Keeping the

Lights on

By Nicola Pellow

“And God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light, but the Electricity
Board said He would have to wait until Thursday to be connected.”
Spike Milligan [1]

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Contents
CONTENTS....................................................................................................... .....................2

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................ ..........................3

NATIONALISATION........................................................................................................ .....3

NUCLEAR.................................................................................................... ..........................4

RENEWABLE.................................................................................................................. .......5

WIND............................................................................................................................................5
SOLAR...........................................................................................................................................6
HYDRO..........................................................................................................................................6
BIOMASS.......................................................................................................................................7
TIDAL...........................................................................................................................................7

COMBINED HEAT AND POWER (CHP)........................................................... ................8

PRIVATISATION............................................................................................. ......................8

CONCLUSION................................................................................................... ....................9

REFERENCES............................................................................................. ..........................9

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Introduction
Nowadays we take electricity for granted, until there’s a blackout. It’s hard to
imagine life without electricity; no lights, no television, no computers, no
phones. Electricity has always been around but in the last few centuries
mankind has developed increasingly efficient ways of harnessing that energy.
In this essay, the UK electricity industry in the 50 years after Nationalisation,
in 1948, will be studied.

Nationalisation
Throughout World War II, electricity continued to be provided by local
companies. The Second World War showed, however, that state intervention
was an effective way of managing the economy. During the war 49 percent of
the working population was engaged in some type of employment for the
government, with large sections of the economy under government control.
When a Labour government was elected in 1945, it was a real chance for
Labour to shift power in favour of working people and take control of the
commanding heights of the economy.
Following the war Britain's economy was in a poor state. A quarter of its
national wealth had been destroyed, along with two thirds of its export trade.
Something like 4 million homes had been destroyed by German bombing. The
policy of the new administration centred on the need for greater public
ownership.
Many key industries were taken into State ownership, including the electricity
industry, which was nationalised on 1st April 1948. The key body established
by the nationalisation Act was the Central Electricity Generating Board
(CEGB), which became the cornerstone of the industry in Britain for nearly 50
years. The CEGB was now responsible for electricity generation in England
and Wales. In Scotland, electricity generation was carried out by the South of
Scotland Electricity Board and the North of Scotland Hydro-electric Board.
For workers, however, there seemed to be little change. A series of studies by
the Acton Society undertaken between 1950 and 1952 showed there was a
widespread feeling that public ownership had merely provided 'jobs for the
boys' and the 'same old gang' in power again. Even the editor of the
Economist remarked to an American audience in 1949:
'The ordinary resident in England, unless he happens to have been a
shareholder in any of the expropriated companies, is unable to detect
any difference whatever as a result of nationalisation.'

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So nationalisation signified no new beginning for Labour. It didn't mark a
shift in the distribution of wealth in favour of the working class. Control
remained essentially in the hands of many of the same capitalists who were
then able to use the compensation they received from the government to
invest in more profitable industries. Workers were accorded no greater say in
decision making, and gained no economic benefit [2].
Because the new nationalised industry began post-war, when the demand was
growing rapidly but availability of plants and fuel was unreliable, it largely saw
its mission as providing an adequate and secure supply. They didn’t
necessarily pursue the cheapest power generation route. Over time this
changed.
The control engineers, who worked in the control rooms, would cost, schedule
and despatch electricity generation commitments to the main system with an
adequate level of security. They also had the information about the running
costs and availability of each power-producing plant in England and Wales.
At these control centres they would constantly anticipate the demand, monitor
the power stations and then instruct them either to produce or reduce their
production. They used the ‘merit order’, which established a system for
ranking each generator based on how much each cost to produce electricity.
The objective being to ensure that production was always achieved at the
lowest possible price [3].

Nuclear
In 1956, the first commercial Nuclear Power station was opened at Calder Hall
[4]. Nuclear reactors produce electricity by heating water to make steam. The
steam is then used to drive turbines that generate electricity. In this sense
nuclear reactors are similar to other thermal power stations, where the heat
from burning coal or gas is used to produce stream. A key difference of
nuclear reactors is that they don't emit carbon dioxide [5]. Nuclear power
stations, however, produce the heat by the fission of Uranium [6].

There are 3 main types of Nuclear reactors that have been researched:
o PWR – Pressurised Water Reactor
o AGR – Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor
o Magnox

Nuclear power has suffered greatly in the media because of accidents like
Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. People often connect the idea of nuclear
power with nuclear weapons, and so, are often uncomfortable with the idea of
relying on it as a source of power.
However, because of the EU target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20%
by 2020, nuclear has come back into the spot-light as a potential solution to
help meet those targets.

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Renewable
Renewable Power began being more widely researched due to the Kyoto
agreement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Many countries carbon
dioxide emissions increased by as much as 50% between 1990 and 2004 [7].
After signing the Kyoto Protocol, the UK has set its’ own targets. Specifically,
renewable energy is meant to provide 20% of the UK’s power by the year
2020.
There are a wide range of renewable sources of energy including: wind, solar,
hydro, biomass and tidal.

Wind
Wind energy is one of the fastest growing energy technologies, with an average
global growth over the last several years of more than 30% annually.

Key
Blue >7.5 m/s
Pink 6.5 – 7.5 m/s
Yellow 5.5 – 6.5 m/s

Figure 1 - General overview of annual mean wind speeds over UK.

In the United Kingdom, Figure 1 shows how, in general, large areas of the
country may be classified with respect to average wind speeds. Scotland has
the highest values and central and southern England have the least [8].
The first wind-farm came on-line in 1991 at Delabole [9]. Wind farms are well
known about, mainly because they can be seen across the countryside. A wind
farm consists of a number of wind turbines which convert the kinetic energy of
the wind into mechanical energy, which is then converted to electricity. Wind
farms can be either on-shore or off-shore, both having their respective
advantages and disadvantages. The wind turbines themselves also come in a
variety of designs.

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Solar
Sunlight is the world’s largest energy source (170,000TWth) and the amount
that can be readily accessed with existing technology greatly exceeds the
World’s primary energy consumption. Sunlight is free, clean, endless and
technically exploitable in most of the inhabited earth.
The solar power technologies being actively developed today are:

• Photovoltaic (PV), also referred to as Solar Voltaic -

This is the direct conversion of solar radiation to electricity using photoelectric
materials.
• Solar Thermal Electric, also referred to as Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) -
This is electricity production from heat generated by solar radiation, e.g. via
heat exchangers and steam turbines.
In 1958 Russian Sputnik 3 was the first satellite to use solar arrays. This was a
crucial development which diverted funding from several governments into
research for improved solar cells [10].

Hydro
The UK’s first major pumped storage power facility was Ffestiniog Power
Station, commissioned in 1963. Ffestiniog's four generating units are capable
of achieving a combined output of 360MW of electricity - enough to supply
the entire power needs of North Wales for several hours.
The Generation Cycle begins at Llyn Stwlan - Ffestiniog's upper reservoir.
Large screens inside the intake towers are opened to activate the high-
pressure downflow.
27 cubic metres of water per second are discharged through two high-pressure
shafts (each 200 metres in depth), which are connected to four concrete-lined
tunnels. Steel penstocks then direct the discharge into the station via inlet
pipes and valves to start generation.
Water is captured in Tan-y-Grisiau and pumped back to Llyn Stwlan, usually
overnight, to complete the cycle [11].

Hydro-electric engineering is concerned with the efficient and economic

conversion of energy ‘freely available’ from a supply of water deposited at a
suitable head by the action of the cycle of evaporation and rainfall produced
by the effect of solar radiation. An essential requirement is, therefore, that the
water should be at a suitable height above a lower reference point to where the
water could flow and be discharged. The difference in levels between the
water and discharge point represents the potential energy that would become
available for use should water be allowed to flow between the two levels.
Hydroelectric plants convert the potential energy of water into an electrical
output. The process involves flow of water from the source, through the
turbine to the turbine outflow (tailrace), which acts as a sink. In the process of
conversion, use is made of water turbines, of associated civil structures and of
rotating electrical machinery [8].

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Biomass
Biomass is the collective term used to describe plant matter and also
derivatives such as residues from forests and crops, animal wastes and the
organic content of municipal and domestic waste. It can be used as a solid
fuel, or converted into liquid or gaseous forms, for the production of electric
power, heat, chemicals, or fuels. Biofuels provide a form of bioenergy from
biomass feedstock. Currently the types of biomass used to produce biofuels
are crops such as sugar cane, sugar beet, wheat, barley, maize (corn) and
oilseed rape. At present most consumption of biofuels in the transport sector
is accounted for by three fuels: ethanol, biodiesel and biogas.
Some biomass can be burned directly to produce heat and power such as
municipal solid waste, but techniques are available to make better use of
biomass by upgrading the energy value of the fuel. For example, wood waste
can also be upgraded physically by compacting it into pellet form which can
then be used as a solid fuel in industrial boilers. The alternative to direct
combustion of biomass is to convert it into another fuel. The two major
reasons for doing this are:
(i) To improve the ‘quality’ of the fuel
(ii) To produce fuels with consistent characteristics from a range of feedstock
of the various qualities [8].
Biomass received most interest after the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 which
encouraged the government to increase research [12]. It is still receiving a
great deal of interest as it can be burned in the place of coal and reduces CO2
emissions.

Tidal
Tidal energy schemes either depend on the use of a storage basin or,
alternatively use the kinetic energy of free flowing tidal streams. Electricity is
the sole product of interest today, although in past centuries the turning of
water wheels in coastal water mills for the grinding of flour provided the main
appeal. Tidal flows are caused by the combined gravitational influences of the
moon and the sun. The simplest method of extracting energy from the tide is
to build a dam (barrage) across an estuary or coastal inlet, the dam containing
turbines to generate electricity.
The largest scheme in operation is the 240 MW barrage at St Malo in the
Rance Estuary in France producing some 500 GWh per annum. Work on the
Rance site commenced in June 1960, the final closure against the sea in July
1963, and the last of the twenty-four 10 MW turbines being commissioned in
November 1967 [8].

A large benefit with tidal, in comparison to wind and solar is that the tides can
be accurately predicted giving clearer information about when power will be
supplied.

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Combined Heat and Power (CHP)
The conversion of primary fossil fuels, such as coal and gas, to electricity is a
relatively inefficient process. Even the most modern Combined Cycle plants
can only achieve efficiencies of between 50-60%. Most of the energy that is
wasted in this conversion process is released to the environment as waste
heat.
The principle of Combined Heat and Power (CHP), also known as co-
generation, is to recover and make beneficial use of this heat, significantly
raising the overall efficiency of the conversion process. The very best CHP
schemes can achieve fuel conversion efficiencies of the order of 90%. Most of
the heat wasted in electricity generation is carbon based and so if CHP could
be more widely deployed there are potentially significant energy,
environmental and economic benefits which could be realised [8].
One of the first CHP was opened in 1988 on an estate of 52 properties of
mostly elderly people [13].
There is a relatively new CHP site in Barkantine which primarily produces and
distributes hot water to local residents. The gas engine is run constantly but
excess hot water is stored in 2 large tanks. Once those tanks are full, the
engine is turned off and the water from the tanks is used instead. The
electricity that is generated is a by-product which is connected back to the
network to be distributed.

Privatisation
Up until the 1970s, it was widely felt that the State-owned electrical industry
represented the best of government planning. It was managed in a way
broadly comparable to large private-sector energy companies, such as the
partially State-owned BP (British Petroleum). But the electrical industry was
too slow to respond to the changing patterns of energy supply that occurred
following the second oil crisis (1978-80), and it came to be seen as
exemplifying the worst aspects of central planning. It was ripe for reform.
In 1990 privatisation began. The assets of the CEGB were divided between
three new companies: Powergen, National Power and National Grid.
The privatisation programme adopted by the Tories after 1979 was not some
coherent thought-out strategy, rather they stumbled across it by accident
during the course of their term of office. It became a useful means to raise
large sums of money for the Treasury (£40 billion had been raised by the late
1980s). It also had a certain popular appeal. The years of neglect and under-
investment that plagued the old nationalised industries and their
bureaucratic, impersonal structures meant that few mourned their passing
[2].

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Conclusion
The electricity industry has been through a great number of changes in the
past 50 years and will almost certainly go through numerous more changes in
the years to come. Many experts still disagree about whether nationalisation
or privatisation is the best arrangement for the industry. Even more debates
are being had debating the place that nuclear power should have in the future.
A great deal of research is going into renewable power, as many see it as
representing the future.
The most pressing issue at the moment is climate change and a lot of decisions
are being made based on how they affect the environment. In later years,
other issues will arise and need to be dealt with. The choices made in the past
have had a huge affect on our present, and the choices we are making now will
affect future generations.

References
[1] http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/electricity.html -
23/07/07

[2] http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/sr183/morgan.htm - 23/07/07

[3] http://www.engineering-
timelines.com/how/electricity/electricity_07.asp - 23/07/07

[4] http://www.cumbria-industries.org.uk/electricity.htm - 23/07/07

[5] http://www.world-nuclear.org/how/fuelcycle.html - 26/07/07

[6] http://reactor.engr.wisc.edu/power.html - 12/08/07

[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol#Increase_in_greenhouse_gas_
emission_since_1990 – 12/08/07

[8] http://www.theiet.org/factfiles/energy/index.cfm - 03/08/07

[9] http://www.good-
energy.co.uk/PDF/GE_Repowering_Press_Release_final.pdf - 23/07/07

[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell#History – 26/07/07

[11] http://www.fhc.co.uk/ffestiniog.htm - 12/08/07

[12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuel#History – 26/07/07

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[13] http://www.energy.rochester.edu/uk/chpa/commheat/chchp.htm -
02/08/07

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