The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut’s Post

Unresolved issues persist with wind deployment in the UK – such as slow planning and consenting, struggling grid infrastructure, and management and skills shortages. The failure to build up domestic wind manufacturing capacity has also proved to be an economic missed opportunity. In this report, IPPR argue for a green industrial strategy for the wind sector that should focus on expanding the UK’s specialisation in wind manufacturing, to help put the UK on track to energy independence and on course to meet its ambitious climate targets, while reaping the economic opportunity of the green economy. Follow the link for more:

Had to share this article friends. Is anyone else as worried about US wind energy policy as me - now that we will have a new administration in 2025? Clearly we still need to make Direct Air Capture a priority to have a decent chance of meeting the 1.5 degree goal. #DAC, #Climatechangeisreal

🌬️💡 UK Wind Power: A Tale of Growth and Grid Constraints 🇬🇧⚡ 🚀 Wind capacity in the UK is soaring, with a 50% increase in offshore fleet over the past 5 years and plans to double it in the next 5! 📈🔌 But here's the catch: the grid isn't keeping up! 😕💰 Result? Over £1 billion spent this year on "congestion costs" - paying wind farms to turn off and others to switch on. 💸🌪️ Even during Storm Bert, major wind parks like Seagreen and Viking were idle. 🛑⚖️ The balancing act: Turn off distant wind farms ❌ Fire up gas plants near cities ✅ 🎯 This situation threatens:2030 grid decarbonization plans Efforts to reduce consumer bills 🤔 The big question: How can we upgrade our grid to match our renewable ambitions? 🌿🔋#RenewableEnergy #UKPower #GridChallenges

Response to onshore wind ban being lifted in England: Sarah Merrick, Founder and CEO of Ripple Energy, said: "Overturning the de facto ban on onshore wind in England signals a bright new dawn for wind energy, putting the dark days of hostility towards development behind us. "Onshore wind is pivotal to fighting climate change and central to the UK's energy transition. #climatechange #cooperative #Efficiency&Environment #electricitybills #energytransition #England #onshorewind #Renewableenergy #RippleEnergy #windenergy #windfarms #windindustry

In parallel with the prognostications at Australian Energy Week 2024, out in the wild the aggregate wind yield has dropped again and (in conjunction with low hydro storage and possibly other reasons) gas-fired generation in TAS is seeing its strongest run in just over 5 years: https://lnkd.in/gXbpj5G6 via WattClarity now (and noting Tamar Valley CCGT running for the first time in 5 years). Food for thought, in terms of the design of the #CapacityInvestmentScheme.

Why are we not talking about energy from flowing water? It’s a misty wet light wind day here in the south west of the Uk. Just struck by two news items. Met offices saying our climate will get wetter and hoter, and the new energy minister talking about growing offshore wind and onshore solar. So why is he also talking about energy from Hydro and tidal. After all our Industrial Revolution was initially based around mills. Wind we have replicated in wind turbines, but why are we not doing more to capture energy using small and micro hydro. One reason is the cost of permitting which the government could do something about. Then there is tidal power, be that tidal stream, or lagoon. Today is actually a sprint tide day, so large movement of water. The UK is uniquely placed with big tides all round its coastline. Tidal energy is not dependent on the weather, highly predictable for years to come, and near to land, so no long cables. So how do we get our leaders to also focus on energy from flowing water, from energy in the winter, and when the winds not blowing.

BEYOND 2023 REPORT PUBLISHED THIS MONTH (MARCH 2024). PLEASE READ IF INTERESTED IN THE UK'S DECARBONISATION PLANS AS WE HEAD FOR 2035'S NET ZERO TARGET... I am flagging this report from the ESO (Electricity Systems Operator) because it is a very interesting and detailed report about the national electricity grid and it makes a set of network recommendations, including offshore and onshore network upgrades which will require an additional £58 billion of investment in our electricity networks. It recommends the connection of an extra 21GW of offshore wind as well as a breadth of other low carbon generation across Britain whilst aiming to minimise the impacts on communities and ensure that their wider benefits are exploited. This is a transitional plan before they develop the fully 'Centralised Strategic Network Plan' which will be published in 2026. Both industry stakeholders and Ofgem will review their recommendations and industry is expected to develop these recommendations further through a detailed 'Network Design Phase'. It is expected that industry will engage extensively with communities on these options and as they transition into the National Energy System Operator, they will continue strategic planning will be publishing further plans in 2025 and 2026. Watch this space!

#ISEM: Strong wind output over the weekend and into Monday resulted in some substantial wind bid volumes, at times representing around 60% of system demand. Overnight demand was low on Sunday morning, dropping to ~3.5GW while wind bid volumes rose above 2GW. Wind bid volumes are priced into the BM at €0/MWh. With such large volumes of downward balancing of wind assets, the system price was at or below €0/MWh for 22 hours across Sunday and Monday. These periods were mostly overnight, but stretched into the early afternoon on Sunday. As is often the case during periods of wind oversupply in the SEM, there were constraints moving power from Northern Ireland to the Republic. Interconnector flows were counter-intuitive at times, with Moyle exporting power from Northern Ireland into GB due to excess wind while the East-West interconnector imported power into the Republic from GB simultaneously. During periods of curtailment due to oversupply like this, wind assets which are bid down are required to pay back a curtailment payment. The payment is equal to the difference between the imbalance price and a curtailment price which intended to represent ex-ante revenues. In this case, day-ahead prices were around €0/MWh for several hours, but revenue earned in ex-ante markets by curtailed wind assets during periods of non-zero prices will have been paid back, as the imbalance price was €0/MWh for much of the time. Register here for my upcoming webinar on some of the less intuitive interactions in low priced events like this: https://lnkd.in/eu3dvjQK

ICIS analysis of the national energy and climate plans (NECPs) of the EU 27 shows the union is likely to just miss its 2030 target for solar capacity, while falling significantly short of the ambition for wind. ⚡ Overall ambition for wind does not meet the overall EU target. ⚡Supply chain constraints and increased costs are a major problem - particularly as wind is more costly and has a longer payback time than solar. ⚡ Some national governments and local communities have proved extremely hostile to wind. ⚡ Lengthy permitting processes mean some wind projects are simply running out of time to commission pre-2030. Subscribers can read the full analysis on the long-term platform 😉 #icis #energymarkets #necp #renewableenergy #powermarkets #electricitymarkets #power

On July 3, 2024, 10 days before the now infamous blade failure at Vineyard Wind, the Barr Foundation released a report titled "Views on Offshore Wind in New England." I will not comment on the choice of samples (CT, MA, & RI only) or the fact that despite the significant differences in total population per state, an equal number of voters (400) were polled per state. However, I will focus on two primary points: Consumers/Voters see affordability as as their top priority for their electric service (CT: 71%, MA: 68%, and RI: 70%). Their second priority is Reliability: (CT: 63%, MA: 63%, RI: 55%). It makes perfect sense. Who does not want reliable and affordable electricity? However, I am not sure why 100% of consumers would not want affordable and reliable electric service, but I suppose it all depends on the respondents' understanding of how energy is generated, priced and the consequences of power failures. In any event, here is the link to the Barr Foundation's presentation: https://lnkd.in/g_a9s2JZ #powergeneration #wind #renewables #energy