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The reliability of wind supplies

davidwalker2

According to GridWatch, this week has been a good illustration of the variability of wind supplies.

From 1 -2 GW overnight Monday to near 15 GW overnight Wednesday, back to around 1 GW this morning and back to 15 GW by 6 pm tonight.

David

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  • 0

    Despite the inherent variability of wind power, I still support expansion thereof.

    To satisfy the entire national demand from wind power would need an improbable number of turbines, and an even more improbable amount of storage.

    That however should not be used as an argument against increasing capacity by at least 50%. Every GWH of electricity generated from wind is several GWH of natural gas not consumed. Natural gas is increasingly expensive, and supplies are vulnerable to interruption from events overseas.

    Use of natural gas only at times of peak demand and/or low wind would be preferable to 24/7 use for base load electricity generation.

    A wind turbine built today should produce electricity for many years at a known cost. A gas fired power station built today will be at the mercy of ever increasing natural gas prices.

    Natural gas is selling for about 220 pence a therm, and has briefly reached twice that price. That corresponds to about 20 pence a unit "at the power station gate" for fuel alone. 30 pence a unit looks reasonable after allowing for all the other costs of doing business.

    After the costs and losses in transmission and distribution, that suggests a market price to the end user of 50 pence to 60 pence a unit. And indeed that is the going rate for non price capped supplies.

    Wind power is a lot cheaper, and less vulnerable to events overseas.

  • 0 in reply to broadgage

    Before you fully commit.

    Have a read here.

    stopthesethings.com/.../

  • 0 in reply to Jon Steward

    Why do I get the feeling that the site in that link may not be completely unbiased and objective? :) May be something to do with the strapline "we're no here to debate the wind industry, we're here to DESTROY IT"! Oh well, at least they're clear that they are biased.

  • 0 in reply to Andy Millar

    Yes Andy they don't need to hide. Someone needs to stop the green madness!

    More food for thought here.

    UK CCC Claim Offshore Wind Will Cost £25/MWh! – Watts Up With That?

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