Energy Matters Global and Domestic

[Gibbo2286]

This is a bit dated but you may not have seen it.

[mickthemaverick]

I came across this BigClive look at a smart meter and it confirms to me why I won't have one!!

[myglaren]

Saw that a while back and is one of the reasons that I am holding off to the bitter end.

[bobins]

"Last week there was a widespread blackout across Iberia which also briefly affected the south of France. All power was lost on the peninsula and it was many hours before it was fully restored after a rare black start. Eight people are reported to have died – one in Portugal and seven in Spain – as a result of the blackout, highlighting the seriousness of the situation.

......At 12:33 the Spanish grid experienced an as yet un-identified fault followed 1.5 seconds later by what appears to be a large trip. This caused frequency instability. 3.5 seconds later, the Iberian Peninsula grid disconnected from the rest of Europe, tripping the interconnectors to France – rated at 2.5 GW. All nuclear reactors connected to the grid also tripped off."

An informative article on the current (geddit ? ) problems with switching away from high inertia (old skool) electricity generation to 'renewables' - though the problem can be overcome once technology catches up with the problems. It's a long read and will probably only appeal to one or two people on here who want to learn !
Worth the read to educate yourself though. And yes, there's a few typos in it.

(much) More at : https://watt-logic.com/2025/05/09/the-i ... w-inertia/

[mickthemaverick]

Reading through that brought back some memories, thanks bobins!! Like a revision course for my HNC electrical engineering. All good stuff though and it never hurts to find out how much you remember, sadly a lot more about that than about last week's lunches!!

[bobins]

"In a significant blow to the government's clean energy ambitions the Danish energy company Orsted has cancelled plans for a huge windfarm off the coast of East Yorkshire.
The Hornsea 4 project would have become one of the biggest offshore wind farms in the world with a potential capacity of 2.4GW – enough to power more than a million homes.
Orsted said the project no longer made economic sense, despite signing a 15-year contract with the UK government guaranteeing to sell power at an agreed price.
The UK's offshore wind sector has faced soaring costs in recent years, as the government has acknowledged.
But this is the second developer to pull out of a major offshore project.
The Swedish company Vattenfall halted development of a 1.4GW wind farm off the coast of Norfolk in July 2023, again due to rising costs.
That project was sold to the German energy company RWE, which has said it plans to see the project through."

More at the Beeb : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce848g8l8vro

[PaulC5]

The government has lifted a ban on onshore wind so possibly offshore projects will be cancelled and then cheaper onshore will happen. Wonder if turbines could be installed amongst the solar panels.