Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

shinytop

Verdigris said:

Town gas was mostly hydrogen. It was great; you could make gas balloons from old dry cleaning bags and send things into low earth orbit.

and if life all got too much, well, you know...

very versatile stuff

Verdigris

Yes, a waste of time, and gas, doing a Sylvia Plath, these days.

Martyn1981

Having dropped the ball, and failed to mention much storage the last few years, combined with seeing posts concerned that storage isn't actually being deployed, I'm keeping an eye out at the moment for news.

So this article was a pleasant and timely one, showing how the pipeline for submitted proposals has grown massively. It also breaks down project sizes, mentions that the time scale for batteries is growing (as many earlier schemes were for less than 1hr duration, to meet grid support needs), and also briefly mentions the change to regs, so that 50MW and bigger schemes are now appearing, rather than the popular 49.9MW projects of past years.

It also mentions that the number of co-located storage deployments (with PV and on-shore wind) should start to grow again now that wind and PV is able roll out again (more easily).

The numbers behind the record-breaking rise of the UK’s battery storage market

From 2016 onwards, the UK energy markets’s appetite for battery energy storage systems (BESS) has grown and grown, making it one of the leading centres of activity in the global market today. Solar Media Market Research analyst Mollie McCorkindale offers an insight into that trajectory and illustrates where the market is today.

Utility-scale energy storage activity in the UK saw strong growth during 2021 with annual deployment growing 70% compared to 2020. Additionally, the pipeline of future projects increased by 11 GW to over 27 GW by the end of 2021.

This article discusses the factors behind the recent growth of the UK utility-scale energy storage market and what led to the strong annual deployment last year.

The UK installed 446 MW of utility-scale energy storage in 2021, close to the previous high seen back in 2018. 

Focusing on average project size by annual deployment capacity, the average project size in 2017 was less than 6 MW: in 2021, the average project size was 45 MW.

So far, the market has been dominated by sites with 1 hour duration storage, with some half hour duration in early years. However, there is an increasing amount of longer duration storage sites starting to emerge within the pipeline which is partially due to the treatment of longer duration projects in the capacity market but also reflected in the access to the other services available for battery storage to participate in.

Also a free bonus, but a bit dry, here's an article discussing some forms of longer term storage, and a good graph laying out the different scale and duration roles for the various types. [Note: The graph has logarithmic scales.]

FEATURE: Beyond batteries and pumped-hydro for large-scale energy storage

EVandPV

Great RE generation today and the lowest I think I've ever seen FF's.

ed110220

EVandPV said:

Great RE generation today and the lowest I think I've ever seen FF's.

Exporting 1 GW to France too.

Verdigris

I was in Wales today. Cloudless skies and blowing a hoolie.

Shame I haven't got my solar panels or a share of Ripple WT1.

Thrugelmir

ed110220 said:

EVandPV said:

Great RE generation today and the lowest I think I've ever seen FF's.

Exporting 1 GW to France too.

EDF have issues with a number of their nuclear reactors. No one generation source is secure. 

Coastalwatch

That'll be some battery once complete. Great to see an industrial site repurposed for a renewable energy project with plans further down the line for Wind and Solar not to mention an energy from waste plant, presumbly to get a second life out of the power station and it's generators. Is this an indicator of the likely direction for the many coal plants in Aus as they come to the end of their working life, be that full term or even in their premature curtailment? Don't usually associate the word curtailment with Coal power stations.

Australian utility gets tick of approval for 2GWh Liddell battery

Australia’s biggest power producer AGL has secured planning approval for a 500MW/2GWh grid-connected utility scale battery to be developed at the site of its coal-fired Liddell power plant in the New South Wales Hunter Valley.

The grid-scale lithium-ion battery energy storage system is part of AGL’s plans to establish an integrated, low-carbon energy hub at the site of the ageing coal-fired generator that is to be shuttered early next year.

“This planning approval marks a significant milestone for the transition of the Liddell site,” he said. “We look forward to working with partners to progress other developments on and around the site, including a wind farm, a solar storage system, pumped hydro, a waste-to-energy plant and our recently announced green hydrogen pilot with Fortescue Future Industries (FFI).”

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/03/21/australian-utility-gets-tick-of-approval-for-2gwh-liddell-battery/

Martyn1981

Might seem boring (possibly is) but great to see the pipeline for offshore wind reaching such a significant figure. And, whilst this next bit is largely meaningless, it did jump out at me as having a particular importance since offshore wind is heading for 50% capacity factor (probably more), and 50% of 86GW is 43GW, which is roughly equal to the UK's average electricity demand across a year.

Yes, I appreciate it's just a pipeline, average UK demand, intermittent supply, etc, etc, but still (for me) a fun milestone.

UK offshore wind pipeline hits 86GW

The UK’s total pipeline of offshore wind projects now stands at 86GW, according to latest figures from RenewableUK.

The pipeline of projects is more than eight times our current operational capacity and it includes projects which are fully operational, under construction, consented, in the planning system or being developed for submission into planning.

The latest figure represents a 60% increase over the past 12 months, driven mainly by “massive leasing round announcements” by the Crown Estate (8GW) and Crown Estate Scotland (25GW).

The statistics, compiled for RenewableUK’s latest EnergyPulse report, also show that the total global offshore wind pipeline has reached 517GW.

gefnew

Here are some of our efforts on battery storage.
Projects | Harmony Energy