New North Sea windfarms to get multi-national connections...

Philip Oakley said:

The bit I haven't quite grasped is: for such a wind generator, with a CfD price, how do they determine their bid price for a half hour slot (assuming they do such bidding, rather than simply stating available/unavailable) ? 

It's the day-ahead hourly auction, the electricity auctions are 'pay as clear' with all sellers receiving the same auction price, likewise all buyers paying the same price, with that price determined by the supply and demand curves of the sellers and buyers, with the clearing price (where the curves meet) setting the price.

So for example, if you were a wind generator, you know your CfD contract will top-up your payments to your CfD agreement price, so you can offer your generation into the auction at £0/MWh reserve knowing that you will receive the auction price and the CfD will then top-up your price up to your CfD agreement price (there's some extra complexity around the contracts and the T&Cs, some will even go negative, some limited to slightly above zero).

That's why when there's lots of wind, the auction prices can fall to zero or even go negative, the renewables marginal costs are very low, close to zero so they can offer at zero. But while marginal costs are very low, average costs are not - no renewables generator can afford to invest hundreds of millions or billions building and maintaining these hugely expensive off-shore wind farms to then operate profitable at very low prices. Which is why they all seek these subsidy agreements to guarantee their prices and protect themselves against swings in wholesale prices, pushing the risk onto the consumer.

You can have too much wind energy up in the North Sea and not enough on the south coast, but unlike domestic solar, you cannot store it locally and then use it gradually when the wind is not blowing (or sun shining). Unlike fossil fuels, you cannot put it in a ship and take it to the user.

Surely, "net-zero" is driving solar and wind generation and the Government uses this as a reason to commit to the large infrastructure projects.

As I see it, at some stage fossil fuels will be reserved for aviation and military purposes - imagine an electrically powered main battle tank!

imagine an electrically powered main battle tank!


What makes you think its not being considered , right now ?

There are already hybrid tanks as proof of concept with electric drive and the ability to run for a modest time in  all-electric mode as there is electric reactive armour, both exist and are being run around test tracks with not too much fanfare.

Not all of these ideas will be practical of course, and maybe we need to keep some vegetable oil back for the more extreme applications, but the sums seem to say 'difficult' not 'impossible' .

Mike.

mapj1 said:

What makes you think its not being considered , right now ?

I am not in the least bit surprised, but finding an EVCP on a battlefield might be challenging.

In fact, I am not sure that main battle tanks will survive: news reports from Ukraine seem to be all about drones and missiles.

Chris Pearson said:

you cannot store it locally

Chris Pearson said:

you cannot put it in a ship

I'm sure that they'll soon commission a battery ship equivalent to Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) unit that can do the storage for later delivery. It took Oil & Gas long enough to try it but its normal tech now. Plus the battery tech doesn't have to be the Li-Ion style as it's not 'mobile', so can use the slightly heavier but less fire risk chemistries.

Aside: Ukraine has shown that the old classic MBT tactics aren't as effective as they once were. Then there's all the Laser-Fire technologies needing their electric.

There have been serious discussions not just about offshore batteries, which may well be less risky than the same storage capacity on land, but also around floating hydrogen and electrolysis rigs. These sort of things are big but easily floated out to where there is an excess generation without waiting for long cables to be laid.

https://www.siemens-energy.com/global/en/home/products-services/product-offerings/hydrogen-solutions.html

Then you can either tow the gas ashore or burn it there to generate.power.

Again none of these ideas are a simple one hit solution, but a kit of parts allowing different things in different places.

Mike.

For thoise who like myself, struggle to understand the various structures in the market etc I would recommened this channel. Both the BBC and Justin Rowhit have been found wanting in several areas of impartiality on the subject.

www.youtube.com/@KathrynPorter26

Ferdinand Porsche tried it and failed. "Sorry Sir - cannot advance due to flat battery in me tank"!

I haven't found the channel to be that easy to access/consume. 

Likewise. I managed a few minutes. The cat was a distraction.