Introduction
We welcome the introduction of Feed-in Tariffs for sub 5MW renewable electricity generation and thank Decc for moving swiftly to pave the way for their introduction in April 2010. The proposals have the potential to foster much wider deployment of renewable energy at the local level and to attract investment in renewable energy from groups as diverse as farmers, commercial companies, social housing providers, local authorities and communities, as well as householders. Apart from helping to meet renewable energy targets, the Tariffs will enable greater consumer choice in the market going forward. A successful scheme will also contribute to economic prosperity through the creation of quality local jobs, wider sector innovation and new manufacturing opportunities.
Biomass combustion plants – a Claverton member is interested in finding sites / locations with large capacity connections to the local power network or National Grid
A member of the Claverton Group is interested in finding sites / locations with large capacity connections to the local power network or National Grid – typically these might be defunct industrial sites, or existing industrial sites with spare capacity in an industrial sort of location where planning permission for a biomass combustion plant might be more readily obtained.
These are for biomass plants capacity 1 MW – 10 MW.
If you are aware of any please get in touch using the claverton contact form.
Kind Regards,
Dave Andrews
Read MoreFury at plan to power EU homes from Congo dam – Grand Inga – World Bank supports controversial $80bn project
Plans to link Europe to what would be the world’s biggest hydroelectric dam project in the volatile Democratic Republic of Congo have sparked fierce controversy.
The Grand Inga dam, which has received initial support from the World Bqank would cost $80bn (£48bn). At 40,000MW, it has more than twice the generation capacity of the giant Three Gorges dam in China and would be equivalent to the entire generation capacity of South Africa.
Grand Inga will involve transmission cables linking South Africa and countries in west Africa including Nigeria. A cable would also run through the Sahara to Egypt.
Read MoreRussian dam disaster kills 10, scores missing 25 GW in milli seconds illustrating that all plants are intermittent.
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 MoreWind Energy Variability and Intermittency in the UK : New Reports
Three completely independent reports on the wind variability issue appeared in June and July 2009, all with the same message: the variability of wind needs to be taken into account, but it does not make the grid unmanageable; and the additional costs, which are modest, can be quantified.
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.
Read More
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 MoreRelative / comparative costs of wind energy, nuclear energy, hydro power, coal power, natural gas, geothermal energy, and biomass
In general it can be seen that there is not a lot to choose between the cost of wind energy, and coal, gas or nuclear. PV and CSP are considerablymore expensive however.
Read MoreJames Berkin compiling a list of all organisations or individuals supporting the supergrid concept
James Birkin writes as below: there is now a wiki at (http://claverton.wikispaces.com/+HVDC+-+List+of+interested+persons+and+organisations at which you can add target organistations) Dear Attendee, I am compiling a list of all organisations or individuals supporting the concept of a Supergrid.
Read MoreUK National Grid – NG have published a very positive consultation on Wind Capacity
NG have published a – very positive consultation on Wind Capacity http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Electricity/Operating+in+2020
Read More