Energy infrastructure

Just goes to show the more wind/solar that is added to a grid, the more fossil back up is needed

If wind energy is so cheap, why is a quarter of UK household power bills made up of green levies?

The UK is set to see increased power costs because of a fire shutting down an interconnector to France and the wind hasn't been blowing enough for months. The truth is the cheap electricity comes from French nuclear reactors. An interconnector gets taken out and prices rocket. Germany shut down it's nuclear power plants, built out lots of renewables and the result is household power bills doubled in a couple of years and.

God help the Uk and Germany if more people start buying EV's. At this rate, the governments will be offering consumers subsidies to encourage them to buy petrol vehicles.

I think that just about sums up your understanding of how a grid works🙄

this ll be an interesting one to watch

im still not convinced this is truly possible, i think nuclear is needed to support all of this

Agreed. Just some people don’t get it.

Which hasn't worked anywhere - 2nite the BBC are reporting that the UK grid operator and their Department of Energy are holding emergency talks over escalating energy prices and the growing risk of blackouts in the months ahead. So much for all the lies spun in the last few years about the vast number of both onshore and offshore wind development providing cheap and reliable energy....

Grant aided solar panels that decline in output within a few years is hardly a ringing endorsement for your argument, - hard to take seriously your cost argument either given the table of EU energy costs I posted earlier in the thread

Sorry but you're talking nonsense. Of course it is the average that matters - it's called the "capacity factor" and it represents an AVERAGE of the theoretical capacity (generally measured over the year) and it's one of the most closely watched statistics about electrical generation and it's been measured and watched for decades.

Here's something to get you started - https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=table_6_07_a

Why do you think wind is special in not outputting it's rated capacity (which is what I'm guessing when you use the term "nameplate capacity") at all times? All generation sources are described in terms of their maximum output capacity - including thermal plants. In the EIA report linked above, for example, combined cycle gas plants in the USA were measured to have a capacity factor of 56.6% last year. So generally a 1GW gas plant will provide a little over half the output you'd expect if you were to assume that it is going to output its rated capacity all the time. But that would be a pretty silly assumption, wouldn't it? And it would be silly to dismiss the utility of NG plants on this basis, no? But that's exactly the criticism you're levelling at wind generation.

Regarding new build generation capacity globally, it was about 85% actually last year. Normally if I have a strong opinion about something, but all the people with skin in the game - i.e. governments globally (from every part of the political spectrum), private investors, existing energy companies, etc are all voting with their feet, it makes me curious that I might have gotten something wrong. Do you never get that feeling? That maybe you're not actually seeing the big picture here?

I'll read any report by informed observers, you feel free to provide a link to this engineers report.

I suggest you read the front of yesterdays Sunday Business Post. Greenwash energy policies are now threatening investment into the country as the Irish Grid has become increasingly stressed and unreliable with the number of amber alerts surging in the last few years as more wind farms are connected to the grid. Same situation in the UK, Germany etc.

PS: Gas plants that have to be ramped up and down in response to wind are obviously not going to reach full potential or efficiency. Another issue with wind power that u seem to be wholly ignorant of

Capacity factor has become as meaningless as GDP as a metric for Ireland. We need an availability/reliability factor. Nuclear and gas plants might be quoted as haveing far lower capacity factors than their availabilty/reliability, simply because operators wind back their output due to lower demand. Wind and solar are hugely unreliable, whereas nuclear is very reliable, but the disparity between the two is blurred when quoting capacity factors.

Interesting claim on another thread that it looks like Galway is likely out of consideration for a new Intel chip fab due to concerns over Irelands electricity grid. I'm sure more wind turbines can fix that.

Like I said, I'll read anything - if the source is informed - if you'll provide links. Like that engineers report you mentioned earlier but wouldn't/didn't provide a link to? I generally provide links to my sources - if you did the same your arguments might find better purchase.

For grid stability, you couldn't be more wrong - particularly with regards to Germany. Germany has the most reliable grid in the EU (followed closely by Denmark - which is heavily dependent on wind) and one of the most reliable in the world. You can read about it here - https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/germanys-electricity-grid-stable-amid-energy-transition - and the reliability has improved since the deployment of more wind. In 2006 (when they started measuring), average outage per customer per year was 21.5 minutes, while in 2019 (the last year with official numbers) it was 12 minutes. During that time the amount of wind generation tripled.

Regarding gas plants, if you read the EIA link I provided in the post you're responding to, you'd see immediately that your claim (that wind generation is reducing the capacity factors for gas plants) is bunk. The average capacity factor for an American CCGT plant was 44.3% back in 2011 when there was a fraction of the wind or solar generation - considerably less than the 56.6% in 2020. If there was any kind of causal relationship, the shift would be in the other direction.