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GB National Grid Status

gridwatch.templar.co.uk

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Re: GB National Grid Status

#31

Post by DrScientist »

magnetic-recoil wrote: post #20
RyanShook wrote: post #14

Is wind an efficient way to produce electricity? Would we be producing wind turbines if there were 0 subsidies?

Offshore wind in the UK currently uses the "Contracts for Difference" payment mechanism. Operators bid to build turbines, and the best value operators get assigned areas of the sea. Then, they receive a fixed price from consumers for any electricity they generate (effectively, but there's market mechanisms in there that complicate the accounting). Initially, this was much more expensive than fossil electricity, but t…

Adding to that, they are now looking at local hydrogen production from wind excess.

While not nearly efficient as using the electricity directly, it's more efficient than throwing it away.

Also the offshore farms sit in a pool of the raw material ( water ).

Re: GB National Grid Status

#32

Post by cm2187 »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #4

Ok, I must have missed this but ... Wind produces 16% of UK electricity, and nuclear produces 13% .... Ok wow. I assumed solar would be the thing that takes over, and In Spain that's probably true. But here it seems wind is going to be a win. Anyway I still need to work out how to spend my declining years - how to write software for renewable energy farms ... wind or solar.

There isn't much wind at the moment, you can see the history, we are in the lower range right now

https://gridwatch.co.uk/wind

Re: GB National Grid Status

#33

Post by RobinL »

magnetic-recoil wrote: post #20
RyanShook wrote: post #14

Is wind an efficient way to produce electricity? Would we be producing wind turbines if there were 0 subsidies?

Offshore wind in the UK currently uses the "Contracts for Difference" payment mechanism. Operators bid to build turbines, and the best value operators get assigned areas of the sea. Then, they receive a fixed price from consumers for any electricity they generate (effectively, but there's market mechanisms in there that complicate the accounting). Initially, this was much more expensive than fossil electricity, but t…

I've always wondered under the mechanism who has benefited from higher energy prices in the UK? With consumers currently paying high prices, who's getting the difference between the CfD price and the market price for energy generated by wind. Is it the government do you know?

Re: GB National Grid Status

#34

Post by DrScientist »

cjrp wrote: post #27
DrScientist wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. But note that a lot of the local solar capacity doesn't actually show up on the grid production numbers. ie if you have a solar panel on your roof and mostly use it to reduce the power you take from the grid, all you will see in the national numbers is lower demand, not increased production.

Don't most domestic panels actually feed into the grid (so presumably would show up on the stats as solar generation)? Unless you've got a battery system at home.

They do - but as the rate you are paid for electricity is now a fraction of the price you are charged, most people without a battery try and align their energy use with production.

( The suns out! Put on the washing machine/dish washer etc ).

Re: GB National Grid Status

#35

Post by taxicabjesus »

On Friday, December 9th at ~4:00pm GMT (Greenwich mean time):

  Nuclear: 5.25 GW
  Wind: 3.84 GW
  Combined Cycle Gas Turbines: 23.31 GW
  Solar (Estimated): 0.35GW
  
  Installed Wind Capacity (onshore + offshore): 25 GW [0]
  Installed Solar Capacity: 13.4 GW [1]
  Total installed Wind/Solar: 38.4 GW. Total produced: 4.11 GW
Wind is currently producing 15% of its installed capacity. Solar is producing 2.6% of its installed capacity. Combined, the renewables are at almost 11% of their installed capacity. Gas turbines are making up the difference.

Lots of you are cheerleaders for "renewables". They seem like a transitional technology to me. If hydrocarbons are ever going to be retired from use, nuclear sure does seem like the only option.

It seems to me like humanity's only hope is a breakthrough in our understanding of the laws of nature.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_Kingd...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_the_United_King...

edit: formatting & added combined 11% total for wind/solar

Re: GB National Grid Status

#36

Post by bombcar »

cjrp wrote: post #27
DrScientist wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. But note that a lot of the local solar capacity doesn't actually show up on the grid production numbers. ie if you have a solar panel on your roof and mostly use it to reduce the power you take from the grid, all you will see in the national numbers is lower demand, not increased production.

Don't most domestic panels actually feed into the grid (so presumably would show up on the stats as solar generation)? Unless you've got a battery system at home.

Depends on how it is setup and it varies in different areas, almost all are grid connected but many only "suck the excess power needed" from the grid when the panels can't produce enough, and only some of those "feed back" power when they produce too much.

Re: GB National Grid Status

#37

Post by snickmy »

DrScientist wrote: post #31
magnetic-recoil wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Offshore wind in the UK currently uses the "Contracts for Difference" payment mechanism. Operators bid to build turbines, and the best value operators get assigned areas of the sea. Then, they receive a fixed price from consumers for any electricity they generate (effectively, but there's market mechanisms in there that complicate the accounting). Initially, this was much more expensive than fossil electricity, but t…

Adding to that, they are now looking at local hydrogen production from wind excess. While not nearly efficient as using the electricity directly, it's more efficient than throwing it away. Also the offshore farms sit in a pool of the raw material ( water ).

for record, best electrolysis for hydrogen is a 50% efficiency end-to-end conversion.

Re: GB National Grid Status

#38

Post by jackbarclay »

cjrp wrote: post #27
DrScientist wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. But note that a lot of the local solar capacity doesn't actually show up on the grid production numbers. ie if you have a solar panel on your roof and mostly use it to reduce the power you take from the grid, all you will see in the national numbers is lower demand, not increased production.

Don't most domestic panels actually feed into the grid (so presumably would show up on the stats as solar generation)? Unless you've got a battery system at home.

Domestic panels are what we call embedded generation - they are connected to the distribution networks, not the main transmission network. The System Operator (NGESO) doesn’t have real-time insight into the distribution networks themselves - they are just visible as a net demand on the system. Embedded generation serves to reduce this demand by feeding power locally to the distribution network.

We can forecast the embedded generation in real-time, but it’s only post event once the meter data has been accounted for that we know what actually happened.

Re: GB National Grid Status

#39

Post by rpep »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #4

Ok, I must have missed this but ... Wind produces 16% of UK electricity, and nuclear produces 13% .... Ok wow. I assumed solar would be the thing that takes over, and In Spain that's probably true. But here it seems wind is going to be a win. Anyway I still need to work out how to spend my declining years - how to write software for renewable energy farms ... wind or solar.

Predictive maintenance software for renewables assets is a fairly large area of growth.

Re: GB National Grid Status

#40

Post by gjvc »

dottedmag wrote: post #9

Fascinating! The data shows pretty clearly that combined-cycle gas turbines are still THE type of power stations that are used to balance the supply and demand, but solar is already helping a lot during the day. French data shows gas power stations produce up to 9GW (~13%), and without solar they would be used to produce 12.5GW (~19%).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37M7ffjro3I I have posted this before, but this is an interesting explanation from 2020 detailing what fuels UK electricity generation.
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