I also wish we were attracting industries that weren't going to significantly push up electricity consumption on windless days, which will have an outsized effect on electricity prices everyone else pays. At least this says the datacentres will be up north, hopefully not exacerbating transmission issues.
This seems pretty consistent with what I said -- it is essentially a self-regulation body, promoting self-regulation but backed by statutory powers/penalties.
Now what else is untrue?
ETA: rate-limited so I am not able to properly respond to the below. Bye for now.
Quasi-autonomous, to be completely accurate. They consult regularly with the industry and ministers but the Office of Communications Act established Ofcom to be independent of both Government and industry. They're accountable to Parliament.
Perhaps that's the reason this is getting misunderstood. The distinction between the government and parliament is technical within the UK political system. To everyone outside that system, the whole system is "the government".
It's the political version of someone pointing to a computer tower and saying "this CPU can hold all of your music" and then you (a computer technician) interject "actually the hard drive can hold all of your music".
Your claim that Ofcom is in any way a "self-regulation body" is untrue. And frankly also a straight-up insane thing to say, sorry.
Ofcom was created by the UK government for the sole purpose of enforcing laws passed by the UK government [and sometimes interpreting those laws]. It acts on behalf of the State at all times, and is not empowered to do otherwise under any circumstances EVER.
You appear to be confused about what being a "quango" actually means in this case. "Quasi-NGO" means that while it appears to be a non-governmental organisation, it is not one. Ofcom's at arm's length because the majority of its daily legal obligations are closer to judicial than administrative, and it is UK custom (rightly) to not put judicial functions inside government departments.
While you're correct about Ofcom, the real distinction isn't really to the objective, but to the classification of its employees.
Ofcom, Gambling Commission, and the rest of the quangos are independent statutory bodies, and (this is a big distinction!) their employees are not civil servants.
Quangos include judicial tribunals and places like the BBC, or the Committee on Climate Change- it is a broad umbrella.
I don't see it as dumb at all. I have solar PV, but adding a 5.8kWh battery would cost over USD 2k / local currency equivalent. As a result, I frequently have to export solar to the grid (during low demand, mid day periods) and then buy it from the grid when it's already in high national demand (and priced accordingly). I also have a 13 year old car that our family is fast outgrowing. It's used once or twice a week mostly for shopping, and also for some occasional long drives to see family etc. The latter are the only times I'd be at risk of starting with low charge (easily avoided). My next car will almost certainly be an EV, or PHEV. I'm supremely eager to be able to leave it in the garage/on the driveway as a home battery that's an order of magnitude bigger than a standalone battery I would buy and then have to devote attic or closet space to (and have to accept a fire risk for). I'm effectively deferring several buying decisions (car upgrade, battery purchase) until I get a good V2G option that is an all-in-one solution.
