Author Topic: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.  (Read 28708 times)

Jocko

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #90 on: March 26, 2021, 07:10:16 AM »
In 2020 Scotland met 97.4% of its electricity demand from renewables. It is interesting the way the report is couched as they talk about 97.4% of its equivalent electricity consumption from renewables (my italics). This suggests that sometimes it produces more than it could use and had to export (lack of storage capacity), and at other times it had to call upon non-renewable sources.

Jocko

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #91 on: April 13, 2021, 01:46:41 PM »
Plans have been submitted for a major "green hydrogen" scheme near Glasgow. The application by ScottishPower includes a 20MW electrolyser, a device that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using electrical energy - in this case, via wind and solar power. The planned facility will be located near the UK's largest onshore wind farm, Whitelee, owned by ScottishPower. The project includes a combined solar and battery energy storage scheme. It aims to supply hydrogen to the commercial market before 2023.
The facility will be powered by a 40MW solar farm and a 50MW battery energy storage scheme, all of which will be installed about three miles west of Lochgoin reservoir and adjacent to the existing Whitelee extension substation. It aims to create green hydrogen production facilities with clusters of refuelling stations across Scotland.
The Glasgow scheme is designed to provide carbon-free transport and clean air for communities across Glasgow and support industrial hydrogen demand in the region. It will supply enough "green hydrogen" roughly equivalent to fuelling over 550 buses to travel from Glasgow to Edinburgh and back again each day.

https://fuelcellsworks.com/news/itm-power-and-scottish-power-bring-uks-largest-green-hydrogen-plant-to-glasgow/

JimSh

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #92 on: April 13, 2021, 03:22:27 PM »

Jocko

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #93 on: May 26, 2021, 10:19:17 AM »
A possible step forward in the search for Nuclear Fusion with a British experiment that seems to reduce the amount of heat inside the reactor.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57232644

JimSh

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #94 on: May 26, 2021, 11:32:59 AM »
A possible step forward in the search for Nuclear Fusion with a British experiment that seems to reduce the amount of heat inside the reactor.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57232644

The dream of fusion has been about for as long as I can remember
International co-operation is required.

https://ccfe.ukaea.uk/about-ccfe/culham-centre-for-fusion-energy/

"CCFE operates the world’s largest tokamak experiment, the Joint European Torus (JET), at Culham for fusion scientists around Europe. CCFE is a member of the EUROfusion consortium, which comprises 30 fusion research organisations and universities from 25 European member states plus Switzerland, the UK and Ukraine. Our scientists play a full part in the co-ordinated European research programme run by EUROfusion, including tests at JET.
EUROfusion logo"

Fusion research at CCFE is funded jointly by Euratom and by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council."

Research particularly into things like nuclear fusion is extremely expensive.
Global warming, like Covid, is a worldwide issue. Let's hope the politicians allow the scientists to collaborate and not have everybody re-inventing their own version of the wheel.

Edit added last paragraph.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2021, 01:02:25 PM by JimSh »

richardfrost

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #95 on: May 26, 2021, 01:20:00 PM »
The dream of fusion has been about for as long as I can remember

I shall be 60 this Summer and I have been following and reading about the potential for fusion power stations since I was a lad. What is interesting is that the proposed date for such has never really moved. Even in 1970 I think they were saying it was 60-80 years away. Now it seems so close.

That drawing of the Tokomak station doesn't half look like a Mr.Fusion though. Wonder if that is deliberate, subconscious or what!

Yep. This is what I wrote in March.

culzean

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #96 on: May 27, 2021, 11:20:51 AM »
Lithium chemistry batteries are a huge fire / explosion risk, and once they are alight they are the very devil to extinguish, looking at the amount of smoke produced those batteries must be full of highly compressed electrical smoke..

https://stopthesethings.com/2020/03/01/giant-batteries-bomb-renewable-energy-storage-systems-literally-setting-the-world-on-fire/

« Last Edit: May 27, 2021, 11:47:59 AM by culzean »
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

E27006

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #97 on: May 27, 2021, 06:47:23 PM »


I have an idea. Connect all the BEVs to the Grid and they can keep it running on low wing/sun days. (Yes: it is a suggestion made by others!)

Err When they run out after a few hours, they 're stuffed but my ICE will work as well as ever..

Your idea is not impractical, I was reading about electric car owners being paid a  modest but useful daily fee for  connecting  up their cars to chargers for the purpose of balancing and stabilising the electricity generating system, in particular stabilising the 50 Hz mains frequency

JimSh

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #98 on: May 27, 2021, 10:42:33 PM »


I have an idea. Connect all the BEVs to the Grid and they can keep it running on low wing/sun days. (Yes: it is a suggestion made by others!)

Err When they run out after a few hours, they 're stuffed but my ICE will work as well as ever..

Your idea is not impractical, I was reading about electric car owners being paid a  modest but useful daily fee for  connecting  up their cars to chargers for the purpose of balancing and stabilising the electricity generating system, in particular stabilising the 50 Hz mains frequency
See also my posts in the thread
 Re: Electric cars  Starting
« Reply #2248 on: May 26, 2021, 09:16:02 AM »
No need to pay EV car owners.
It would be possible to buy electricity off peak, store it in the car battery to be used  to power household appliances at peak times or sell back to the grid at peak times.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=vehicle+to+grid+videos+utube&&view=detail&mid=40F88229AD0663EF415C40F88229AD0663EF415C&&FORM=VDRVSR

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=vehicle+to+grid+videos+utube&&view=detail&mid=D8683C8571B8A70FEF9DD8683C8571B8A70FEF9D&&FORM=VDRVSR

Last edit Changed videos (Original video "no longer available")
« Last Edit: May 28, 2021, 07:20:55 AM by JimSh »

E27006

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #99 on: May 28, 2021, 07:31:31 AM »


See also my posts in the thread
 Re: Electric cars  Starting
« Reply #2248 on: May 26, 2021, 09:16:02 AM »
No need to pay EV car owners.
It would be possible to buy electricity off peak, store it in the car battery to be used  to power household appliances at peak times or sell back to the grid at peak times.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=vehicle+to+grid+videos+utube&&view=detail&mid=40F88229AD0663EF415C40F88229AD0663EF415C&&FORM=VDRVSR

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=vehicle+to+grid+videos+utube&&view=detail&mid=D8683C8571B8A70FEF9DD8683C8571B8A70FEF9D&&FORM=VDRVSR
This idea applies to hydrogen fuel cars.
The hydrogen fuel cell is a temperamental device, does not  "wake up" readily  from a switch off  and hydrogen is very difficult to store mid-term and long-term.
The fuel cell  benefits by being  plugged into the house supply (supplying the power need of the owner's home) or connected to the national grid for the purpose of simply keeping the fuel cell stack active when the car is parked and not transporting.
I met an Engineer who had commissioned and trialled two fuel cells, a long train journey and a lucky coincidence we picked the  same seat and table, (he had also worked for Honda and Nissan, - not on fuel cells projects), we had a one hour conversation about EVs and fuel cells,  not exactly promising news for the fuel cell, much work needed to make them feasible, other than  start up issues , they suffer from contamination of the hydrogen - air interface and  "back firing"  problems with water vapour / drops being a nuisance.
In any event a fuel cell car relies upon having a traction battery and is best thought of as an EV with a  fuel cell to charge the battery 
« Last Edit: May 28, 2021, 07:39:20 AM by E27006 »

JimSh

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #100 on: May 28, 2021, 09:07:43 AM »
I think we are talking at cross purposes here.

This is the post to which I was referring
 Re: Electric cars
« Reply #2248 on: May 26, 2021, 09:16:02 AM »

I think there is a lot of mileage in vehicle to grid chargers which enable the electric car to become part of the solution to the problem of energy supply rather than part of the problem.
For the last year my car has been quietly rusting away on my driveway doing nothing and even in normal times most vehicles spend the vast proportion of their lives parked outside houses, offices, factories or railway stations
If they were electric vehicles they could be being used as portable power walls.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=V2g+utube&&view=detail&mid=105C617CBF6ED2732FAF105C617CBF6ED2732FAF&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3DV2g%2Butube%26%26FORM%3DVDVVXX

https://www.ovoenergy.com/guides/electric-cars/vehicle-to-grid-technology.html

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=V2g+utube&docid=608035148647129549&mid=363204C56110A0D9788D363204C56110A0D9788D&view=detail&FORM=VIRE


culzean

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #101 on: June 03, 2021, 03:08:17 PM »
Funny that we are all being warned about rising sea levels but they are building Hinckley Point C on North Somerset coast pretty much at sea level ( 14 metres above mean sea level ),  and any Tsunami will get funneled up the Bristol channel getting higher as it gets narrower ( just like the Severn Bore does ).  A lot of the power station is below ground level so any water that gets in will stay in there.  Have they learnt nothing from Fukushima.......

Even when ( if ) it comes on line it will only add 3GW to grid, that will bring nuclear up to about 9GW,  but some older stations will be falling off the grid soon.  Again today wind is pitiful, and same tomorrow, and for the next week on the Met Office forecast.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2021, 02:49:57 PM by culzean »
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

culzean

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #102 on: June 03, 2021, 08:36:45 PM »
In the rush to use electrically driven airsource and groundsource heatpumps for heating instead of gas it looks as though the damage refrigerants can do to the environment has been glossed over ( or forgotten).  The Germans are warning that refrigerants are toxic when they get into groundwater and rainwater and are hard to remove. The rollout of the heatpumps will increase the usage of refrigerants many to times its present level.

https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/en/press/pressinformation/trifluoroacetic-acid-from-fluorinated-refrigerants?mc_cid=7a2027d37d&mc_eid=7aaad54516
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

culzean

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #103 on: June 09, 2021, 01:58:51 PM »
Private Company based in Oxford seems to be making progress on usable Fusion by 'thinking small'.

https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/meet-the-renegades-building-a-nuclear-fusion-reactor-in-your-neighbourhood/
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

culzean

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Re: Electricity generation. The pros and the cons.
« Reply #104 on: July 02, 2021, 05:13:22 PM »
It won't be Labour that bring this government down,  it is their one eyed fixation on the stupendously massively costly zero carbon ( it is gonna cost trillions ), and their continued support of HS2.  These new taxes will hit 'former red wall, now blue wall' voters the hardest, and without them conservatives will struggle, because Labour is now the party of metropolitan elite.

https://worldnewsera.com/news/uk/green-tax-hike-britons-face-paying-270-a-year-more-on-gas-and-petrol-under-new-plans/
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

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