How London Paid a Record Rrice To Dodge a Blackout www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-07-25/london-s-recor…
The crisis, which quietly played out within the control room of the British electricity system, shows the growing vulnerability of energy transportation networks — power grids and gas and oil pipelines — across much of the industrialized world after years of low investment and not-in-my-backyard opposition…Talk to most industry executives and you quickly get the sense that we are sleepwalking into more blackouts. Discuss the problems with the engineers who manage the system day-in, day-out, and that danger appears even closer…
In a normal situation, without the traffic jams on the grid, the UK should have been able to send power to the southeast of England from elsewhere in the country — even from all the way in Scotland…
The world is investing about $300 billion per year in power grids, an amount that has barely changed since 2015, according to the International Energy Agency. It isn’t enough, as the global economy electrifies and deals with a shifting generation map, with intermittent renewable energy like solar and wind replacing polluting — but dependable — coal- and gas-fired stations.
Reserve margin may need to rise to 300% by 2040 as more renewables added to grid: ISO New England www.utilitydive.com/news/new-england-future-grid-study-iso/6…
The reserve margin on the ISO New England system may need to increase from about 15% to 300% by 2040 in some scenarios, as more renewables are added and dispatchable generation is retired to meet state clean energy goals, according to a July 29 report from the grid operator.
The first phase of the ISO’s Future Grid Reliability Study models a variety of decarbonization scenarios in 2040 and concludes they “may require a significant amount of gas or stored fuels to support variable resources.”
A scenario where reliability criteria are met using only solar, wind and storage, would challenge the transmission system and require “an outsized amount of land or offshore areas” for wind and solar farms, the report found.
National Grid is quitting its foray into developing carbon capture and storage in the UK, in a blow to the Government’s net zero ambitions. The FTSE 100 company is abandoning its plans to develop new pipelines in the Humber region to take carbon dioxide emissions out to the North Sea. Its National Grid Ventures arm is in talks to sell the onshore pipeline project to partners, and has already quit another phase of the project…
National Grid said it wants to focus instead on its electricity networks, which are in major need of upgrades to help cope with the rise in wind farms, electric cars and heat pumps.
Fingrid ensures the functionality of the electricity system and power plants by limiting the connection of new production to the main grid on the west coast for the time being
The number of wind and solar power plants and electricity storage has grown significantly in recent years. The fastest growth has been on the west coast, where the share of this rectifier-connected electricity production is already dominant.
Based on international experience and Fingrid’s observations, the operation of plants implemented with rectifier technology can become unstable if their share of total production grows regionally large…
Fingrid will for the time being limit the network connections of rectifier-connected power plants and electricity storages on the west coast to ensure the operational reliability of the electricity system and power plants.
The UK currently has a 2035 target for 100% of its electricity to be produced without carbon emissions. But meeting the target will require a big increase in the number of renewable projects across the country. It is estimated as much as five times more solar and four times as much wind is needed…
There are currently more than £200bn worth of projects sitting in the connections queue, the BBC has calculated. Around 40% of them face a connection wait of at least a year, according to National Grid’s own figures. That represents delayed investments worth tens of billions of pounds. “We currently have one of the longest grid queues in Europe,” according to Zoisa North-Bond, chief executive of Octopus Energy Generation.
Adi Paterson is the former chief of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation and has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese demanding urgent action to keep the nation’s lights on. “Your electricity plan, for a massive expansion of the grid with wind and solar sources is deeply flawed, and expensive. It will fail to deliver quality, 24-hour electricity,” Dr Paterson warned.
Mass blackouts in rural areas last Friday, sparked by strain on the eastern power grid, should serve as a warning signal to the public and businesses – and are a sign of things to come, he added. In its Summer Readiness Report, the Australian Energy Market Operator warned of blackouts and forced power outages as a result of a feared once-in-a-decade spike in demand…
In his letter to the PM, Dr Paterson called for the government to lift a ban on civilian nuclear power to meet current and future energy needs.