Dave Andrews | Claverton Group

From Electrical Review – Arc Flash danger

Blown Fuse – Why are we happy to work in the minefield?

WEB EXCLUSIVE Before embarking on this month’s rant, let me state I am not in favour of the nanny state. I object to traffic calming measures, other than around schools and hospitals; I find it facile that ofcom demands that TV shows can only depict car thieves if they’re shown driving off wearing their seatbelts; and I don’t think playground conkers is a blood sport!

However, while to the best of my knowledge there have been few, if any, conker related fatalities I have been drawn to a statistic that is frankly alarming. About ten people a day in the UK suffer severe injuries, or worse, as a result of electrical crossovers – I still prefer the term arc flash. This figure is appalling, but may not even be accurate since that estimate is drawn only from victims reporting to major burns units. How many more minor injuries and near misses go unreported is anybody’s guess.

Talk by Dr Gregor Czisch at the 5th Claverton Energy Conference, House of Commons June 19th 2009

Dr. Czisch gave a very interesting presentation the contents of which is summarised here, Rather than publish a paper on this set, Gregor has given us these links to his site where the varous papers can be studied.

The most relevant one for English speakers is probably this one:

“Low Cost but Totally Renewable Electricity Supply”

Active Power Article – Flywheel energy storage

Summary – this article offers compelling reasons for using a flywheel in combination with a diesel generator for UPS. Essentially batteries are the weakest point of any generator, and the flywheel eliminates the need for them, by storing enough energy to start the generator, and to provide no break power whilst the generator is starting. This article is written by and features Active Power who manufacture these systems.

As compared to other energy storage technologies (i.e., flow battery, compressed air, hydrogen, lithium ion battery, etc.), flywheel technology is a very mature, field proven technology. It’s worth noting Active Power was the first to commercialize a mechanical flywheel energy storage system and soon after patented the integration of UPS electronics with flywheel energy storage. Flywheel operation is very well understood and Active Power alone has more than 2,100 flywheels deployed in the field to date with more than 55 million hours of runtime. Flywheels present the most power dense energy storage technology when used as a bridging device between an outage and on to a generator.

Why Do We Need The Supergrid, What Is Its Scope And What Will It Achieve?

Claverton House of Commons Presentation, 19th June 2009 Note – The Claverton Energy Groupcomprises about 300 independent energy experts who discuss energy issues. Not all members support the Supergrid concept, however a significant proportion, if not most, do. Dr Czisch presented at a recent Claverton Conference held at the Headquarters of Wessex Water in Bath […]

"Carbon Trading is Insane" – Hugh Sharman

http://www.pennwellblogs.com/power/2009/06/11/carbon-trading-is-insane/ June 11th, 2009 This post is filed under the following categories: Yesterday I attended the UK’s Nuclear Industry Forum, an annual gathering of utilities, politicians, EPCs, NGOs, OEMs and auxiliary service providers, to discuss the prospects of a nuclear renaissance. Vincent De Rivaz, CEO of EDF Energy (the British arm of the French state-owned […]

No more queue for transmission access in UK?

According to Paul….. transmission capacity, – there is no longer any queue following the 8th May Ofgem letter (publications page, Ofgem website) that interim connect and manage is now in force. Grid published its own letter Thursday 21st May confirmed that 2 GW of Scottish new generators had asked to be advanced under ?interim connect […]

Renewable European Supergrid – text of submitted article to Independent on Sunday

Europe could build an electricity supply based entirely on renewable energy by 2030, according to scientists making a presentation at the House of Commons this week. MPs will hear that an electricity ‘supergrid’ across Europe and North Africa could solve the problem of the intermittency of wind turbines and solar power, and dispense with the need for nuclear and ‘clean coal’ power stations altogether

Note from TREC on extra supergrid / DESERTEC links

Hi Andrew, House of Commons presentation, June 18th 2009- European Supergrid and 100% Renewable Energy Congratulations on organising the above meeting at the HoC about supergrids and thanks for your support in that area. In connection with supergrids, you may be interested to put some or all of the following links on to the website […]

House of Commons presentation, June 18th 2009- European Supergrid and 100% Renewable Energy

(Please note you must be in the designated room by 9.45 as this event will start at 10.00 sharp.) We would like to advise you of the above meeting organised by the Claverton Energy Group of Independent Experts, at which 2 energy professionals Dr Mark Barrett and Dr Gregor Czisch will discuss their studies which show that […]

Alternative Financing Models for Transportation – A Case Study of Land Taxation in Utah

Recent events have highlighted the consequences of inadequate attention to infrastructure funding. Current funding strategies focus on fuel taxes, transfers from general funds, user fees, toll roads, congestion pricing, and using technology to enhance the fee structure of the current system. This article examines another alternative, a property tax focused on the value of […]