Superstitious Idea About Trump

MaizieD

^France has a tidal barrage across the river Rance in Brittany. It was installed in 1964, with ceremony with General de Gaulle and is still going strong. I think the turbines have been replaced once or twice.^

Why has this been so successful, MOnica when the UK doesn’t get anywhere with plans for the same? Is it because it’s in fresh water rather than sea water?

The barrage is across the estuary so it is seawater. I think it is just that the French pride themselves on the uality of their technology. At times it leads them up cul de sacs (sorry) like minitel, but at other times like the Rance barrage it is brilliant, inovative and successful.

It’s brackish water in the Severn Estuary Monica, not just sea water.

Here’s the blurb about it, it’s a unique environment, hence some of the environmental concerns.

Key Characteristics of the Severn Estuary's Brackish Environment
Severn Estuary Partnership
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Salinity Variability: The salinity fluctuates due to variable freshwater inflows and massive tidal movements, keeping the average annual salinity below 35 psu.
Tidal Influence: The extreme tidal range causes rapid mixing, which prevents the estuary from becoming highly stratified, meaning it remains well-mixed throughout the tidal cycle.
Biodiversity & Habitats: The brackish conditions support a unique ecosystem, including tidal mudflats, sandbanks, and eelgrass beds (dwarf eelgrass and eelgrass), which are adapted to the salty environment.
Fish and Wildlife: The area is a crucial habitat for migrating species such as salmon, shad, and young eels (elvers), which can tolerate the changing saline conditions.
Physical Features: The water is heavily laden with suspended silt due to the rapid, strong currents.
Severn Estuary Partnership
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NannyC1

Is it worth the 150 children murdered to get better energy supplies. I guess by the lack of empathy from the majority here it appears to be so.

What lack of empathy? There was and still is plenty of empathy for the children and their families, plus anger at whoever did such a callous thing, or allowed it to happen, and amazement at their stupidity in doing something that made sure there would be hundreds of bereaved families who will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge on the US and Israel for that one act alone.

Would a Severn Barrage cause serious and irrevocable damage to these habitats, Casdon?

Renewable can't supply complete energy needs...YET.
But the technology will keep evolving and improving, if we keep supporting the developments.

Yes, it was Lily of the Valley.

MaizieD

Would a Severn Barrage cause serious and irrevocable damage to these habitats, Casdon?

Yes MaizieD it would. It’s designated as a Special Area of Conservation.

One resource that the Uk has plenty of is water. It falls as rain, it runs in streams and rivers, it collects in depressions in the ground, in small ones as puddles and in large ones as oceans and inland lakes and lochs. It tumbles over precipices, it flows to meet the sea and it is pulled by the tides to and from the land.

As well as hydroelectric dams and tidal barrages, there could be small local turbines in suitable rivers and at waterfalls, possibly even in storm drains, supplying the power for homes and localised industrial units.

As is often commented, a problem with renewables is that the power is not enough at peak demand but goes to waste when there is little or no demand.

An answer to this with hydroelectric dams is to use spare off-peak capacity, which would otherwise be "water down the drain", to pump water up from a lower to a higher reservoir, where it can be allowed to run downhill through turbines again to produce power at times of high demand.

The UK currently has four major operating pumped storage plants:
Dinorwig Power Station (Wales): 1,728 MW, often known as "Electric Mountain."
Cruachan Power Station (Scotland): 440 MW (currently being upgraded).
Ffestiniog Power Station (Wales): 360 MW.
Foyers Power Station (Scotland): 300 MW.

and there are other upcoming projects:
Key Upcoming Pumped Storage Projects
Earba Storage Project (Scotland): Set to be the UK's largest at 1.8 GW, offering 40 GWh of storage capability (approx. 22 hours).
Coire Glas (Scottish Highlands): A 1,300 MW scheme by SSE Renewables, it is the first large-scale project in over 40 years to be developed.
Fearna Storage (Scotland): A proposed 1,800 MW (1.8 GW) project located at the western end of Glengarry using Loch Quoich.
Loch Kemp Storage (Scottish Highlands): A 600 MW project designed to store energy using the region's natural geography.
Loch na Cathrach (formerly Red John) (Scotland): A 500 MW project near Inverness approved for construction.
Cruachan Extension (Scotland): Part of a "hollow mountain" expansion to add 600 MW of new capacity.

Cruachan, near the head of Loch Awe in the Highlands of Scotland. was the first pumpable hydroelectric dam in the world, going on-stream in 1965. I know this because as students DH and some of his friends worked there in the late '50s as labourers beside the mainly Irish workers while the tunnels were being excavated, returning home with enhanced muscles and a repertoire of improper songs.

There are usually conducted tours of Cruachan, but they are suspended at the moment, while the extension work continues. The visitor centre (free exhibition, cafe and gift shop) is still open, and there is a website at www.visitcruachan.co.uk/
There is also an educational webinar for primary school children, contact them via [email protected]

I don't know if some people realise that solar panels are being fitted to fences now - an alternative for those who don't have a roof that can support them or one that has the wrong aspect.

It is also possible (although expensive at the moment) to get a small wind powered generator for a garden. These are being developed in Japan but I don't think they are widely available at the moment. I read recently that in Germany where they have lots of flats plug in solar cells are being installed on balconies to help reduce the residents bills.

We had solar panels installed during lockdown, along with a battery. Since then we haven't had to pay for power for about eight months of the year, and that includes charging our electric car. (We still get the standing charge). Even in the Winter if there if it's reasonably bright we get some charge in the battery. We do sell some off but not a lot.

I don't know if some people realise that solar panels are being fitted to fences now -

What about wind? And theft?

Elegran Some storage systems use more power than they produce. When we visited Dinorwic we were told that the plant is a peak load station, only used when demand looks like exceeding supply. Water is pumped up the mountain and kept in a reservoir there so that it can be turned on an used when necessary and that more power is used pumping the water up than is actually produced when it is in action. However, this is still often the cheapest way to provide the extra electricity, often only needed for a short period.

It is an expensive way to meet peak demand.

But it is a way of meeting that demand, and the technology will improve with time.

Yes, that's a feature of technology. It keeps improving.

It has improved a lot already, in the 60 years that Cruachan has been on line. Cruachan 2 will be more efficient than Cruachan 1.

Good to hear Elegran.

You have to look on the water going through as free raw fuel for the generators. It would be running anyway, whether the turbines are making electricity or not - just as the wind will be blowing anyway, whether there are wind turbines or not. You dont need to buy in supplies of coal, oil, gas, or uranium rods, or whatever your generator consumes, and store them, and you don't have the negatives of polluting the atmosphere or of risking human error causing disaster, as in Chernobyl.

At night when less power is needed in the grid but the "free fuel" keeps pouring relentlessly through, that electricity can be used to pump the "free fuel" into a separate reservoir, where it stays in reserve until it is needed at peak hours, or in an unexpected surge, or if a summer drought lowers the water level in the usual reservoir, where the water gets used up by the continuous flow through the turbines.

If the wind is blowing a gale, the wind turbines have to be disconnected, so no "fuel" is used and the wind blows past and dissipates without generating any electricity. That "free fuel" has been lost.

If a lot of rain means the water reservoir gets too full, there are bypass channels which take the extra "free fuel" past the turbines, but the normal amount of water still keeps running through them, so electricity is still made.

Paragraph 2 refers to hydro power. Reading it through I see that this is not obvious.

The i newspaper (24 March) and The Telegraph report that Lidl and Amazon plan to sell £400 plug in solar panels if they get government ok.

It reports that they are in talks with government at the moment.

Let’s hope we are still alive to tell the tale.

Casdon

The Severn Estuary is brackish water. It’s definitely feasible, lots of work has been done, it’s the cost and environmental concerns that have stopped it going ahead so far. This is the latest report.
www.severncommission.co.uk/

This has been ongoing for many years.

There has been one feasibility, and many objections, over years. Both sides have valid points.

With the lack of will to go ahead with any major infrastructure projects now, I can't see it going ahead, at least for many years.

There has been one feasibility
(Apologies, DH answered a question.)

One feasibility study after another

DH says the building costs would be very high, but, once built, the running costs would be low, as has been proved in France.

Not sure where superstition comes into this?

RosiesMawagain

Not sure where superstition comes into this?

I think Caleo might mean Conspiracy theories, not superstitions.

That makes sense.