Wind power, or the lack of it.

As PaddyAnn says, wind is not the only source of renewable power. Rainwater is a very constant source, filling lochs and reservoirs and turing turbines on windless days as well as windy ones, Hydro-electric schemes produce clean power, and pumped hydro schemes store the source of that power by using off-peak production to pump the water to storage loch where it can be released to turn turbines when it is needed.

The UK has four pumped storage hydro power stations in Scotland and Wales, with a total capacity of 2.8 GW. The operators of Cruachan power station in the Highlands are seeking planning permission to increase its capacity with more catchment and storage.
www.cruachanexpansion.com/about/

volver

And, here I am, right on cue. 🤣

I've no idea where the "Wind can only meet 3% of the power we need" claim comes from, that's not what that gridpower page shows. Also, it only shows the current split of supply and says nothing about capability. Unless I'm reading it wrong, then you can correct me M0nica.

The whole "what happens when the wind doesn't blow then" thing is a gift to those who want to jump on the green movement and say we best stick with oil then. I'm not suggesting that anyone here is doing that, quite the opposite.

Tidal and wave power are being considered. Considered quite a lot. Along with geothermal, which is my current favourite.

We need it all. Can we stop complaining about wind? (If you know what I mean 🙂)

You're absolutely right there. All my electricity generated by green power. Not had a blackout yet. Coming from an area dealing and maintaining wind power, this is good to know job doing well. As an Island, yes we should be looking at tidal power too.

Unfortunately this figure hides a multitude of problems, like wind only contributing about 5% or less of the power we need in really cold weather when the wind can be non-existent. We have also had a very windy winter.

I am not opposed to wind, I just think we shpould be putting far more money into other resources for carbon neutral power, to make our system more resilient.

Figures from the company's electricity system operator (ESO) showed that wind-powered electricity accounted for26.8%of generation in 2022, up from 21.9% the year before.
www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/06/great-britains-windfarm-electricity-at-record-high-in-2022-but-gas-use-up-too

VioletSky

Every house that has suitable roofs pointed in the right direction should have solar panels

Yes, definitely.
And local Planning Committees should encourage new houses to have a decent-sized south-facing roof at an appropriate angle, with panels.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65240094

There is hope.

There is no silver bullet solution to the building global energy crisis. Yes, we need to phase out the use of fossil fuels, otherwise global warming will rapidly make vast tracts of our planet virtually uninhabitable. We also need to phase out Nuclear Fission, an energy source which produces a waste product which is not only fatal to all life forms, but which will last for millennia. Its on-going "safe" storage is a poisonous legacy which generations of our descendants have been condemned to live, or perhaps even die with. Safety issues? Fukushima, Chernobyl... where next? So we need to focus on a combination of alternative power sources.. solar, wind, tidal.. yes, all of these have their own issues, but any negative impact on Mother earth will be a fraction of what we routinely produce now. Bottom line for me.. I fear that we may have already left this too late. I have not been impressed by the rhetoric from the various UN Climate Conferences, or even from the "worthy" aims of the Paris agreement. Plenty of talking the talk, but very little walking the walk..

This morning the UK is using 64% non Fossil fuel 44% of that is wind, no solar yet but that may increase the green energy mix

We fitted solar with a battery in January so far it has reduced our electricity by 3/4 - we are only taking 3KWh per day from the grid, far better than expected

Not sure where your windfree home is Monica but here on the east coast we have strong winds 90% of the time
Also not sure where your 3% comes from this is what I read

Wind energy generation accounted for 24% of total electricity generation (including renewables and non-renewables) in 2020; with offshore wind accounting for 13% and onshore wind accounting for 11%.

Pumped water storage, large heavy weights. Old mine shafts would be ideal for huge weights, of the order of hundreds or thousands of tonnes, moving up and down.

Brahumbug What are they?

There are better ways of storing power than chemical batteries.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/12/breakthrough-in-nuclear-fusion-could-mean-near-limitless-energy

The reports have been rather economical with the facts, they seem to have measured an energy gain from the reaction BUT the energy needed to contain it is not a accounted for.
Obviously containing energy that reached several million degrees is critical, it’s the energy that the sun produces that is contained by intense gravity, reproducing that on earth is not going to be quick.

So far after 50+ years, this new breakthough has produced enough power to boil a couple of kettles. It now has to be developed so that it can produce enough power to meet all the power needs of a big city. Another 50+ years?

Doesn't matter how big your brain is if you can't get funding for your research.

Surely they'll be able to put their big brains on to it and speed it up. It's urgently required.

30 years minimum.

You heard it here first.

It looks like Fusion could be here sooner than we think following the breakthrough in California. Some British firms reckon we are leaders in the field and could have it ready in 10 years. We shall see.

But the problem with wind is that it is immensely variable. A couple of % one day, 50%+ plus the next. It makes managing the National Grid very difficult. One NG controller described it as like riding a bucking bronco. It makes the grid unstable and could trigger shutdowns.

It also means that you need to have a lot of excess capacity that can be switched on or off like a light switch. The electricity generators do not want to build and own capacity that will be inherently loss making, so the National Grid has to pay them to own and keep operational unproductive capacity.

While I agree everything helps, many green resources are unreliable or, in some cases, dangerous. There have been explosions in battery arrays storing power, wind is unreliable, to put it mildly, solar only works in daylight hours.

volver Trumps windmills may be going like the clappers but windpower is only providing us with 6% of our power at the moment on one of the coldest days of winter. 57% is coming from gas.

Right on cue, this just came up on BBC News.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-63950962

Yes, I agree Aveline. We've got to keep moving forward, but we shouldn't be expecting fusion to save us. It'll not be ready for decades, I think.

karmalady

energy is being provided by 10% wind power right now, it is not an insignificant amount

Wind, solar (roof and ground mounted), hydro power and power storage, are all important to a green alternative power solution. Everything helps.

It's the most successful so far volver. Every little advance has got to be good.

Yes in California.

There was a breakthrough in fusion when I was a student. 40 years on, and....

Whatever, I'm more of an optimist, I think eventually it will come to fruition.