The Alternative Green Energy Thread

Netexporter

NIMBYs should have their leccy cut off.

Firm but fair, me.

paul991

no problem with wind or solar near me but shouldn't we cover all the roofs first

QrizB

paul991 said:

no problem with wind or solar near me but shouldn't we cover all the roofs first

Rooftop solar is comparatively expensive and there are very few roofs large enough to take utility-scale solar.

Wembley stadium, for example, has a roof area of 40000 sq.m. which is four hectares, enough to hold perhaps 3MW of solar PV - quite a small solar farm.

NedS

QrizB said:

JKenH said:

I wonder how well large scale solar and wind farms will be received in the South East.

I live in the central south (ex- Southern Electric region) and I'd love to see them.

There are a lot of NIMBYs here, though. There was onshore wind proposed a few miles ago, which they objected to, and there now a campaign against a proposed solar farm.

I can see 4 wind turbines from my home office window. Makes me smile when I look out the window and see them turning. I'd much rather look at them than large pylons transporting in electricity from afar.
I struggle to see the objection to solar farms. Other than the occasional glimpse in the distance from a main road as I drive past, I wouldn't know they existed. But again, if I could see them from my window I suspect my reaction would be the same as for wind turbines - much rather see those than a coal fired power station on the horizon spewing out pollution, or even a mini nuclear reactor in each town.

JKenH

I anticipate this ruling by the ICJ will have some people rubbing their hands with glee. It is only advisory but so was the Chagos Islands ruling. Let’s hope that the principle of several and joint liability doesn’t apply otherwise the UK will end up footing the bill for all the world’s weather events while countries like China ignore their role. 

Be careful what you wish for.

Top UN court says countries can sue each other over climate change

A landmark decision by a top UN court has cleared the way for countries to sue each other over climate change, including over historic emissions of planet-warming gases.

But the judge at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands on Wednesday said that untangling who caused which part of climate change could be difficult.

The ruling is non-binding but legal experts say it could have wide-ranging consequences.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce379k4v3pwo

PS: Guess which barristers chambers played a big role in this? 

NedS

JKenH said:

I anticipate this ruling by the ICJ will have some people rubbing their hands with glee. It is only advisory but so was the Chagos Islands ruling. Let’s hope that the principle of several and joint liability doesn’t apply otherwise the UK will end up footing the bill for all the world’s weather events while countries like China ignore their role. 

Be careful what you wish for.

Top UN court says countries can sue each other over climate change

A landmark decision by a top UN court has cleared the way for countries to sue each other over climate change, including over historic emissions of planet-warming gases.

But the judge at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands on Wednesday said that untangling who caused which part of climate change could be difficult.

The ruling is non-binding but legal experts say it could have wide-ranging consequences.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce379k4v3pwo

PS: Guess which barristers chambers played a big role in this? 

My initial reaction is that lawyers are likely to be the main beneficiaries of this ruling whilst they argue over who caused what, and all the time focusing on a blame culture distracts from the job in hand moving forward.

paul991

 Went to a local planning meeting /display on talking to the developers .A few houses will have Pv  ,A few houses will have a Ashp. The rest will have Gas boilers but these will not have underfloor heating seems builders are doing least possible to tick a few boxes

JKenH

Helpful video from Kathryn Porter of Watt-Logic explaining how CfDs work - link at foot of page.  In particular I found useful the explanation of what happens to CfDs when electricity prices go negative. I hadn’t previously realised that the generators don’t receive CfD payments in certain circumstances. Here are a couple of slides from the video.

The first sets out how the negative pricing rule has evolved

The second illustrates the direction of flow of payments under CfD contracts. The period during 2022 when renewables paid back moneys to the government was at the heights the gas crisis brought on by the invasion of Ukraine.

https://youtu.be/GfmTbW10Y84?si=FVbu0ftVJDTHdD9C

JKenH

I thought it would be interesting to compare our electricity generation sources over the last 12 months with the previous 12 months. (Source: Drax Electric Insights https://electricinsights.co.uk/#/dashboard?period=1-year&start=2024-07-30&&_k=09ckmj
Overall generation was up marginally from 259.9TWh to 262.1 TWh.
FF generation rose marginally from 78.9 TWh (28.1%) to79.0 TWh (28.2%)
Wind fell from 82.8 TWh (31.9%) to 79.7TWh (30.4%)
Solar rose from 12.4 TWh (4.8%) to 16.3 TWh (6.2%)
Wind and solar combined rose marginally from 95.2 TWh (36.6%) to 96.0 TWh (36.6%)

Edit: corresponding figures for 30/7/2022 to 29/ 7/2023 were Total gen 266.6 TWh, FF 102.6 TWh (38.5%), wind 76.7TWh (28.8%), Solar 11.6 TWh (4.4%), wind and solar combined 88.2TWh (33.1%) 

NedS

Thank you for sharing. It is great to see wind as the largest source of energy. I guess the next big milestone will be renewables providing 50% or more of the power generated in any one year.

It is disappointing to see the growth of wind has effectively stalled; solar seems to be the main growth area but is still relatively small contribution to the overall picture, and we are still woefully lacking in storage capacity.