Alternative energy sources

StarTrekkie007

Hello,

We all seem to be in a mess right now with 80% energy bill rises coming in the next few months.
Wondering if it would be good to consider what this country can do to setup new energy sources.
I would love to hear other forum members ideas.

(1)
I have been considering that countries like Spain have suffered these past few years due to covid
and the vast reduction in tourism (which is a main source of income for some areas). However, Spain
has alot of sunshine and it would be good if those areas could also consider solar power as another source
of income. If counties (like UK) could financially help Spain to build the infrastructure for solar power & storage,
Spain could  then sell the collected energy at a much cheaper rate back to the UK 

(2)
Since the UK is surrounded by water, how feasible is it to harness underwater wave power to create energy ?

(3)
Would it be feasible for the UK government to give grants for reduced cost solar panels installed to houses ?
or 
the government could ask homeowners permission to install government owned solar panels to houses. Energy
collected could be sold back to homeowners at a cheaper rate. If most houses have solar panels installed, then 
there will be less reliance to purchase energy from outside countries.

would love to hear your comments and other ideas you may have for alternative energy sources,

Krakkkers

As someone who has had solar for 7 years I can tell you that heat is the enemy of solar power, don't think that a warm/hot country will produce more.
You want a cool sunny place.

GingerTim

My alternative energy source for this winter is my cat - I think he has worked out that I am essentially a large hot water bottle, and he will return the favour.

StarTrekkie007

Krakkkers said:

As someone who has had solar for 7 years I can tell you that heat is the enemy of solar power, don't think that a warm/hot country will produce more.
You want a cool sunny place.

Could you clarify your statement as to why heat is bad for solar panels.

Are you suggesting that a country that is cooler & has BRIGHTER light would be better ?

i.e. BRIGHTER is better than HOTTER

Section62

GingerTim said:

My alternative energy source for this winter is my cat - I think he has worked out that I am essentially a large hot water bottle, and he will return the favour.

Quite high running costs though?

And can be a bit temperamental when most needed.

brewerdave

Section62 said:

GingerTim said:

My alternative energy source for this winter is my cat - I think he has worked out that I am essentially a large hot water bottle, and he will return the favour.

Quite high running costs though?

And can be a bit temperamental when most needed.

...and totally amoral - if the next door neighbour puts out better food, it's off !!

GingerTim

Section62 said:

GingerTim said:

My alternative energy source for this winter is my cat - I think he has worked out that I am essentially a large hot water bottle, and he will return the favour.

Quite high running costs though?

And can be a bit temperamental when most needed.

Definitely more kwh out than goes in. And being an indoor cat the little beggar is stuck with me!

gefnew

Read this article and then you will get an idea.
Solar panels are feeling the heat too: How heatwave temperatures are hampering solar power | Euronews

Krakkkers

Yes brighter and cool is best.

tghe-retford

There's been talk of putting solar panels in the Sahara Desert (the Sahara gets lots of sun so it's a no-brainer, right?) and every time it is discussed, it is quickly and correctly debunked on a number of practical and environmental reasons. Same problem in Spain, the odd farm is fine but a large scale installation would cause other issues and is not practical (don't get me started on "solar roadways").

Wave power has the same problem, it sounds like a no-brainer in a country with waves but it affects the ecology and environment around the tidal installations. Same thing with hydroelectric and if they fail, the results are catastrophic (see what happened to those downstream of a failed dam in China).

Solar panels on houses would be better but we still have the environmental issues of mining and disposing of the panels, the cost of implementing them across all housing and the cost of replacing them. Anyone who has already had private solar panels installed would be miffed if others had theirs paid for by the state but low income households could not afford to install them. Also, the problems with solar would be magnified, we'd still have lower output in dull conditions and in winter and too much (more so) during times of high pressure.

And I haven't got to the problems of wind power for birds and the environmental cost of disposing wind turbines at their end of life yet. Or the complexities, problems and scientific road blocks with scaling up battery technology to store energy.

Any proposed solution has to come about with reality, scientific literacy and a knowledge of the cost/benefit analysis to the Government. Nothing is zero cost.

[Deleted User]

Solar PV is not the Holy Grail and it most certainly doesn’t need any further Government support. Look at the maths.

Man buys 5kWp PV Array for £6000. The array exports 3000kWh a year. Man saves 2000 x 50p/kWh on imports and gets 3000 x 7.5p/kWh for exports. Qn: what is his payback time?

The problem with solar is that when the sun shines we can have too much of it for the Grid to cope with. Voltage and grid frequency has to be maintained within limits and PV solar exports at a higher than grid voltage. Many domestic solar installations have an export limit because the local grid infrastructure cannot cope.

A much bigger limitation is that solar is not available when it is needed; that is, at night and during the short Winter days. I have a very large solar array: it has generated 740kWh so far this month but only 100kWh last December. The answer is large banks of batteries which are expensive. There is also a round trip loss of 10% to take into account.