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The role of wind turbines for the future?

Aaron O'Sullivan

Project drawdown - onshore wind turbines as ONE solution to drawdown emissions

"Wind power plays a large and essential role in any long-term projections of a low-carbon future. It does not require mining or drilling for fuel, so its costs are not susceptible to fluctuations in fossil fuel prices.

One concern with wind electricity is intermittency. Wind speeds vary on a seasonal and hourly basis, requiring back-up power or storage at certain times to meet electricity demand and potentially investments and improvements in grid infrastructure and the flexibility of power systems. Both studies and real-world experience suggest these investments are manageable and cost less than fossil fuels when externalities (health and environmental impacts) are taken into account. Further, regions that do not yet have a centralized electric system designed around fossil use could easily design a flexible or distributed electricity system to take advantage of this resource.

Wind power capacity is projected to continue growing steadily with or without enabling climate policies. However, deployment could be accelerated by policies that put a price on carbon emissions, feed-in tariffs, renewable portfolio standards encouraging renewable energy use, public research and development to help advance the technology and further lower costs, and financial incentives such as production credits and tax breaks."

Onshore Wind Turbines | Project Drawdown

Project drawdown - offshore wind turbines as ONE solution to drawdown emissions

"Wind power plays a large and essential role in a low-carbon future: wind has large capability and is globally available, and the outputs of wind and solar are complementary in many regions of the world. Wind does not require mining or drilling for fuel, and its costs are therefore not susceptible to fluctuations in fossil fuel prices.

The growth of offshore wind could be aided by renewable energy and portfolio standards that mandate a certain level of renewable use. Wind developers could also benefit from regulatory stability, such as feed-in tariffs that guarantee a certain rate of return on wind energy and tax incentives that encourage investment by helping offset development costs. Public research and development can also help decrease costs, particularly for this immature technology. Technology knowledge transfer could help spread wind power across borders."

Offshore Wind Turbines | Project Drawdown

Going Green (Onward)

The Renewables Obligation and Contracts for Difference schemes have also encouraged investment in renewables, driving down the cost of wind and solar to the point that renewables are now the cheapest form of new electricity generation. (BEIS electricity generation cost report (2020))

Going Green Report from Onward (Think Tank ) - Going-Green.pdf (ukonward.com)

Octopus energy launches it's 'fan club' to discount unit prices when turbines are generating nearby

An interesting development I noticed recently was a discount if you're living near to a turbine 

"Octopus customers living near our local fans can enjoy cheaper 100% renewable electricity whenever the turbines are spinning.

Join Octopus Fan Club and get:

100% renewable electricity from your local Fan!
20% off your unit rate whenever your turbine is spinning and you're using electricity
50% off your unit rate when the wind picks up and the green electrons are really flowing"

Introducing Octopus Fan Club: Local green energy for your home | Octopus Energy

International Energy Agency Outlook on Wind Progress

There are challenges to be overcome though, more so in the areas surrounding storage, which is where something like Power Potential from the National Grid could play its part. 

Power Potential | National Grid ESO

Here's the close down report Power Potential (Transmission & Distribution Interface 2.0) project close down report (nationalgrideso.com)

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  • 0

    Aaron,

    You can ease some of the confusion by looking in more detail at the two apparently contradictory articles.

    The ‘How do we stop renewables failing us’ article is written by a professional engineer and most of the points he makes are referenced to the sources.

    The ‘Rise in demand met by renewables’ article is written by E&T editorial staff and contains no references, not even to the ‘Ember’ paper referred to. An internet search bought up this:

    https://ember-climate.org/

    “We are an independent energy think tank that uses data-driven insights to shift the world from coal to clean electricity.”

    Looking their Mid-Year Insight the 4% figure is there but there is also this statement:

    “Power sector emissions may yet set a new record high in 2022

    Despite the halt in fossil generation in the first half of 2022, coal and gas generation increased in July and August, as shown in the graph below. This happened because China’s hydro surplus early in 2022 turned into deficit by August as a severe drought hit the hydro-rich province of Sichuan, and heatwaves struck across the world, pushing up electricity demand. Nuclear generation is still down considerably in Europe, due to outages in France and German closures.

    Our latest year-to-date estimates for January to August show a 1% (+63 TWh) rise in coal power and a 1.6% (+63 TWh) rise in gas power as well as a rise of oil generation of 14% (+57 TWh) compared to the same period last year. This rise in fossil generation led to global power sector CO2 emissions increasing by 1.7% (133 million tonnes) during January to August, compared to the same period last year. Consequently, it is hanging in the balance whether fossil generation – and total power sector CO2 emissions – will rise to set a new record this year.”

    https://ember-climate.org/insights/research/global-electricity-mid-year-insights-2022/

    The E&T ‘Rise in demand met by renewables’ is strictly true, but only tells part of the story.

  • 0 in reply to Roger B

    So what we're saying is global emissions have risen on account of changing weather conditions? 

    That's what has restricted the hydro surplus at the very least. 

    I suppose we would expect that in areas like this there would be a bit of too and fro in terms of generation from fossil fuel and renewable sources as demand is balanced between both sides?

Reply
  • 0 in reply to Roger B

    So what we're saying is global emissions have risen on account of changing weather conditions? 

    That's what has restricted the hydro surplus at the very least. 

    I suppose we would expect that in areas like this there would be a bit of too and fro in terms of generation from fossil fuel and renewable sources as demand is balanced between both sides?

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