Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

Study shows that drop off in performance of wind turbines is falling with newer deployments, though I'm struggling a tad with how much it's changed:

‘Newer’ US wind farms perform better, study finds

Performance decline in newer US wind farms is less acute compared with older plants, a new study by Berkeley Lab has found.
Researchers measured output from a typical wind plant declines by about 13% over 17 years. Wind farms under 10 years of age showed smaller performance decline overall, at -0.17 % per year.

Not sure if the reduction is huge with newer ones only projecting a 2.89% (17yrs x 0.17%) drop v's the older 13% one. Or if the drop off has fallen by 0.17% from 0.76% (13%/17yrs) to 0.59% which would be 10% over 17yrs.

Either way I suppose is good news, but the 2.89% drop would be outstanding, 10% great, and I suppose 13% over 17yrs is already impressive.

Martyn1981

Nice to see the Governments U-turn already being reflected positively for the UK.

Renewable energy investors increasingly look to UK, says report

The UK has become more attractive to renewable energy investors following the government’s decision to lift its block on financial support for onshore wind and solar projects.

Britain has climbed the rankings of a biannual global survey of investors to take the sixth spot in EY’s “attractiveness index” for renewable energy ahead of a major clean energy auction next year.

The auditing giant said the government’s decision to include onshore wind and solar energy projects in the auction had helped the UK climb one rung on the rankings list, to just below Germany, Australia, France, China and the US.

The UK’s decision to remove a block against onshore wind projects earlier this year followed a government pledge to cut emissions to virtually zero by 2050 – a feat that its official climate advisers believe will require a tripling of the UK’s onshore wind-power capacity in the next 15 years.

Martyn1981

Some high voltage entertainment for any big metal fans out there:

Siemens Gamesa unveils 14MW offshore titan

Siemens Gamesa has unveiled a new 14MW offshore wind turbine equipped with a 222-metre rotor that offers a 25% increase in annual energy production compared to its 11MW predecessor.

The German-Spanish manufacturer said the 14-222 direct drive unit will be commercially available in 2024 and will be able to reach up to 15MW thanks to a power boost feature. A prototype is due to be installed next year.

Blades measuring 108 metres will be cast in one piece using in-house, patented technology and will cover a swept area of 39,000 square metres, the equivalent of 5.5 standard football pitches.

Siemens Gamesa has designed the nacelle at 500 tonnes, which it says is light weight and will enable optimised tower and foundation designs that will lower the cost per unit by minimising sourced materials and reducing transport needs.

You know RE is winning, when a 500 tonne nacelle is described as 'light weight'!

Martyn1981

Not just battery/battery back up, but also rentable on-site power when/where needed? Sounds good.

Northvolt Enters The Portable Energy Storage Market With The Voltpack Mobile System

Up and coming Swedish battery producer Northvolt launched the Voltpack Mobile System today in partnership with energy provider Vattenfall. The modular system was designed from the ground up as a portable replacement for diesel generators providing energy as a service in temporary installations.

“We see an increased need from the market for flexible solutions, both in terms of use case but also location,” Emad Zand, President of Battery Systems at Northvolt said. “Voltpack Mobile System is designed to give our customers a fleet of assets that can be redeployed, repurposed and connected seamlessly. Vattenfall has been an invaluable partner of Northvolt since our earliest days, and their contributions to this project have enabled us to accelerate development of a product built to customer requirements.”

Martyn1981

Windy news this morning, with lots of good 'potential'.

UK wind power might be able to get a share of the frequency response market (and PV too in the future):

National Grid ESO integrates wind for frequency response

National Grid ESO has launched a new signal for wind generators, boosting the potential for renewables involvement in the real time frequency response market.

Vast potential for off-shore wind around the World:

World Bank finds 'over 15TW offshore potential'

Research by the World Bank estimates potential offshore wind development in emerging markets at over 15TW.
The bank has published analysis of over 40 countries in the form of maps outlining total, fixed-bottom and floating capacity potentials.

Martyn1981

Could be an interesting day today with low(er) demand due to C19, lots of wind and sun. Gas gen already low, loads of export to the continent, bio-mass looks lower than usual. Note - this site includes embedded wind generation, so typically about 30% higher than Gridwatch:

Live generation data from the Great Britain electricity grid

Martyn1981

More of the same, sorry (not really sorry). Green spending would be a great way to help lift us out of the looming recession/depression.

We now have the proof: greening the economy doesn't come at the price of prosperity

That question has a clear answer: a green recovery can produce higher returns on public spending and create more jobs in both the short term and the long term, compared to the alternative of pouring stimulus cash into the fossil fuel economy.

Those findings come from a study of the potential for a green recovery, based on a survey of finance ministries and central bankers, and a comparison with the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008, conducted by the Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, former World Bank chief economist Lord Stern, and leading economists from Oxford University.

After the financial crisis in 2008, calls for a green recovery were partially successful. About 16% of the global stimulus spending was green, including subsidies for renewable energy, seed funding for research and development, and new technology such as electric vehicles.

Martyn1981

UK RE generation, past, present and future:

UK renewables output 'overtakes' fossil fuels

Renewables output in the UK was higher than fossil fuel generation for the first time ever in the first quarter of 2020, with wind energy supplying almost as much electricity as natural gas, according to a report commissioned by Drax Group.

Clean power represented over 40% of electricity consumed in the first three months of the year, with wind delivering 30.5% and natural gas 30.6%, the Electric Insights Q1 quarterly report said.

Output from wind was up 40% on this time last year, boosted by a succession of severe winter storms that made February the windiest since records began, it added.

UK wind farms ran at all-time high capacity factors, in February averaging 50% for onshore and 60% for offshore, Drax Electric Insights said.

“This was significantly higher than fossil-fuelled power stations – 34% for gas and just 17% for coal – and higher even than the country’s nuclear reactor fleet (59%),” the report said.

Biomass delivered 6.7% of consumption, solar 2.6% and hydro 2%, Electric Insights said.

Wind ‘to supply half of UK power by 2030’

The UK’s installed wind capacity could reach 66GW by the end of this decade, providing more than half the country’s power, according to a new report from RenewableUK.

‘Powering the Future: RenewableUK’s Vision of the Transition’ predicted the UK offshore wind industry can attract £54bn (€59bn) in private investment to quadruple capacity to 40GW by 2030, providing more than a third of the UK’s electricity demand, growing to 90GW by 2050.

“Additional growth of onshore wind to 26GW by 2030 means the UK’s overall wind capacity can grow to 66GW by the end of this decade, providing more than half the UK’s power,” the report stated.

The study forecasts a six-fold expansion in wind from 22GW today to 126GW by 2050.

michaels

Next gen oil tankers may be powered by batteries:
https://electrek.co/2020/05/22/electric-oil-tankers-coming/

Which got me thinking - given how cheap some of the solar power deployed in the gulf (of order 1p/kwh) is could there be an economic case for building battery tankers to ship the electricity to Europe to feed into the grid?!  It could be a short sea route from the Red sea Saudi coast to Sicily so each ship could complete a round trip in a few days....

ABrass

michaels said:

Next gen oil tankers may be powered by batteries:
https://electrek.co/2020/05/22/electric-oil-tankers-coming/

Which got me thinking - given how cheap some of the solar power deployed in the gulf (of order 1p/kwh) is could there be an economic case for building battery tankers to ship the electricity to Europe to feed into the grid?!  It could be a short sea route from the Red sea Saudi coast to Sicily so each ship could complete a round trip in a few days....

It'd use up the entire world's battery supplies and ship virtually no power. Maybe with flow batteries or using hydrogen or Ammonia as the storage medium. But not batteries as we know them.