Solar ... In the news

tunnel

And in other news(not quite solar but is renewables)

Wind farms outstrip nuclear power

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29715796

zeupater

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Hiya Zeup. There is a simple solution. The article talks about bidding for CfD funding.

CfD's are based on the generation put into the grid. Or to be more exact, are currently based on this.

So, no need to complicate matters, just 'meter' the leccy as it arrives in the UK, in the same way that the leccy currently arrives from a wind farm. Problems and losses up to that point, not our problem, though they would of course be wrapped up in the CfD bid.

The crucial point here, with my suggestion, is that the construction and maintenance of the HVDC would lie with the suppliers. As would any trans-border issues. In the same way that the wind farm is responsible for the cabling and costs on it's side of the farm/meter.

How it would work in reality, I don't know.

Mart.

Hi

But isn't that the issue ... generate 1TWh in North Africa doesn't equate to a CfD paying for 1TWh of cross channel energy .... I would assume that French nuclear (existing) would cost a lot less than Tunisian solar when taking the transmission costs & losses into account ... so effectively it's a way of someone buying nuclear in Calais and passing it on to the UK for a huge solar based CfD margin. The only way that the UK should become involved is if there's a guaranty that the energy being imported is effectively from the same generation technology which it is claimed to be generated - the only way to do this effectively and efficiently in this case is point-to-point long distance transmission, so HVDC or UHVAC (unless the solar concentrators can be used to split the carbon from the atmosphere & bottle it in liquid form for onward transport ).

Europe, the EU in particular, really needs to get it's act together and commission both N/S and E/W long distance power conduits in order to reduce duplication of capacity and reduce the cost to the economy which makes Europe so uncompetitive. Renewables generation is not like carbon based generation in that it needs to be sited where the energy source is .... you can't transport billions of gallons of water to a feed a hydro plant or 'tonnes' of photons to pv panels like you can coal or gas to a power station .... China seems to have realised this in a very short time and have done what's necessary in a tiny proportion of the time that the EU has been debating the issue, achieving very little ....

HTH
Z

lstar337

tunnel wrote: »

And in other news(not quite solar but is renewables)

Wind farms outstrip nuclear power

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29715796

Lol, yes. During a hurricane and while 8 out of 15 nuclear stations were offline.

A real achievement. :T

lstar337

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

But isn't that the issue ... generate 1TWh in North Africa doesn't equate to a CfD paying for 1TWh of cross channel energy .... I would assume that French nuclear (existing) would cost a lot less than Tunisian solar when taking the transmission costs & losses into account ... so effectively it's a way of someone buying nuclear in Calais and passing it on to the UK for a huge solar based CfD margin. The only way that the UK should become involved is if there's a guaranty that the energy being imported is effectively from the same generation technology which it is claimed to be generated - the only way to do this effectively and efficiently in this case is point-to-point long distance transmission, so HVDC or UHVAC (unless the solar concentrators can be used to split the carbon from the atmosphere & bottle it in liquid form for onward transport ).

Europe, the EU in particular, really needs to get it's act together and commission both N/S and E/W long distance power conduits in order to reduce duplication of capacity and reduce the cost to the economy which makes Europe so uncompetitive. Renewables generation is not like carbon based generation in that it needs to be sited where the energy source is .... you can't transport billions of gallons of water to a feed a hydro plant or 'tonnes' of photons to pv panels like you can coal or gas to a power station .... China seems to have realised this in a very short time and have done what's necessary in a tiny proportion of the time that the EU has been debating the issue, achieving very little ....

HTH
Z

Could we use the plant for on location hydrogen extraction, or some other transportable fuel?

Martyn1981

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

But isn't that the issue ... generate 1TWh in North Africa doesn't equate to a CfD paying for 1TWh of cross channel energy .... I would assume that French nuclear (existing) would cost a lot less than Tunisian solar when taking the transmission costs & losses into account ... so effectively it's a way of someone buying nuclear in Calais and passing it on to the UK for a huge solar based CfD margin.
Z

Right, I'm with you now.

Ok, again I'm going for a really simple statement, no idea if it's practical, but work out transmission losses (theoretical). Let's say it's 20%.

Then for every 1.2GWh that is metered/verified as generated on site, and exported, we will then be 'allowed' to purchase (and pay for) 1GWh metered in the UK.

Where the leccy that we end up importing technically comes from, is I think, irrelevant, as it's still off-set by the clean generation we have attached ourselves to via the CfD.

Got to say, it's starting to sound a damn sight easier just to build the whole thing oursleves in Portugal, including the HVDC.

Mart.

zeupater

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Right, I'm with you now ....

Hi

Still really needs a long distance high voltage infrastructure to be in place or we're back to square-one ... effectively buying nuclear generation from Calais and having the complexity of cross border energy accounting and managing generation capacity throughout Europe as if it was a single grid ....

So the only really sensible options seem to be ..... Tunisia gains generating capacity they can't use, Italy finances the capacity, decommissions current plant in the south & uses the energy themselves .... or .... high voltage power conduit 'backbones' are built on a pan-European basis ...

HTH
Z

zeupater

lstar337 wrote: »

Could we use the plant for on location hydrogen extraction, or some other transportable fuel?

Hi

That's why I mentioned 'bottling' the energy, although it was a little 'tongue-in-cheek' .... Effectively the plant under discussion is an array of mirrors concentrating energy onto a small aperture, this creating high temperatures. I've not checked the project in detail, but the system is likely to be able to store energy in the form of a molten substance such as salt, then use the stored heat to power turbines when necessary ....

Possibilities for transport of energy would include hydrogen & oxygen in liquid form (splitting water), or directly removing CO2 from the atmosphere by creating syngas and synthetic hydrocarbon liquid fuels at the high temperatures which the plant is capable of .... whichever option you'd choose, the conversion efficiency isn't too good, so it would take a huge investment ... but of all the places in the world where you'd look to place such plant, Tunisia would certainly be high on the list ...

I particularly like the idea of extracting CO2 from the air, producing petrol from nowhere then shipping it to use where it's needed .... it's just the relative cost per litre would be, let's say, 'restrictive' ...

HTH
Z

Martyn1981

Couple of articles looking at developments in solar. At the rate the world is responding to PV we should see some big changes/ideas as we head into the next decade.

Energy storage, batteries flourish at SPI 2014

Whether it is ultimately the PV industry that pulls the battery and energy storage industry up with it as it expands, or whether battery and energy storage ultimately pushes PV along, what became clearer at the SPI 2014 show last week is that the two sectors are becoming more inextricably intertwined.

Fast-reacting 50 MW power plant planned for Hawaii's solar revolution

Integration of internal combustion engines seen as key to transforming the state's power generation capabilities and smoothing the way for solar.

Hawaii is making plans to shift solar into its power generation spotlight after announcing that Wärtsilä corporation is to supply a 50 MW power plant designed specifically to aid the development of solar energy in the state.

The project, which requires approval by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, would see Wärtsilä install a Smart Power Generation power plant on the island of Oahu, which will be owned and operated by Hawaiian Electric Company. The utility already generates 18% of its energy via solar sources, and hopes to up that share to 65% by 2030.

Mart

Martyn1981

Domestic installs in qtr3 reached 103MWp, reaching the 100MWp 3.5% degression trigger point to take effect on 1/1/15. However, as there wouldn't have been a degression for 9 months an automatic 3.5% degression would have happened anyways. So no change to the expected revised tariff of 13.88p.

Ofgem confirms 3.5% FiT degressions in January 2015

However, since installs are growing, and the FiT rate for qtr4 is the same as for qtr3 then there is a chance that the 100MWp level may be reached again, triggering another 3.5% degression at the start of qtr2 2015. Alternatively, as winter approaches, people might not be thinking about PV so much ..... who knows?

Mart.

The-Joker

The real reason the world does not turn over to renewable energy is eacause there is not enough silver left. Silver is money and the price has to be manipulated to keep the fiat currency system from 1971 going.

You can not do solar on a mass rollout without using a lot of silver, there will be shortages soon then the silver manipulation will end bringing an end to the temporary monetary system from 1971.