ICTs all on max import (3.3GW)... Hydro max output (.97GW)... Pumped storage 50% max (1GW out of 2...).... Nuclear flat out at over 8GW.. Bit of slack in coal and gas but its damned tight with demand going up to nearly 50GW..
OCGT just coming online now...100MW so far out of a possible 700 odd.
Solar panels. zero output. Windymills. 2.87GW. If it had been calm in Scotland...
The firm I used to work for used a lot of electricity to power it's various bits of kit (BIG high pressure pumps, rotary driers etc) had it's own coal-fired generating station in the 1930's.
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As the company expanded, it relied more and more on the National Grid, and the old coal-fired station was phased out. But as a safety precaution, in 1962 they installed a gas-turbine generator in case of power cuts etc. This was powered by a Bristol-Siddeley Proteus gas turbine linked to a generator, producing about 3MW. They would test-run it once or twice a year; it sounded like a banshee and everyone for a mile around knew when it was running.
I've not poked my nose outside today yet, ISTR they were forecasting wind this week, this week it hasn't arrived and they're now forecasting it for next week instead.
This afternoon, actual demand was ~1GW higher than predicted demand, overcast so not much solar, hence them having to break out the big carrots, looks like they'll need more for Thursday ...
The Republic of Ireland has some Peat fueled power stations with mechanical stripping of peat bogs on a large scale and around 500 hundred miles of a dedicated narrow gauge railway system to transport it to the plants. Hardly any power is exported to the UK mainland though with the flow over the connector being almost always being the other way. But if we can't let them have any I suppose they will have to run them harder. They were due to close around 2019 but the operators now wish to keep them going for longer and various other factions don't.
We looked at some low pressure gas turbines with heat regeneration which achieved about 16% conversion to motive power, the aero derived ones which ran higher pressures were rated at ~33% and at the time big diesel could do 40%, what are the comparable figures now?
IIRC a traditional steam turbine was turning a similar 33% into electricity.
A colleague went on to work on solid oxide fuel cells in co cycle with a gas turbine and it was expected to achieve 70% conversion heat to electrical power but has remained vapourware for more than a decade now.
It amuses me the way Poulsen (Dong's CEO) expects to produce 5GW. I bet that doesn't take into account the capacity factor, but is just peak output. Also, the way he thinks that batteries are going to be able to store masses of surplus wind energy in the not-too-distant future, when the link-out to battery storage technology is decidedly down-beat and pessimistic.
From that link: 'The biggest problem is energy density' and 'researchers have struggled to increase energy density and meet strict safety requirements', 'The more energy you put into a box, the more dangerous it will be', ' thermal management is crucial. If a battery heats up beyond 80C, the components start to decompose. That?s when it can explode'. And all that negativity from the Grauniad, so in reality things can't be looking good (but we knew that anyway).
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