Scotland 100% Renewable, Almost

[tweety]

Should be 100% renewable energy by the time the summit happens there.

Bashing begins in 3,,2,,1,,,,

https://earther.gizmodo.com/scotland-is-on-track-to-hit-100-percent-renewable-energ-1841202818 https://earther.gizmodo.com/scotland-is-on-track-to-hit-100-percent-renewable-energ-1841202818

[blackpowder]

See, I don't care what happens in Scotland.

[Herc]

Change title of this forum to earth muffin propaganda.....

[Robertbarlage]

They use 45% nuclear

[blackpowder]

A nation the size of NB plops a wind farm into stormy seas and runs one extension cord.
Commendable of course.

[Goodtime]

Who cares?

[sk_wheatking]

If the glove fits you must acquit!

Or is it if it doesnt fit?
Anyway who cares.

[tmyrfield]

the article in the closing paragraphs says that 2 gas fired power plants are being built....I guess this what they mean by "almost"

and besides...

https://michaelroberts4004.wordpress.com/2020/01/22/more-than-13-9-million-trees-felled-in-scotland-for-wind-development-2000-2019/ https://michaelroberts4004.wordpress.com/2020/01/22/more-than-13-9-million-trees-felled-in-scotland-for-wind-development-2000-2019/

[grassfarmer]

Just to give you some context.

Scotland may only be the size of New Brunswick but it's population is roughly equal to Alberta and Sask combined. They generated enough electricity from wind in the first quarter of 2019 to power the nations households twice over - apparently wind power does work after all!

Nuclear may have produced around 42% of their power in 2016 but they now only have one nuclear plant still operational. Problem is they are old and in poor repair - some already permanently decommissioned, some sidelined until they can pass safety inspections. I don't think nuclear will play a big role going forward - the ruling SNP will not allow any new plants to be built and they can produce power cheaper by other means anyway.

The tree cutting for windfarms distraction was hilarious - They may have felled just over 1000 acres a year to allow windfarms but they are planting over 24,000 acres a year. Lots of good hill sheep farms being lost to trees. 5% of the country was treed in 1919 but that's risen to over 18% now (3.2 million acres treed) - so they are not going to run out of trees any time soon.

Was really noticeable on my visit back there last fall - renewable energy has really caught on, especially on farms. Between wind and biodigesters it's bringing real wealth to the ag economy. I'm told the new builds are all viable without subsidy so what's not to like?

[jazz]

Just to give you some context.

Scotland may only be the size of New Brunswick but it's population is roughly equal to Alberta and Sask combined. They generated enough electricity from wind in the first quarter of 2019 to power the nations households twice over - apparently wind power does work after all

Yes let's dive in deep on this propaganda.

Any -40 stuff in Scotland. I would bet not since the kilt was invented there. What's the distance between the population. Sask power services a population density of just one or two people per square mile.
Scotland ever get a snow storm that covers homes or just about takes down the grid like in Ab last month.

Does any body have any idea how much more energy is required to power a society that lives half the year in -20 temps vs one that rarely sees a frosty day? Scotland would be like comparing Victories bc to Saskatoon.

See what happened with Germany's renewables. Similar climates. Total failure. Their emissions sky rocketing.

[tweety]

Hilarious responses!

[Hamloc]

Hilarious responses!

Tweety it would appear that you consider yourself far more intelligent than any other contributor on Agriville so please explain to me how during Alberta's cold snap last week all of our electrical needs could have been supplied by wind and solar!?!? Please use actual reported output levels of each generation source!

[grassfarmer]

Tweety it would appear that you consider yourself far more intelligent than any other contributor on Agriville so please explain to me how during Alberta's cold snap last week all of our electrical needs could have been supplied by wind and solar!?!? Please use actual reported output levels of each generation source!

He never claimed that Hamloc, just highlighted the success they are having with it in Scotland. As you have said before you support solar or wind generation where it's viable and feasible so why not congratulate Scotland on their success instead of turning it into the same old p##%$%$ match over again?

[tweety]

He never claimed that Hamloc, just highlighted the success they are having with it in Scotland. As you have said before you support solar or wind generation where it's viable and feasible so why not congratulate Scotland on their success instead of turning it into the same old p##%$%$ match over again?

Exactly Grassfarmer. Why hate them for taking advantage of their environment? Their will to make it work?

Alberta has many such opportunities but..... What has Albertan done? Cut all funding to renewable projects and research. ****ing brilliant.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I have been following Scotlands adventures in wind power, and it appears to be the closest thing to a success story I have seen. Scotland has the best wind resources in Europe, and apparently also some of the most consistent. I haven't found any historical data for wind power output or wind speed for areas of Scotland specifically, does it never quit blowing? Perhaps Grassfarmer can comment, I haven't yet had the pleasure of visiting the old country to verify for myself.
I did find the data for UK in general here: http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/ http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
And it appears that wind power does drop very close to zero occasionally:


Their system of integrating wind generation has somewhat shielded the customers from the high costs of wind power. They instead get to pay it indirectly through taxes by guaranteeing the price paid to wind generators:

According to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the cost of subsidising renewable power this year will amount to £6.0bn. Of this, the Committee on Climate Change estimate that £3.1bn will go to wind farms.

By 2021, subsidies for wind will have increased to £7.1bn, as capacity grows. This equates to £265 per household.

That equates to $456 CAD per household. And is only one of many ways the renewables are being subsidised: https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2017/08/12/wind-power-some-basic-facts/ https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2017/08/12/wind-power-some-basic-facts/ The article is from 2017, if the situation has improved perhaps someone can find more recent info?

The Scottish grid being integrated with the rest of the UK, where the total wind power is still only~19%, providing a sizable backup and place to dump excess. Yet it still resulted in a blackout in August of 2019.

Scotland also has pumped hydro storage, and lots of elevation to make that possible.

My sister did visit Scotland (not sure which regions) last year, and apparently the sun shone one day, which was quite a rare treat according to the locals. Needless to say solar doesn't seem to be catching on in a big way. But in the rest of the UK where they keep trying solar in spite of some obvious limitations, it has been an excellent way to generate subsidies: