Cold day, burning coal

[JohnD]

The UK coal-fired power stations are now running flat out at 10.9GW. For the past year they have mostly been on standby or maintenance, and we have been getting more power from renewables than from nuclear.

Looking at the anticipated cold weather, they will probably be cooking for a week.

There's still a bit of slack on the big gas stations.

Let's hope for wind, or we may be interestingly close to the edge.

What a shame we have had 30 years of governments without an energy plan.

 

[Ihavenojob]

We could generate enough energy to last several millennia using the hot air you spout.

 

[wv62]

Coal is still running at 10.73GW at 21:30. I know a few site engineers on the coal sites who will be very happy. When I checked earlier today demand was up to 50GW and about the only things not running were the OCGT's. If this weather keeps up I reckon a few of them will need to come online. The problem will come in a couple of years when first Cottam and then afterwards West Burton close I'm not sure of Ratcliffe, Eggborough etc closure dates

 

[gasbanni]

And the carbon footprint of the pellets is the same as coal, China has no problem building coal powered generating stations.

Is the EU to thank for this ?


Is buning coal that bad ?

http://www.eggboroughpower.co.uk/About-Us/How-We-Generate-Electricity.aspx

 

[securespark]

No, I don't think so. The only problem I see is that it is finite.

Oh, and that the demand will only increase with the influx of electric vehicles.

 

[wobs]

And the carbon footprint of the pellets is the same as coal, China has no problem building coal powered generating stations.

They are building more, but also new nuclear, wind, and solar. Many new coal projects have been put on hold.

Is the EU to thank for this ?

Large Combustion Directive has pushed for improvements. Improvements that were needed of course.

And we are signed up to the Paris agreement, what with climate change being a thing.

Is burning coal that bad ?

As someone who lives downwind of Drax & Eggborough - Yes.

 

[wobs]

No, I don't think so. The only problem I see is that it is finite.

Oh, and that the demand will only increase with the influx of electric vehicles.

No it won't. We just need to build more nuclear plants. And keep the Siemens factory going in Hull.
https://www.siemens.co.uk/en/wind/hull.htm

 

[securespark]

How can you say "No it won't."? It will!

Demand will increase and successive governments' efforts have shown a poor performance in the energy generating business, so you cannot be sure the infrastructure will be in place in time for the increase.

 

[^woody^]

The UK coal-fired power stations are now running flat out at 10.9GW. For the past year they have mostly been on standby or maintenance, and we have been getting more power from renewables than from nuclear.

Looking at the anticipated cold weather, they will probably be cooking for a week.

There's still a bit of slack on the big gas stations.

Let's hope for wind, or we may be interestingly close to the edge.

What a shame we have had 30 years of governments without an energy plan.

We could power Manchester from your hot air. And thats without any plan.

 

[Brigadier]

We had something around 400 years' worth of coal in the UK, when we stopped mining it around 1992, iirc.

 

[wobs]

How can you say "No it won't."? It will!

Demand will increase and successive governments' efforts have shown a poor performance in the energy generating business, so you cannot be sure the infrastructure will be in place in time for the increase.

For charging the increasing number of electric cars, there are estimates in place. We would probably need about 5GW of extra capacity by 2040, assuming the Government's announcements are accurate:
http://fes.nationalgrid.com/media/1264/ ... r-v032.pdf

Meanwhile, there have been decades of lack of planning in our national grid. We need new nuclear fast, but of course, politics have got in the way.

Edit:
And when we increase our renewable capacity we'll increase our connections with Europe (including Norway).

BTW, EU renewables recently outpaced its coal output (measured in TWhr).

 

[wobs]

.

 

[JohnD]

coal is now at 11.24GW and in the "red zone" on the output meter. They must be raking it in.

But frequency is 49.9hz so overall supply is a bit low. The big gas stations are not yet at max, though, which is lucky, because the little top-up gas generators have a capacity of only about half a gig. Wind alone is giving us ten times that, and this is not a windy day.

Tomorrow will be colder.

 

[Nozzle]

Frequency generally is low during the day, 49.9something Hz is not remarkable. 49.900 for an extended period of time possibly is

Nozzle

 

[pete50]

They are building more, but also new nuclear, wind, and solar. Many new coal projects have been put on hold.

Large Combustion Directive has pushed for improvements. Improvements that were needed of course.

And we are signed up to the Paris agreement, what with climate change being a thing.

As someone who lives downwind of Drax & Eggborough - Yes.

Downwind of Drax and Eggborough???? In Hull ??? Good grief Hull has far more pollution from what is in Hull. I very much doubt that anything from Drax or Eggborough, that hasn't actually produced anything for a year or more, has ever got as far as Hull. I live right on top of all three of those power stations and I have never noticed any pollution (I am aware that there is pollution even though I cannot see it) in 20 odd years of living here. The worst it has been is when Drax started burning that wood crap. It absolutely stinks.