though.
offshorewind.biz
1.5 GW Morgan Offshore Wind Site Up for Grabs Again as Crown Estate Launches Accelerated Tender
Some description default
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Dan Grey @dangrey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I found this interesting note from Baringa, written in 2021. One of their scenarios was that the projects with high TCE lease costs wouldn't win in a CfD auction and that's exactly what happened – EnBW and BP paid £154,000/MW for what became Morgan and Mona, didn't win in AR6, and EnBW quit
baringa.com
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