This is just dumb, the (partial) eclipse starts at 18:17 London time…what amount of solar power are you even producing that late in the day? If that were a real problem, I can’t imagine what large clouds can do to you at noon. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2026-august-12?n=uk%2Flondon
Human perception of brightness is logarithmic, so it doesn’t seem that much dimmer at 6pm than midday, but in terms of how much energy is actually arriving as light, there’s a big difference.
I don’t think ludicrous is the right word to describe voluntary load shedding. If it were mandatory, sure. Asking consumers to lower their usage (if they can) for one hour on one specific day is fairly reasonable.
This is just dumb, the (partial) eclipse starts at 18:17 London time…what amount of solar power are you even producing that late in the day? If that were a real problem, I can’t imagine what large clouds can do to you at noon. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2026-august-12?n=uk%2Flondon
It’s still bright and sunny here in the UK at 6pm, sunset where I live isn’t until 40 minutes after the end of the eclipse.
An eclipse of this magnitude reduces solar generation far more than clouds do.
Human perception of brightness is logarithmic, so it doesn’t seem that much dimmer at 6pm than midday, but in terms of how much energy is actually arriving as light, there’s a big difference.
The total eclipse in Canada two years ago was so cool. It got dark and cold quickly.
Look at the energy mix at 6pm: https://app.electricitymaps.com/map/zone/GB/live/fifteen_minutes 100% loss of solar at 6pm is comparable to loss of 20% due to clouds at peak production.
1800 is usually during peak demand though.
But residual solar production. https://app.electricitymaps.com/map/zone/GB/live/fifteen_minutes it is ludicrous to ask people to save at peak demand when it is up to the grid managers to tweak the energy mixes ahead of time.
I don’t think ludicrous is the right word to describe voluntary load shedding. If it were mandatory, sure. Asking consumers to lower their usage (if they can) for one hour on one specific day is fairly reasonable.