Europe's Biggest Battery Powered Up In Scotland (zenobe.com) 19
AmiMoJo shares a report: Europe's biggest battery storage project has entered commercial operation in Scotland [alternative source], promising to soak up surplus wind power and prevent turbines being paid to switch off.
Zenobe said the first phase of its project at Blackhillock, between Inverness and Aberdeen, was now live with capacity to store enough power to supply 200 megawatts of electricity for two hours. It is due to be expanded to 300 megawatts by next year, enough to supply 3.1 million homes, more than every household in Scotland.
The government's Clean Power 2030 action plan sets a target capacity of up to 27 gigawatts of batteries by 2030, a sixfold increase from the 4.5 gigawatts installed today. This huge expansion is seen as critical as Britain builds more renewable wind and solar power, since batteries can store surplus generation for use when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine.
Zenobe said the first phase of its project at Blackhillock, between Inverness and Aberdeen, was now live with capacity to store enough power to supply 200 megawatts of electricity for two hours. It is due to be expanded to 300 megawatts by next year, enough to supply 3.1 million homes, more than every household in Scotland.
The government's Clean Power 2030 action plan sets a target capacity of up to 27 gigawatts of batteries by 2030, a sixfold increase from the 4.5 gigawatts installed today. This huge expansion is seen as critical as Britain builds more renewable wind and solar power, since batteries can store surplus generation for use when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine.
200 Megawatts for 2 hours? (Score:2)
Re:200 Megawatts for 2 hours? (Score:5, Interesting)
The maximum discharge rate to 200MW. It can provide that for two hours, so has 400MWh of storage.
Or maybe more, it's not clear if it is 400MWh usable or gross capacity.
Either way, it's a very big battery. Whole country UPS size.
Re: 200 Megawatts for 2 hours? (Score:3)
Or is the 2 hour unit significant in some way?
Maybe. It could specify the maximum discharge rate.
Re:200 Megawatts for 2 hours? (Score:4, Informative)
Is 200 Megawatts for 2 hours the same as 400 Megawatt Hours? Or is the 2 hour unit significant in some way?
200 MW is the power. 2 hours is the duration.
200 MW times 2 hours is the capacity, 400 MW-hr.
Power, duration and capacity are all important.
Not Even Largest in Scotland (Score:2)
Megawatts is a measure of power not energy (Score:2)
It appears that the PR department doesn't employ people with any science knowledge.
Re: Megawatts is a measure of power not energy (Score:2)
Scotts don't use much power (Score:1)
300 mega Watts for 3.1 million homes is less than 100 Watts per home. I guess that no one is charging an EV at night.
Re: (Score:3)
For ten minutes. Yet anoter reporter over his head in science.
Re: (Score:2)
300 mega Watts for 3.1 million homes is less than 100 Watts per home. I guess that no one is charging an EV at night.
That’s an odd way to look at it. You seem to be implying that this battery is supposed to discharge all its stored energy across all of Scotland at once, which is not how grid-scale storage works. Its purpose is to absorb excess wind power that would otherwise go to waste and release it when demand is higher. Are you just confused, or are you trying to make storage sound useless when it’s actually a crucial part of decarbonizing the grid?
Re: (Score:1)
Quote:
"It is due to be expanded to 300 megawatts by next year, enough to supply 3.1 million homes, more than every household in Scotland."
If 300 megawatts can supply 3.1 million homes, that is less than 100 watts per home on average. There is no confusion on my part, and I was not in any way commenting on the need for storage. I don't know why you would think that I was. Perhaps you are confused. I was commenting on a statement that seems to me to make no sense.
And you all thought ... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Thank god a gasoline fire can be put out with a good strong pee.
Re: (Score:2)
Thank god a gasoline fire can be put out with a good strong pee.
Please try it and get back to us with the results.
They left this out on purpose (Score:2)
Only have to build it due to renewables. (Score:2)
We have to keep adding these costs to the production cost of solar, batteries last 20+ years, Pumped storage, 100+ years.
https://www.euronews.com/green... [euronews.com]
Building a solar or wind project needs a storage project attached or we will never know what things cost. For the absolute
What's typical Scottish household usage? (Score:2)
"300 megawatts by next year, enough to supply 3.1 million homes, more than every household in Scotland"
So, that's a average of 97 Watts per household. Is that really sufficient or typical in Scotland? My family uses an average of 1.2 kW, and before charging two electric cars, it was about 500 W. But that's averaged over 24 hours in a day. The huge battery is most useful in providing extra power during peak usage times, so the target should be even higher than the average.
Central Europe dummy loads (Score:1)