Aftermath of Storm Arwen

Well that was some storm. In fact, the worst I can remember for this part of the world. Perhaps not the highest ever wind speeds, but what made it particularly damaging was the northerly direction. This is quite unusual for here, as winter storms tend to come from the west or the east.

The storm lasted for 2 days and during that time, it brought down thousands of mature trees and caused damage to the rooves of every house around here. Remarkably, the glasshouse came through it unscathed! Full marks to New Century Glasshouses for the build, and full marks to me for insisting on toughened glass throughout and lots of extra bracing.

The power networks were not so lucky. Hundreds of poles and overhead wires were brought down, and with it the grid for the entire county and further afield, and so we experienced the longest power cut since the 1970s.

The two immediate concerns I have after making sure we humans have what we need, are keeping the glasshouse frost-free; and keeping my aquarium of tropical fish alive. The glasshouse is currently powered by an air-source heat pump, backed up by two fan-heaters, all of which require electricity. The aquarium has an electric heater and electric lights. I have a little Honda suitcase 1kW generator which runs on petrol, so I hooked up the aquarium, fridge, freezer and lights to that. The glasshouse needs a lot more power than that though. Luckily, the temperature outside didn’t dip too low.

Now that we are through the storm and a few days later all power has been restored, rooves have been made weathertight, and roads cleared of fallen trees, it’s time to try and put things in place to mitigate any future power cuts. The powers that be (no pun intended) tell us that we should expect more of them as the climate changes.

First step- try and become less 100% reliant on the electricity supply. I’ve made enquiries about a storage battery, 13.5kW, which should keep us going in the event of a power cut for a few hours at least. I’ve also invested in a propane industrial space-heater and a tilly lamp.

Second step- try and reduce the cost of electricity consumption, as the supposedly 100% renewable energy company we buy it from have just put their prices up by 50%, and are rumoured to be doing the same again in the new year. We don’t have enough land for a wind generator, and we already have roof space full with solar panels (12 of them), but the return from solar panels in the north of Scotland is not great. The power need is in the winter, when there is no sun. If / when we get our storage battery, I’ll look to changing tariff to one which can use cheaper off-peak electricity.