The Future Energy System Flashcards
Why is our electricity supply changing?
- More intermittent renewables
- There may be massive amounts of nuclear baseload to sell if we go there
- Might need x3 consumption if transport and heating move to electric
- Cost of 200bn
List four factors or events which are resulting in increased pressure to change how we generate power
- Acid rain killing Scandinavian forests
- Reducing supplies of North Sea gas and oil
- Aging infrastructure
- Pressure to change due to global warming
Describe 3 key political actions which have impacted energy production?
- Energy white paper 2003 – identify current challenges, prioritised efficiency and low carbon options
- Large combustion plant directive 2007-2015
- Climate change act 2008 – legally binding CO2 targets
What is the best way to reduce emissions from electricity generation?
• Cutting demand is the best way to reduce emissions and make the most of our constrained grid:
- turn things off
- increase the efficiency of devices
- smart thermostat
What is dispatchable energy generation? Give two exams of dispatchable renewables
Dispatchable generation refers to sources of electricity that can be dispatched at the request of power grid operators or of the plant owner according to market needs. Dispatchable generators can be turned on or off, or can adjust their power output accordingly to an order
Hydro & Biomass
What are intermittent renewables?
An intermittent energy source is any source of energy that is not continuously available for conversion into electricity and outside direct control because the used primary energy cannot be stored. Intermittent energy sources may be predictable but cannot be dispatched to meet the demand of an electric power system
Examples: Solar & Wind
Nuclear - advantages & disadvantages
A - low carbon, meets baseload
D- long lead times. Public opinion: wste, proliferation, expensive
Intermittent renewables -advantages & disadvantages
A - short lead-in times, well characterised, onshore wind relatively cheap
D - solar & offshore expensive compared to gas. cheaper than nuclear. Land taken up by tech
Dispatch-ablee renewables: advantages & disadvantages
A - short lead-in times, well characterised, relatively cheap, role for pumped storage
D - land taken for biomass, lack of suitable sites for hyropower (uk max 2% of demand?)
Carbon capture and storage
A - can meet baseload and peaks
D - expensvie, unproven/inefficient and relies on fossil fules
How are the challenges of supply being translated to consumers?
1) Incentives: to reduce operation at peak times and consume at troughs in the form of low prices
2) Sticks: high prices during peak times
What are the triads?
Defined as the three half-hours of highest demand on the GB electricity transmission system between November and February each year, the Triads are part of a charge-setting process. This identifies peak electricity demand at three points during the winter in order to minimise energy consumption. However, Triads must be at least 10 days apart. This is to avoid all three potentially falling in consecutive hours on the same day, for example during a particularly cold spell of weather.
Methods of increasing energy efficiency (6)
- Voltage optimisation
- Reboilering – maximum efficiency is at a certain tempature/consumption
- Insulation
- Lighting controls
- HVAC important to us
- Control – electric heated halls
What role does storage play? (3)
- Energy storage systems manage our supply in order to create a more resilient energy infrastructure
- Store energy when it is cheap and there’s lots of it
- Can be grid or local level
What challenge does EV’s place on the grid? (3)
- 18% of people would consider buying an EV
- 10,000 miles in a year in an EV could double home energy consumption
- There is an infrastructure problem
Describe the EV: Vehicle to grid concept
- electric vehicle is seen as a power station
- 90% are parked at anyone time
- energy stored in vehicles fed back into grid at peak demand
- two way electrical chargers required along with smart metering
- owners incentivised to partcipate
- value is in the demand management not the amount of power delivered
- Transport must not be compromised
- Current ev owners are early adopters – more responsive to incentives?
Describe the smart grid
- two-way dialogue where electricity and information can be exchanged between the utility and it’s customers
- developing network of communications, control, computers and new technologies work together to make the grid more efficient
- improved flexibility of the smart grid permits greater penetration of highly variable renewable energy sources such as solar power and wind power, even without the addition of energy storage.
What are some of the benefits of the smart grid? (7)
- More efficient transmission of electricity
- Quicker restoration of electricity after power disturbances
- Reduced operations and management costs for utilities, and ultimately lower power costs for consumers
- Reduced peak demand, which will also help lower electricity rates
- Increased integration of large-scale renewable energy systems
- Better integration of customer-owner power generation systems, including renewable energy systems
- Improved security
what will be the outcomes of the smart grid combined with renewables?
- Lower CO2
* Great energy independence for the UK
Duck curve
Traditionally, electricity was generated from
baseload sources such as nuclear and coal, together with dispatchable sources which could be adjusted in response to demand, such as gas and oil generation. The higher % of intermittent renewables involved in supply, the more extreme this ‘duck curve’ effect becomes. Because supply does not match demand – which tends to peak during the evening, it means that the price of energy generation can slump during the day.
What happened at the Basel Convention? And what was the BAN amendment?
The Basel Convention restricts the export of hazardous waste to only take place when there is ‘prior informed consent’ – namely that the recipient
country understands exactly the nature of the waste and how it should be processed. The BAN amendment prohibits waste shipment to a number of countries that are considered to not have sufficient measures in place to enable safe processing of such waste.
Is demand for electricity going up or coming down? what is it forecasted to do and why?
Current planning suggests demand will drop until 2020’s then increase electric cars + non-carbon heating. Gone down since 2004 – one example 16TwH low energy bulbs
