National Grid | Fully Charged

Robert Llewellyn visits the National Grid to find out what it's all about!
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The National Grid is a high-voltage electric power transmission network, connecting power stations and 340+ substations ensuring supply and demand is in the balance. Nigel Williams speaks to Robert Llewellyn about how the National Grid works in Great Britain, and what challenges it faces with the rapidly changing world.
Fully Charged is an online show hosted by Robert Llewellyn (Red Dwarf, Scrapheap Challenge, Carpool), sponsored by British Gas: Looking After Your World. During this series, Robert will discuss why we need to change how we think about energy consumption now. He will be taking a look at the newest electric cars available on the market [Volvo, Ford, Peugeot, Renault & Nissan] and also different forms of renewable energy [Wind and Solar].

[@morganjones6753]

Would be nice too see a new video on the national grid and see how much it's changed since this video!

[@zapfanzapfan]

Yes, wind was almost non existing and solar wasn't even included. We need an update.

[@AbovetheanklesCoUk1]

Wind is doing fantastically well at the moment.

[@Teddy_Bass]

Coal Capacity would be down

[@paradisebreeze1705]

@@AbovetheanklesCoUk1 32% yesterday

[@johnas2004]

Any change of a re-visit in 2019 please? As per 2:12 coal was 19GW or about half of the UK generation, this summer it has quite often been 0%. Also post the August power cut would be great to see some stats from that day.

[@ASilentS]

It would be interesting for Robert to go back today and see what's changed in 5 years.

[@yarkmates3409]

SilentS this videos was posted in 2012 , your comment was 2018 , mine is 2019 obviously so already far over the five ....but I do wonder upon the differences

[@MattJBaugh]

This link shows the current UK demand, it's interesting to see how much it has changed since this video www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

[@tonyhussey3610]

8 years on...

[@sonyakhalfina7219]

@@yarkmates3409 well I'm here in 2021, so...

[@yarkmates3409]

@@sonyakhalfina7219 so......... What's changed?

[@robincb]

this is actually really freaking interesting, I would love to hear more about our infrastructure

[@sheponbass]

Hi Bobby... just re-watched this after five years and it's striking how much the numbers have changed since! Any chance of you doing a follow-up visit to update us? I'm particularly interested in the context of stuff like the Electric Nation smart charging trial project, which I'm just in the process of joining

[@solentclips]

There's a balance point with distance where for the same size of conductor you can economically transmit more power with dc than ac, you have to bring in the cost of the convertors at each end. The main difference - with dc the volts are always there, with ac it's a rms value so you have to insulate for the peak, but don't get the full benefit

[@jfbeam]

I love how his tie appears to be an afterthought.

[@givememorebliss]

4:05 "Integration with Europe is an issue" - well, he predicted Brexit. Hats off.

[@Mugs64]

@ 2:09 Wow...44% coal & 0.7% wind! Today Coal doesn't even get near double figures and wind is routinely more than double, sometime triple, that of coal today. Solar hit it's record this year with 24.3% in March!!! Would be really interesting to see an update on this video.

[@iancooper418]

gridwatch.co.uk

[@paladinoestetica]

It's about 1% wind and 50% gas rn. wind is just too unreliable.

[@urGermanfriend]

I absolutely loved this interview. It wasn't too enthusiatsic, not too pessimistic. He just said it the way it was. Simple unbiased facts.

[@kiltrash1]

Please can we have an update for 2020 showing how the generation mix has changed. Thanks!

[@bannor99]

Not even 5,000 subscribers? C'mon, people. Let's spread the word about Fully Charged!!!

[@andyphillips7435]

As below, please do again with same guy and same figures for comparison

[@ellieosborne2570]

science lesson gang -->

[@JAxford]

Very insightful. Great interview with quality questions and answers. Thanks

[@tgm9991]

Will you be able to get in and do an updated video of this and also discuss in more detail the impact of half hour readings from smart meters, micro generation and vehicle to grid will have on the national grid.

[@GITsL9I]

It's because we are pretty awesome ;) Working with NG is great though in all honesty, we all love our work and know that we have some amazing challenges ahead of us! I, for one, am very much looking forward to what's coming over the next few years!

[@KuraIthys]

Very good question. I've seen other documentaries on the national grid that show there's also an issue around how long it takes to turn a particular type of power plant on or off... (A coal plant taking about 2 hours, nuclear can take a day or more, and gas can be turned on within about 5 minutes) - but as to cost, gas seems to be the most expensive by far, and unfortunately, I think coal still remains cheapest overall.

[@MaxwellsDaemon]

For those interested, you can view the real time demand & transfers on the national grid website. Unfortunately youtube blocks links from comments.

[@roidroid]

oop, when i said "pre-empts" i ment the opposite: "follows". ie: when you finally get to home/work, you first plug your car in, then you go inside and turn on the kettle/TV/PC. So the plugging in of the car's battery residue is wonderfully synchronised to offset whatever grid demand you will have now that you have arrived at your destination.

[@mingchenzhang3113]

I think I saw Windows XP shutting down at 6:39. I hope they have updated their OS by now.

[@robotec0007]

i think its actually a screensaver :O

[@itsjustlogiqal935]

Probably best they don't update. Windows is getting more and more unstable and prone to hacking and problems due to the greater number of features. They don't need an elegant OS, just something that can get the job done. They need to control the power of the entire country, not get bugged about Windows Automatic Updates every 5 days and being told the system will restart in N hours (which even if you disable automatic updates, they still download and this still happens anyway, because f*** you user) :P

[@jomarcenter]

as long as it not connected to the internet... they don't need to do it.

[@leenevin8451]

not updating your OS is the easiest way to get hacked

[@TheRustAdmin]

why? XP works fine, if they don't need to update, why should they?

[@sophrapsune]

Brilliant episode. It would be great to see an update!

[@misaq9606]

Close to 9 years since this has been released when I am watching.

[@scottrichmond9903]

Robert! We need to have an update! We all want to know how much difference has happened in 8+ years!

[@fullychargedshow]

All I can say is please keep tuned. We discuss tidal turbines in detail in a future episode.

[@KennyTew2]

It’d be great to see a revisit of this video.

[@fullychargedshow]

@@KennyTew2 I was working there recently and a return visit is definitely on the cards, and soon. And it has changed, oh lordy. When I went 11 years ago coal was producing around 30% of all over electricity. Now it's 0,05% over the year, wind has grown from around 9% peak back then to regularly peaking at 65% plus. So big big changes.

[@CorvetteAustin24]

Very informative video! Thanks for the great content, even from 6 years ago! Keep up the great work.

[@markgoogolplex2572]

This was extremely interesting. Great information and insightful questions from Robert!

[@tSp289]

Seeing coal at the top of the board there 6 years ago, and seeing now that it's 0.0%, shows some great progress. Admittedly most of the slack has been taken up by gas, but it's still cleaner than coal.

[@89kab]

Dinorwig Power Station (info on wikipedia) That is exactly what they do actually, this station in Wales pumps water to the top of a reservoir, and then releases it when required. They lose energy by doing this, but it does mean that during power surges you mantain a supply. I was told by a physics teacher that if it wasn't for this station the miners strikes may have suceeded, instead the station provided power during large surges.

[@martinwinlow]

Um... I meant that because the cars are being driven and therefore, by definition, not plugged in they are not able to be used by the grid... at all, whether or not there is a peak demand.

[@Grumpy_old_Boot]

Wikipedia has an article called "Cost of electricity by source", where Coal and Natural Gas seems to be the two cheapest sources in general. There are several sets of numbers that vary somewhat due to them being from studies in different countries and plant variations, etc, etc. Stilll, it's a good read. :)

[@timw1971]

Nigel Williams made some good predictions. As I write at the start of 2020, the SMMT say there's about 275,000 EVs on the road, and if the current trend continues, there will be about 365,000 by the end of 2020. Nigel's predicted 500,000 by the end of 2020 being in the right ball park.

[@fireworks368]

Interesting to see how much we relied on coal in 2012. Looking at it now, coal never seems to make up more than 2% of our energy generation.

[@GITsL9I]

Yep, even in summer That's amazing, so very different to what we see over here! We get a very steep rise in the morning, flat for most of the day, another rise in the evening and then a nice steep drop-off when everyone goes to bed! Wonder what the differences are which contribute to such a massive difference in energy usage over the day

[@XavierDecuyper]

This video deserves way more views! Super interesting!

[@Doubledig]

Interesting. Nigel Williams knows his stuff and gives very clear information. Please can we have a National Grid update interview?

[@bannor99]

One of the advantages of PV is that its peak output is well-matched to peak demand, in most places. PV, in sufficient quantities, does a great job of leveling the midday peak, when utilities would be forced to bring their most expensive and inefficient peaker plants online.

[@Velldog]

Great, informative video thanks. Although, when using a multicamera set up you really should white balance your cameras properly so you can properly match the colours in post.

[@Grumpy_old_Boot]

Over long distances, you also get issues with synchronization of frequency due to time delay with AC power, no such issues with DC.

[@brucekennedy5274]

Just watched this. Brilliant. As so many others have requested, a return visit would be fascinating - just to see the change in RE vs coal etc.

[@owenwheatley9743]

“A storage solution, that’s just what we need” Well over 10 years later Tesla is installing Mega packs for energy storage. A drop in the pond for now but you have to start somewhere. With renewables needing to take on a bigger role storage is key. (I’m my opinion :) )

[@creamcheese3596]

The big Boss has a Welsh accent, so the Centre is somewhere in Wales. As for electricity from wind farms, he implied they have no idea how to predict what input the farms can supply because that depends on the....er.....wind!

[@GITsL9I]

Anyway, having popped a few replies down here, I just wanted to say thanks to Rob for coming over! Looks like you enjoyed yourself, shame I didn't get a chance to meet you in person... maybe next time.

[@martinwinlow]

Hi, Not any more. Price falls in PV (NB - not solar thermal) modules ('solar panels') in the last couple of years mean this is no longer the case. A 2.4kWpk wind turbine (e.g. SkyStream 3.7), would cost around UK£12k to install whereas a comparable PV system would be less than half that. A bigger system, say 10kWpk: PV=£30k/8-12MWh.pa, wind=£60k/20-40MWh.pa. So although the install cost of PV is less than wind the typical UK output is more and over its life the return will be much more.

[@PaulChurchley]

Robert, this is a super video. As an electric car owner it tells me that overnight charging is the way to go to fill in the "bath tub" of demand. It also tells me that electric vehicles are not going to cause a melt down of the grid as so many doom-sayers predict. Thanks for this superb report.

[@captspiff6922]

I hope you also learned that the "doom sayers" usually have an agenda, and it's always sideways from where they are pointing.

[@borandiUK]

Sort of worrying to have a shutdown Windows XP in the background of the big screen, bottom left.

[@Smidge204]

Maybe somewhat relevant: The US Dept. of Energy released a study in 2000 (tinyurl / 7sjjp8s - PDF) says that well-to-wheels gasoline is 83% efficient, so for every gallon (3.78 liters) of gasoline (36.6kWh of energy) you started with (36.6/0.83)=44.1kWh of energy. Therefore a gallon of gasoline takes (44.1-36.6)=7.5kWh to produce and deliver. That's energy, not necessarily electricity, but with that energy you can drive a typical EV at least 20 miles (32km).

[@free_spirit1]

Robert, this was your absolute best video I've seen so far, and I can't believe I've seen it only now.

[@DenWhitton]

The Federal government has all but killed subsidies, and most of the State rebates and feed-in tariff have ended or been decreased. You have to be a dedicated (and rather well off) PV-er to install a set of panels because you have to pay for it all yourself.

[@neilens]

Myles Dyer brought me to this video and I'm extremely grateful! I can't wait for the future look into tidal energy and I'm also looking into jobs at the national grid now. Keep up the great work producers of this series!

[@LaluBhaiya1233]

Doesn't appear that much has happened in regard to tidal power

[@TRYtoHELPyou]

this is a video that should be a prerequisite for all new subscribers to watch... im sad that its taken me this long to know that this video was made. what a great video!

[@GITsL9I]

There is also the whole issue of home style PV being completely unmetered in real time, much like Nigel was saying, it's very difficult to balance the network when we are unaware of how much of the demand is being hidden by people using solar panels. The only way NG sees embedded generation is as a reduction in demand, we recieve no data from the feed in tarriff at all... can be rather troublesome when a storm begins coming across the UK. We actually see the demand rise area by area.

[@davidball1924]

Please please please do this interview again so we can see how things have progressed with the grid

[@Grumpy_old_Boot]

IF you take a look at the list of energy they had, you'll notice they were using 0% oil ... that's usually a really good indication of which powersource is the most expensive. :D

[@robertbird915]

I wonder how this has changed since when it was filmed??

[@chris-vn6sw]

Anyone know the title of the fully charged video showing the power station producing electricity from air. Thx

[@solentclips]

National Grid take many different degrees on their grad course. For the video here, the skills that are at work vary from a detailed understanding of electricity power systems to an ability to understand the economics of the market place - when/why would you, as a generating company choose to generate or not. If Uni isn't for you, then consider the Engineer Training Program - you get paid, you get qualified and NO student debt. search on google for National grid careers

[@roidroid]

I doubt rush hour will be a problem because while a person is in their car - they don't USE energy from the grid either. Wouldn't surprise me if there's actually an energy dip on the grid during the rush hours. Also, the grid energy spike at the end of rush hour perfectly pre-empts the time when electric cars are being plugged back into the grid. So any residue energy in the car is instantly ready to go back to the grid to offset everyone turning on their TV/kettle.

[@whotookgamen]

I was refering to megawatt class turbines, since price per MW falls down with the size of the turbine, whereas PV price is determined by the price of modules. Also, in your last sentence, which return will be much more? You say wind cost 2x as much, but the output per annum is up to 3x more for wind, so in 20 years PV makes max 240 MWh, wind makes 800 MWh.

[@pikapika5301]

Here in 2018 right this second wind meeting 33% of UK demand.

[@xperyskop2475]

Can we have new video on national grid please ?

[@Barqs1968]

In the vid, the guy from the grid indicated that they shut down the most expensive to produce power first. Is there a possibility that the most expensive is wind and solar, due to the feed-in payed out? Does this hurt the green power movement?

[@nielsdaemen]

*I would love to see an update on this, a lot has changed in 11 years!*

[@martinwinlow]

Yes, that's right, tho a bit obvious from '10kWpk: PV=£30k/8-12MWh.pa, wind=£60k/20-40MWh.pa.'? The point is, installing lots of relatively small & cheap/easy to instal PV (better still, integrate it into the roof at build) is 'better' as the output can be used locally and therefore more efficiently than remote (let alone off-shore) turbines. It also helps to bring the whole 'green thing' home to end-users when they can see the ebb and flow of the PV output Vs what their home is consuming.

[@networker66]

Very informative report about the challenges to operate the national Grid in the UK. EV Recharge network Operator Better Place has built a network operation center which manages the recharging of their subscribed EVs centrally. They exchange information about available energy and demand with the grid operators in Israel. They charging their batteries when power is available and cheap and slow down charging when the demand peaks. Wonder if you can manage to get in the NOC of Better Place too.

[@Slider2732]

An idea just struck me to make solar and wind less problematic - Use the wind and solar, to only pump water back up to the hyro-electric storage dams. If the sun isn't out or the wind aint blowing, the water doesn't get pumped - and doesn't need to. It can be pumped day and night to fill the dams over however long. BUT will always be ready, with a known output, to generate via hydro when required. This way, power is known and a known quantity is always available like a big capacitor.

[@MrBat000]

I have a question! In Australia there are a lot of energy companies in the market but only a small few that pump electricity into the grid. How do these companies charge consumers for the electricity when the grid is shared by everyone? For example say Company X pumps only 10% of energy into the grid and company Y pumps say 90% into the grid. What if COMPANY X has 50% of the consumer market but is only pumping 10% of energy into the grid where as company Y maybe pumping 90% of energy into the grid but only has less then 50% of the market share. How can energy companies charge customers when the grid works as one major unit.

[@McRocket]

This was a brilliant episode Robert. Fascinating...really filled in some blanks I had about the UK power grid. You asked great questions and I thought the fellow you interviewed did a marvelous job as well. Thanks again.

[@bannor99]

At real utility scale, even those might be too costly. But the pumped heat technology with gravel "batteries" that is being developed by Isentropic in the UK shows great promise.

[@avinashpradhan5030]

Very informative many thanks for this video👍

[@martinwinlow]

I'd like to hear more about the 'Boot Straps' the interviewee mentioned particularly with respect to the fact that they will be carrying DC power.... or is that normal for sub-sea power cables? Perhaps I misunderstood... MW

[@danielhorne6042]

over 50GW of energy man this country needs alot of power probs cos people burning out 10kw of power for over volting heating elements lol like photon

[@cunijoeme]

+Daniel Hornes yeah but 10 second toast is amazing =]

[@tomsanderson94]

Daniel Horne gotta split that water efficiently

[@malcolmhedges7346]

Time for a revisit Bobby

[@GITsL9I]

Actually, the peak is usually when people arrive home in the evenings, there is very little rise in demand during the middle of the day, it is actually rather flat. If you search for "National Grid real time data" you will find the demand curves on the NG website to show this.

[@bjconway2474]

It would be really cool if you could do a revisit of this video 10 years further on.

[@VoytekR1]

Robert. Would it be possible for you to make a video about how much electricity does it take to produce a litter of gas ? (Petrol where you live) Than lets compare that to how much electricity a car would use to drive equivalent of however many km you would get from one litter of gas. Thank you.

[@GITsL9I]

The fact of the matter is that you won't necessarily have all the vehicles charging at the same time, and this is also something which might be controlled as part of the smart grid, much like economy7 style heating, the cars could be bought online and offline from a charging standpoint remotely as required. If this wasn't the case, the whole idea of filling the bathtub falls apart as you have a load of cars charging for 4 hours which then all stop, returning the demand curve to normal.

[@DanFrederiksen]

btw here in Denmark we have more than 100% of our power from wind on windy days. wonder how that is handled

[@beckham417]

Need an update video on this ASAP so much has changed

[@mdkawsherhamid5068]

wow...thanks a lot...

[@djmattc1978]

Would be nice to have an update from the same location!

[@mrydeuk]

How more iconic do you need!! Robert LLewelyn (hope Ive spelt that right),,, Thank you - inspirational and unbelieveable

[@AudiMouse]

This is brilliant! It's great to see some of the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on to keep things working. I worked at a power station for a few years, and even we didn't get to see much of this bigger picture.

[@gigitrix]

I could sit in that control room just looking at those displays for a whole day...

[@bannor99]

Not sure but widespread use of air conditioners probably is a big factor in midday summer usage. I'm the only one of my entire circle of friends and colleagues who doesn't use one at home.

[@rompowertube]

Thank you for your answer! I am aware that wind energy is cheaper than solar, but I think that we should look for ways to reduce the cost and still go for this energy source. There are so many ways to convert solar energy and none of them are really efficient today, especially considering the amount of energy that is used to make them. I agree about the storage, I think this is going to be a key element in future energy handling, as shown by Donald Sadoway on TED a few weeks ago.

[@TomasC]

Nigel suddenly has a pair of glasses on his head at 3:02 haha great video by the way, very interesting

[@cooliobarrio]

Brilliant episode again. Experts have been getting better and better as the series has gone on.

[@chrisp7839]

Would be really interesting to go back and see what has happened in the last 9 years - how much of the things talked about have been acheived

[@JimFaith]

Excellent segment. Please visit Mr. Williams again for a 2019 update. Thanks.

[@adamgrant100]

Wow, that National Grid guy really knows his stuff. I know he needs to, and should, but still, impressive. Lots of food for thought there for us all.

[@martinwinlow]

Would this important issue not be fully resolved by the installation and utilisation of 'smart' meters?

[@engrsaleem.76]

thanks you sir for providing such valuable information.....Sir please make a video on which softwares are mostly used in national grids....thanks

[@HesteBremse]

Really Good Informative episode - Thanks. And i never heard about the Water Storage thing, --does anybody knows how much power is lost that way ? because it seems pretty smart to store energy in "nature" rather that toxic batteries.

[@Smidge204]

You are correct! I should have said "well-to-pump" not "well-to-wheels." Thanks for the comment.

[@timengstrom14]

Robert your channel is fascinating. Keep it up!

[@lrochfort]

Wouldn't happen to be a stone's throw away from where you filmed Scrapheap challenge? ;) Snuck into the set when I randomly discovered it. Very cool.

[@TerraRoot]

great stuff as ever, hope it never gets dumbed down or drawn out for tele.

[@BHFJohnny]

Very nice video. It surprised me that you've got 50Hz too in UK, I thought is was 60Hz and there was a problem with connecting to the rest of Europe because of it.

[@TassieEV]

Fantastic episode Robert. I would tend to say keep the show as webisodes as going to TV means the entire international viewership will be disadvantaged due to the idiotic rules the big media players have placed. Also keep up the great work you have done, seen every episode right from pilot and even re-watch episodes from time-to-time(something that cannot be done in mainstream(excluding those that have recorded onto PVRs/MediaCentrePCs/etc.)

[@mickymack4773]

So think of a country like india, where the whole electricity GTD is connected to a single grid to power the whole country, hats off to all the engineers in india who made this possible and continuing it.⚡