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Post by Ratty on Feb 8, 2020 13:30:47 GMT
So all the EU needs to do is cut the interconnecters to Europe and UK is screwed - so much for Brexit So, what is the date when the UK will achieve net zero emissions?
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Post by sigurdur on Feb 8, 2020 13:37:25 GMT
Around the time we settle Pluto.
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Post by nautonnier on Feb 22, 2020 10:26:00 GMT
Only a few years away..... "Radical hydrogen-boron reactor leapfrogs current nuclear fusion tech
The results of decades of research by Emeritus Professor Heinrich Hora, HB11's approach to fusion does away with rare, radioactive and difficult fuels like tritium altogether – as well as those incredibly high temperatures. Instead, it uses plentiful hydrogen and boron B-11, employing the precise application of some very special lasers to start the fusion reaction.
Here's how HB11 describes its "deceptively simple" approach: the design is "a largely empty metal sphere, where a modestly sized HB11 fuel pellet is held in the center, with apertures on different sides for the two lasers. One laser establishes the magnetic containment field for the plasma and the second laser triggers the ‘avalanche’ fusion chain reaction. The alpha particles generated by the reaction would create an electrical flow that can be channeled almost directly into an existing power grid with no need for a heat exchanger or steam turbine generator.""more here:> newatlas.com/energy/hb11-hydrogen-boron-fusion-clean-energy/
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Post by nautonnier on Feb 28, 2020 16:33:20 GMT
"Power Grid Vulnerability Exposed: Storm, High Winds Lead To Power Outages Over Large Areas Of Germany
German t-online.de news portal here reports how yesterday large areas of central and southern Germany saw the power fail yesterday due to “snow and storms.”
In some locations the power was out for hours, t-online.de reports.
Of course snow itself has little to do with the power going out. Rather the power outages are signs of an increasingly unstable power grid due in large part to the wildly fluctuating feed-in of volatile wind and solar energy........"More here:> notrickszone.com/2020/02/28/power-grid-vulnerability-exposed-storm-high-winds-lead-to-power-outages-over-large-areas-of-germany/
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Post by nonentropic on Feb 29, 2020 5:33:53 GMT
snow is an indicator of demand me thinks.
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Post by nautonnier on Mar 7, 2020 11:57:50 GMT
This will become 'news' in a few years.
So the offshore farms will need blade replacement and possibly bearing replacement a lot more frequently. Useful life probably only 5 or 7 years. The blades are very difficult to dispose of not even in landfill as they are 150ft or more long and are almost impossible to break up for landfill. These windfarms are not a sensible investment unless a craven government continues with extremely high subsidies - or in other words every taxpayer funds the inefficient offshore windfarms.
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Post by nautonnier on Mar 8, 2020 18:13:49 GMT
And it is not only offshore that are showing a shorter 'service life' "The analysis of almost 3,000 onshore wind turbines — the biggest study of its kind —warns that they will continue to generate electricity effectively for just 12 to 15 years.
The wind energy industry and the Government base all their calculations on turbines enjoying a lifespan of 20 to 25 years.
The study estimates that routine wear and tear will more than double the cost of electricity being produced by wind farms in the next decade..........
........The report’s author, Prof Gordon Hughes, an economist at Edinburgh University and a former energy adviser to the World Bank, discovered that the “load factor” — the efficiency rating of a turbine based on the percentage of electricity it actually produces compared with its theoretical maximum — is reduced from 24 per cent in the first 12 months of operation to just 11 per cent after 15 years.
The decline in the output of offshore wind farms, based on a study of Danish wind farms, appears even more dramatic. The load factor for turbines built on platforms in the sea is reduced from 39 per cent to 15 per cent after 10 years."www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/windpower/9770837/Wind-farm-turbines-wear-sooner-than-expected-says-study.htmlNote that even when new the 'load factor' is only 24% of the nameplate capacity!!!
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Post by Ratty on Mar 9, 2020 7:41:24 GMT
And it is not only offshore that are showing a shorter 'service life' "The analysis of almost 3,000 onshore wind turbines — the biggest study of its kind —warns that they will continue to generate electricity effectively for just 12 to 15 years.
The wind energy industry and the Government base all their calculations on turbines enjoying a lifespan of 20 to 25 years.
The study estimates that routine wear and tear will more than double the cost of electricity being produced by wind farms in the next decade..........
........The report’s author, Prof Gordon Hughes, an economist at Edinburgh University and a former energy adviser to the World Bank, discovered that the “load factor” — the efficiency rating of a turbine based on the percentage of electricity it actually produces compared with its theoretical maximum — is reduced from 24 per cent in the first 12 months of operation to just 11 per cent after 15 years.
The decline in the output of offshore wind farms, based on a study of Danish wind farms, appears even more dramatic. The load factor for turbines built on platforms in the sea is reduced from 39 per cent to 15 per cent after 10 years."www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/windpower/9770837/Wind-farm-turbines-wear-sooner-than-expected-says-study.htmlNote that even when new the 'load factor' is only 24% of the nameplate capacity!!! I wonder if there is anything more recent than that?
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Post by nautonnier on Mar 17, 2020 15:08:03 GMT
" HOUSEHOLDS are facing a huge hike in their energy bills after a record surge in subsidy payments to switch off Scottish wind farm turbines partly caused by them producing too much power, an analysis has found.
In the two months of this year, £69 million was paid out in constraint payments, according to research by the Renewable Energy Foundation which described it as an "extreme spike". "www.heraldscotland.com/news/18304539.energy-bill-hikes-pay-69m-scots-wind-farm-compensation/
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Post by nautonnier on Apr 8, 2020 9:48:46 GMT
"Wind Turbine Blades Can’t Be Recycled, So They’re Piling Up in Landfills Companies are searching for ways to deal with the tens of thousands of blades that have reached the end of their lives. A wind turbine’s blades can be longer than a Boeing 747 wing, so at the end of their lifespan they can’t just be hauled away. First, you need to saw through the lissome fiberglass using a diamond-encrusted industrial saw to create three pieces small enough to be strapped to a tractor-trailer."www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-02-05/wind-turbine-blades-can-t-be-recycled-so-they-re-piling-up-in-landfills
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Post by nautonnier on Apr 8, 2020 10:20:44 GMT
"Far Out: German Study Finds Pulsing Wind Farm Infrasound 20 Kilometres From Turbines
The evidence proving the unnecessary damage done to wind farm neighbours by the noise generated by giant industrial wind turbines is mounting by the day: Germany’s Max Planck Institute has identified sub-audible infrasound as the cause of stress, sleep disruption and more (see our post here); and a Swedish group have shown that it’s the pulsing nature of low-frequency wind turbine noise (‘amplitude modulation’) that is responsible for sleep problems in those forced to live with it (see our post here). The Finns have found that that the safe setback distance is more like 15,000m, than the 1,000m or so that risible planning rules permit (see our post here). Following the Finns, a team of German researchers have taken to the field to not only document the unrelenting (and wholly unnecessary) suffering of wind farm neighbours across Germany, but to gather a detailed dataset of precisely what it is that their fellow countrymen are being exposed to. And at distances of over 20km!"stopthesethings.com/2019/05/07/far-out-german-study-finds-pulsing-wind-farm-infrasound-20-kilometres-from-turbines/
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Post by nautonnier on Apr 13, 2020 16:43:56 GMT
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Post by nautonnier on Apr 14, 2020 11:06:06 GMT
"The GB electricity market is not yet ready to get rid of its coal
In 2019 the GB market went a total of 18 consecutive days without any coal contributing to demand and 83 days without coal throughout the year as a whole. This was hailed as a great turning point and a sign that soon there would be no more of this highly polluting fuel on the system at all. Indeed, the economics of coal-fired generation are dire and more plants have closed or announced closures ahead of the October 2024 deadline for all coal plant to close, however, a closer look at the continuing contributions made by coal suggests things may not be as simple as that."watt-logic.com/2020/04/14/need-for-coal/
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Post by nautonnier on May 2, 2020 11:59:06 GMT
"Blackout risk as low demand for power brings plea to switch off wind farms
Britain could be at risk of blackouts as extremely low energy demand threatens to leave the electricity grid overwhelmed by surplus power. National Grid asked the regulator yesterday for emergency powers to switch off solar and wind farms to prevent the grid from being swamped on the May 8 bank holiday, when demand is expected to be especially low. In its urgent request to Ofgem, it warned of “a significant risk of disruption to security of supply” if the “last resort” powers to order plant disconnections were not granted."www.thetimes.co.uk/article/blackout-risk-as-low-demand-for-power-brings-plea-to-switch-off-wind-farms-xv36v575x
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Post by nautonnier on May 8, 2020 13:34:16 GMT
"Mexico’s President Is Betting Big Against Renewables It sounds like a news report out of yet another dystopian novel: Mexico is halting grid connection for new solar and wind power projects. In a world rushing to produce clean energy, Mexico has suddenly stood out like a sore thumb. But, as usual, there's more to the story.
The country's National Energy Control Center, or Cenace, announced it would suspend grid connections of new solar and wind farms until further notice earlier this week. The motivation behind the decision was the intermittency of solar and wind power generation, which, according to the state-owned power market operator, could compromise Mexico's energy security in difficult times.
"The intermittent generation from wind and PV plants affects the reliability of the national electricity system, [impacting] the sufficiency, quality and continuity of power supply," Cenace wrote in a document setting out the rules of the country's electricity market during the Covid-19 lockdown."More here oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Renewable-Energy/Mexicos-President-Is-Betting-Big-Against-Renewables.html
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