Aberthaw Power Station and Decarbonisation

[whole diary]

[ellendune]

The space occupied by solar farms is of greater concern as agricultural use is considerably reduced. Sheep can graze between the racks of solar panels, and indeed sheep are almost a requirement  to keep vegetation under control as this would otherwise shade the modules.
Sheep like solar farms ! when the sun is too hot  or the winter snow/wind too cold  they can shelter under or behind the panels.

National planning policy used to have a presumption against development on the best agricultural land and I would support its reintroduction. However, much of the agricultural land in the West and Wales is not the best and so there are plenty of opportunities to develop solar on that land. 

Furthermore in other countries other forms of agriculture coexist with solar panels; it even has a name - agrivoltaics (see here for more information) and there seems to be no reason why we should not introduce this in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) even on good agricultural land. In these systems the panels are on longer poles that allows agricultural machinery to work underneath. 

[broadgage]

And decarbonising what is not yet electric calls for superelectrification (or summat like that) - a slow process, as regards new nuclear generators and new transmission lines. So it's perhaps worth noting that the Flamanville EPR is in its final stages of commissioning (or "setting to work"). Grid connection is due this summer.

Plans for grid upgrades are now published, so as to allow for  more renewable generation to be connected.
Let the nimbyfests commence !
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68601354

[TonyK]

And decarbonising what is not yet electric calls for superelectrification (or summat like that) - a slow process, as regards new nuclear generators and new transmission lines. So it's perhaps worth noting that the Flamanville EPR is in its final stages of commissioning (or "setting to work"). Grid connection is due this summer.

Plans for grid upgrades are now published, so as to allow for  more renewable generation to be connected.
Let the nimbyfests commence !
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68601354

It will be National Grid who will be salivating here. We have one project fairly close by to connect new clean energy to the grid, in the shape of the Hinkley Point C connection. This involves a new transmission line of 57 km in total. Work began in 2018 and is scheduled to be completed in 2026. I wonder how many years the new knitting will actually take, even with a few months knocked off the bureaucracy, and where the cash to build it all will come from?

[eXPassenger]

It will be National Grid who will be salivating here. We have one project fairly close by to connect new clean energy to the grid, in the shape of the Hinkley Point C connection. This involves a new transmission line of 57 km in total. Work began in 2018 and is scheduled to be completed in 2026. I wonder how many years the new knitting will actually take, even with a few months knocked off the bureaucracy, and where the cash to build it all will come from?

We live in the middle of this line and it all appears practically complete with cables up / underground and work has started returning the land to agriculture.  I would be surprised if it was not finished next year.

The cost comes directly or indirectly from your electricity bills.

[TonyK]

We live in the middle of this line and it all appears practically complete with cables up / underground and work has started returning the land to agriculture.  I would be surprised if it was not finished next year.

The cost comes directly or indirectly from your electricity bills.

I suppose it won't be completely finished until Hinkley C starts pumping out electricity, but I gather some earlier lines have been replaced by the new stuff. The point I make though is that if it take 8 years to lay 57 km, how long will it take to do the rest of what is needed?

[eXPassenger]

We live in the middle of this line and it all appears practically complete with cables up / underground and work has started returning the land to agriculture.  I would be surprised if it was not finished next year.

The cost comes directly or indirectly from your electricity bills.

I suppose it won't be completely finished until Hinkley C starts pumping out electricity, but I gather some earlier lines have been replaced by the new stuff. The point I make though is that if it take 8 years to lay 57 km, how long will it take to do the rest of what is needed?

Completely agree.  They cannot blame covid because they wotked through lockdown.

[johnneyw]

As a brief aside. My railway based walk on Wednesday along the Wales Coast Path between the rather splendidly named Llantwit Major and Barry took me past Aberthaw power station.  With demolition due to begin this year, the landscape should look very different in the not to distant future, not least when the chimney structure no longer imposes itself on the surrounding scenery.
The plans for afterwards look interesting and if some of that land is added to the current adjacent biodiversity area it will be very tempting to do the walk again in a few years (legs permitting but I could always shorten the yomp to Rhoose Station).

[TonyK]

As a brief aside. My railway based walk on Wednesday along the Wales Coast Path between the rather splendidly named Llantwit Major and Barry took me past Aberthaw power station.  With demolition due to begin this year, the landscape should look very different in the not to distant future, not least when the chimney structure no longer imposes itself on the surrounding scenery.
The plans for afterwards look interesting and if some of that land is added to the current adjacent biodiversity area it will be very tempting to do the walk again in a few years (legs permitting but I could always shorten the yomp to Rhoose Station).

On my first visit there, I was astonished to be told by a Welsh-speaking friend that Llantwit isn't the original Welsh name (Major obviously never was). That was Llanilltud Fawr, after St Illtud, founder of the 6th century monastery and college attended by St David. It's worth a train ride, and clearly also a walk.

[IndustryInsider]

Not sure if there's a better thread for this, but power generation from coal in Britain stops today:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/sep/30/end-of-an-era-as-britains-last-coal-fired-power-plant-shuts-down

[broadgage]

Good news.
Although to be pedantic, it is only GRID CONNECTED coal burning electric .power generation that has ceased.

Privately owned industrial power generating can continue, though I doubt that much, or indeed any, coal burning industrial plant remains these days.
A minute amount of electricity will still be produced from coal burning showmans engines at vintage fairgrounds and the like.
And of course we still have coal burning steam locomotives in use, the electric lights in the carriages, are indirectly coal powered.
Consider also electric lights on steamships and on steam road vehicles.

These are a minute load if compared to even a single coal burning power station, and retention is IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) acceptable for heritage and historical reasons.

[TonyK]

Not sure if there's a better thread for this, but power generation from coal in Britain stops today:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/sep/30/end-of-an-era-as-britains-last-coal-fired-power-plant-shuts-down

It's a landmark, and a welcome one at that. The next steps will need to be shutting down Drax, burner of foreign forests. That won't need any major legal stuff, just a simple non-renewal of the subsidies in 2027. After that, the government can start weaning us off gas for electricity generation. And once that's done, and the grid remodelled to replace life-expired kit and make it more suitable for the new ways of making and using electricity, we can move on to the 75% of UK^▸ (United Kingdom) energy use that isn't fuelled by electricity.

Closing the last coal plant is a big step that is worth celebrating, and which will earn a place in the history books, especially as it has such a definite date. RIP coal fired electricity generation in Britain, 12 January 1882 - 30 September 2024*. At the same time, though, it's a small step on the path to clean air and energy security.

(*Excluding electricity generated on steam locomotives etc. for the sake of of pedantry)

[TonyK]

In other news, forget about hydrogen powered trains. I have read a report from Germany, alas behind a paywall, saying in the bit that can be read for free:

Fed-up authorities in the Frankfurt region have threatened to cancel contracts at the world’s first hydrogen-only railway and return to diesel engines after two years of almost constant technical problems with the H2 trains.
The RB15 line on the mountainous Taunus network was supposed to make a complete switch from diesel to hydrogen on 11 December 2022, when the 27 Coradia iLint fuel-cell trains ordered from Alstom for €500m ($552m) were scheduled to start operating, but only six of them...

...were delivered in time, and proved to be defective. Long story short, it seems that 12 trains were eventually delivered, out of 27 ordered, and they have not cut the mustard. Germany was the biggest cheerleader for hydrogen in Europe, but experience in real life hasn't matched the rhetoric, with the trains proving hard to keep running.

[Chris from Nailsea]

... Germany was the biggest cheerleader for hydrogen in Europe ...

Hmm.  Germany ... hydrogen ... Hindenburg ...

Hasn't history taught them anything? 

[TaplowGreen]

Not sure if there's a better thread for this, but power generation from coal in Britain stops today:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/sep/30/end-of-an-era-as-britains-last-coal-fired-power-plant-shuts-down

It's a landmark, and a welcome one at that. The next steps will need to be shutting down Drax, burner of foreign forests. That won't need any major legal stuff, just a simple non-renewal of the subsidies in 2027. After that, the government can start weaning us off gas for electricity generation. And once that's done, and the grid remodelled to replace life-expired kit and make it more suitable for the new ways of making and using electricity, we can move on to the 75% of UK^▸ (United Kingdom) energy use that isn't fuelled by electricity.

Closing the last coal plant is a big step that is worth celebrating, and which will earn a place in the history books, especially as it has such a definite date. RIP coal fired electricity generation in Britain, 12 January 1882 - 30 September 2024*. At the same time, though, it's a small step on the path to clean air and energy security.

(*Excluding electricity generated on steam locomotives etc. for the sake of of pedantry)

All that's needed now is for China to follow suit, rather than commissioning tens of GW^▸ (Great Western) of new coal power every year, as well as thousands of coal mines, sadly our contribution is less than a drop in the (warming) ocean in this context.........where's Greta these days?

[Chris from Nailsea]

In prison, possibly?  From Wikipedia:

In September 2024, Danish police apprehended Thunberg during a pro-Palestinian protest in Copenhagen against the Israel–Hamas war. Thunberg, along with five others, were detained after blocking the entrance to a building at the University of Copenhagen. Less than a week later, she was "carried out" from the library of Stockholm University by Stockholm police after she participated in an encampment inside the library. She characterized the police response as a "repression". Following those incidents, she was labeled 'antisemite of the week' by StopAntisemitism.