Estimated storage requirement for UK Grid

[GregLocock]

The Royal Society is firmly on the side of Net Zero, and bless their cotton socks, have had a go at working out how much storage a wind/solar grid needs in the UK.

https://royalsociety.org/-/media/po...ash=90BC8F8BCBC2A34431B6CF9DD80A8C9D&la=en-GB

Here's the greatest hit

Wind supply can vary over time scales of
decades and tens of TWhs of very long duration storage will be needed. The scale
is over 1000 times that currently provided
by pumped hydro in the UK, and far more
than could conceivably be provided by
conventional batteries.

Annual electricity use is 570 TWh, They think 100 TWh of storage is needed, ie about 2 months of use. This is a lot more than I estimated (60 hours), because they looked at 37 years of data and there was a wind drought, which my 2 years of data did not capture.

So they are proposing green hydrogen. While there's a lot of work in that space, so far as I know the process is still ridiculously expensive.



Cheers

Greg Locock


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[dik]

They still have a little further to go... they have to get the politicians on line...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-66952623

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[hokie66]

Whistling in the wind, pun intended, with batteries, particularly when they continue to explode. Pumped storage will help some, where terrain is suitable, but that requires building dams, unacceptable to the greens. Nuclear is the long term solution, again unacceptable to greens.

 

[ACtrafficengr]

For grid scale storage, lithium battery chemistries are not the best option. Since scalability becomes more important than power density, redox flow batteries can be used, and they are much less flammable.

My glass has a v/c ratio of 0.5

Maybe the tyranny of Murphy is the penalty for hubris. -

http://xkcd.com/319/

 

[rb1957]

I wonder if commonsense will kick in ? ... nah

"Hoffen wir mal, dass alles gut geht !"
General Paulus, Nov 1942, outside Stalingrad after the launch of Operation Uranus.

 

[Pud]

I have yet to see a solution where plastics to make the carbon fibre (Polyester sourced) and all the other stuff for medical equipment etc. is going to come from when oil is stopped to make all the EV's and wind turbines etc.
Nuts.
Can't make polymers from electrons as far as I know.
Nobel prize anyone?

Politicians like to panic, they need activity. It is their substitute for achievement.

 

[GregLocock]

I suppose Fischer Tropsch from coal.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

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[ACtrafficengr]

The other way to look at it is this: given all the other stuff we make from petroleum, why are we burning it?

My glass has a v/c ratio of 0.5

Maybe the tyranny of Murphy is the penalty for hubris. -

http://xkcd.com/319/

 

[GregLocock]

Well there's no doubt that for cars in particular BEVs are a feasible solution for the majority of first world people. Perhaps trees->charcoal->methane->plastic (etc) is a longterm solution if we run out of dinosaurs.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

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[hokie66]

Some plastics use coal as feedstock. I don’t know which ones.

 

[saikee119]

Annual electricity use is 570 TWh,

From Wikipedia on electricity generation in UK "In 2020, total electricity production stood at 312 TWh (down from a peak of 385 TWh in 2005)". Are we talking about different country here?

The Royal Society estimated the 570TWh could happen in 2050. However historically after UK reached its maximum electricity generation of 385 TWh in 2005 it has been able to sustain the economy by reducing electricity production yearly to what it is now about 310 TWh and buy the extra power from France. This is possible as UK has changed from a manufacturing based economy to a services economy.

 

[TugboatEng]

This is possible as UK has changed from a manufacturing based economy to a services economy.

Now the energy is just being wasted?