An example of intermittent power – 25 GW lost in a millisecond Source: Reuters : By Ilya Naymushin CHERYOMUSHKI, Russia, Aug 17 (Reuters) – Ten people were killed on Monday and up to 72 were missing after a turbine room flooded at Russia’s largest hydro-power station, forcing steel and aluminium plants in Siberia to turn to […]
Read MoreConference on Offshore wind power planning, economics and environment University of Birmingham Friday 28th August 2009
MORE DETAILS FROM: Dr David Toke, Senior lecturer in Environmental Policy, University of Birmingham, email : d.toke@bham.ac.uk
Read MoreProf Dave Elliot and Renew – Claverton Energy Group's "House Magazine"
Renew, the long-running 34 page bimonthly newsletter on renewable energy developments and policy, is now being offered to subscribers in PDF form. It’s an invaluable and unique source of news and analysis produced by Prof Dave Elliott of the Open University. Now in its 30th year, it covers news and issues from the UK, EU […]
Read MoreUKERC topic scoping workshop (TPA – Technology and Policy Assessment theme)
2009/8/13 Gross, Robert J K Dear Colleague The UK Energy Research Centre Technology and Policy Assessment theme (www.ukerc.ac.uk) is hosting a workshop for stakeholders from across the energy arena to help define its priority research areas for the next 5 years. We very much hope that you will be able to attend and contribute. The […]
Read MoreSmall scale gasification. by Neal Van Milligen, Manager, Bioten Power and Energy Group, Gasification Division
While renewable energy is one of the most environmentally responsible courses for consumers, the same technology which provides green power can be profitable as a traditional power source as well. Renewable energy portfolios are being mandated worldwide resulting in comfortable returns on $.12 USD/ kW and more on $.15 USD/ kW green energy programs. However, […]
Read MoreVision 2020 and beyond – Dr. Gregor Czisch Ex Kassell University discussed the integration of African Power production internally and with Europe to fully exploit the vast hydro power available at the Inga Dam site
” The Grand Inga dam can provide 2/3 of African power needs and some of Europe’s”
While integration – meaning electrical inter – connections of neighbours – on the
one hand may enable cheap electricity, on the other, it can cause dependence.
Therefore, to avoid a single source dependency, it might be seen as a better
solution, to use less favourable resources inside a given country, and accept higher
costs and other disadvantages. Another way out of this dilemma is diversification of
interconnections. Therefore regional integration may be more attractive when the
number of participating countries rises.
In some cases, regional integration is the only reasonable way of using known
resources which are too big for a national approach.
An extreme example is the hydropower potential near Inga, by the Congo River, in
the Democratic Republic of Congo. The African Power Pools have been formed in
order to erect large scale regional integration projects – leading in a structure one
may call an African Supergrid – to be able to handle the tremendous amount of
electricity which could be produced here at very low prices, and which would be
enough to deliver two thirds of the current African consumption. But the huge
capacity makes it difficult to bring the different objectives together.
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What square of land area of wind turbines would be needed in reasonable sites in the UK to in one year generate all UKs power demand?
Data
A 5 MW turbine rotor diameter is 126m ( from the Repower website http://www.repower.de/index.php?id=12&L=1 )
According to Martin Alder, a wind farm owner and developer:
Across wind turbine spacing = 3 x dia (Assume tower to tower)
Down wind turbine spacing = 5 x dia
According to Colin Palmer, of Wind Prospect, a leading wind farm developer, load factors of 30 – 35% onshore, and 40% offshore are readilly achievalbe.
So assume 33%.
Calculation
Take a 70 mile by 70 mile square. This equals 112 km by 112 km
So downwind, turbine spacing (tower to tower) will be 126 x 3 = 378m. Thus in 70 miles / 112 km we can accommodate (112 x 1000 / 378 ) +1 = 297.3 towers (allowing half blade length to protrude out of area at edges).
Similarly, cross wind, we need 5 x 126 = 630 m. Thus in 70 miles / 112 km we can accommodate (112 x 1000 /630) +1 = 178.8 towers (again allowing half blade length to protrude out of area at edges).
Thus a 70 mile by 70 mile square can accommodate 297.3 x 178.8 = 53,157 turbines..
At 5 MW each, these will generate at peak 265.7 GW.
Assuming reasonable sites and a 1/3 , 33% load factor, this will generate on average 79.73 GW.
Read MoreEnergy and carbon savings with trams – a short paper by Professsor Lewis Lesley
“Getting urban car trips down from 70% to 50% would save about 5% of UK carbon emissions.”
Transport is an energy intensive activity, heavily dependent on oil (99.97%) and a significant emitter of carbon dioxide (30% of UK total). Exhortation and education can reduce car dependency but in the absence of draconian powers to force people to change travel modes, people will freely choosing sustainable alternatives is surely the best way? Market research and behavioural studies demonstrate that for short journeys, under 2 miles (50% UK car trips) walking and cycling are acceptable options, when there are safe and attractive routes. For longer urban journeys ( < 5 miles = 75% of UK car trips) public transport should be the alternative to car ? In the UK most urban public transport is by bus (80% of trips). Car users however are not willing to use buses. Studies by the US Transportation Research Board shows that on a like for like basis of frequency, travel speed, fares etc, buses attract 40% less car users than even old rail services
Read MoreProfessor Lewis Lesley and other Claverton think tank members discuss rail electrification and carbon savings
Most of the (sub)urban electric trains in UK are multiple units, where most if not all coaches have motors. The reason for this is the need to get high adhesion for rapid acceleration, by distributing the track forces to most if not all wheels. Rapid acceleration (and braking) are needed when stations are close together get a high service speed.
Inter City trains do not need urban rates of acceleration but high top speeds. Electric motor coaches are (much) more expensive than “trailer coaches”, so having one or two locomotives per train is a compromise over costs. THe TGV trains in France climb steeper gradients than most railways (3%) but 6 power bogies on an 18 coach (36 bogie) train is enough to get up the hills
Technology S-curves in renewable energy alternatives: Analysis and implications for industry and government
Plotting the performance of a technology against the money or effort invested in it most often yields an S-shaped curve: slow initial improvement, then accelerated improvement, then diminishing improvement. These S-curves can be used to gain insight into the relative payoff of investment in competing technologies, as well as providing some insight into when […]
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