Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Netexporter

You're not imagining it. A recent Just Have a Think episode showed a report that grid-scale battery storage will very soon exceed pumped storage, worldwide.

America's grid battery revolution. (youtube.com)

CATL are turning out their version of Megapacks, presumably at the prodigious rates we have come to expect from Chinese manufacturers.

michaels

Can't help thinking batteries solve two problems, not just intermittency/variable demand but also potentially grid bottlenecks.

(3 problems if you include frequency response)

Martyn1981

Yet another proposal for a massive Scottish PHS scheme. There are something like 8GW of proposals currently.

SSE, Gilkes form Scottish pumped storage JV

SSE has announced plans to progress a new pumped storage hydropower scheme at Loch Fearna in Scotland’s Great Glen, in a 50:50 JV with a consortium led by Gilkes Energy.

The proposed co-development (pictured) is located at the western end of Glengarry around 25km west of Invergarry and adjoins SSE Renewables' existing Loch Quoich reservoir in the Great Glen hydro scheme.

It is envisaged the proposed development would be up to 1.8GW in generating capacity and capable of producing around 37GWh of stored energy capacity. The project has already secured a grid connection offer totalling 1795MW.

[For scale, Dinorwig (Electric Mountain) is 1.8GW/9.1GWh]

Netexporter

That sounds very promising. Dinorwig is great for getting you out of a hole, rapidly, when something major suddenly goes off-line, but the duration is relatively limited, just giving enough time to fire up fossil alternatives to make up the loss. Fine when it was designed but the grid is a different beast, these days.

Good to see Juergen Maier, former boss of Siemens, has been appointed to run GB Energy. Stuff may actually get done.

Coastalwatch

A short video, 4 mins, from Electric Viking on current generation news from down under.

He's by no means my favourite presenter but, good news is good news after all.

Solar, wind and batteries hit new record in Australia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRz-dq8DmM8

Coastalwatch

More positive news on renewable energy generation and storage suggesting that when combined they assist in the ramp up of installs on both fronts.With PV and battery storage costs at historical lows shouldn't really be a surprise. Should it!

Germany accelerates approval procedures for PV, wind power, storage

Acceleration areas and shortened approval procedures are intended to ensure faster expansion of wind and solar parks as well as energy storage at the same locations. The move implements requirements from the EU Renewable Energy Directive of 2023. Approvals will also be facilitated for electrolyzers to ramp up hydrogen production.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/07/26/germany-accelerates-approval-procedures-for-pv-wind-power-storage/?utm_source=Global+|+Newsletter&utm_campaign=7005630397-dailynl_gl&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6916ce32b6-7005630397-159300013

Martyn1981

The  US is investing a lot of money in wave energy research. I do hope they make some progress, but as always, this is a very tough area, that may never work out well, too well.

Monster Wave Of Marine Energy About To Hit US Shores

Harnessing the infinite power of ocean waves and tides has been a long, slow slog, but the waiting could be over. Democratic members of the House of Representatives have come up with a $1 billion scheme to launch the US marine energy industry into the big leagues, to take its rightful place alongside the wind and solar juggernauts pushing the rnewable energy industry.

Martyn1981

Little & Large energy storage schemes here. Starting with a small, but interesting project in Italy utilising gravity and a coal mine.

Then jumping to a biggy in every way in the UK - 400MW, 2.4GWh, 6hr.

Energy Vault and municipality developing gravity-plus-BESS project at coal mine in Italy

Energy Vault and a coal mining company owned by the local government in Sardinia, Italy, have signed a land lease agreement to deploy a project combining gravity energy storage and BESS technology.

The energy storage technology firm has partnered with Carbosulcis S.p.A to develop a 100MW ‘Hybrid Gravity Energy Storage System’, a solution that Energy Vault has designed for deployment in underground mines.

It combines its proprietary gravity energy storage technology for which it is known and battery energy storage system (BESS) technology, and would be deployed in a large coal mine shaft that Carbosulcis is set to fully retire in 2026, called Nuraxi Figus.

Statera gets planning consent for 6-hour, 2.4GWh UK BESS project with BYD batteries

Councillors in Dorset, UK have reportedly approved one of the largest BESS projects in the world, from developer Statera Energy.

The company’s 400MW/2,400MWh Chickerell battery energy storage system (BESS) project was voted in favour of by six votes to two this week (29 July) at a Dorset Council meeting, according to numerous news reports. The county of Dorset is on the south coast of England.

The 6-hour duration would be far higher than most projects online in the UK today, which are around 1- or 2-hour systems. The project has a grid connection date in 2028 but one of this size could presumably take even longer to come online, by which point the UK market may have moved to longer durations.

Statera said that at full capacity the project would discharge about one cycle a day, i.e. its entire capacity over the course of the day.

Martyn1981

Couple of articles on the accelerated plans to install more interconnectors to shift ever more RE generation from Scotland to England.

BBC - Electric 'superhighway' approved between Scotland and England

A multi-billion pound subsea cable that can shift vast amounts of renewable electricity between Scotland and England has been given the go-ahead by regulators.

SSEN Transmission says the energy transfer project is needed to move energy around the grid on days when the wind doesn’t blow or demand is high.

The two 315-mile (507km) cables will run from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire to Drax in North Yorkshire and will initially work alongside a similar link down the west coast.

It is part of wider moves to modernise and increase capacity on the energy transmission network for the shift away from fossil fuels to tackle climate change.

Guardian - Electricity ‘superhighway’ between Scotland and England to go ahead

Great Britain’s energy regulator has given the green light to a £4.3bn low-carbon electricity “superhighway”, which will carry renewable power for 300 miles from north-east Scotland to the north of England.

The first phase of the Eastern Green Link subsea power cable, the longest in Great Briain, will have the capacity to transmit enough renewable electricity from Scotland’s windfarms to power 2m homes in England, according to Ofgem.

The single largest investment in Great Britain’s electricity grid to date, which will be paid through energy bills, is the first of 26 big energy grid projects which the regulator, Ofgem, plans to fast-track so more homes can benefit from the UK’s growing number of offshore windfarms.

Coastalwatch

Thanks for posting Mart. Bit of a coincidence but we were up in Inverness halls of residence last week having struggled to book B&Bs. The rooms were good with three quarter bed, ensuite shower loo and work top for pc etc. A well equipped kitchen unit was shared with five other rooms four of which housed guys conducting geothermal surveys for the Peterhead to Drax route. They said the geothermal aspect amounted to thrusting canes into the ground to assess the depth of peat in locations where pylons were planned. Have to confess I'd rather assumed it was over land with pylons as opposed to HVDC under the sea so really good to learn this.

Transmission commencing in 2029 will see it operational in time for a couple of pumped Hydro schemes, planned for 2030 and 2031 involving Loch Ness.

https://projects.statkraft.co.uk/loch-na-cathrach/

https://renews.biz/94449/ili-files-15gw-balliemeanoch-planning-application/

I can't help but wonder what potential of Pumped Hydro exists in Scotland and if anybody has commmisioned a report, be it hyperthetical or otherwise, upon it?

Great to see progress happening.