Transitarmy
Well-known member
Wind power wins. The solar panels near Wolviston are absolutely wrecked. Looks like a scrap yard.
I meant that the high winds at the weekend have caused devastation to the solar panel farm.in a balanced energy secure grid, there is a place for both (and others such as hydro etc)
That makes sense.I meant that the high winds at the weekend have caused devastation to the solar panel farm.
TBF we need to use all the alternative energy sources we can. In this country, with Scotland being the windiest country on earth, we definitely benefit more from wind than solar. Horses for course though: Australia has great wind generation but simple epic Solar capability. Mountainous and wet countries like Norway can, and do, get by on Hydro. Much rarer but certain countries, like Iceland can use geothermal.
It's all about storing it though. I like the deal we have with Norway: When we have too much wind power we send it to them to pump water uphill for us. When we don't have enough wind we just ask for hydro from the pumped water. This is what the future needs to be, every source integrated so we have all the energy we need and (crucially) when we need it. With the exception of hydro most renewables suffer from the fact they can't be controlled by us.
Yeah people are having to come up with innovative means of storing electricity. Converting it to green hydrogen uses energy but I guess they've done the sums and the losses are worth it for the storing capacity. I've just invested in a company that is creating supercapacitorss so energy can be stored and distributed when needed. Again there are losses involved but it's better then switching off a wind farm because you have nowhere to store the electricityI have also heard of another project related to a wind farm, where the grid cant take all the electricity generated, and it also cant be stored as you mentioned. So they are building an offshore rig type installation that is connected to the wind farm.
The rig used the "excess" electricity to create green hydrogen, which can then be piped ashore and stored wherever, and used for fuel cells or other electricity production etc. I must admit that the energy conversion from electricity into hydrogen then back into electrify didnt really make sense to me, but I guess the benefit is all around the distribution and storage of the energy, making it available to those who need it when they need it.
I think Nuclear scares too many people, when it really shouldn't, not now anyway.Keep on advancing the renewables by all means, but the smartest way to go is nuclear and invest in the nextgen reactor plants, which are very safe, carbon neutral and can even use some of the fuel from old reactors.
Usable fusion reactors are getting relatively close now. I know this has been harpies on about for decades but some solid research on experimental reactors is ongoing.Keep on advancing the renewables by all means, but the smartest way to go is nuclear and invest in the nextgen reactor plants, which are very safe, carbon neutral and can even use some of the fuel from old reactors.
It's not.TBF we need to use all the alternative energy sources we can. In this country, with Scotland being the windiest country on earth,
Worked on a project to build a district heating system using the mine water in Horden and with the water at the surface they were also going to try and recover rare earth minerals that had been dissolved in it before sending it back down into the mine, really interesting stuff. Unfortunately it was EU funded so was cancelled after Brexit....read an article about some prototype testing of some geothermal heating/energy production system using the "warm" water from flooded decommissioned coal mines, and how its effectively carbon neutral.