Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

70sbudgie

QrizB said:

Martyn1981 said:

Looks like the wind record has been broken again. I thought it might edge over 20GW today, but Energy Numbers is currently at 21.1GW. Nice.

On a related topic, is Electric Insights (the Drax-sponsored site) down fror everyone, or just for me?

https://electricinsights.co.uk

It's been dead for me all week; historic data is still there but nothing later than Sunday morning.

The mobile version tells me it is missing data.

michaels

QrizB said:

Martyn1981 said:

Looks like the wind record has been broken again. I thought it might edge over 20GW today, but Energy Numbers is currently at 21.1GW. Nice.

On a related topic, is Electric Insights (the Drax-sponsored site) down fror everyone, or just for me?

https://electricinsights.co.uk

It's been dead for me all week; historic data is still there but nothing later than Sunday morning.

It is my favourite gen tracker site as it also gives prices.  I sent a message this morning on their contact us page to ask if they had any intention of bringing it back or whether it was down for good.

Martyn1981

OK, got bored waiting to find an official news release (there's bound to be one somewhere), but National Grid ESO have tweeted (I think) that a new wind record was set, smashing the 19.94GW from a few days ago, with 20.9GW. Seen items in chats, but wanted to post an article.

Martyn1981

Regarding comments on UK seas and waves, I'm going to suggest that the following is not going to be something we'll be rolling out anytime soon.

The world’s first offshore floating wind-solar pilot just came online in China

China’s government-owned utility State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) has launched the world’s first commercial offshore floating solar that’s paired with an offshore wind turbine.

The project uses Norway-based Ocean Sun‘s patented floating solar power technology.

The two solar floaters (see the photo above) have an installed capacity of 0.5 megawatts peak. They’re connected to a transformer on a SPIC-owned wind turbine and then a subsea cable runs from the wind turbine to the power grid.

If the pilot is successful, the plan is to build a 20 MW floating wind-solar farm in 2023 using Ocean Sun’s technology.

70sbudgie

Martyn1981 said:

Regarding comments on UK seas and waves, I'm going to suggest that the following is not going to be something we'll be rolling out anytime soon.

The world’s first offshore floating wind-solar pilot just came online in China

China’s government-owned utility State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) has launched the world’s first commercial offshore floating solar that’s paired with an offshore wind turbine.

The project uses Norway-based Ocean Sun‘s patented floating solar power technology.

The two solar floaters (see the photo above) have an installed capacity of 0.5 megawatts peak. They’re connected to a transformer on a SPIC-owned wind turbine and then a subsea cable runs from the wind turbine to the power grid.

If the pilot is successful, the plan is to build a 20 MW floating wind-solar farm in 2023 using Ocean Sun’s technology.

I would have thought the capacity would discount it for the UK. "...the plan is to build a 20MW [...] farm in 2023..."

I think the UK's latest windfarm to energise was 1.2GW?

zeupater

70sbudgie said:

Martyn1981 said:

Regarding comments on UK seas and waves, I'm going to suggest that the following is not going to be something we'll be rolling out anytime soon.

The world’s first offshore floating wind-solar pilot just came online in China

China’s government-owned utility State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) has launched the world’s first commercial offshore floating solar that’s paired with an offshore wind turbine.

The project uses Norway-based Ocean Sun‘s patented floating solar power technology.

The two solar floaters (see the photo above) have an installed capacity of 0.5 megawatts peak. They’re connected to a transformer on a SPIC-owned wind turbine and then a subsea cable runs from the wind turbine to the power grid.

If the pilot is successful, the plan is to build a 20 MW floating wind-solar farm in 2023 using Ocean Sun’s technology.

I would have thought the capacity would discount it for the UK. "...the plan is to build a 20MW [...] farm in 2023..."

I think the UK's latest windfarm to energise was 1.2GW?

Hi

Agreed, as a stand-alone solution the floating solar would make little sense, however, the thrust of the idea looks to be utilisation of existing infrastructure ... ie placing a floating raft of PV panels close to offshore wind turbines and utilising their existing connectivity, so effectively leveraging the turbine's connectivity to at least provide power in conditions when the turbine isn't spinning and supplement individual turbines when wind conditions are relatively poor ... looks like a low cost solution as long as the things don't fall apart in a storm, which the associated blurb says it won't, but that's what pilot installations are supposed to find out.

Looking further into this, I found a graphic describing the unit's operation and it seems that they're connected to a set of seabed anchored buoys and it looks like the floating platforms can be rotated relative to the buoys ... fundamentally, the circular platforms should act as trackers, which is pretty neat as it costs virtually nothing extra ..

HTH - Z  

gefnew

Is this real farmland or just tier 4x land.
Blyth and Bedlington solar project to be built on 150-hectare farmland - BBC News

QrizB

Here's a (long) New York Times article I found interesting (although it might be mainly old news) - we've already averted the climate apocalypse, but have also passed beyond the "keep calm and carry on" stage:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/26/magazine/climate-change-warming-world.html

Beyond Catastrophe A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View By David Wallace-Wells

You can never really see the future, only imagine it, then try to make sense of the new world when it arrives.

Just a few years ago, climate projections for this century looked quite apocalyptic, with most scientists warning that continuing “business as usual” would bring the world four or even five degrees Celsius of warming — a change disruptive enough to call forth not only predictions of food crises and heat stress, state conflict and economic strife, but, from some corners, warnings of civilizational collapse and even a sort of human endgame. (Perhaps you’ve had nightmares about each of these and seen premonitions of them in your newsfeed.)

Now, with the world already 1.2 degrees hotter, scientists believe that warming this century will most likely fall between two or three degrees. (A United Nations report released this week ahead of the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, confirmed that range.) A little lower is possible, with much more concerted action; a little higher, too, with slower action and bad climate luck. Those numbers may sound abstract, but what they suggest is this: Thanks to astonishing declines in the price of renewables, a truly global political mobilization, a clearer picture of the energy future and serious policy focus from world leaders, we have cut expected warming almost in half in just five years.

michaels

I wonder what the 24 hours, 7 day and 30 day wind records are?
Drax Electric Insights

70sbudgie

gefnew said:

Is this real farmland or just tier 4x land.
Blyth and Bedlington solar project to be built on 150-hectare farmland - BBC News

Given this from the article:

"The Blyth site will be built on former coal seam land north east of Low Horton Farm, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The Bedlington site lies on land East of Burnt House Farm on Netherton Road, which was once a former open-cast coal mine."

I can't imagine the land is good enough for more than grazing - which they apparently intend to do in connuntion with the solar panels.