Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Coastalwatch

Not sure where everyone collects their information from with regard to the output from the nations various means of power generation but at some point in the past I'd been directed to the following site and have found it very useful/informative.

http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

Visited it again today and noticed a single line stating - New! Please help Gridwatch.

It's a plea for donations to help keep the site running. Apparently it seems the guy is running it of his own volition but now requires a new server which he is unable to finance. The site carries no adverts and he has no wish to go down that road. Without making any background checks I've simply made a small donation via Paypal, it took less than a minute to complete.

Thought it might be worth sharing with other like minded souls here!

Apologies if it's already been posted here or elsewhere.

ASavvyBuyer

Coastalwatch wrote: »

Not sure where everyone collects their information from with regard to the output from the nations various means of power generation but at some point in the past I'd been directed to the following site and have found it very useful/informative.

http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

There are a couple more sites that display the information in slightly different ways:

http://gridwatch.co.uk/

http://energynumbers.info/gbgrid

Martyn1981

ASavvyBuyer wrote: »

More news from the the Offshore Wind Industry:

UK Offshore Wind Industry Reveals Ambitious 2030 Vision
The industry’s vision for 2030 includes:

• £48 billion investment in UK infrastructure
• A five-fold increase in export value, to £2.6 billion a year
• 27,000 skilled jobs across the UK (up from 11,000 today) mainly in coastal areas
• £2.4 billion a year reduction in total electricity system costs, reducing costs to consumers

With this deal the industry aims to generate one third of the UK’s electricity from offshore wind by 2030. This scaled up ambition, coupled with the Government’s Clean Growth Strategy, means the industry will more than double its capacity from 13GW deployed or contracted today, to 30GW by 2030.

Thanks That's enormous news. Took my time replying as I'm backl to one finger typing with rh in cast. tiny little cat gave me atiny liitle bite monday morning at the rescue centre and I got home this afternoon from hospital following lymph system poisoning and a hand in cast to restrict movement. ho hum.

back to those numbers, they are incredible. That's possibly another 17Gw of off-shore wind by 2030, and presumably at very low subsidies.

Then add in perhaps another 18GW of subsidy free on-shore win and Pv by 2030.

Subsidy-free renewable energy projects set to soar in UK, analysts say

The government has already downgraded the amount of new gas power capacity it expects to be added by 2030 from 22GW to 7GW, but Aurora said that would shrink to just 1GW if subsidy-free renewables took off as anticipated.

So, quick play, that's:-
17GW off-shore wind at say 50%cf = 8.5GW average
9GW on-shore wind at about 25%cf = 2.25GW average
9GW PV at 11%cf = 1GW average

so approx equal to 11.75GW of constant generation. And that's more, and by 2030.

Now to upset the nuclear fans, but context is genuinely needed. Tthe govt hopes to deploy 16GW eventually, so if it never has a problem, then's thats equal to approx (16 x 92%cf) = 14.7GW.

Tjhe speed and 'cheapness' of RE is now simply incredible.

And by 2030, when large amounts of storage may start to be needed, that too should be pretty cheap, and well trialed arouind the world.

Incredible news.

Martyn1981

This is promising news.

The increase in coal generation around the world (new plants minus old ones closing) is slowing fast. There's a lot of negativity out there that anything we do is pointless since India and China are opening new coal plants every day, and twice on Thursday's, but that's no longer true as falling RE costs have changed plans.

Coal Plant Development Continues To Drop For Second Year Straight

“The decline was due primarily to central government restrictions in China and declining financial and policy support in India, although capacity under development in the rest of the world also declined,” the authors of the report concluded. All in all, global coal retirements in 2017 exceeded a mammoth 25 gigawatts (GW) and over the past three years a total of 97 GW was retired — led by the United States with 45 GW, China with 16 GW, and the UK with 8 GW as part of its larger effort to retire coal entirely.

Maybe most importantly, based on the two decades long trend of coal retirements, the authors of the report predict that the global fleet of coal-fired power plants will begin to decline in 2022.

Martyn1981

Storage being retro-fitted to hydro schemes ...... the revolution may be arriving!

Storage duo tuned to UK hydro

Martyn1981

Interesting article, brief but simple looking at the different levels of generation needed, the amount of demand this could meet, and the impact if 12hrs of storage is included too..

Study: wind and solar can power most of the United States

ASavvyBuyer

... the base for the world’s most powerful turbines, the record-breaking V164-8.4MW.

http://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/mammoth-crane-installs-uk's-first-'gigantic-game-changing'-wind-turbine-foundation

NigeWick

ASavvyBuyer wrote: »

the record-breaking V164-8.4MW.

I thought the new "champion" was 12MW?
https://www.gerenewableenergy.com/wind-energy/turbines/haliade-x-offshore-turbine

ASavvyBuyer

NigeWick wrote: »

I thought the new "champion" was 12MW?
https://www.gerenewableenergy.com/wind-energy/turbines/haliade-x-offshore-turbine

It appears from the text in your link that the 12MW turbine is still being developed (over the next 3-5 years)

Martyn1981

Repowering UK Wind Farms Low-Cost Option To Increase Renewable Generation

Repowering and upgrading ageing UK wind farms as they near the end of their scheduled lifespan could increase the UK’s generating capacity by 1.3 gigawatts, providing a highly cost-effective means of increasing renewable generation.