UK wind record

[Potemkin Villager]

I think they had to curtail about 500MW of wind about 2200 last night as the penetration was heading into the, shall we say, interesting region of 100%. If one of the inter-connectors had gone down again they would have had to diss another 500 MW of wind.

There is a question as to if there is already too much wind on the system whilst there is huge pressure to build a whole load more. This is all uncharted territory and load management is still scarcely being mentioned.

[Potemkin Villager]

Things a bit different now with 4.6 GW demand and only 521 MW wind and importing 362 MW from the UK - phew good job we didn't close down any of those gas fueled power stations!

[RenewableCandy]

You're gonna need a bigger interconnector

[BritDownUnder]

You're gonna need a bigger interconnector

Better to store the excess wind energy somehow and take from that storage when necessary. If the Island of Ireland grid wants another inter-connector they will need to pay for half or even more of it. The cable will be made by Nexans or Prysmian (French and Italian respectively) the converter stations will be made by ABB or Siemens (Swedish/Swiss and German respectively) and the cable will be laid by a Dutch ship crewed by Dutch and Belgians. Not much work for Ireland or the UK there. Better to do some concreting, earthworks and pipework by an Irish company on a pumped storage scheme and use some pump generator units imported from somewhere (the UK used to make these but no longer).

I hear they (IOI grid) are interested in a link to France as well. I think they are probably better having a link there than to the UK, as the UK and Ireland wind generation tends to peak together, and they will have to try to sell to a saturated UK market or import UK gas generation. At least they can import carbon free French nuclear power but at 600km the length is very great.

[adam2]

Today, June 14 at about 10-00, wind power is the largest single contributor to the UK grid.
This has been achieved before, but is most unusual at this time of year.

[kenneal - lagger]

...At least they can import carbon free French nuclear power but at 600km the length is very great.

Carbon free if you discount the massive amounts of concrete that go into the power stations and the, yet to be built, waste storage facilities. That's not to mention the energy used to actually decommission them in 150 years time when they are quite likely to be surrounded by sea water!

[emordnilap]

The (past, present and most importantly the future) disadvantages of nuclear drastically outweigh the mere current advantages. We vote to be hidebound by short-term, selfish interests.

And the humungous amount of wasted cash, most of which which ultimately is forked out by those least able to afford it, has and always will be a crime.

[RenewableCandy]

It boggles my (pedantic) mind that people quote Carbon figures on nuclear power when no-one's yet agreed how we're going to handle the waste.

[emordnilap]

It boggles my (pedantic) mind that people quote Carbon figures on nuclear power when no-one's yet agreed how we're going to handle the waste.

Precisely. The difference, CO2-wise, nuclear makes is negligible and irrelevant at best, in the grand scheme of things.

It's a pure distraction.

I suggest we take all nuclear material and its proponents into space and launch the lot towards the sun.

[PS_RalphW]

For the last 48 hours wind has been the single biggest source of electricity in the UK. On site is currently quoting 14GW production

http://clivebest.com/rgraph/Wind.html

[BritDownUnder]

For the last 48 hours wind has been the single biggest source of electricity in the UK. On site is currently quoting 14GW production

http://clivebest.com/rgraph/Wind.html

This represents a good saving of gas.

[kenneal - lagger]

That is good considering the strength of the winds we have seen over the last 48 hours. I would have expected a lot of wind capacity to have been shut down for safety reasons.

[adam2]

For the last 48 hours wind has been the single biggest source of electricity in the UK. On site is currently quoting 14GW production

http://clivebest.com/rgraph/Wind.html

I have more faith in the gridwatch website for national grid data, rather than the above linked to site.

Gridwatch reported somewhat lower figures, but still most impressive.

More wind turbines have been commissioned since last winter, so I expect to see more new all time records set for electricity produced from wind.

As reported elsewhere on these forums, natural gas has recently increased substantialy in price and the higher price looks likely to be sustained and not like a brief spike.

This will tilt the balance away from gas and towards wind power, and solar.
Wind is not the complete answer, but looks likely to play an increasing part.

A gas price of 2.5 pence a Kwh implies that electricity from CCGT plant will cost in the region of 7 pence a Kwh for fuel alone, and nearer 10 pence after including wages, depreciation, maintenance, gas transport costs, and taxes.

New build wind is cheaper than that.

[adam2]

Earlier today indicated wind power reached almost 11Gw and it is still over 10.9Gw, A new record I believe.

Wind is also the single largest contributor to the UK grid, a position regularly achieved overnight but still uncommon during the day.

Figures from Gridwatch, the actual production is probably a little higher than the reported figure.

[adam2]

Another new record set, at about 09-30 Wednesday.
11.05 Gw from wind, a few days ago, only a slight advance on the previous record of 10.98Gw set a few day previously.

Also of note was that wind power was the single largest source of electricity into the grid at the time.

This is regularly achieved overnight, and has happened during the day at weekends.
But it is still noteworthy for wind to be the biggest input during working hours.