Could the National Grid be making better use of the battery storage facilities already available in the UK?
It seems that at some points in the last year, even when there was battery-stored electricity available to be drawn down, the Grid still used gas-fired additional generation instead.
Its likely to have be caused by a lack of up-to-date computing infrastructure to manage supply during surges.
We have a net-zero friendly solution but are (still) not fully using it!
@ChrisMayLA6 There has been a programme underway for several years now to prepare the grid to be able to operate without the inertia provided by the spinning generators of thermal power plants. The goal has been to be ready for that by 2025 and on Friday it looked as if we were getting pretty close to that readiness, with gas fired generation down below 1 gigawatt or 2.5% of generation. We certainly have the power available. Britain was exporting power to spare from wind and solar..
@ChrisMayLA6 ..so as to have the room to keep that relatively small amount of gas in the mix. The pressure to go fossil-free will be even stronger later this year when the first part of the Dogger Bank array starts to supply power. But note that the use of batteries at that point will be to provide stability in place of rotational inertia, not to supply short or medium term energy in the way, say, pumped hydro does. But there is certainly plenty of construction of grid batteries underway
@ChrisMayLA6 It’s certainly an exciting time, which is what has made me an avid grid watcher. I can’t wait for the first time we go even half an hour without fossil fuelled generation. That will be historic. It may only be for half an hour the first time but it’s only about 6-7 years since our first hour without coal generation and now, this summer, the last coal fired power station will be switched off for good. There’s a revolution underway — largely out of sight.
Add comment