Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

Plans and proposals for the expansion of the UK grid are being announced.

With the shift to 'everything electric' over time, "we're gonna need a bigger grid."

Energy firms to spend £77bn to rewire Great Britain’s electricity grid

Energy companies have promised to spend up to £77bn over five years to help rewire to Great Britain’s electricity infrastructure in the global race to shift from fossil fuels to clean electricity.

The companies that own the high-voltage power system – National Grid, SSE and ScottishPower – have submitted the spending plans to the regulator Ofgem for the period from 2026 to 2031, which could support about 100,000 jobs.

National Grid set out plans to spend up to £35bn over the five years to March 2031, SSE is budgeting up to £31bn and ScottishPower aims to invest £10.5bn.

John Pettigrew, the chief executive of National Grid, said its programme represents “the most significant step forward in the electricity network that we’ve seen in a generation”.

He added: “Through it we will nearly double the amount of energy that can be transported around the country, support the electrification of the industries of today and tomorrow; create new jobs; and support inward investment for the UK.”

Martyn1981

New wind generation record ...... three days after the last new wind generation record.

Wind sets new UK record

Wind power has set another record for electricity generation according to new UK data.

Britain’s onshore and offshore wind farms have set a new record by generating 22.5GW of clean power on Wednesday morning, providing 68.3% of the country’s electricity according to the National Energy System Operator (NESO). 

The new record arrives only a few days after the previous high of 22.4GW, which was set on Sunday evening.

Coastalwatch

Impressive figures suggested for the storage project below which if realised would probably top most BESS units currently under construction so well worth persuing even if not of similar efficiency. But with potentially 330 cycles annually creates impressive potential.

World’s largest compressed air energy storage project breaks ground in China

China’s Huaneng Group has launched the second phase of its Jintan Salt Cavern Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) project in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, in a new milestone for the global energy storage sector. Once completed, the project will hold the title of the world’s largest compressed air energy storage facility, integrating groundbreaking advancements in both power output and efficiency.

Phase two of the project will feature two 350 MW non-fuel supplementary CAES units, with a total storage volume of 1.2 million cubic meters. This scale makes it the largest single-unit power generation capacity, total storage capacity, and integrated efficiency of any CAES facility worldwide. The plant’s storage capacity will allow for up to 2.8 GWh of electricity per full charge, with an estimated annual 330 charge-discharge cycles.

https://www.ess-news.com/2024/12/20/worlds-largest-compressed-air-energy-storage-project-breaks-ground-in-china/

cheesesarnie

Homeowners across the country will be given grants and cheap loans to convert their homes to solar panels as part of government plans to hit its clean energy pledge by 2030.

Plans are being drawn to subsidise the costs of installing solar panels in homes across the country.

It will be paid through the government's £6.6billion warm homes plan and is set to be allocated in next year's spending review

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14231409/Starmer-offer-Brits-6-6BILLION-cheap-loans-grants-install-solar-panel.html

Caught my eye. Must admit I was about to pull the trigger but this has made me think carefully. Other news outlets are available. I've always thought the cost of funding the capital outlay was holding things back.

Coastalwatch

Tesla smashes its own records with big increase in energy storage deployments in 2024

https://www.ess-news.com/2025/01/03/tesla-smashes-its-own-records-with-big-increase-in-energy-storage-deployments-in-2024/

Martyn1981

Coastalwatch said:

Tesla smashes its own records with big increase in energy storage deployments in 2024

https://www.ess-news.com/2025/01/03/tesla-smashes-its-own-records-with-big-increase-in-energy-storage-deployments-in-2024/

Tesla’s 2024 figures represent a 214% leap in storage deployment from the previous year. In 2023, Tesla said it had deployed 14.7 GWh of energy storage, another record and more than double that of 2022.

Only speculating, but I wonder if Tesla could double storage deployments again this year? The US Lathrop factory is now at full production, so that's approx 40GWh pa, and the Chinese 'Megapactory' has just been completed / started trial production. That's also 40GWh* once ramped, so ~60GWh for 2025 may be possible.

*But rumours are suggesting it may be more than 40GWh, as it appears to be substantially larger than the US factory, possibly 2 to 4 times.

Coastalwatch

Taken from PV Magazine so they would say that wouldn't they, but the figures do support the headline so difficult to make a case for other forms financially let alone environmentally.

The fastest energy change in history continues

Solar and wind are being installed at a rate that is five times faster than all other new electricity sources combined. This offers compelling market-based evidence that PV and wind are now the most competitive and practical methods for deploying new generating capacity.

Solar and wind catch nuclear

In 2024, global new solar generation capacity was deployed 100 times faster than net new nuclear capacity according to recent data from the World Nuclear Association, the International Energy Agency and Ember. New wind was deployed 25 times faster than nuclear. The fastest energy change in history continues.

The notion that there will be a resurgence of the nuclear industry has similar credibility to the notion that film cameras will be resurrected to match the popularity of digital cameras.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/01/13/the-fastest-energy-change-in-history-continues/?utm_source=Global+|+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ae14186bc2-dailynl_gl&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6916ce32b6-ae14186bc2-159300013

QrizB

Looking at annual output rather than nameplate capacity would reduce those figures somewhat, but even so it's a startling set of statistics.

(Capacity factor for solar is what, about 12% in the UK? Maybe 25% in an ideal equatorial location? And for wind not more than 50% anywhere?)

Martyn1981

QrizB said:

Looking at annual output rather than nameplate capacity would reduce those figures somewhat, but even so it's a startling set of statistics.

(Capacity factor for solar is what, about 12% in the UK? Maybe 25% in an ideal equatorial location? And for wind not more than 50% anywhere?)

Startling is a good word choice. Only seems like yesterday that I was getting all excited for the first year with a global rollout of 100GWp. Now we are closing in on 600GWp pa, with 1TWp possibly as soon as 2027. And costs continue to fall.

Regarding capacity factor, hope I'm not cheating but I think a lot of the more southern US states manage ~25%cf, but that's via single axis tracking, given how relatively cheap it is, and beneficial, as you get further south (than us). Wind can exceed 50%, but again I'm cheating, as that will be the best off-shore sites, and possibly even floating wind, but that costs more. Not sure what a fair weighted average is, but I suspect ~30% is ok?

The chart in the article shows PV generation roughly tripling (Edit, I wrote quadrupling by mistake) ever 4yrs, I think. So if deployments keep accelerating, then it could exceed current gas in 3-4yrs, and get close to coal, by 2030. But I assume there has to be a point where deployments slow. Actually, thinking about it, there's a chance that new RE in China this year, will exceed additional leccy consumption, so FF generation may start to decline. With that in mind, the growing generation from PV, could catch coal sooner, if coal generation finally starts to decline worldwide (thanks to the PV). Double whammy.




Image from article doesn't appear to want to be seen!

Martyn1981

Couple of big BESS projects, potentially 1GW/4GWh each, from National Power, who have a 2040 target of 60GWh of BESS.

NatPower submits planning applications for two 1GW BESS projects

In March 2024, NatPower announced plans to bring over 60GWh of battery capacity online in the UK by 2040, investing £10 billion in the battery energy storage sector.

At the time, the company said the first three of its ‘GigaParks’ would go for planning permission in 2024, and a further 10 would apply in 2025.

As well as the Mowbray and Bellmoor projects (submitted only slightly behind schedule), NatPower has submitted a planning application for a 1GW BESS at Teesworks, a UK industrial zone. The project will be constructed over 50 acres of the Long Acres section of the 4,500-acre Teesworks site.