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Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by sschueller on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @09:26AM (#32736789)
From what I recall the last time I was there is that they tune it down quite a bit in winter anyway because of electricity that is needed else where in France.

Also from my understanding most of the electricity that is generated for CERN is by nuclear power plants and since so many of those are currently under maintenance they may need the power they do have to supply export agreements etc.

Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by seren on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @09:31AM (#32736847)
EDF was a net electricity exporter, until 2022, but this year France is already importing quite a lot of electricity currently, due to most nuclear reactors being still in maintenance. They are supposed to be restarted before winter but I would not bet on it

https://www.rte-france.com/en/eco2mix/cross-border-electrici...

Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by stuaxo on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @10:17AM (#32737419)
Amazing the UK exporting energy to France when it is in the state it is.

Similarly; during the potato famine Britain exported much of Irelands food crops.

Now, the UK is doing this to it's own population, much of it's Oil and Gas from the North see is being exported.

Ordinary people are getting hit with what will be some of the biggest prices rises in Europe, but the people who have been in charge for 12 years don't care.

The new prime minister says she will fix this, but she was a minister for 8 years in this government, and her solution is to keep all the energy company profits, and give people a stopgap that will be added onto their bills for the next 10 years.

Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by rjmunro on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @11:52AM (#32738828)
Right now, the UK is exporting energy to France because we are receiving Liquified Natural Gas at our Gas terminals and have nowhere to store it and can't send it over pipelines to Europe fast enough, so our only option is to burn it for electricity and sell that.

Once other EU LNG terminals come online, and as the UK needs more energy itself over winter, it stop exporting. Hopefully some more UK gas storage will come on line in the next few weeks as well, but probably not enough to make a significant difference to this winter's outlook: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-31/centrica-...

Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by GekkePrutser on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @10:53AM (#32737880)
Usually that is due to existing contract agreements and futures. Which was agreed on by all parties involved.

In the Netherlands we're also getting questions about why we're exporting so much gas we need ourselves. Well that's why. We've already sold it, it just hasn't been delivered yet.

Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by LatteLazy on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @10:58AM (#32737970)
As you can see in [1] we import about 7 times more gas than we export. So closing exports (and thus also imports) would be pretty catastrophic for us.

I don't disagree that those in charge don't care, but that doesn't mean this problem is caused by exports...

1 https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpay....

Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by jl6 on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @10:49AM (#32737808)
> keep all the energy company profits

With the new energy profits levy introduced in July, the headline tax rate for oil & gas profits is now 65%, which is some way off letting the energy companies keep their profits.

What the UK is doing is letting its energy companies make bank while prices are high, and taking a (temporarily enhanced) cut of that to fund a cost of living subsidy for consumers.

Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by pbhjpbhj on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @12:24PM (#32739366)
Example, report in the papers 2 days ago local restaurant struggling to justify staying open as their energy bill (gas+electric) went up 7x (£60k last year, predicted £420k this year).

So, that 65% tax on profits really isn't doing much, it's passed on to customers. Tax rises only make sense here with capped prices.

Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by pjc50 on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @12:10PM (#32739128)
This article is reporting EBITDA numbers: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/energy-prices-rising-...

What I would like to know is how that handles amortization? Especially for renewables where the capex is huge and the opex small. Is that a before or after amortization number?

The prices quoted are absolutely crippling, though. I wonder if people would actually prefer a 1970s style rolling blackouts to having two thirds of small businesses go bankrupt.

Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by matt_attack on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @10:35AM (#32737646)
Sounds like what's happening in the US with our natural gas.
Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by hollerith on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @11:13AM (#32738194)
Except natgas prices in the UK are 10 times the US price.
Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by adolph on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @12:03PM (#32739011)
> UK exporting energy to France

> solution is to keep all the energy company profits

Interesting way of taxing people outside of one's jurisdiction to subsidize local people.

Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by pjc50 on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @12:12PM (#32739154)
Where are EDF's (Electricite de France) profits for their UK generating units accounted for? Not a rhetorical question, I genuinely have no idea and I know it's quite easy to shift profits across borders.
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Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by hef19898 on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @10:15AM (#32737379)
As far as connected electricity grids go, you import from those memebers that have a surplus and export when you have one. The country of origin has nothing to do with any of it.
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Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by hef19898 on Wednesday September 07, 2022 @07:45AM (#32749336)
Nice analogy, unfortunately that is not how electricity generation, consumption and grid management works.
Re:CERN drafts plans to idle accelerators due to Europe’s en... by LatteLazy on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @11:16AM (#32738251)
Yes, they close Dec-Mar usually

https://home.cern/news/news/engineering/end-yets-awakening-h...

For power consumption but also for maintenance etc.