Shetland windfarm - Viking Energy

[trout]

Copyright of Press & Journal http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/3581319

Upgraded MoD radar could open windfarm floodgates

MILITARY chiefs may have opened the floodgates to scores more windfarm schemes in the north and north-east by upgrading their radar systems.

The days of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) trying to block planning applications for new turbine developments in Aberdeenshire and the Western Isles could soon be at an end.

The Press and Journal has learned that a contract has been signed to update the remote radar head (RRH) sites at Buchan, south of Peterhead, and Benbecula with new “windfarm-friendly” technology. Work on the upgrade is due to be completed by the middle of next year, and a spokesman for the MoD has confirmed it will “mitigate the effects of wind turbines on the radar capability”.

[John Tulloch]

Edited out repeat entered by mistake

Edited May 19, 2014 by John Tulloch

[John Tulloch]

Edited out repeat.

Edited May 19, 2014 by John Tulloch

[John Tulloch]

@Arabia Terra, #6154 17th, May, 2013.

 

1. I didn't say the cables will be cut at the Scottish/English border, actually, I'll be surprised if that happens. I said that ED DAVEY TOLD THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT that the integrated UK grid would not survive independence.

 

2. The world's climate has been changing continuously, often, often in spectacular fashion, from ice sheets over England to alligators in Spitzbergen, for about five billion years.

 

I have never denied that in my life and I expect the climate to continue changing for a very long time into the future.

 

Nor, for the record, do I deny that humans have some impact on climate, especially, at local level. It is the scale and impact of that effect which is being grossly exaggerated - no, then where is the evidence of impending catastrophic climate change?

 

3. Those who imagine and assert, with quasi-religious fervour, that humans have the power manipulate global temperature by using atmospheric carbon dioxide level as a kind of 'thermostat' are the true "deniers" of the power of unstoppable natural climate change.

Edited May 19, 2014 by John Tulloch

[John Tulloch]

 

On the subject of transmission charges:As I understand it the current system of transmission charges was set up decades ago, long before climate change and renewable energy was even on the governments radar. The way it was set up was intended to prevent generators locating their stations way out in the sticks, miles away from the cities.

Climate change, and the need to do something about it, was on Mrs Thatcher and the tories radar decades ago.http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2013/04/09/3732680.htmSurely it makes sense to locate conventional power stations as close to the load as is possible? I don't understand why the generators would need an incentive to locate closer to the cities?

Thus, the charges bear no relation to the actual cost of transmitting electricity. (In fact some power stations close to cities actually get subsidised instead of charged for their electricity.)

Can you expand a bit more on this, I have no idea what the transmission charging system is, but to my way of thinking the further away from the load the generator is located the higher the transmission costs are going to be and, consequently, the higher the transmission charge needs to be. Is this not, very roughly, the basis of the present charging system?

[John Tulloch]

 

Soooo Westminster talking of lowering transmission charges ... err but if Scotland goes independent, it wouldn't be down to them. I think this letter sums it up rather nicely:-http://www.shetnews.co.uk/letters/6790-power-to-the-isles

Unlinked, John Tulloch is a climate change denier who has been promoting the lies of the denier industry in the Shetland News for years. It doesn't matter how often you point out his mistakes, he learns nothing. He's ideologically opposed to renewable energy and, here, is just stirring the sh*t for the sake of it.The integrated UK grid he mentions is actually being expanded and there are plans in progress to build an integrated European Supergrid possibly extending as far as Iceland. The idea that England would cut the cables at the border if Scotland voted for Independence is nonsense.

[Re 3 posts back]... Correct me if I'm wrong but are you not confusing generator/ supplier costs (BT/ VE) with consumer costs. I might pay the same unit cost for my phone line or electricity as someone living on mainland UK, but the production/ maintenance costs for the respective supplier will vary according to location/ distance to consumer. I'm guessing the principal is broadly the same for any industry.

Well, it all comes down to consumer cost in the end anyway, doesn't it? If you get your power from SSE for instance, then any charges SSE pay to the National Grid for use of their network will be incorporated into your bill. It's the way those charges are imposed on the generating companies that we're discussingThe costs of maintaining BT's communications network will vary wildly across the network ranging from cheap in city centres to very expensive for isolated rural areas.It's the same for the Electricity grid.Yet BT's network works fine with a flat charge made to all users. Why can't the same principle work for the power grid?

[John Tulloch]

Electricity does work the same as BT, that's why you have a flat, 'standing charge' on your electricity bill, assuming you have an electricity bill.

[JustMe]

The cable might be laid and it might work, the wind farm might be built and it might work, the new power station might be built and it might work but at the moment I am far from convinced that Scottish and Southern are the right people to do it!.  Why?.  Well simply because they are not able to provide a reliable electricity supply to Shetland instead giving us far to many inexplicable short power cuts.

 

Yes I know we have some severe weather from time to time  but when the lights go out yet again on a quiet spring evening when friends living south say "do you still have power cuts" even though they live in rural areas I am left thinking that they need to sort out the Shetland supply before talking of running giant wind farms and long sub-sea cables.

[paulb]

think a lot of that is down to an old grid system. i honestly think they do a great job of keeping the power on.

[JustMe]

think a lot of that is down to an old grid system. i honestly think they do a great job of keeping the power on.

Well it is their grid system and I think in the 21st century customers are entitled to expect reliable electricity supplies except obviously in extreme weather events.  In fact as well as paying a "service charge" all customers ought to get compensated for all power cuts they suffer again with the exception of extreme weather events.  But then again people hit by the long winter power cuts down south got compensation so why not everyone.

 

And yes I suppose a short power cut is not that bad except if I miss a vital part of something on TV, lose a chunk of work on the computer or, and this is the thing I fear most, the power goes off during a vital bit of a computer update and the computer will not start again.

[MuckleJoannie]

An Uninteruptable Power Supply (UPS) would solve the power problem for short power cuts. This is the cheapest one I found on Amazon

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/PowerWalker-650VA-IEC-360W-UPS/dp/B00HWWJRJY/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1400539278&sr=8-6&keywords=ups

[John Tulloch]

Let's see, we're going to;

 

1. Install vast renewable energy installations, wrecking the environment of the Highlands and Islands, subsidised to two and three times the price of convention power stations?

 

2. Subsidise the building of new coal and gas power stations to stand idle as backup for when the wind doesn't blow and/or the sun doesn't shine on top of that?

 

3. Build and subsidise pumped storage hydro stations at huge cost to pump water back up to reservoirs using renewable energy at twice and three times the price of 'normal' energy, adding 25 percent to the cost due to wasted energy pumping, on top of that?

 

4. Pay a higher rate (plus approx 25 percent) for onshore wind energy from islands, even, than the 100 percent subsidy available on mainland UK, on top of that?

 

5. Extend the transmission grid with long pylon lines, vast substations and direct current submarine cable links costing billions, on top of that?

 

As a bill-paying electricity consumer I'd have to say this doesn't sound like something I want to hear from governments and utilities who are supposed to be looking after my interests as a taxpayer and customer, respectively.

[Colin]

Let's see, we're going to;

 

1. Install vast renewable energy installations, wrecking the environment of the Highlands and Islands, subsidised to two and three times the price of convention power stations?

 

2. Subsidise the building of new coal and gas power stations to stand idle as backup for when the wind doesn't blow and/or the sun doesn't shine on top of that?

 

3. Build and subsidise pumped storage hydro stations at huge cost to pump water back up to reservoirs using renewable energy at twice and three times the price of 'normal' energy, adding 25 percent to the cost due to wasted energy pumping, on top of that?

 

4. Pay a higher rate (plus approx 25 percent) for onshore wind energy from islands, even, than the 100 percent subsidy available on mainland UK, on top of that?

 

5. Extend the transmission grid with long pylon lines, vast substations and direct current submarine cable links costing billions, on top of that?

 

As a bill-paying electricity consumer I'd have to say this doesn't sound like something I want to hear from governments and utilities who are supposed to be looking after my interests as a taxpayer and customer, respectively.

 

Ah, but it's good for the 'economy' because some already wealthy corporations get to be even wealthier....

[Colin]

An Uninteruptable Power Supply (UPS) would solve the power problem for short power cuts. This is the cheapest one I found on Amazon

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/PowerWalker-650VA-IEC-360W-UPS/dp/B00HWWJRJY/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1400539278&sr=8-6&keywords=ups

 

Beware cheap UPS units.

 

They can run quite hot, cost you more to keep going and, are unreliable in the long term.

 

Better to pay a little more and get something 'substantial'.

[JustMe]

 

An Uninteruptable Power Supply (UPS) would solve the power problem for short power cuts. This is the cheapest one I found on Amazon

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/PowerWalker-650VA-IEC-360W-UPS/dp/B00HWWJRJY/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1400539278&sr=8-6&keywords=ups

 

Beware cheap UPS units.

 

They can run quite hot, cost you more to keep going and, are unreliable in the long term.

 

Better to pay a little more and get something 'substantial'.

 

I was looking at UPS units but some of them only power a computer for a short time.  Might not be enough when Windows is in its "do not shut down" mood during updates.