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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Mar 17, 2022 18:15:03 GMT
Sure, I’m not arguing against trying out some hydrogen tech.... Lots of 'pilot' type stuff has been going on and we're nearing the point of some 'picking winners' decisions based on what we've already learned (I hope!). Just FWIW then see p9 of attached: "To reach our ambition of 5GW hydrogen production by 2030, around 50% of which is estimated to be used in industry" (with more details of what that means in the report) assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1059346/NZIP_Industrial_Hydrogen_Accelerator_early_engagement.pdf(with info on broader stuff that is going on WRT to our "Net Zero Innovation Portfolio" at www.gov.uk/government/collections/net-zero-innovation-portfolio)I think we agree that there a lots of potential uses for hydrogen - some solutions might be better served by other means (although hydrogen might have a bridge role), but we don't yet have all the info to know and we don't need to make all those decisions today. On the topic of storage then hydrogen storage is pretty simple and IMO will have a key role in Ultra Large Scale, Ultra Long Duration Energy storage (ie TWhs for inter-seasonal balancing of 'green energy' supply and demand). At the opposite end in 'duration' is UK pumped hydro[1] and batteries and both have scalability issues, especially in the short/medium term. I do note a lot of developing tech on the battery side (eg see list of 10 techs at bottom of below link), much of which is likely due to the 'known' issues of current battery based solutions (eg limited raw materials for ultra large scale and need for very regular use[2] to pay back the capital investment) www.rechargenews.com/energy-transition/between-25-35gw-of-long-duration-energy-storage-will-be-installed-globally-by-2025-report/2-1-1103860[1] I'd 100% agree with leftieliberal that is great, but I can't see it being given much more approval in UK. Some potential to use Norway's 'bathtubs' covered before back on UKPR. [2] Hence folks generally consider it to be better suited to intra-day balancing (or in the case of BEVs then perhaps intra-week). Point being if you can charge and deplete a battery 100-365 times per year then the capital costs are divided by 100-365 charging cycles. For a 100TWh battery (inter season balancing) that you charge from May-Sep and draw upon from Nov-Mar then the battery options are very unlikely to be able to compete. It's horses for courses. Batteries are your 'sprinters' and hydrogen (and maybe Norway's bathtubs) are your ultra long distance runners. We'll need both! Thanks for the links, Trev. Yes, it does seem they are considering quite a few bases. From Space-based solar panels to AMRs, even! assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1055241/amr-demo-programme-indicative-outline.pdfObviously, it’s one thing to have competitions and pilots, and another to actually do something at scale, but at least the timescale seems pretty snappy? Johnson Mathey have done an analysis which includes your points about longer-term seasonal storage (and they are pushing their new tech for blue hydrogen which supposedly makes carbon capture easier. But of course the viability rather depends on things like how gas prices go!!) www.technology.matthey.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/357-370-jmtr-jul20.pdf |
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Mar 17, 2022 18:32:13 GMT
[2] Hence folks generally consider it to be better suited to intra-day balancing (or in the case of BEVs then perhaps intra-week). Point being if you can charge and deplete a battery 100-365 times per year then the capital costs are divided by 100-365 charging cycles. For a 100TWh battery (inter season balancing) that you charge from May-Sep and draw upon from Nov-Mar then the battery options are very unlikely to be able to compete. It's horses for courses. Batteries are your 'sprinters' and hydrogen (and maybe Norway's bathtubs) are your ultra long distance runners. We'll need both! Strathclyde Uni's research showed about 500 GWh available from new pumped storage in the Scottish hydro-electric schemes; Mackay had calculated that we would need 1200 GWh to cover a 4-day wind lull (this was back in 2008) which would occur about once a year, so you can think of pumped storage as giving up to 2 days' cover. The problem with the Norwegian 'bathtubs' is not the capacity but the connectivity. The one interconnector at present is 1.4 GW power capacity, so we would need to think of perhaps 10-20 interconnectors of this size to make a real impact. It is better to have multiple interconnectors rather than something really big (10 GW) because of the consequences of failure (e.g. the fire at the French 2 GW interconnector). There is also the argument for distributed generation near to where the electricity is consumed to reduce the power flow across the grid and hydrogen could be useful in this role (replacing gas-fired plant) as it could also be used for combined heat and power (CHP). Yes, can see your point about interconnectors. In terms of a dream scenario we’ve mentioned in the past, which is that we get to the point where we are mostly in surplus, then things might flip, and we might want more interconnectors to transfer some of the excess abroad. (After we’ve used some for making hydrogen, making synthetic carbon-neutral fuels for planes, powering all those vertical farms and 3D printers and powering a huge supercomputer AI that takes us through the Singularity etc.) |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2022 18:48:56 GMT
Nice report with prices obviously a bit out of date of course. Johnson Matthey might have a bit of a bias  However this bit on p360 is the key point for seasonal balancing:
"Crucially, hydrogen is able to provide underground storage of a zero‐carbon fuel at the multi‐Terawatt hour (TWh) scale required for inter‐seasonal energy storage. This underground hydrogen storage can be in depleted gas fields or salt caverns, depending on local geological conditions"
Fig4 (seasonal demand 2015-2019) is of course historic fact and those numbers will hopefully drop in the future from some demand side stuff (Insulate Britain and folks turning the thermostats down a bit). Fig5 is where the bias comes in. The demand side is certainly plausible (see NG's 'Future Scenarios' p12-15 reposted below and note their numbers are 'mid-range') but 2050 is a long way off. Their numbers would be a huge drop in volume of nat.gas input compared to current nat.gas demand (again see NG's numbers (p16 shows 2020 energy flows) or see Energy trends stats from gov.uk). The % split of Electrolysis v JM's preference will depend on price and certainly at moment then JM's preference is not looking good (so the 'consensus' has shifted a bit) Very important point though. Even the advocates of 'blue hydrogen' show that we'll have massively less demand for nat.gas in the future (a point the 'fake gotcha' gang from UKPR never understood as they were too lazy to look at the numbers or provide their 'alternative' numbers). www.nationalgrideso.com/future-energy/future-energy-scenarios/fes-2021/scenarios-net-zero |
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Mar 17, 2022 20:28:34 GMT
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Post by leftieliberal on Mar 18, 2022 9:50:25 GMT
Talking about doing things at scale, here is district heating in the North East using the heat store in water in old mine workings. www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60772187Those of us who are Londoners will remember that estates in Pimlico were once heated by the waste heat from Battersea Power Station. It should remind us that anywhere close to a large river (Thames, Severn, Clyde, Trent etc.) has a ready-made heat store. Cooling rivers has another beneficial side-effect; colder water can dissolve more oxygen (all gases actually) which makes the river healthier. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2022 10:21:48 GMT
Thank you for posting that info. As they point out: "in places where housing is much more dense, green network heating schemes could be more suitable" with realistic goal of moving from 2% to 18%. Could also be some relevance to new high density housing (where the retrofit cost is avoided and space saving of not using individual heat pumps is a clear advantage). Even retro-fit then I expect the 'numbers' would make it the better solution in many places (again the space issue being important).
"Green district heating is an absolutely essential feature of our future heating mix," 
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2022 7:45:54 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2022 19:36:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2022 9:36:47 GMT
From NG a 'plausible scenario' for: A Day in the Life 2035, How a fully decarbonised electricity system might operate
note: "The Day in the Life is set within a mid-January week in 2035.. when days are short, and temperatures are low. This particular week sees a prolonged spell of low sun and low wind conditions"'Day in the Life' Interactive version: www.nationalgrideso.com/document/246851/downloadEasy to read version: www.nationalgrideso.com/document/247071/downloadCertainly plausible and it is NG's job to ensure the grid is balanced, however, the job of ensuring the component pieces are ready does depend heavily on HMG decisions (see all the references to ' key actions for now to 2025'). EG they show Nuclear at 9GW and depending on upcoming decisions that could be higher or lower (and hence put less/more requirements on other sources). They also show about 15GW (peak of 18GW) coming in via interconnectors (it is a cold, low wind day in middle of Winter) which is significantly above current capacity and would make UK reliant on the seasonal flexibility and pricing of others (eg Norwegian hydro ('bath tubs'), French nuclear and possibly Moroccan solar (see Xlinks project posted previously). Inter season storage (large scale and long duration) is obviously mentioned as well and that will 'interact' with other decisions (eg how much 'heating' demand is coming from electricity or perhaps from hydrogen; how many folks have switched to BEVs (increased electricity demand) versus still running an old ICE or have gone for FCEV options; etc. It is a complex interaction of different decisions and component parts. Some decisions have some flexibility; there are time constrained capacity build out limitations; an some stuff we will only 'know' by doing pilot studies and seeing how 'theory' works out in 'practice' (ie not every decision has to be made today and the 'plan' can be tweaked along the way) |
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Mar 24, 2022 15:05:59 GMT
“A group of scientists and engineers has shown how we could generate electricity using tidal energy that does not require the building of a costly lagoon, like the cancelled scheme for Swansea Bay.”
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“A considerable amount of electricity could be generated on derelict, brownfield sites that lie adjacent to the major industrial rivers in the UK. They are former shipyards, chemical works, salt pans, wharves and ironworks that have been abandoned.”
“In essence the plan involves taking over a derelict riverside site, near the sea (to use the full tidal range) but far enough inland to avoid sea storms. A simple concrete and steel construction, like a dry dock, is all that’s required. Turbines work between the river and the excavated basin, which is subdivided into chambers with turbines in the dividing walls. When the tide comes in, through the turbines, it makes electricity and when it goes out, it also passes through turbines to make electricity. Some water is held back in the chambers to keep generating while the tide is turning.”
Telegraph. Also…
"We are working with the Americans to get more LNG into Europe," Karen Pierce, the United Kingdom's ambassador to the United States, told MSNBC.
"We've come to an arrangement with the Port of Baltimore. ... The LNG terminal in Baltimore will ship more LNG to the UK, and we'll ship it onto Europe," she added, calling it "a transition" measure.“
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2022 15:30:16 GMT
c-a-r-f-r-e-w for tidal then also 'floating' options, eg newatlas.com/energy/orbital-o2-tidal-turbine/For LNG then I hope folks are aware that LNG is much 'worse' than pipeline gas WRT to carbon footprint and broader environmental damage. For UK then N.Sea gas would make a much better 'bridge' (and for most months of the year we could export to mainland Europe via pipelines to fill up their storage). Obviously in the short-term (0-5yrs) then US LNG is 'better' than Russian pipeline gas due to the geo-politics but anyone considering building new LNG infrastructure now (guess who) would be ' better never than late'.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2022 8:46:11 GMT
On state owned energy companies then technically Bulb is now a state owned company [2] This one 'by default' if they can't offload the consumers and since that is by no means certain in the next 2yrs then it might fall to the next HMG (most likely some form of LAB govt on current polling) to decide what to do. As I've now put a relatively small sum (for me) [1] into Ripple https://ukpollingreport2.proboards.com/post/22293/thread when it's up and running (planned November next year) I will let people know how I get on. It will mean I have to move on from Bulb, but not until the wind-farm starts generating electricity. It is a long-term investment (they pay back the value of your shares in the co-op over 20 years), and while illiquid, you can bequeath it for the remaining duration if you die earlier. [1] The maximum investment is 120% of your annual electricity use, so they are aiming this at people who want to cap their electricity bills, not take a punt on the profits to be made from owning a share of a wind-farm [2] [2] There is no reason why someone else could to do the same thing, but offer larger investments; it just happens that this co-op chose not to go down that route. The big constraint is that there is no secondary market in the ownership of the wind-farm, but another organisation could do it differently and if they did it might be more attractive to pension fund investors. I took a quick look at Ripple and note from their 'how not works' they state: - " Lower and more stable bills.. the wind farm's low and stable running cost"(comment: the costs of running the wind farm are low and stable but the problem is the unpredictable and unreliable (it intermittent) supply) - " 04 Your electricity is supplied to your home... Our supply partners use the grid, so you can use electricity whenever you like"(comment: the issue with all the suppliers that only have an intermittent supply is that they will need supply from elsewhere when their is little wind, compounded if that coincides with high demand (eg the cold, low wind Winter day on NG's 'Day in life 2035') rippleenergy.com/how-it-worksI'm fully supportive of wind farms but I can't see how they intend to cap your bills and survive as a business given they can't predict when the wind will and won't blow weeks and month in advance. A different solution, being used by some companies, is to go 'off grid'. There are very dodgy (IMO) claims to be 'off grid' which are really 'reduced grid'. The problem is again supply+demand imbalance. Some of that can be dealt with via batteries but it won't solve the inter-seasonal issue. EG it is quite easy to have a solar based system with a battery that will mean you can be 'off grid' for most, potentially all, of the Summer months - possibly even selling excess electricity. Come Winter then you'll need the grid. Note that also creates a challenge for the grid operator as they have some folks who are 'off grid' for long periods (possibly even trying to sell their excess onto the grid) but then they have high demands at the same time that the bigger players in renewables has low supply. Wind is slightly better (with a battery) and I know of that being used in some light industrial settings but even then it is still not 100% 'off grid' as to do so would require either massive 'average' over capacity in the wind turbines and/or massive amount of battery capacity (or carbon emitting back-up generators run on diesel or propane) Anecdote alert: for a personal home user then you can use wood as heat source for those 'cold, low wind, Winter days' but ssshhh as apparently folks don't like wood burners these days. Oh and if you do go that route then make sure to invest in good duvets, jumpers and woolly hats! We had a very mild Winter but I'm glad it is Spring |
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Post by birdseye on Mar 27, 2022 7:34:22 GMT
This video www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mIBz5r29nw is an interesting illustration in the way that events are interlinked. The combination of the ukraine war, its effects on oil prices is running counter to the need to reduce CO2 whilst government agricultural policy is damaging farm output and maing us less self sufficient. |
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Mar 30, 2022 14:43:17 GMT
This video www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mIBz5r29nw is an interesting illustration in the way that events are interlinked. The combination of the ukraine war, its effects on oil prices is running counter to the need to reduce CO2 whilst government agricultural policy is damaging farm output and maing us less self sufficient. yes, it’s quite hard to get markets to reconcile such potentially conflicting things. Which is a reason for having government, for things the market doesn’t do too well. Unfortunately, if government itself resolves to leave things too much to markets, then we can find ourselves in the position we find ourselves. Trouble is, such problems are hard to solve, and it’s easier to avoid the complexity by just claiming you can leave things to the market, which in turn allows people to enter the political fray without answers to such complex questions. (Which incidentally can be why some in the public sector - and indeed private sector - might prefer outsourcing. It might sometimes be more efficient, but it might also at times be less efficient, it just lets someone rise up the ladder without having to provide solutions. They can outsource the hard stuff, the problem solving, and administer contracts instead). |
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Post by leftieliberal on Mar 30, 2022 19:51:37 GMT
As I've now put a relatively small sum (for me) [1] into Ripple https://ukpollingreport2.proboards.com/post/22293/thread when it's up and running (planned November next year) I will let people know how I get on. It will mean I have to move on from Bulb, but not until the wind-farm starts generating electricity. It is a long-term investment (they pay back the value of your shares in the co-op over 20 years), and while illiquid, you can bequeath it for the remaining duration if you die earlier. [1] The maximum investment is 120% of your annual electricity use, so they are aiming this at people who want to cap their electricity bills, not take a punt on the profits to be made from owning a share of a wind-farm [2] [2] There is no reason why someone else could to do the same thing, but offer larger investments; it just happens that this co-op chose not to go down that route. The big constraint is that there is no secondary market in the ownership of the wind-farm, but another organisation could do it differently and if they did it might be more attractive to pension fund investors. I'm fully supportive of wind farms but I can't see how they intend to cap your bills and survive as a business given they can't predict when the wind will and won't blow weeks and month in advance. You don't actually buy your electricity from Ripple Energy, you buy it from one of their supplier partners. In effect they are using the National Grid as a giant battery because overall the amount of electricity going into the grid must be equal to the amount consumed at all times. So when the wind isn't blowing, National Grid gets its electricity from elsewhere and when the wind is blowing National Grid tells the fossil fuel stations to shut down. In practice for current weather forecasting wind-speeds are known up to about a week in advance with reasonable certainty. So in effect, even though the supplier charges you the market rate for the electricity you consume, you get the difference between that and the fixed costs of operating the wind-farm back as a share of the wind-farm profits (as I understand it, this is simultaneous). So if you have invested an amount equal to your electricity usage, it should be the same as paying for your electricity at a fixed rate. In some respects, it is the same idea that Bulb had, but the difference is that they use your investment to fund new renewable energy, while Bulb only bought electricity at market price from existing renewable suppliers. |
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Mar 31, 2022 19:01:02 GMT
“Boris Johnson opens the door for a fracking revival”
“The Prime Minister halts order to seal three fracking wells to 'evaluate options' amid energy crisis”
“The company spearheading Britain’s stalled fracking industry has been thrown a lifeline by the Government in the clearest sign yet that ministers are rethinking their stance on shale gas.
Cuadrilla, the energy producer, said it had been given a stay of execution after it received orders for three testing wells in Lancashire to be filled with concrete by June 30 following an effective ban on fracking in the UK.”
Telegraph
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Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Apr 3, 2022 4:56:20 GMT
In the Telegraph…
“Government in talks to build 'hundreds' of mini-nuclear reactors across UK”
…
“A US energy developer linked to Elon Musk is in talks with the Government to build a fleet of small nuclear reactors across the UK.
Last Energy wants to build its first “mini-nuclear” power plant by 2025 and has identified its first site in Wales, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.
The company intends to spend £1.4bn on 10 reactors by the end of the decade. Last Energy’s end goal is to build “hundreds of plants” across the UK, sources close to the company said.
The proposals are a direct challenge to Rolls-Royce…”
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Post by birdseye on Apr 4, 2022 20:10:27 GMT
Another doom filled report today requiring the sort of apocolyptic changes that I can simply not see happening. Even if we in the west were able to achive the necessary changes in the required time scale, neither china nor india will do so, the latter probably not even seriously trying. And then there are large areas of the third world where governments are simply not sufficiently in charge of what goes on to achieve the targets. Brazil in the rain forests for example. Much of Africa as another.
I like the Musk report Carfrew. The cost of Hinckley is £22bn even before build, so maybe £50bn turnout, and musk want to build ten admittedly smaller ones for less than 1/1000 of that sume each!.
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Post by alec on Apr 5, 2022 14:57:12 GMT
c-a-r-f-r-e-w - "In essence the plan involves taking over a derelict riverside site, near the sea (to use the full tidal range) but far enough inland to avoid sea storms. A simple concrete and steel construction, like a dry dock, is all that’s required. Turbines work between the river and the excavated basin, which is subdivided into chambers with turbines in the dividing walls. When the tide comes in, through the turbines, it makes electricity and when it goes out, it also passes through turbines to make electricity. Some water is held back in the chambers to keep generating while the tide is turning.”" Just caught up with this post. It's an interesting idea, and one that I looked at for a small community project some years ago. We were looking at a historic dock originally excavated from solid rock that formed a cut from the sea to a small port that was now disused. Initially I thought the scheme would be pretty handy, but once I started to run the calculations I realised how much storage capacity you really need to make the power output anything reasonable. Apart from the flow volumes available, the complicating factor was the variation in head as the reservoir level falls and the outflow level (the tide line) rises. Unless you have an absolutely monumental storage area, the fact that both levels can be moving towards each other simultaneously (for a rising tide) means that the periods at maximum power output can be very limited, and most of the time you are working on a pretty low head scheme. It does work, technically, but as a retrofit we couldn't make it anything like economic, and my guess is that this is why tidal tends toward very large constructed lagoons. I faced similar issues when looking at a project to convert old water towers to pumped storage hydro power facilities. Although some of the sites we were looking at appeared high volume, when you worked out how much volume flows through a run of river hydro scheme running at a very modest 100 litres a second, I realised how little water the towers actually held in the context of hydro power flows. One thing I am seeing a good deal more interest in is compressed or liquified air storage. Compressed air storage is cheaper, although geographically constrained (it needs salt caverns or similar). Liquified air energy storage (LAES) looks really interesting though. Use spare electricity to cool air to liquid (as per LNG), store it, and then use the 700 times expansion (I think?) when it warms and gasses to drive a generation turbine. Here are a couple of links - www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032121004019 and www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/18/worlds-biggest-liquid-air-battery-starts-construction-in-ukI've seen recent economic analyses that claim a far greater cost efficiency than hydrogen, and with tried and tested technologies LAES is technically straightforward and readily understood. It's proponents claim that it brings mobility into the energy storage market, as the existing LNG tanker fleet could be used to ship LA from generating stations to ports with regeneration capacity to feed into the grid. It's conceptually possible to conceive of off shore wind farms that aren't grid connected, but instead have a docking station for a LAES tanker which gets filled up and then sails off a suitable generation point. As the capital investment is less intensive and the process more efficient, it's also much easier to conceive of this as a key energy storage system that absorbs 'as and when' excess grid energy. Apologies if this has already been mentioned - I do find it quite hard to keep abreast of all the various sub threads.
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Post by birdseye on Apr 5, 2022 20:22:52 GMT
I'm fully supportive of wind farms but I can't see how they intend to cap your bills and survive as a business given they can't predict when the wind will and won't blow weeks and month in advance. You don't actually buy your electricity from Ripple Energy, you buy it from one of their supplier partners. In effect they are using the National Grid as a giant battery because overall the amount of electricity going into the grid must be equal to the amount consumed at all times. So when the wind isn't blowing, National Grid gets its electricity from elsewhere and when the wind is blowing National Grid tells the fossil fuel stations to shut down. In practice for current weather forecasting wind-speeds are known up to about a week in advance with reasonable certainty. So in effect, even though the supplier charges you the market rate for the electricity you consume, you get the difference between that and the fixed costs of operating the wind-farm back as a share of the wind-farm profits (as I understand it, this is simultaneous). So if you have invested an amount equal to your electricity usage, it should be the same as paying for your electricity at a fixed rate. In some respects, it is the same idea that Bulb had, but the difference is that they use your investment to fund new renewable energy, while Bulb only bought electricity at market price from existing renewable suppliers. Incidentally they've just extended the closing date by one month, so there is still time to get in on the current project. Use this link and we both get £25 (as long as you invest at least £1000) rippleenergy.com?ogu=7194Obvious from the bit that I have highlighted that your hobby isnt sailing. The forecasts of wind strength for a week ahead are very unreliable and indeed arent that good for the next day. The Met Office claim the opposite of course but then you get Michael Fish type events.
For example, the forecasts for friday evening from ECMWF, GFS, meteo, ICON and Arome ( all highly respected models) vary from 9kn to 17kn sw to se in the bristol channel where I sail.
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Post by alec on Apr 6, 2022 8:44:28 GMT
birdseye - "Obvious from the bit that I have highlighted that your hobby isnt sailing. The forecasts of wind strength for a week ahead are very unreliable and indeed arent that good for the next day." Your assertion is not supported by the evidence. Keep an eye on this - www.bmreports.com/bmrs/?q=generation/windforcast/out-turnWind forecasts can change, but from a week out they are generally good for aggregate assessment of wind power, and from 48 hours they have an excellent record, as the data continually shows. As I have argued with Trevor for a good long time now, wind power is intermittent, but not unpredictable. They are very substantially different aspects. I think where you are making a mistake is in focusing on ground level wind speeds (much more subject to short term variation) in a specific location. Such parameters are harder to make certain predictions on, but the National Grid isn't interested in sailing; it is interested in wind speeds at 50m+ asl and across wide areas, so their methodology is really rather accurate, as shorter ranges at least.
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Post by leftieliberal on Apr 6, 2022 15:16:28 GMT
Obvious from the bit that I have highlighted that your hobby isnt sailing.  The forecasts of wind strength for a week ahead are very unreliable and indeed arent that good for the next day. The Met Office claim the opposite of course but then you get Michael Fish type events.
For example, the forecasts for friday evening from ECMWF, GFS, meteo, ICON and Arome ( all highly respected models) vary from 9kn to 17kn sw to se in the bristol channel where I sail.
When you have sails as big as a wind-farm and as far above sea level, you might find the wind to be more consistent and wind farms don't need the wind coming from a specific direction. Those of us who understand physics as opposed to those who mess about in boats, know that turbulent flow applies over length ranges from many km to below a metre. You are just sampling a small part of it in your boat. |
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Post by leftieliberal on May 17, 2022 10:44:09 GMT
Swapping rather than recharging batteries. I've known about this in China for some time, but now it's come to Europe: www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61310513It will need the big European car manufacturers to come on board, but if you have standardised batteries, it makes electric cars a much easier replacement for cars with internal combustion engines. They still need to have high-power charging facilities at the changeover point, but these can now be static. |
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2022 19:10:18 GMT
Some useful discussion on this 'Specific Issue' thread and I thank those who contributed. Deleted account should be obvious for the who and the why. I wish you all well.
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Post by leftieliberal on May 27, 2022 17:02:37 GMT
Consequences of stranded oil and gas assets for the financial systems in US and UK: www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/26/people-in-us-and-uk-face-huge-financial-hit-if-fossil-fuels-lose-value-study-showsEssentially, the big losers are those where the production cost is highest e.g. offshore. The Persian Gulf countries have very low production costs so will be able to continue producing even with high taxation reducing the demand. In the UK the big losses will come for those with private or defined contribution pensions as much of the holding of the big oil companies is in pension funds. Anyone holding an index fund, long-recommended because of the low charges, will be hit badly because the oil majors make up a sizeable share of the FTSE100 (Shell is ranked first and BP 7th). |
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Post by leftieliberal on Jun 17, 2022 12:42:03 GMT
The hydrogen economy: www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/17/pollutionwatch-hydrogen-power-climate-leaks"The second problem comes from hydrogen leakage. Two government reports show hydrogen is a climate-heating gas, with a 100-year global warming potential that is about 11 times greater than carbon dioxide." [because of the way it reacts with other greenhouse gases] It illustrates that when we think of changing our sources of energy, we need to consider all the consequences. I think it is still right to do it, as long as we are aware that leaks have more than a purely economic cost. |
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Post by leftieliberal on Aug 20, 2022 17:06:37 GMT
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Mr Poppy
Member
Teaching assistant and now your elected PM
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Post by Mr Poppy on Oct 19, 2022 14:50:38 GMT
Whilst not surprising, then it is a shame that no one is updating this thread. Lots of useful links provided by 'deleted' and as we head into a difficult Winter for Energy across Europe then worth reflecting on the Spring-Summer. UK has been a significant net exporter of electricity to our neighbours since mid-April (partly due to so much of the French nuclear fleet being offline (ie demand driven) but also due to our ability to use our LNG/pipeline infrastructure to help our neighbours out (ie available supply capacity)), see the -ve grey line (ie net exports) in Production, Past year (weekly averages): grid.iamkate.comAlso net export of gas: " In Quarter 2 2022, gas exports reached a record high of 81 TWh, higher than total exports for the year in 2021. The UK supported European efforts to move away from Russian gas, utilising substantial LNG regasification infrastructure and interconnectors with mainland Europe"assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1107502/Energy_Trends_September_2022.pdfNot expecting a 'thank you' of course but we can't keep helping them during Winter and there will come a time on cold January early evenings when there is little wind that we'll be requesting a bit of return help (NG and others have planned for that 'unlikely' scenario). I hope our neighbours remember who their friends are (and who will be able to help them again next year given it's likely to be déjà vu all over again and they can't build new LNG infrastructure and cables/pipelines (eg Spain-France) in such a short time frame). Final two links to show how much new UK supply is coming (and when), see Fig4: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1111625/updated-energy-and-emissions-projections-2021-2040.pdfand since they haven't yet updated Annex O then for some 'possible' longer time periods, see: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1059067/annex-o-net_zero-and-the-power-sector-scenarios.pdfor NG's view and various other links previously supplied by 'deleted' (noting they don't include stuff like 'tidal lagoons', etc - something I hope LAB 'green light' once they take over in 2024) |
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Post by alec on Oct 19, 2022 15:38:47 GMT
Welcome back Trevor.
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Mr Poppy
Member
Teaching assistant and now your elected PM
Posts: 3,774
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Post by Mr Poppy on Oct 20, 2022 8:20:23 GMT
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The forecasts of wind strength for a week ahead are very unreliable and indeed arent that good for the next day. The Met Office claim the opposite of course but then you get Michael Fish type events. 