ScottishPower for example, both a supplier and a generator of electricity has been rightly lauded recently, for taking the bold step of selling on their carbon generating plants to Drax Power. According to its website, ScottishPower now generates 100% of its electricity from wind power, 100% renewable. All good then? Look closer at the data however, and you’ll see that ScottishPower customers receive a mix of green and brown energy from the supplier as the company has to buy in electricity from other generators in the wholesale market in order to meet its nationwide customer demands. So technically speaking, “brown energy” isn’t its fault; it simply cannot generate and store enough green energy to meet demand. What wind power generators really need is massive investment in energy storage facilities, to store excess capacity and to release it when demand peaks, not just when the wind blows. South Australia’s battery storage schemes though modest in size look like being a success. Imagine then if Scotland’s renewables generators could to take a lead in this and show the world how to do it? Imagine no more: the good news is ScottishPower has just announced a 50 megawatt battery storage project at Whitelee on Eaglesham Moor. What we would really like to see is a concerted effort from other private property management firms, housing associations and local authorities to steer customers towards communal electricity supplies from truly “green” suppliers. This is a large market to be picked up by suppliers who will find it relatively straightforward to negotiate on price with these organisations and collective demand could equal more truly green energy supply. Interestingly, and very peculiarly, early on in our research we established that one “100% Green Supplier”, which has really taken the market by storm refused to accept volume transfers of multiple supplies from us. Could this infer that currently due to lack of latent green energy storage, green suppliers cannot be too successful – otherwise they cannot deliver on their guarantee? A somewhat ironic paradox which might be about to be solved with lots of big batteries.
Herald 14th March 2019 read more »
Renewable energy’s contribution to the generation mix continues to grow. However, it still faces one major challenge. Producing green electricity is one thing, but storing it is quite another. The problem? It’s the weather, stupid. Scotland may be the windiest place in Europe, but that wind isn’t consistent. When it blows, the turbines turn, but you don’t always get a breezy force five when and where you need it. The answer lies in saving the power on blustery days and then using it on calmer ones. That means battery storage. This may sound a profoundly simple solution, but until now, its rollout has been hindered by technical challenges and the cost of the infrastructure. However, things are changing. Scottish Power has announced plans for a 50 megawatt battery storage facility at its Whitelee wind farm on Eaglesham Moor outside Glasgow – the biggest in the UK. And another company, RES, is managing a 20 megawatt storage centre at Broxburn, West Lothian, the first of its type in Scotland, on behalf of The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG).
Herald 14th March 2019 read more »
