Solar ... In the news

EricMears

Exiled_Tyke said:

RE: the coal burn, Good point, I guess that either it wasn't financially viable for the numbers this time round or they hadn't seen it coming and hadn't got themselves ready. OR they really wanted to test the coal stations and get them onlne. 

It would be pretty stupid to mothball all the coal generator plants and hope that they can be resurrected on a bad day in January !

If you're going to do a test run,  it's more convenient all round to do it now when it doesn't really matter if a few snags are discovered.

scubajoe

It's grim when you get clowns like DUP MP Sammy Wilson tweeting absolute guff like this , and even the BBC slag him off.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65907342.amp

He even turned off replies but if you read the quote tweets its evident what folk think of him.

Martyn1981

EricMears said:

Exiled_Tyke said:

RE: the coal burn, Good point, I guess that either it wasn't financially viable for the numbers this time round or they hadn't seen it coming and hadn't got themselves ready. OR they really wanted to test the coal stations and get them onlne. 

It would be pretty stupid to mothball all the coal generator plants and hope that they can be resurrected on a bad day in January !

If you're going to do a test run,  it's more convenient all round to do it now when it doesn't really matter if a few snags are discovered.

That's a good point. I wonder if the tests on the boilers, when they do a warm up occasionally, show as coal burn on the grid. I don't have a clue, but assume that unless they start generating, even a low amount, then it's not shown?

At least we don't have so much of the 'stand by' (curtailment) coal now, sitting in the background with hot boilers in case needed. 


@scubajoe - that's scary. Turning panels off, will almost certainly run for years with people minded to believe it. RE gets hit with so much negativity, and whilst it's from a minority, it does spread within certain groups.

NigeWick

It hit 40.3C last year according to my outside thermometer. We're about 20 miles from the hottest officially recorded for UK. Our panels are fine.

Martyn1981

Fun and pleasant vid from Fully Charged on floating PV, with a look at an install in Portugal.

The only downside, as far as I recall, they never referred to it as 'floatovoltaics'. 

THIS is Where We Should Be Placing Solar Panels!

Floating solar is exactly what it says on the tin; solar panels that float on water. But what that name doesn't truly capture, is just how breathtakingly beautiful they can be too. This week, Imogen put this to the test and visited the Alqueva Reservoir in Portugal to see EDP's remarkable 5MW floating solar farm. Working in combination with its Hydroelectric Dam neighbour, this project shows the enormous potential and scalability of floating photovoltaics. However, the team had two big questions - what about the surrounding wildlife and what about bird poo?! Watch the episode to find out!

Martyn1981

Now that's big, nearly 1/4GWp.

UK player outlines plans for 237.5MW PV project

Boom Power has recently announced a proposal for a new English solar farm in Fenwick, near Doncaster. 

The proposals for the 237.5MW Fenwick Solar Farm, cover approximately 325 hectares in Fenwick, Yorkshire.

In February, Boom obtained an import and export grid connection of approximately 237.5MW at Thorpe Marsh Power Station.

Boom will be launching a non-statutory public consultation soon, to invite comment on the proposals. 

Grandad2b

Be glad to see Thorpe Marsh producing clean electric. Now they just need to do the same at Ferrybridge, Eggborough and Drax.

Coastalwatch

While here in the UK government figures for May are not out yet, but in the first four months it totalled 287 MW's.

On a brighter note Mays eventual contribution should see our cumulative capacity pass 15 GW's.

Germany deployed 4.97 GW of new PV in first five months of 2023

In May alone, the nation’s new PV additions hit 1,040 MW. Its cumulative PV capacity reached 72.5 GW.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/06/22/germany-deployed-4-97-gw-of-new-pv-in-first-five-months-of-2023/

Martyn1981

Super weird post, reason one,

Thanks to Z for the thread, missed its 10th birthday, so just to say we are only a few days away from its 10 and a half birthday. Thanks for the thread, and the 'news' idea. Thought I would have gotten bored of RE, long ago. 


reason two,

Article with very little info, but I thought it was worth posting as it suggests a possible 1GWp of PV for Poland. And being agrivoltaics, and the 'fence' version, where panels are mounted vertically, so they don't impact the use of the land, nor vehicles. Article doesn't say (early stages I suppose), but I think bifacial panels get used in cases like these.

Partners eye 1GW Polish agri-PV project

Corab and Kelfield signed a letter of intent paving the way for their cooperation on a 1GW agri-photovoltaic project in Poland.

The project will be sited on agricultural land in the West Pomeranian and Pomeranian provinces.

The project will use Corab’s WS-A10 fence-shaped vertical structures.

The installations will be located on agricultural land which is very difficult to cultivate or completely unsuitable for that purpose and used as meadows and pastures.

Freestanding agri-PV systems of this type occupy about 1% of the field area, so they work well even on small farms.

The remaining area can be used according to its primary purpose.

silverwhistle

Most here have heard about perovskite panels but good to see an article in the mainstream media:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/06/revolutionary-solar-power-cell-innovations-break-key-energy-threshold