Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

This could be big news, and a reversal of the 2015 changes that made on-shore wind planning permission difficult, (but fracking easier).

I don't think the mentions of new nuclear are too much of a concern now, given the shifting economics in favour of RE/storage. A potential benefit could be the consideration of funding for nuclear, which given the long lead times for approval, could end up being re-directed into cheaper and faster RE and storage as this decade develops. The results of the 2021 CfD auction, due this spring/summer might have a bearing on the direction of energy generation investment too, fingers crossed.

I've quoted a lot of the article, but I think it's all important, especially the positive changes and growing support from the Conservative Party.

Tories plan big expansion of wind farms ‘to protect national security’

A massive expansion of wind farms across the UK is now needed for national security reasons, the business secretary has declared, as, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the government considers sweeping changes to planning laws to improve Britain’s energy independence.

Boris Johnson is planning to unveil a radical new “energy strategy” within a fortnight to ensure the UK can meet its domestic needs from a mix of renewables and nuclear. The war in Ukraine has brought further huge rises in global fossil fuel prices and exposed countries’ dependence on overseas supplies.

Remarkably, the need for more on- and offshore windfarms – traditionally a highly controversial subject in the Conservative party – is now being talked about within government as a matter of security, rather than a way of fighting climate change.

Renewables such as wind and solar power are expected to be part of the new government strategy to free Britain from dependence on imported oil and gas and spare households and businesses from the effects of wild fluctuations on global energy markets.

Sources said changes to planning rules that would make it easier to build windfarms are likely to be announced as part of the new energy strategy. Construction has tailed off since David Cameron tightened regulations when he was prime minister: at the moment local residents can easily block such plans. It is also understood that the government may ease the way for more offshore wind farms, in the teeth of opposition from the fishing industry.

In October last year Johnson announced that all of Britain’s electricity will come from clean energy sources by 2035. The plan now is to bring that date forward.

While many Conservative MPs and party members have opposed windfarms, there are signs of growing support. Kevin Hollinrake, Tory MP for Thirsk and Malton, said: “England’s planning system has blocked nearly all new onshore wind developments in the past five years, despite this being the cheapest source of new electricity generation. Reforming these rules, while ensuring communities still get a meaningful say, will spur investment in homegrown clean energy and accelerate our transition away from expensive fossil fuels.”

Sam Hall, director of the Conservative Environment Network, an independent forum for Tories who back decarbonisation, commented: “Streamlining planning approvals and regulations would unleash more wind and solar projects to provide cheap, clean, homegrown power. Now is the time to accelerate the drive towards net zero and away from volatile fossil fuels.”

Exiled_Tyke

Martyn1981 said:

This could be big news, and a reversal of the 2015 changes that made on-shore wind planning permission difficult, (but fracking easier).

I don't think the mentions of new nuclear are too much of a concern now, given the shifting economics in favour of RE/storage. A potential benefit could be the consideration of funding for nuclear, which given the long lead times for approval, could end up being re-directed into cheaper and faster RE and storage as this decade develops. The results of the 2021 CfD auction, due this spring/summer might have a bearing on the direction of energy generation investment too, fingers crossed.

I've quoted a lot of the article, but I think it's all important, especially the positive changes and growing support from the Conservative Party.

Thank goodness the Tories are finally seeing sense on this.  I have to admit I'm quite surprised.  Of course there are not fat ladies singing just yet! (Is this term politically incorrect now?)

michaels

Exiled_Tyke said:

Martyn1981 said:

This could be big news, and a reversal of the 2015 changes that made on-shore wind planning permission difficult, (but fracking easier).

I don't think the mentions of new nuclear are too much of a concern now, given the shifting economics in favour of RE/storage. A potential benefit could be the consideration of funding for nuclear, which given the long lead times for approval, could end up being re-directed into cheaper and faster RE and storage as this decade develops. The results of the 2021 CfD auction, due this spring/summer might have a bearing on the direction of energy generation investment too, fingers crossed.

I've quoted a lot of the article, but I think it's all important, especially the positive changes and growing support from the Conservative Party.

Thank goodness the Tories are finally seeing sense on this.  I have to admit I'm quite surprised.  Of course there are not fat ladies singing just yet! (Is this term politically incorrect now?)

The Tories have rowed back on plans to build houses just because of a homelessness crisis as it proved unpopular with core voters (cynically exploited by the lib dems in a by election where the local candidate ran on a platform opposite to Lib Dem national policy) so I can see them also rolling back on green policies for the same nimby reasons if/when the current gas price crisis has passed.

I guess it is up to all of us to make our voices heard to our local MPs to counter this.

Coastalwatch

Have to confess that I thought Edinburgh was gearing up for welcoming EV aircraft, but not as yet is seems. All credit to them though for heading in the right direction.

Solar-plus-storage-plus-EV charging to be installed at Edinburgh Airport

AMPYR Solar Europe (ASE) has signed a deal with Edinburgh Airport to develop a 9MW solar farm linked with battery storage and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.

The ground-mounted solar PV system and 1.5MW battery storage system will be situated next to the runway at the airport on a 16-acre plot of land. It is to be connected to the airport via a high voltage private wire network. The project is also to see the installation of 40 EV charging points.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/solar_plus_storage_plus_ev_charging_to_be_installed_at_edinburgh_airport

EVandPV

Coastalwatch said:

Have to confess that I thought Edinburgh was gearing up for welcoming EV aircraft, but not as yet is seems. All credit to them though for heading in the right direction.

Solar-plus-storage-plus-EV charging to be installed at Edinburgh Airport

AMPYR Solar Europe (ASE) has signed a deal with Edinburgh Airport to develop a 9MW solar farm linked with battery storage and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.

The ground-mounted solar PV system and 1.5MW battery storage system will be situated next to the runway at the airport on a 16-acre plot of land. It is to be connected to the airport via a high voltage private wire network. The project is also to see the installation of 40 EV charging points.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/solar_plus_storage_plus_ev_charging_to_be_installed_at_edinburgh_airport

Nice one !
That'll be in addition to the existing 24 charging stations, each with 2 or 3 plugs.

shinytop

Martyn1981 said:

michaels said:

Grid carbon intensity down to 37g per kwh last night

https://www.electricinsights.co.uk/#/dashboard?start=2022-03-13&&_k=c26io0

So the miles I drove today had a marginal co2 footprint of 10g per mile.

Wow, wind and solar (mostly wind) covered about 60% of demand for most of the day. And gas got squeezed really low. I can see why intraday storage schemes seem to be accelerating and making the news more and more. Certainly gonna be needing them on a regular basis soon.

Silly thought of the day, but looking at the last CfD offshore wind contracts, and the wind/PV caps in the recent auction, then new RE with intraday storage (assuming ~20% of generation needs to be stored) is probably about half the cost of HPC now, or pretty soon.

Are there any plans to actually build any? Could BEIS design contracts that include storage?  

Martyn1981

I might be pointing out the bleedin obvious, but CW's post got me thinking ...... oh dear!

BEV's seem to provide multiple types/layers of energy storage:
1. The obvious V2G idea that hopefully will expand, simply using the BEV as a grid support battery.
2. Time of use charging, that itself helps to balance out peaks and troughs in demand. It may not return the energy later, but is doing the same job as large scale time shifting battery storage.
3. As per the above article, many large charging stations are (or may get) getting on-site battery storage to help reduce peak prices, and also to allow faster on site charging than the site's leccy supply may be capable of, during high demand charging periods.

Martyn1981

shinytop said:

Martyn1981 said:

michaels said:

Grid carbon intensity down to 37g per kwh last night

https://www.electricinsights.co.uk/#/dashboard?start=2022-03-13&&_k=c26io0

So the miles I drove today had a marginal co2 footprint of 10g per mile.

Wow, wind and solar (mostly wind) covered about 60% of demand for most of the day. And gas got squeezed really low. I can see why intraday storage schemes seem to be accelerating and making the news more and more. Certainly gonna be needing them on a regular basis soon.

Silly thought of the day, but looking at the last CfD offshore wind contracts, and the wind/PV caps in the recent auction, then new RE with intraday storage (assuming ~20% of generation needs to be stored) is probably about half the cost of HPC now, or pretty soon.

Are there any plans to actually build any? Could BEIS design contracts that include storage?  

Yeah loads of articles posted on this thread about batteries being deployed. Some big ones for Scotland got mentioned just recently.

Edit - Hang on, I can see what you mean now. I didn't mean the cost of leccy from a co-located RE generation and storage facility, though of course developments like that are probably going to happen. No, I just meant generally the average cost of leccy when generated by new RE, which is looking good for £50/MWh or less, plus the higher cost leccy that has gone through supply side storage (perhaps 20% for intraday storage?). There's also arbitrage to be considered, but I was focusing just on costs here, not potential income.

So I was just thinking that if storage costs £50/MWh or less (based on small scale domestic battery storage at perhaps 5p to 10p/kWh), and generation gets under £50/MWh, then the overall average cost of that new gen, plus the storage costs, would be around £55-£60/MWh, roughly half the cost of HPC soon, since it'll be over £110/MWh after April's inflationary uplift.

Exiled_Tyke

shinytop said:

Martyn1981 said:

michaels said:

Grid carbon intensity down to 37g per kwh last night

https://www.electricinsights.co.uk/#/dashboard?start=2022-03-13&&_k=c26io0

So the miles I drove today had a marginal co2 footprint of 10g per mile.

Wow, wind and solar (mostly wind) covered about 60% of demand for most of the day. And gas got squeezed really low. I can see why intraday storage schemes seem to be accelerating and making the news more and more. Certainly gonna be needing them on a regular basis soon.

Silly thought of the day, but looking at the last CfD offshore wind contracts, and the wind/PV caps in the recent auction, then new RE with intraday storage (assuming ~20% of generation needs to be stored) is probably about half the cost of HPC now, or pretty soon.

Are there any plans to actually build any? Could BEIS design contracts that include storage?  

Not contracts as such but businesses such as Gravitricity have been BEIS given grants recently to help with storage projects.  

Coastalwatch

This article rather resonated with me following Mart's posts extolling the financial virtues of Renewables coupled with Storage. I suspect battery capacities of California and those of the UK were not too different in 2020 so it will be interesting to see if the trajectory for growth of Storage here follows a similar path. Perhaps someone with greater insight and knowledge of projected build outs etc could advise one way or t'other. Either way has the current demand for it ever been greater!

California’s solar market is now a battery market

A look at the interconnection queue of California’s grid operator shows that the state’s market has already shifted to batteries—sometimes with solar, and sometimes without.

The numbers are stark: at the end of January the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) queue included a total of 282 projects with a solar component (including various hybrids of solar+storage & solar+wind), compared to 533 projects with a battery component. The raw capacities tell the same story: At 135 gigawatts (GW) the capacity of battery projects is 78% higher than the 76 GW of solar projects.

These numbers underscore the very rapid growth of battery technology in California. According to the American Clean Power Association, California had only 256 MW of utility-scale batteries before 2020, but had reached 2.1 GW by the end of 2021—an 8x increase.

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2022/03/11/californias-solar-market-is-now-a-battery-market/?utm_source=USA+|+Newsletter&utm_campaign=790e9856ed-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_80e0d17bb8-790e9856ed-159341337