The renewables revolution.

[Lowbankclaret]

For the first time in the UK’s history relabels hit 65% of energy creation in two consecutive days.

People who are on Octopus Agile tariff have for the past two days at certain been being paid to use the excess electric, highest it got to was 20 pence per KWH.

It’s going to be interesting how we try to balance this out in the coming years.

I know some are using electric cars to run the house in the day, charging with cheap electric over night.

I have seen some people who are just thinking of fitting batteries , be great to be paid to charge them.

Interesting times.

[Stayingup]

For the first time in the UK’s history relabels hit 65% of energy creation in two consecutive days.

People who are on Octopus Agile tariff have for the past two days at certain been being paid to use the excess electric, highest it got to was 20 pence per KWH.

It’s going to be interesting how we try to balance this out in the coming years.

I know some are using electric cars to run the house in the day, charging with cheap electric over night.

I have seen some people who are just thinking of fitting batteries , be great to be paid to charge them.

Interesting times.

Is that because it's high summer and its been windy?

How many GW were generated each day? Interested to know if you have that information. I am not particularly informed in this area but I am led to believe we will need to get to 50GW capacity by 2030 to meet targets set, presumably by the government.

[criminalclaret]

The problem we have geographically in the British Isles (being of a higher latitude) is that we can't evenly distribute the solar renewables we generate on higher days (summer) to offset the days we generate nothing at all (winter). Our supply and demand rarely meet evenly. Wind is brilliant but unpredictable and if no demand that day, the turbines are just disconnected or exported as best of possible.

Storage is a huge issue and there is limited / expensive solution for long term renewable storage, e.g enormous hydroelectric damns of some description. (Batteries for such an enormous volume do not exist at current)

If you look at countries more closer located to the equator, it's much better balanced supply and demand (10-14 hrs sunlight pretty much gaurenteed) so they make more use of planning around the renewables without the need to worry a our storage for more than a day or two.

There is a great initiative in the Ornkies where they generate so much renewables from wind they convert the excess power generated to create liquid hydrogen. This is then easily stored and used for quieter days/exported.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2019 ... ogen-power

The UK needs a balanced plan - wind, solar, hydro, hydrogen/lpg to have a long term future of using renewables affectivity.

[Lowbankclaret]

Is that because it's high summer and its been windy?

How many GW were generated each day? Interested to know if you have that information. I am not particularly informed in this area but I am led to believe we will need to get to 50GW capacity by 2030 to meet targets set, presumably by the government.

You can geek out on way too much data on the UK energy dashboard. Today it’s at 59% from solar and wind. https://www.energydashboard.co.uk/live

IMG_1808.png (594.99 KiB) Viewed 2866 times

[mdd2]

We also need nuclear power for when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. Think we lost a couple of decades in development when it was decided "No more nuclear power"

[Lowbankclaret]

We also need nuclear power for when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. Think we lost a couple of decades in development when it was decided "No more nuclear power"

Honestly in ten years time when they start thinking of building them, activities will have over taken the need for nuclear. Just an opinion. Rolls Royce are already abandoning the idea of their small reactors as the Gov keep putting issues in the way. That’s what I am being told by employees.

There is a balance to be struck, but that’s what engineers have been doing for years, finding a method to create that balance.

[Stayingup]

We also need nuclear power for when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. Think we lost a couple of decades in development when it was decided "No more nuclear power"

Yes and RR has a modular reactor in use now on submarines. The government I have read is inviting designs from overseas companies. I assume that means they have changed positively on this source since Cameron knocked it back and lost about 20 years.

[bfccrazy]

Yes and RR has a modular reactor in use now on submarines. The government I have read is inviting designs from overseas companies. I assume that means they have changed positively on this source since Cameron knocked it back and lost about 20 years.

Nuclear is expected to have a biggggg push in the following years - the amount of investment into it soon is mental and the small reactors are still happening all over.

Strangely the battery side of stuff has taken a hit all over which is interesting alongside the push for electric cars.

[SingaporeClarets]

Offshore wind capacity will quadruple over the next 10 years, where are all the ports, construction vessels, maintenance vessels, manufacturing plants, raw materials etc. to meet demand. By the time you realise you need more capacity it's too late.

Electricity demand will increase as cars become electric but not only do we need to replace fossil fuel power stations but increase capacity for increased power demand. If the UK gets hotter, more people will also consider installing air conditioning units.

The decision is how you can increase capacity as quickly as possible while trying to become carbon neutral.

[mdd2]

If and it is a big if fusion can be made to work on a massive scale without bankrupting the world future generations if still around will have oodles of clean energy options

[clarethomer]

Offshore wind capacity will quadruple over the next 10 years, where are all the ports, construction vessels, maintenance vessels, manufacturing plants, raw materials etc. to meet demand. By the time you realise you need more capacity it's too late.

Electricity demand will increase as cars become electric but not only do we need to replace fossil fuel power stations but increase capacity for increased power demand. If the UK gets hotter, more people will also consider installing air conditioning units.

The decision is how you can increase capacity as quickly as possible while trying to become carbon neutral.

Air Source Heat Pumps are a clear indicator that the government are looking to remove gas from homes. Gas boilers will become cleaner (hydrogen boilers?) or something else in the future as it pushes us to be cleaner too.

However solar and home batteries are the future for us I think. I can take electricity from the grid whilst everyone sleep so I don’t place demand during the day. Use of solar when the weather permits also help reduce my overall demand.

Posted about ASHP and it seems that technology and understanding of how to better retrofit is happening.

Biggest thing though to reduce all of our consumption is to minimise the heat loss from our homes.

[OffTheBar]

If and it is a big if fusion can be made to work on a massive scale without bankrupting the world future generations if still around will have oodles of clean energy options

Fusion along with mining the moon could be a solution.

[Lowbankclaret]

On the graph above you can see wind was providing 45% , if as the poster above says it’s to quadruple in ten years. That alone will be providing electrical needs when as everyone agrees it’s windy. Added to that the rush to go Solar by individuals as word gets round that it is really good.

That’s when storage become an issue, as I mentioned. That could be done by individuals or larger storage facilities.

The real next step change , which may or may not happen would be the decoupling of renewables from the fossil fuel prices. From what I have read and please don’t take this as facts. If you’re buying electric today from fossil fuel prices would be similar to what they are around 30p per kWh. If you were buying renewable electric it would be less than 5p per kWh. Nuclear, well that’s debated to death, no idea what the actual cost would be.

[bfcjg]

https://uk.yahoo.com/finance/news/massi ... 02204.html
Interesting news.

[Bosscat]

https://uk.yahoo.com/finance/news/massi ... 02204.html
Interesting news.

Elon will be buying them out next

[dsr]

https://uk.yahoo.com/finance/news/massi ... 02204.html
Interesting news.

They've got the oil, they could corner the market in hydroelectric, and now they've got the phosphorus too? Not to mention the scenery. I'll take my spade when I'm on holiday next month, and start digging.

[Guppyspotter]

A friend was staying over this weekend for a friends leaving do all day Saturday, he was visibly twitching as his batteries at home were full and his 95KWh car was sitting in Bristol unable to take advantage of the sun as a storage battery for home. Most crazy of all is that he can't have both solar panels and a wind turbine at home because he lives within a national park. It's one or the other.

[Tricky Trevor]

Up to this post not a mention of wave power. With the UKs ragged coastline there are so many perfect spots for these machines. As always the nimbys will have some complaint or other.

[IanMcL]

Scotland will rule the waves, wind and a bit of sun!

The Elon Musk battery storage plants will come on handy. Australia saving millions.

[Hipper]

Up to this post not a mention of wave power. With the UKs ragged coastline there are so many perfect spots for these machines. As always the nimbys will have some complaint or other.

Wave power has been tried but as yet, as far as I've seen, nothing commercially successful has operated for very long.

[Tricky Trevor]

Wave power has been tried but as yet, as far as I've seen, nothing commercially successful has operated for very long.

It has for Norway and Portugal.

[dsr]

It has for Norway and Portugal.

Best I can find for Norway is that their power is 91.5% hydroelectric, 7.5% wind, 1% thermal. Nothing for waves. Have you a link to a successful wave power station that brings power onshore?

https://www.statista.com/statistics/102 ... by-source/

[Tricky Trevor]

Best I can find for Norway is that their power is 91.5% hydroelectric, 7.5% wind, 1% thermal. Nothing for waves. Have you a link to a successful wave power station that brings power onshore?

https://www.statista.com/statistics/102 ... by-source/

No. Something I watched on tv a couple of years back. I’ll bow to your figures.

[Bosscat]

Wave power has been tried but as yet, as far as I've seen, nothing commercially successful has operated for very long.

I saw a programme about tidal power (in Strangford Lough Northern Ireland I think) ... found it

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... r_stations

Decommissioned now

[ŽižkovClaret]

I know some are using electric cars to run the house in the day, charging with cheap electric over night.

How does that work?

[Lowbankclaret]

How does that work?

. My friend who has solar asked his neighbour about selling him electric during the day as he has a Tesla. He explained he charges his car over night at 15p per kwh and then runs his house on the Tesla battery through the day. I think you need a two way inverter to allow you to charge and then drain your Tesla battery.
Most people who have solar have between 5 and 15 kw of batteries. A Tesla is around 70 kw. Most people use between 10 and 15 kwh per day.
So a Tesla can easily run your house and give you a couple of hundred miles of range in that day.
Hope that helps explain.

I was saying about us getting more inventive, doing things like this can lower the surges in the grid, create a better balance of load.

[clarethomer]

. My friend who has solar asked his neighbour about selling him electric during the day as he has a Tesla. He explained he charges his car over night at 15p per kwh and then runs his house on the Tesla battery through the day. I think you need a two way inverter to allow you to charge and then drain your Tesla battery.
Most people who have solar have between 5 and 15 kw of batteries. A Tesla is around 70 kw. Most people use between 10 and 15 kwh per day.
So a Tesla can easily run your house and give you a couple of hundred miles of range in that day.
Hope that helps explain.

I was saying about us getting more inventive, doing things like this can lower the surges in the grid, create a better balance of load.

Tesla have home batteries. Doubt it was the car doing this

[Lowbankclaret]

Tesla have home batteries. Doubt it was the car doing this

No he uses his car, the Tesla and Nissan leaf are compatible with doing this apparently.

[clarethomer]

As a tesla owner that is news to me and it’s certainly not a feature advertised - e.g bi-directional power to
Support vehicle to home or vehicle to grid power. As far as I’m aware there are plans to look at this but not yet.

If they have found a way around this, their warranty is likely to be void and it’s a hack rather than a feature.

Octopus did once run a vehicle to grid scheme down south for the leaf so knew about that.

Tesla battery solution is https://www.tesla.com/en_gb/powerwall

[ŽižkovClaret]

. My friend who has solar asked his neighbour about selling him electric during the day as he has a Tesla. He explained he charges his car over night at 15p per kwh and then runs his house on the Tesla battery through the day. I think you need a two way inverter to allow you to charge and then drain your Tesla battery.
Most people who have solar have between 5 and 15 kw of batteries. A Tesla is around 70 kw. Most people use between 10 and 15 kwh per day.
So a Tesla can easily run your house and give you a couple of hundred miles of range in that day.
Hope that helps explain.

I was saying about us getting more inventive, doing things like this can lower the surges in the grid, create a better balance of load.

The two way inverter would make sense, thanks!

Im not sure if there would be an inadvisable drain / use of the charge hours available for the life of the battery cells, but its probably negligable

[Lowbankclaret]

Apparently after asking on a Facebook solar and battery group, some real geeks on there.

There was a trial called vehicle to home where some EV owner signed up to it and used it. They were able to keep the kit after the trial. Info says all the manufacturers are now developing systems. So it’s not readily available yet. But it will be .

[clarethomer]

Yes it was octopus

https://octopusev.com/powerloop

https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/tesla- ... convenient

[Lowbankclaret]

Thank you clarethomer.

Now to me that would be a massive advance for a lot of people.

Being able to use your EV instead of having batteries in the loft or garage.

Still does not solve the range issues people complain about. However a Merc concept car just achieved 621 miles on a single charge.


Seems like a great idea when you can charge your car using solar or cheap over night energy and either use it in your home or drive somewhere , then we are getting somewhere to a change in direction for electric.

[Lowbankclaret]

Reply from a top geek,

IMG_1811.png (543.12 KiB) Viewed 1704 times

[CombatClaret]

Imagine how far we'd be were it not for the companies and nations who have grown fat off hydrocarbon throwing everything they have at governments, lobbyists, personalities, botfarms, marketing etc to keep their party going as long as possible.

[clarethomer]

Thank you clarethomer.

Now to me that would be a massive advance for a lot of people.

Being able to use your EV instead of having batteries in the loft or garage.

Still does not solve the range issues people complain about. However a Merc concept car just achieved 621 miles on a single charge.


Seems like a great idea when you can charge your car using solar or cheap over night energy and either use it in your home or drive somewhere , then we are getting somewhere to a change in direction for electric.

Indeed -

My current non EV consumption is about 9kWh per day so I could use my 55kWh battery on my Tesla and still have plenty of juice to get me about each day with regular overnight charging.

If you based the consumption when driving the EV at 3 miles per kWh then it would be the equivalent of using about 30 miles of range from the battery to power my house during the day and I can charge at 33 miles per hour at night so a one hour charge each night would effectively be the equivalent power to run my house during 5:30am to 11:30pm period.

This solution though wouldn't be able to fully support the house when the car was in use. Therefore the standalone battery has that advantage.

Having been looking at home batteries and the new givenergy all in one is coming out about 7-8k fitted but I know there are cheaper options out there. Still a lot of money to half my electric bill.

If the Tesla was capable of doing it - would certainly be a no brainer for me.

[Lowbankclaret]

Indeed -

My current non EV consumption is about 9kWh per day so I could use my 55kWh battery on my Tesla and still have plenty of juice to get me about each day with regular overnight charging.

If you based the consumption when driving the EV at 3 miles per kWh then it would be the equivalent of using about 30 miles of range from the battery to power my house during the day and I can charge at 33 miles per hour at night so a one hour charge each night would effectively be the equivalent power to run my house during 5:30am to 11:30pm period.

This solution though wouldn't be able to fully support the house when the car was in use. Therefore the standalone battery has that advantage.

Having been looking at home batteries and the new givenergy all in one is coming out about 7-8k fitted but I know there are cheaper options out there. Still a lot of money to half my electric bill.

If the Tesla was capable of doing it - would certainly be a no brainer for me.

CurrentY in Tenerife, but having massaged my friend, he is saying he was part of the Octopus trial that happened and the kit works with his Tesla. Loads of people online saying it’s not possible that it works with his Tesla. But to be fair if you could take your neighbours electric and pay him 15p instead of 30p. Like you would I think.
But the tech is coming , that’s the overall message.

If you have Solar fitted, as long as the car is in use in daytime, that will run your house. Big part of my solar cost was battery . £2600 of it. My mates was £4200. Still it’s a big chunk of an EV.

[Lowbankclaret]

Imagine how far we'd be were it not for the companies and nations who have grown fat off hydrocarbon throwing everything they have at governments, lobbyists, personalities, botfarms, marketing etc to keep their party going as long as possible.

You’re not wrong.

[claretonthecoast1882]

CurrentY in Tenerife, but having massaged my friend, he is saying he was part of the Octopus trial that happened and the kit works with his Tesla. Loads of people online saying it’s not possible that it works with his Tesla. But to be fair if you could take your neighbours electric and pay him 15p instead of 30p. Like you would I think.
But the tech is coming , that’s the overall message.

If you have Solar fitted, as long as the car is in use in daytime, that will run your house. Big part of my solar cost was battery . £2600 of it. My mates was £4200. Still it’s a big chunk of an EV.

Would your friend not tell you without the massage

[Newcastleclaret93]

Certainly interesting that there seems to be an apparent shift in some countries mentality to renewables.

Sweden have changed their target from 100% renewables to 100% carbon free. They’re planning to scrap most renewable projects and prioritise nuclear.

I notice rumours this morning that the U.K. government is set to drop their climate pledge of 11.6 billion down.

[Hipper]

https://topcharger.co.uk/vehicle-to-hom ... s-it-work/