Forum Topic

Wind

Currently (1st October 10.16) wind is contributing 40.25% of UK power.Nuclear 14.76%.Would that please Greta?  or is it just blah blah blah?

James Roy ● 1815d8 Comments

Trouble is, there wasn't enough wind during the summer, which was a big contributor to the 300% rise in wholesale gas prices. I think we need quite a lot of overcapacity before Greta will put the bunting up. 

Rob Reynolds ● 1815d

We need a larger percentage nuclear base load (with all its problems) say around 30%, plus major investment in tidal powerwhich never ceases, except on the turn.

Chris Dakers ● 1815d

Just now, wind is contributing 58.73%  26Nov 2022 23.40I know there are is a series of lows queuing up, but still a good percentage.According to http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/  we are exporting 11% of our current generation  to France, and another 5% total to Holland and Belgium, and it says 4% to Norway.

James Roy ● 1394d

I find https://grid.iamkate.com/is good enough for me at quickly displaying what is happening.  Been watching the wind component for a while and its best was about 15GW over more than 2 month period  which made me feel that was our max generation.  Now in the last few days or maybe a week I have seen 19GW shown a few times so don't know if we have some new farms online but can't understand it as even the huge farms are usually about 1.2GW each ,  so that would have to be about 3 of them coming online at eh same time.  Notice the figure now is also bigger than the figure on your website  Anyway , it's a good source.

Andrew Craig ● 1393d

Have you also looked at hydro?  I understand there are quite a few community ones being set up.  That too can suffer if it is too dry in the summer but then so do the French nuclear ones when the river water is too low and warm to be used for cooling.https://www.whalleyhydro.co.uk/

Philippa Bond ● 1393d

Hydro powerScottish Hydrogenerating capacity is 1579mw, or 5% of UK Capacity, when on full load.  As a comparison West Burton Power Station has (had) a capacity of 2000mwThe French tidal scheme at La Rance, which for 45 years was the largest in the world, supplies 57mw. on average taking into account tidal streams.    This is 0.12 % of French generating capacity.The Severn Barrage scheme claims that up to 5% of UK power could be provided.

James Roy ● 1393d

Being pedantic (sorry!), you meant to write MW not mW. 1MW is 1000000000 times larger than 1mW.M stands for mega. m stands for milli.

Andrew Jones ● 1393d

I think the Coops are interesting.  This company supports 30 coops with different schemes including solar, hydro, wind and more.  I read recently that more solar was going on schools in Wandsworth.https://energy4all.co.uk/e4a-co-ops/The figures just go to show how we need to think more about how we use our energy - especially insulating to reduce our need particular when the weather is hot or cold.

Philippa Bond ● 1392d