UK wind record

Potemkin Villager · Post by **Potemkin Villager** » 15 Dec 2017, 12:58

adam2 wrote:Gas burning plant tolerates load changes and start/stop cycles better than coal, but efficiency and services life are somewhat reduced thus.

CCGT plant can often produce some electricity fairly quickly from the gas turbine, but the steam turbine wont produce anything until steam has been raised.

You say "somewhat" whilst ESB CCGT site staff used rather stronger language whilst discussing these issues directly with a colleague of mine. The official management line seems to be that this is not an issue.

Post by **adam2** » 24 Dec 2017, 07:23

Wind power currently at over 8GW, impressive but some way short of a record.
Due to the low national load of only 24GW, wind power was over one third of total UK consumption, and that I suspect IS a record, in percentage terms.
No coal burning plant in use, which is still unusual in the winter, though becoming the norm at other times of year.

All figures as indicated on gridwatch, other sources may differ.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 27 Dec 2017, 18:39

I love the way Christmas day never has an evening peak. I guess because nobody's cooking in the evening: we're all on turkey sandwiches

BritDownUnder · Post by **BritDownUnder** » 29 Dec 2017, 00:51

adam2 wrote:Wind power currently at over 8GW, impressive but some way short of a record.
Due to the low national load of only 24GW, wind power was over one third of total UK consumption, and that I suspect IS a record, in percentage terms.
No coal burning plant in use, which is still unusual in the winter, though becoming the norm at other times of year.

I noticed this website which has good daily, weekly and monthly summaries.
http://www.mygridgb.co.uk/2016-vs-2017/

Interesting to note that the UK is worryingly dependent on gas for about 40% of its electricity supply this year. Wind's share of generation has increased quite a lot, 7 to 11% even from 2016 to 2017. Coal has declined from 40% share to 5% share in the last 6 years. Not good from a national security perspective.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 29 Dec 2017, 12:35

RenewableCandy wrote:I love the way Christmas day never has an evening peak. I guess because nobody's cooking in the evening: we're all on turkey sandwiches

You've a better appetite than me then. Either that or I make a bigger pig of myself with Christmas dinner and so can't eat any more in the evening!

Post by **adam2** » 31 Dec 2017, 12:05

Wind power at present is the largest contributor to the grid, at 9.5, with CCGT in second position at 9.1 and nuclear doing well at 7.3 but still in third place.
I suspect that this is the first time that wind has been the biggest source during the daytime, though it has been fairly regularly achieved overnight.

The all time record for wind is 9.68, IIRC, wonder if a new record might be set today ?

All figures in GW and as indicated on the gridwatch site, other sources may vary.

Post by **adam2** » 31 Dec 2017, 15:05

Indicated wind power twice, briefly reached 9.70 GW an hour or so ago, so that is another new record though only by a small margin.

Post by **adam2** » 17 Jan 2018, 03:30

Indicated power from wind is at present 9.8GW, another new record, AFAIK.
Over a third of national demand is being met by wind.

Post by **adam2** » 17 Jan 2018, 03:56

Well that record did not last long ! About 30 minutes in fact.
Indicated power from wind is now 10.05GW, a new all time record.

As indicated on gridwatch, other sources may vary. The true figure will be a bit higher than the indicated figure, due to small wind turbines that are not metered in real time.

EDIT TO ADD 10.27GW a little later.

Post by **adam2** » 17 Mar 2018, 10:09

Looks like another new record for wind power.
Indicated electricity from wind was 10.7GW a little earlier today and is still about 10.6. Previous record was IIRC, 10.27GW.

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

Wind=10.6
Gas=8.7
Nuclear=6.5
Coal=4.9
PV = 1.0

All figure as indicated on Gridwatch, other sources of data may vary. The actual production from wind is under reported since it does not include small unmetered turbines.

Potemkin Villager · Post by **Potemkin Villager** » 17 Mar 2018, 12:04

Yes it is some fierce blow out there at the moment with wind currently at 11.27 GW. Fascinating site and would be interesting to learn how they harvest data and the methodology for calculating carbon intensity.

As the role of wind in reducing gas consumption is of such critical importance it would be good to see measured gas consumption for power generation displayed as well as power production by gas fueled generators.

Potemkin Villager · Post by **Potemkin Villager** » 21 Mar 2018, 14:12

I noticed on gridwatch that the interconnector between Ireland and Wales is doing nothing at the moment and checking on http://smartgriddashboard.eirgrid.com/# ... connection it has been out since 28th February!

Interesting commentary on the effect of the outage on the Irish grid and wind farm operation http://irishenergyblog.blogspot.ie/2018 ... mment-form

"As the "Beast from the East" hit Ireland on the 28th February, things were looking good for wind farmers. The east winds were predictable and constant, unlike the variable westerlies that hit Ireland most of the time. Wind energy became baseload power for the first time on the Irish grid. On the 1st March, the capacity factor for wind was 80%, a power output normally reserved for coal or gas generation. However, a problem occurred on the morning of the 28th. The interconnector to the UK (East West interconnector) tripped out. This meant that surplus wind generation could no longer be exported to the UK. High amounts of wind generation would have to switched off or "curtailed"."

Potemkin Villager · Post by **Potemkin Villager** » 16 Apr 2018, 20:33

Meanwhile across the water system demand = 5GW wind generation = 3.5GW!

http://smartgriddashboard.eirgrid.com/#all

johnhemming2 · Post by **johnhemming2** » 16 Apr 2018, 21:24

It is pretty impressive.

BritDownUnder · Post by **BritDownUnder** » 17 Apr 2018, 06:14

Potemkin Villager wrote:Meanwhile across the water system demand = 5GW wind generation = 3.5GW!

http://smartgriddashboard.eirgrid.com/#all

You probably saved the UK a lot of gas. I am not sure how much you got for the exported power per MW but at one point the ROI was well over 75% wind power. The UK and Spain had a good day as well with wind. The UK's Monday gas usage profile looked more like a Sunday thanks to a Sunny day and lots of Irish and our own wind.