Electric Concern

It`s all that sending electrons to you then getting `em back then  to you again ad infinitum and charging you every time they send `em that does it

Well, with gas supplying almost half of all U.K. electrical generation I think that we need it. At least gas can be used quickly when needed. It's on tap.

Z.

Problem with fossil fuels right now is Carrie Symmonds - no one elected her, sh didn't stand for office but if allowed to exercise her sway, she'll have us all on electric bicycles.

On the subject of gas, so long as we do not become dependent upon Mr Putin for continuity of supply because, as the Germans will soon find out,  it won't end well.

On the 40-odd% generation from UK renewebles, what happens when the snow covers the solar panels and the ice forms on the leading edges of the windmills which will result in the unbalancing of an rotational mass and ultimate shut down?............................?

It seems that Texas has recently found to its cost that it's energy supplies are not as robust as they thought they would be in the face of a freezing storm and subsequent low temperatures. It would appear that just like the UK, no one has thought about building in resilience of supply sources.

I think in political circles there is a failure to grasp the significance of averaging over time, and the fact the electricity does not store easily.

Scotland generates more power in a year than it uses from wind, but it cas to sell that on when the windd blows, and use fossil fuel when it does not.

Now, clearly oil and gas will run out, but not for quite a while yet. But for many good reasons, and perhaps some silly ones, we'd like to use less of it each year, so we eventually burn the same amount as before but over a longer time.


So a high generation when the wind blows is very sensible, but putting fossil fuels beyond reach before we have to do so, is foolish.

We will in effect need something to fill in the gaps for the foreseeable future.

There are more reliable non fossil sources than wind, tides and geothermal come to mind, and we can have more of them, but not quickly, and it will be a part solution. Solar makes most sense in sunny counties.

Some clever stuff is being looked at  for storage but it may all come to very little.


Texas's problems are not just badly wind farms, but a failure to have a proper grid, and lines coming down under the weight of ice. Generation is only part of it, but it suits the oil states politics to imply the green stuff is the only problem.


Mike

There are many things in development for solving the unreliability of renewables. Some of which are already operational.


1. Improvement of battery storage to store surplus energy when demand is low. This is being done through:

•utilising existing battery storage systems (the lakes up mountains)

•development of new battery storage facility's

•development and introduction of two way electric vehicle chargers (to charge in times of low demand and to discharge in times of high demand)


2. The introduction of carbon capture and storage will enable fossil fuels to be used to produce power without emiting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This would also allow the use of coal again which there is an abundance of supply in the UK.


3. In times of high demand, when there is a shortfall of energy; energy can be purchased from abroad through the existing under sea distribution network which is currently being extended to enable the UK to purchase from more European Country's.