Random Renewables Thread

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122385250#Comment_122385250

Would the idea be to dry the laundry faster? Don't really get why you'd throw already dry towels in the dryer

Tbh I reckon 75% of the time I've used my dryer (at least once daily) has been directly from solar or stored night rate electricity

I used to run the dryer overnight but to be fair it's probably the biggest fire risk of most appliances so I gave up on that. The heat pump dryers are pretty easy on electricity, almost cheaper than a washing line 😉

Speaking of fire hazards, I also stopped charging any devices overnight. The cost difference is peanuts considering the size of a phone battery. Charging a phone beside your bed, often using a cheapo charger and usually on some IKEA furniture which is effectively kindling, is just asking for trouble

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122385472#Comment_122385472

Don't use cheap chargers.. 😉

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122385472#Comment_122385472

Yes, to dry stuff faster by having the towels adsorbing some of the wetness. Towels are probably still cheaper than batteries.

"A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to- hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough..”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

deezell

 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy!

The bizarre character with the extra non functional rubber head sticking out at angle in the first TV adaptation, that's what always pops into my (functioning) head whenever that book title is mentioned. Probably the flakiest bit of special non-effects in a science fiction production ever, but somehow appropriate, given that the main protagonist conducts the entire adventure in a dressing gown and slippers, iirc?

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122386208#Comment_122386208

The TV adaptations greatest accomplishment and mistake was to somehow accurately reproduce a lot of the books on screen

Plenty of WTF moments throughout and the cheesy special effects only added to the overall experience

And yes, Arthur Dent was wearing his pyjamas and dressing gown for at least the first book

If you ever want a truly bizarre trip down memory lane, check out the text adventure game based on the books. It was pretty brutal, if you took too many turns in the first chapter the bulldozer crashes through your house 🫣

https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/interactive/embed/container.html?url=//downloads.bbc.co.uk/interactive/h2g2/main.js&height=577px&width=944px&path=//downloads.bbc.co.uk/radio/games/h2g2/

Exiled Rebel

Be great to see this built... unfortunately there's a fairly high chance it won't be built before planning expires.

"The company noted that delivery of the project will be subject to SSE securing an economic route to market, as well as a final investment decision by the company to proceed to construction.

SSE added that changes to Ireland’s current grid connection regulations will be required so as to permit the new solar project to dynamically share the current export capacity of the existing wind farm."

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/sse-renewables-granted-planning-for-solar-farm-in-wexford/

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122394438#Comment_122394438

Sharing a grid connection with an existing wind farm seems like an excellent idea. Wind and sun compliment each other, the rarely go full blast at the same time. So little to no upgrades would be needed. And it will substantially lower the cost per kWh production. 27MW however is not very big though, is it? I suppose everything counts

deezell

Whatever happened the little wind turbines that you could bolt to your gable end, B&Q used to have two models. Something like this feeding your battery all night or on dull windy days would be a bonus. Perhaps there's a planning issue with them in suburbs, but might work well in the boonies.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122395030#Comment_122395030

Yeah there is a planning exemption for wind turbines. It needs it's own stand, can't be attached to buildings and distance from boundary needs to be more than the hight of the pole/stand (eg if it blew over it wouldn't land in your neighbours).

Micro wind isn't worth it in most cases.

deezell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122395047#Comment_122395047

That put paid to the gable/rooftop ones so.

Cyrus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122395000#Comment_122395000

yes we need to sweat the grid connections, hybridisation between wind solar and ideally storage is the way to do it. Single tech renewables use maybe 30% of their grid capacity overall.

deezell

I see a plethora of compact vertical style rooftop models on Amazon, many claiming 8Kw output , available in a 12/24/48v or 220vac with BMS, all for €380. If they even managed 1kw they would be a very useful device on a breezy night, and complement solar by day. I don't see why you couldn't decapitate your unused solid fuel chimney, then drop a steel mounting pole down 3m into the flue and backfill with concrete. That's not going anywhere, and its hardly any bigger than the chimney it replaces.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122395285#Comment_122395285

Forget it, they don't work. We have several threads on them in this forum. Personally, been there, done that. VAWT on a 6m pole, with the prevailing winds coming right at it, at the very edge of a built up area with no buildings, walls or trees in the way. Would have really liked it to work, just a little bit. But it doesn't.

Exiled Rebel

There's a vertical axis turbine just off the M8 near Cashel. I've passed it 4 times a week since April yet never seen it spin, perhaps it's broken?!?!?

There's a horizontal axis turbine at junction 10 on the same motorway which does spin quite a bit. It's not a domestic turbine, I'm actually not even sure what it's supposed to be supply power to but it does be flying at times.

EDIT: JUST FOUND THIS ELSEWHERE ON BOARDS...

'South Tipp Co Council Construct NRA Pilot Wind Turbine - Tipperary Energy Agency assisted by Arup Consulting Engineers procured this Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine of 11kW rating to alleviate the cost of lighting Junction 10 on the M8 in South Tipperary'

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2057864749/wind-turbine-on-m8-nr-cahir

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122395285#Comment_122395285

You will get nowhere near 8kw from that be very lucky to get 1

deezell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122395624#Comment_122395624

As I'd said, even 1kw would be good, but even then I have my doubts, as the basic math of surface area and wind speed don't add up except in a storm maybe. The fact that all the listing are from China or Ali, where exaggeration is par, makes me suspect that you'd do well to charge your car battery. Some more honest adverts are quoting 300-400w, which might be more realistic.

slave1

with this type of stuff we really need to see a real user YT review else take with a pinch of salt

deezell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122395467#Comment_122395467

What dimensions or surface area, and what was the best output value for moderate wind input.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122395820#Comment_122395820

I've seen plenty of real user YT reviews of VAWT and HAWT. Unless you live in a one off house on top of a hill somewhere, the results were always beyond poor. I was told it wouldn't work. But I am stubborn and thought I had half a chance with my settings, a VAWT on a 6m pole, so I went ahead. But they were right and I was wrong. It don't work in an urban setting. Thankfully this experiment didn't cost me anything.

deezell

The output is proportional to the cube of the wind speed, so conversely, If your wind speed is only half of what might be obtained in a nearby high unobstructed location, then your output is ½³, which is only 12.5% of the potential of the wind. It's why the commercial turbines need to be so high, out at sea or on top of hills and mountains. Scaling down to micro size is not proportional unless its mounted at the same height in the same location as the big boys. I'll agree with @unkel on this one, he's walked the walk.

the_amazing_raisin

Been spending the past week in Northern Wales looking at this beast

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwynt_y_M%C3%B4r

160 3.6MW turbines, enough to power a third of the houses in Wales. Pretty crazy to think the wind farm is over 10 years old, imagine if it used those 16MW beasts the Chinese are showing off

Meanwhile we're in the stone age for offshore wind 🙄

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397061#Comment_122397061

Started producing electricity one year after building work started. Impressive that, taking into account that was a decade ago.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397096#Comment_122397096

And it's in the Irish sea, which is no Atlantic for wind!

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397061#Comment_122397061

16MW turbines are so last year. The Chinese now have 18MW-20MW turbines

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397425#Comment_122397425

So in comparison Ardnacrusha power plant, is 86MW,

Just 5 of them would generate more than ardnacrusher

(In comparison poolbeg is 470MW gas power plant)

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397518#Comment_122397518

In fairness Ardnacrusha is nearly 100 years old!

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397565#Comment_122397565

They do free tours there. Just have to pre book.

Exiled Rebel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397061#Comment_122397061

Scotland have asked Wales to hold their beer!

3.6GW floating wind farm is with the Scottish government for approval. It will ONLY generate enough power for up to 6 million homes annually.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.insider.co.uk/news/ossian-floating-wind-farm-submits-33245761.amp

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397565#Comment_122397565

One thing that has always amazed me about Ardnacrusha is that it got built despite the political environment of the day

It took something like 20% of the state's budget in 1929 to build and provided most of the country's electricity for decades (admittedly because Ireland was basically preindustrial up to 1989)

Imagine trying to get a reallocation of 20% of the national budget to any project nowadays, there'd be inquiries for the next 100 years over it

I suppose it helped that Ireland was largely a one party government back then, but it still showed some serious ambitions which today's politicians seem to lack

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397123#Comment_122397123

Annoyingly a lot of them seemed to be turned off. It wasn't exactly blustery but still a decent breeze and a few of them were turning

I guess it's summer so plenty of power in the grid, but the UK could go and export the excess to us and save us some gas consumption

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397518#Comment_122397518

I think Poolbeg is at 60MW max now because it's running from steam generated in the incinerator nearby. As I recall they decided to reuse on of the turbines in Poolbeg 1 (the big chimneys) instead of installing a new one

The actual power plants have been offline for a few years now, although I think they're on cold standby so could be reactivated fairly easily

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397697#Comment_122397697

Only 6 million ?

Hmmm… On Census Day, 20 March 2022, the population of Scotland was estimated to be 5,436,600.

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122397859#Comment_122397859

Pretty sure the waste to energy plant is completely separate. There is Dublin Bay power station down there too, and Dublin Bay power station on the other side of the port.

https://openinframap.org/#13.18/53.34426/-6.1984/

Exiled Rebel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122398481#Comment_122398481

Turn on the sarcasm detector.

While the turbines will be in Scottish territorial water the power generated will be coming ashore further south in Lincolnshire.

Once again the Scots are having another of their resources plundered.

unkel

Pathetic performance from Ireland and Poland, the filthy dirty old men of Europe 😫 Poland of course is a lot poorer than Ireland. We don't have that excuse.

And from Eirgrid, the worst graph I have yet seen. And I know there is very little wind today, but no excuse why we shouldn't have about 100% renewables from solar PV alone right now

Personally I have already exported 42kWh to the grid today and it is only 11AM. I'm doing my best here but we need buy in from the government. Is there no politician with balls out there? I believe we are getting another €450 electricity credit per household in this election year 🙄 That will cost the guts of a billion of tax payers' money. Can we not spend that towards speeding up renewables?

Rhetorical question and apologies for rant. But seriously???

SD_DRACULA

I agree with all of the above.

Absolutely no excuse for Ireland not being 100% electric these days including EVs, for the size of it. Let's not come up with excuses about "charging infrastructure". Government should punish any sort of burning (including their own), simple as.

the_amazing_raisin

All those data centers need cooling so the AI bots can scam more people

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122448067#Comment_122448067

This can only change by building nuclear, which is cheaper than either solar or offshore wind if one measures using power produced, instead of LCOE.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122448258#Comment_122448258

Not that again. You've been proven wrong by every current built of nuclear in the western world. Takes too long and costs too much money. Tony Seba just predicted that all electrical plants in the world that will start their build from 2030 will be either solar PV or wind. He has been proven right time and again, including time lines. Unlike Elon Musk LOL

Interestingly he has also just said that no material percentage of mainstream cars manufactured worldwide from 2030 will have a combustion engine

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122448105#Comment_122448105

No excuse? How about affordability and stupidity - by which I am referring to the anti-nuclear brigade and legislation. In 2023 France produced more zero CO2 electricity than was consumed, and it wasn't because of renewables.

What kudos does France get for such an amazing feat? None, instead the renewables cretins in the EU are threatening them with fines for not achieving their amazing results using unreliable intermittents..

Victor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122448303#Comment_122448303

Nuclear is NOT zero CO2, it is low CO2. It is also not renewable.

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122448297#Comment_122448297

I have not been proven wrong. It's reasonably simple maths. I have given the costings multiple times and gotten nothing but silence and side slipping topic changes.

Even the very expensive Finnish OK-3 reactor, recently completed and commissioned, which was far more expensive than Korean built reactors, is far cheaper than commercial scale solar in Ireland, if you care to do the maths.

German dealers say private orders for electric cars have fallen by nearly half in 2024

July 31, 2024

That no ICE by 2030 might come to pass, but i doubt it from current trends. A survey of EV owners in the US recently found near 50% of current EV owners intend to switch back to ICE with their next purchase.

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122448365#Comment_122448365

Using nuclear to displace either coal or gas, results in a far higher reduction in CO2 than any other technology, beating solar and wind by a large margin. I'm wondering what makes you claim that nuclear energy isn't zero CO2?

https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/annual-direct-co2-emissions-avoided-per-1-gw-of-installed-capacity-by-technology-and-displaced-fuel

SD_DRACULA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122448388#Comment_122448388

Well stupid people need to have their stupid choices taken away from them by the government if the world is to survive for much longer

No one is talking about the environment destroying waste of nuclear? For thousands of years.

Fusion is the future once we work it out

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122448258#Comment_122448258

Jesus give it a break, even if nuclear makes sense in other countries it'll never make sense here

We've some of the highest construction wages in Europe, I doubt the industry will accept a 50% wage cut just to work on a nuclear reactor. It'll make Hinckley Point C look like the bargain if the century by comparison

Are we going to have a single plant powering the entire country? What happens when it has to shut down, we'll just sit around a candle in a preindustrial society while we wait for it to come online again

SD_DRACULA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122448716#Comment_122448716

Nah I'll just switch to the EPS supply on my inverter and good ol' Sol and lithium will provide 🤣

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122448671#Comment_122448671

37% of Irish workers are deemed to earn so little money they pay no income tax on their earnings. You seriously think you can just overnight force everyone to cough up for an EV? How about forcing them to spend €120k to retrofit their houses so they can be forced to use a heat pump, and then force them to put solar panels on their roofs? €160k of forcing per household should do the trick. Our current national debt amounts to €42,300 per person, with the average household size of 2.74, that means your forcing would only come to an additional debt of €58,400 per person, bringing our debt to only €100.7K per head of population. Great idea, it's only money, force them to borrow from a bank, unaffordable private borrowing from banks, we know that no harm can possibly come from that.

Fusion creates far more nuclear waste than fission. It's only saving grace is it's less long lived, but there is an awful lot more of it. Care to provide examples of the environmental destruction caused by nuclear waste? I haven't managed to find a single human death attributable to almost a 100 years of nuclear reactors. The amount of waste from nuclear is tiny in terms of volume. If you created a slug of Synroc - a safe way of dealing with nuclear waste - the size of a can of soup, it could contain all of the waste resulting from producing all of the energy a person uses in their entire lifetime. Drop that slug 2-3km down a bore hole into a 100-300 million year old salt layer,and job done for millions of years longer than necessary for even plutonium to decay.

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122448716#Comment_122448716

Given our construction costs, would it not have been a better idea to not build the National Childrens Hospital, or the motorways, or come to think of it, wouldn't these extra costs also make the already hugely expensive offshore wind farms even worse of an idea than they are already? It's a zero sum game. We need the NCH so we build it, even though the same thing in Perth cost a fraction. Nuclear likely would cost more to build here, but that applies to renewables infrastructure, and power grids - speaking of which, I haven't even factored the savings on grid build out for renewables into my cost savings yet.

Busman Paddy Lasty

@cnocbui you haven't posted this nonsense in the Nuclear for Ireland thread in ages because it has been picked apart.

I've posted several key differences between Ireland and Continental Europe for several years now. Stop wasting everyone's time.

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122449140#Comment_122449140

You could put me on ignore, in order to save your precious time. It's the best way to fix things when discussions are not to your liking.