Where the National Grid gets its electricity from

[devon_metro]

I don't think that any further interconnectors will be cheap, as I understand it the Kent Loop of the super grid is more of less at capacity because of the risk of a fault disconnecting one leg of it. This was I think the rationale behind the second French Interconnector going to Hampshire.


But Hinkley Point is not programmed to reach full capacity until late 2028 at the earliest. Most of the AGR fleet will have been long gone by then. Is there actually a timescale for Sizewell C once (if) it gets approved?

Two new interconnectors are due online this year/next year - 1.4GW North Sea Link to Norway, making using of green (cheap) hydro power and a 1GW through the Channel Tunnel. National Grid has a plan to construst several more precisely due to unreliability of renewables. Grid constraints are certainly an issue in GB though. When it's windy, wind is often curtailed because it can't be transferred sufficiently north to south.

 

[HSTEd]

Two new interconnectors are due online this year/next year - 1.4GW North Sea Link to Norway, making using of green (cheap) hydro power and a 1GW through the Channel Tunnel. National Grid has a plan to construst several more precisely due to unreliability of renewables. Grid constraints are certainly an issue in GB though. When it's windy, wind is often curtailed because it can't be transferred sufficiently north to south.

It is somewhat ironic when the public perception of renewables is decentralised, local, energy generation - when in reality the reliability issues are forcing the construction of ever more globalised supergrids.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The daily stats on power generation are fascinating.
Wind power is down to less than 1GW tonight with high pressure moving in and light winds, similar to the quiet spell at the end of Feb/early March when generation was at one point as low as 0.3GW.
Last week it was delivering 12GW day after day in the strong winds, and reached a record 14GW in February.

Surprisingly, coal was switched back on today (1.5GW), after the usual end of March stand down of capacity.
I believe Drax has now stopped burning coal, while its remaining generators are converted to biomass.

As usual we are importing about 3GW from Europe and exporting 1GW to Ireland.
For about 4 hours each day around 6am we net export 1GW or so to the continent, but for the rest of the day we import power at about 3-4GW if all the connectors are running.
I would guess that the European power is at least as green as our domestic production, and cheaper.

Solar is doing fairly well in the sunny weather at about 6GW, but only in daylight hours and very poor during cloudy spells or with the sun at a low altitude (ie all winter).
Gas fills all the gaps, often up to about 20GW, while nuclear and biomass churn out 5+3=8GW fairly continuously, with a hydro boost of 2GW at peak times.
GB Fuel type power generation production (gridwatch.co.uk)

One thing I didn't know about the interconnectors is that there is one down the Irish Sea from Hunterston to Deeside via the Wirral.
It has a capacity of 0.6GW, similar to the two GB-Ireland interconnectors (all shown on the map linked here).
Open Infrastructure Map (openinframap.org)

 

[paul1609]

The import from Europe would probably have been higher but the dutch interconector has been out of action for most of this year with cable faults.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The import from Europe would probably have been higher but the dutch interconector has been out of action for most of this year with cable faults.

I was wondering why it was so intermittent.
Wind is currently down to a new low this year of 0.24GW.

 

[paul1609]

I was wondering why it was so intermittent.
Wind is currently down to a new low this year of 0.24GW.

I can't remember what the figures are but there is a point when the wind network becomes a net consumer because the generators have quite large heaters in them to prevent condensation forming when they are shut down.

One thing I didn't know about the interconnectors is that there is one down the Irish Sea from Hunterston to Deeside via the Wirral.
It has a capacity of 0.6GW, similar to the two GB-Ireland interconnectors (all shown on the map linked here).
Open Infrastructure Map (openinframap.org)

The Western DC Link is supposed to have a capacity of 2 GW but its been fraught with difficulties, it was years late opening and has suffered repeated failures due to cable faults. Im not sure if the enquiry is finished yet but it was being investigated by OFGEM. When it fails consumers have to pay millions in compensation to wind farms whose energy can't be accommodated on the AC links to England.