BrianG
Established Member
The Grid is busy working out how future demand and generation will work. In essence the Grid of the 1960s-1990s has been turned on its head. Instead of central plants generating power and sending it out to the fringes of GB the fringes are now generating the stuff and sending it back into the major cities. The wires are too thin at the edges and need to be reinforced. But it isn't that simple, the transformers and switch equipment along the grid needs upgrading too and modified to send power in the other direction.
A good example is the North of Scotland system. There is a 132 kV circuit up to Dounreay and down to Beauly just outside of Inverness. Another line runs along to Peterhead where there is/was a power station. Sutherland has developed a lot of on shore wind farms and the Moray Firth is home to almost 3 GW of projects. That with other power coming down from Orkney and Shetland means that 400 kV circuits are required. Already SSE (Grid operator in Northern Scotland ex Scottish Hydro) has built one circuit from Beauly to Denny in the Central Belt which involved replacing the old towers with new higher ones and new transformers but already that link looks as though it will be under stress. An HVDC link will run from Wick to near Peterhead and another from Peterhead down to Drax. Though these carry a lot of power you can't beat 2 big circuits at 400kV which can carry as much as 7 GW. And as I said in an earlier post Scotland may well be generating 25 GW with some 10 GW coming from the Pentland Firth and further north. Pumped storage is a pretty efficient way of storing electricity but you need hills and dams for that. The electric mountain in Wales uses old slate quarries and works really well but is designed for high capacity over short bursts rather than steady output over long periods of low wind. That is where interconnectors to Ireland and Europe come in. Spread your wind farms and you will find there is always wind somewhere. And Norway has considerable hydro power which peaks in the summer when the snow melts rather than in the winter when it is windy. So swapping plentiful wind power with the Norwegians and other hilly countries is a benefit for all involved. Ultimately though, demand side following the production of cheap power will be the best answer. We will need to automate processes so that we can turn the wicks up and down without disrupting the workers lives too much but it won't take much to persuade people to work on annualised contracts etc in order to get people to work flexibly when the power output is high. Cheap power equals better pay! The brick makers, steel industry, fertiliser industry and cement industry will all be good customers for cheap power at peak output times, even if it means working flat out during winter nights. At least the wind guys have the means to accurately predict their output a few days ahead now.
A good example is the North of Scotland system. There is a 132 kV circuit up to Dounreay and down to Beauly just outside of Inverness. Another line runs along to Peterhead where there is/was a power station. Sutherland has developed a lot of on shore wind farms and the Moray Firth is home to almost 3 GW of projects. That with other power coming down from Orkney and Shetland means that 400 kV circuits are required. Already SSE (Grid operator in Northern Scotland ex Scottish Hydro) has built one circuit from Beauly to Denny in the Central Belt which involved replacing the old towers with new higher ones and new transformers but already that link looks as though it will be under stress. An HVDC link will run from Wick to near Peterhead and another from Peterhead down to Drax. Though these carry a lot of power you can't beat 2 big circuits at 400kV which can carry as much as 7 GW. And as I said in an earlier post Scotland may well be generating 25 GW with some 10 GW coming from the Pentland Firth and further north. Pumped storage is a pretty efficient way of storing electricity but you need hills and dams for that. The electric mountain in Wales uses old slate quarries and works really well but is designed for high capacity over short bursts rather than steady output over long periods of low wind. That is where interconnectors to Ireland and Europe come in. Spread your wind farms and you will find there is always wind somewhere. And Norway has considerable hydro power which peaks in the summer when the snow melts rather than in the winter when it is windy. So swapping plentiful wind power with the Norwegians and other hilly countries is a benefit for all involved. Ultimately though, demand side following the production of cheap power will be the best answer. We will need to automate processes so that we can turn the wicks up and down without disrupting the workers lives too much but it won't take much to persuade people to work on annualised contracts etc in order to get people to work flexibly when the power output is high. Cheap power equals better pay! The brick makers, steel industry, fertiliser industry and cement industry will all be good customers for cheap power at peak output times, even if it means working flat out during winter nights. At least the wind guys have the means to accurately predict their output a few days ahead now.