Potus ???

[Steven P]

Tidal is tricky - OK we have a large coast but it is also a bit aggressive to infrastructure (particularly moving parts). Get the reliability in there and we are good to go, north of Scotland has a lot of potential. There is an option for tidal on some rivers in the West like the Severn and Mersey - away from the actual coast and a bit more protected.

 

Whatever the UK does though, the network is creaking a bit and needs upgrading, new generation and distribution network. Might upset a few NIMBYs along the way (flip side, the redundant power stations and pylons that are taken down for example will make an equal and opposite amount of happy people to those getting narky).

 

Same as in the US, their network isn't far off rolling blackouts either - only takes a small nudge to create problems, old systems and networks that need 21st century designs and distribution to where the power is needed now (and not 70 years ago). Trumps January actions have in the background been very interested in power (and I don't mean political power) - Argentina with Musks chainsaw, Ukraine with their oil and Lithium and Greenland potential for oil and rare minerals.

[GarethM]

The grids are creaking due to the renewables, it's the surge not the base load from certain areas for example Scotland or out at sea.

 

Power grids barely need to change, without going into details. High voltage transmission from a stable nuclear grid supply looses something laughably small a few %.

 

All these DC interconnections loose a fantastic amount due to it being DC.

 

Best way to describe it is Christmas lights, everything works great until you plug a toaster in the end and burn out the wire for that Christmas day meal.

[Johnsond]

1 hour ago, Steven P said:

Tidal is tricky - OK we have a large coast but it is also a bit aggressive to infrastructure (particularly moving parts). Get the reliability in there and we are good to go, north of Scotland has a lot of potential

You spent any time up Pentland Firth SP or indeed the Severn Estuary?? Tidal is tricky 😂
“ a bit aggressive to infrastructure and moving parts” surely the understatement of the day. 
Maybe if you shared with the Forum your occupation or background it would help somewhat. 

[Steven P]

If we had a predictable stable baseload then yes, the power grid could probably cope... if the generation is where it is located currently... but to transition away from an oil based system and ahead of the 30 years for new nuclear builds then the generation is going to be distributed where the power is.. and to cope the creaky distribution network needs - and indeed is being - upgraded to cope.. or we put in battery storage at the point of generation to easy the supply side of things.

 

Been a while since I did any course on transmission and distribution, they were concerned with AC, that's what was being installed at the time. HVDC is the flavour of the month for long distances though, must be a technical improvement over AC, I was assuming losses would be less - a bit more in the infrastructure costs but winning with losses

[GarethM]

HVDC is used to provide a degree of frequency isolation, regardless of any technical Innovations it's just an old technology with a new name and a higher voltage.

 

You've probably never heard of the current wars at the turn of the century, good few books about the subject and Nikola?.

 

That's why we have AC as pushing a DC current through a pipe regardless of its diameter gets harder and harder the longer the pipe.

 

AC doesn't really have that limitation except mostly heat loss.

 

Batteries are just a boondoggle, minutes of storage at best. They closed fiddlers ferry and kept the turbo alternator as a glorified flywheel to balance the renewables and charged a horrendous amount per minute the other month!.

[Steven P]

Ahh, yes, where they electrocuted the elephant... 

 

 

I've got to pop out, back in later, but I think (despite digressing from rightly knocking Trump) we are agreeing the problem is how to get the power from A to B, but like the rest of the world not quite sure how to balance the load to make it work? Problem of what to do after generation still exists, what to do once the wind blows too much? (and if we 2 can work that out faultlessly then this time next year we'll be millionaires!)

[Johnsond]

20 minutes ago, Steven P said:

Ahh, yes, where they electrocuted the elephant... 

 

 

I've got to pop out, back in later, but I think (despite digressing from rightly knocking Trump) we are agreeing the problem is how to get the power from A to B, but like the rest of the world not quite sure how to balance the load to make it work? Problem of what to do after generation still exists, what to do once the wind blows too much? (and if we 2 can work that out faultlessly then this time next year we'll be millionaires!)

What about when the wind doesn’t blow 🤷‍♂️

 

[Johnsond]

43 minutes ago, Steven P said:

If we had a predictable stable baseload then yes, the power grid could probably cope

🤷‍♂️ Any fool would realise that’s a prerequisite for any industrialised nation to survive. Currently we have some of the highest electricity prices in the world, made worse by a ludicrous headlong rush toward the fabled net zero dream. 

[GarethM]

1 minute ago, Johnsond said:

What about when the wind doesn’t blow 🤷‍♂️

Sussh you, millipede will cry in his cornflakes if you let him know the wind doesn't blow all the time.

 

There was a headline saying the same about his great idea for hydrogen in mains gas earlier. Great if a free byproduct from say medical oxygen production, but noo.

[Johnsond]

17 minutes ago, GarethM said:

Sussh you, millipede will cry in his cornflakes if you let him know the wind doesn't blow all the time.

 

There was a headline saying the same about his great idea for hydrogen in mains gas earlier. Great if a free byproduct from say medical oxygen production, but noo.

It was a serious question Gareth, I hear a lot about wind and sun etc and it would seem SP is putting himself out there as a bit of an authority on such matters, hence it would be nice if he told everyone what his area of expertise or occupation is rather than remaining as this anonymous generally speaking political or social commentator. We had periods earlier this winter of sustained overcast calm weather where virtually zero renewable energy was being produced. As for the Grid 🤔was it not functioning pretty much ok whilst we had a stable base load capacity 🤷‍♂️which fool would close a power station before you have an alternative 🤷‍♂️

Anyway SP will surely be along to explain his reasoning and knowledge on this subject or alternatively he will like a true political type absolutely dodge the question as he’s done many times before on a number of topics.