UK no coal record broken

[oliver90owner]

Although this is an unusual situation - most definitily not "normal"

But will become more normal as time progresses.🙂

[M]

Worth resurrecting this thread as as of today U.K. has gone 15 days without any coal generation on the grid. 3 days more and there will be a new record...

Although this is an unusual situation - most definitily not "normal"

In case you're wondering what that wet feeling your getting from your feet is ...... that's the tide coming in. It simply ignores denial.

[dan_b]

Indeed it soon will become normal because all of the UK coal plants will be shut.  Govt has brought it forward a year to October 2024, but I suspect the sheer economics of it will see the few remaining plants closing for good before then.

It would seem that Sweden and Austria closed their last remaining coal plants this week - Belgium having weaned itself off coal in 2016  https://electrek.co/2020/04/22/sweden-third-european-country-to-closes-its-last-coal-power-plant/

[pdf27]

Worth resurrecting this thread as as of today U.K. has gone 15 days without any coal generation on the grid. 3 days more and there will be a new record...

What was the record? Currently at 18 days and 7 hours, and gas is only at 11GW so it's unlikely coal will fire up today.

[dan_b]

We are now into new zero coal record territory...

[stannn]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/28/britain-breaks-record-for-coal-free-power-generation

[dimengineer]

Worth resurrecting this thread as as of today U.K. has gone 15 days without any coal generation on the grid. 3 days more and there will be a new record...

Although this is an unusual situation - most definitily not "normal"

In case you're wondering what that wet feeling your getting from your feet is ...... that's the tide coming in. It simply ignores denial.

That was most definitely NOT what I was saying, so please do not put words into my mouth. Thank you.

[M]

Worth resurrecting this thread as as of today U.K. has gone 15 days without any coal generation on the grid. 3 days more and there will be a new record...

Although this is an unusual situation - most definitily not "normal"

In case you're wondering what that wet feeling your getting from your feet is ...... that's the tide coming in. It simply ignores denial.

That was most definitely NOT what I was saying, so please do not put words into my mouth. Thank you.

Hiya. You said it was most definitely not 'normal'., and whilst C19 is of course not normal, the reduction in coal generation, and expansion of 'no-coal' periods is becoming very, very normal. So your comment attempting to suggest the extreme opposite of normal, rather than perhaps it (coal gen, or lack of) being exaggerated a bit by C19, appears to be in the 'damp socks' category ....... gonna need dry trousers too soon. 

[oliver90owner]

This simply means that coal is no longer needed in case of another unfortunate outage like last year (August?). It has been running inefficiently (even for coal) for extended periods, since then as ‘backup’ and not often been actually needed (it simply suppressed CCGG generation which was likely twice as energy efficient most of the time).

I expect that it will eventually come out how they have found the root cause of last year’s failure and that the inherent shortcoming has now been effectively eradicated.

[brackwell]

https://electricinsights.co.uk/#/reports/report-2019-q3/detail/the-blackout?_k=er3lpx    thats Drax appraisal.

[nowty]

https://electricinsights.co.uk/#/reports/report-2019-q3/detail/the-blackout?_k=er3lpx    thats Drax appraisal.

That's about the best report I have read to date on the subject.

[oliver90owner]

Thanks for that link, Ken.

The one thing I seem to remember about the blackout (apart from the main passenger discomfort caused by the train system) was that Dinorwig was not seemingly on line to alleviate most of the trips.  They have around 4GW of grid support which, with spinning generators, could provide extra power within about 10 seconds.  I have always thought that the installation should have been retained as a public service and not as a profit making business.

Also, do they treat the French interconnector as four different supplies?  A simple unplanned disconnect of that facility could immediately reduce the supply by 2GW.

[ecogeorge]

Record  broken today .........
https://www.powerengineeringint.com/coal-fired/great-britain-sets-no-coal-record-as-pandemic-reduces-demand/

but read down and note its Great Britian only -1 plant running in N Ireland !
George

[JohnS]

Record  broken today .........
https://www.powerengineeringint.com/coal-fired/great-britain-sets-no-coal-record-as-pandemic-reduces-demand/

but read down and note its Great Britian only -1 plant running in N Ireland !
George

That is why they say Great Britain and not United Kingdom.

[dan_b]

The 2GW interconnector was built as 2x independent 1GW bipoles going to different converter stations (which were actually built by different contractors). So one bipole can do down and 1GW of capacity can be maintained. That's the theory anyway. I don't know if it can be operated as 4x 500MW supplies.

Thanks for that link, Ken.

The one thing I seem to remember about the blackout (apart from the main passenger discomfort caused by the train system) was that Dinorwig was not seemingly on line to alleviate most of the trips.  They have around 4GW of grid support which, with spinning generators, could provide extra power within about 10 seconds.  I have always thought that the installation should have been retained as a public service and not as a profit making business.

Also, do they treat the French interconnector as four different supplies?  A simple unplanned disconnect of that facility could immediately reduce the supply by 2GW.