On Sun, 25 Aug 2019 14:50:32 +0100, Scott wrote:

I was watching an item on TV about use of batteries to balance the
national grid. I have also heard it said that the supply is likely to
become less reliable with increased dependence on renewables.

I have always assumed that an uninterruptible power supply must be
energy inefficient for the same reasons as stand-by uses electricity.
Is this a correct assumption or does a UPS not consume any electricity
at all unless it is brought into use?

As an aside, could a power cut ever damage a modern computer (say if
you happened to be installing an update or defragmenting a disc when
it happened)?

I've had files corrupted which were being written to when a powercut occurred. Therefore I got a UPS and have never experienced the same again. I then realised since the UPS has much more output than the computer needed, I could run my lighting circuit off it aswell. My LED bulbs now last 5 years instead of 6 months. It not only removes spikes, surges, and brownouts, but it will adjust the voltage when it's wrong.