Storm Arwen Blacks Out Scotland

The United Kingdom’s Meteorological Office has officially named the first severe storm of the winter of 2021/22:

As you can see from the forecast above, very strong winds are forecast to hit the north east coast of Scotland later today, which will inevitably lead to a large number of power cuts.

The UK Met Office has now also issued a red weather warning for Storm Arwen:

https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/1464187971230482443

[Edit – November 26th 22:00]

High winds speeds in Scotland have been expected, but the coast of South Devon has also been subject to gusts over 60 mph:

Here’s the latest power cut map for the north of Scotland from Scottish and Southern Electricity, showing a total of 201 “unplanned outages”:

and here is Scottish Power’s map for further south:

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Boris Johnson Announces Electric Vehicle Revolution

Boris Johnson’s speech to the Confederation of British Industries has been in the news for other reasons, but here we’ll concentrate on his announcement about electric vehicle charging stations. According to 10 Downing Street on Monday morning:

PM to announce electric vehicle revolution

Hundreds of thousands of extra charge points in the pipeline with new laws to supercharge the electric vehicle revolution.

New homes and buildings such as supermarkets and workplaces, as well as those undergoing major renovation, will be required to install electric vehicle charge points from next year, under new legislation announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson today.

England will lead the world to mandate such building regulations, kicking off a decade of delivery in hundreds of thousands of charge points while creating further green jobs across the country.

Up to 145,000 extra charge points will be installed across England each year thanks to these regulations, in the run up to 2030 when the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will end in the UK. This builds on the over 250,000 home and workplace charge points the government has already supported to date.

With the majority of charging happening at home, this will mean people can buy new properties already ready for an electric vehicle future, while ensuring charge points are readily available at new shops and workplaces across the UK – making it as easy as refuelling a petrol or diesel car today.

As well as new homes and non-residential buildings, those undergoing largescale renovations which leaves them with over 10 parking spaces will be required to install electric vehicle charge points.

After consulting with industry, the Government will also be going further to make it easier and simpler for people to go electric, by introducing simpler ways to pay whilst travelling, such as contactless, at all new fast and rapid charge points.

We’ll come on to that consultation shortly, but here’s what Boris was intending to say to the CBI:

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