Dozens of giant turbines at Scots windfarms powered by diesel generators

[itsnotoutthere]

Scottish Power admitted 71 of its windmills were hooked up to the fossil fuel supply after a fault developed with their power supply.

Dozens of giant turbines on Scotland’s windfarms have been powered by diesel generators, the Sunday Mail can reveal. Scottish Power admitted 71 of its windmills were hooked up to the fossil fuel supply after a fault developed on the grid.

The firm said it was forced to act in order to keep the turbines warm during very cold weather in December. But a whistleblower has told the Sunday Mail the incident is among a number of environmental and health and safety failings.

 

The worker, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “The Scottish Government wants to make our country attractive to foreign investors as 40 per cent of the wind that blows across Europe blows across Scotland. However, that should not mean we put up with our waterways and nature being polluted with carbon from diesel generators and hydraulic oil.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/dozens-scottish-power-wind-turbines-29135763.amp

https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/wind/uk-must-use-diesel-generators-to-back-up-wind-turbines/

Edited February 5 by itsnotoutthere

[+Desertrat56]

I thought the point of wind turbines was to have the wind power them.

[pellinore]

19 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

I thought the point of wind turbines was to have the wind power them.

And solar panels need sunshine. But to have power 24/7, 365 days a year, you need coal, oil, gas, or nuclear power. The UK National Grid isn't modern enough to take surges of power- so solar power and wind power is switched off if too much is generated, and when not enough is generated fossil fuels make up the deficit. Until we have gravity batteries (still a long way off) 'green' energy is more talk than action.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

3 hours ago, pellinore said:

And solar panels need sunshine. But to have power 24/7, 365 days a year, you need coal, oil, gas, or nuclear power. The UK National Grid isn't modern enough to take surges of power- so solar power and wind power is switched off if too much is generated, and when not enough is generated fossil fuels make up the deficit. Until we have gravity batteries (still a long way off) 'green' energy is more talk than action.

There re these 5h8ngs called “batteries”, whereby power generated is stored for use later.

[Timothy]

8 minutes ago, Sir Wearer of Hats said:

There re these 5h8ngs called “batteries”, whereby power generated is stored for use later.

Current battery technology isn’t a viable option for this application.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

1 hour ago, Timothy said:

Current battery technology isn’t a viable option for this application.

Tesla disproved that in South Australia.

[Occupational Hubris]

I guess thE lesson is we shoulnd't ever try and instead rely on outdated an non renewable sourecs of energy? 

[+joc]

33 minutes ago, Occupational Hubris said:

I guess thE lesson is we shoulnd't ever try and instead rely on outdated an non renewable sourecs of energy? 

I think the real lesson is that we shouldn't trust an industry perpetrated by the Obama Administration.

[Occupational Hubris]

Just now, joc said:

I think the real lesson is that we shouldn't trust an industry perpetrated by the Obama Administration.

Are we still doing the Obama=evil thing? 

[+joc]

1 minute ago, Occupational Hubris said:

Are we still doing the Obama=evil thing? 

Oh absolutely!  Hey, they are still doing the Trump-evil thing.  Why not?

[Occupational Hubris]

1 minute ago, joc said:

Oh absolutely!  Hey, they are still doing the Trump-evil thing.  Why not?

Small hands conintues to be an evil **** and is still trying to gain political power. Obama, what, put out a new book last year? Put his name on some documenties? What an evil b******. 

[+joc]

1 minute ago, Occupational Hubris said:

Small hands conintues to be an evil **** and is still trying to gain political power. Obama, what, put out a new book last year? Put his name on some documenties? What an evil b******. 

The truth is...I don't care about Trump.  I don't care about Obama.  I just don't care.  We have a great world.  It works with Fossil Fuels.  They are never going away.  They are not destroying anything.  It's a beautiful world.  Cars, planes, trains, Spaceships.  Central AC and Heat in our homes.  Pretty much a paradise actually. No?

[Occupational Hubris]

1 minute ago, joc said:

The truth is...I don't care about Trump.  I don't care about Obama.  I just don't care. 

 

On this we 100% agree

1 minute ago, joc said:

 

 

We have a great world.  It works with Fossil Fuels.  They are never going away.  They are not destroying anything.  It's a beautiful world.  Cars, planes, trains, Spaceships.  Central AC and Heat in our homes.  Pretty much a paradise actually. No?

On this, not so much. The damage fossil fuels do has been know for deceades. Regardless, there is no reason not to invest in and research alternative fuel sources. Why just close the door?

[+joc]

1 minute ago, Occupational Hubris said:

On this we 100% agree

On this, not so much. The damage fossil fuels do has been know for deceades. Regardless, there is no reason not to invest in and research alternative fuel sources. Why just close the door?

I absolutely agree.  I think this beautiful world would be even more spectacular if we could come up with alternatives that didn't harm the planet...i.e...living things on the planet.  Wind farms harm birds.  And...it just seems funny to me that if the wind farms were the next great thing...they wouldn't need to be run by diesel engines.  We are using fossil fuels to create electricity.  What's the difference really.  And hey, we are actually at the beginning of the alternative energy revolution.  We shall see where it goes.  

[+and-then]

6 hours ago, Sir Wearer of Hats said:

There re these 5h8ngs called “batteries”, whereby power generated is stored for use later.

I wasn't aware that they charged battery-banks.  I thought they connected to a grid and sold any excess to other providers.  Here in the U.S. (most states)  if a homeowner occasionally produces more than they can consume the power co-ops are required to buy it from them.  From the article it sounded like they were having problems with the internal systems and distribution rather than not actually producing power.

[pellinore]

8 hours ago, Sir Wearer of Hats said:

There re these 5h8ngs called “batteries”, whereby power generated is stored for use later.

Conventional batteries can't cut the mustard for large scale use:

 

Edited February 6 by pellinore

[the13bats]

6 hours ago, joc said:

I absolutely agree.  I think this beautiful world would be even more spectacular if we could come up with alternatives that didn't harm the planet...i.e...living things on the planet.  Wind farms harm birds.  And...it just seems funny to me that if the wind farms were the next great thing...they wouldn't need to be run by diesel engines.  We are using fossil fuels to create electricity.  What's the difference really.  And hey, we are actually at the beginning of the alternative energy revolution.  We shall see where it goes.  

Just imagine when they were trying to do away with the horse and buggy.

[pellinore]

Angus Robertson, Scottish Constitution Secretary, is facing accusations that he has broken the ministerial code after he ignored warnings from officials and repeated a debunked claim that Scotland has a quarter of Europe’s offshore wind energy potential.

Scottish National Party (SNP) politicians have repeatedly recycled the statistic over several years in a bid to boost the case for independence. 

However, civil servants privately raised concerns about the accuracy of the claim more than two years ago and it has since been conclusively proven inaccurate. 

SNP minister uses fake figures to inflate Scotland’s wind-energy potential (msn.com)

Edited February 6 by pellinore

[Hankenhunter]

13 hours ago, pellinore said:

And solar panels need sunshine. But to have power 24/7, 365 days a year, you need coal, oil, gas, or nuclear power. The UK National Grid isn't modern enough to take surges of power- so solar power and wind power is switched off if too much is generated, and when not enough is generated fossil fuels make up the deficit. Until we have gravity batteries (still a long way off) 'green' energy is more talk than action.

Tidal power is really upping their game. It's all a stop gap until cold fusion plants become a thing.

[itsnotoutthere]

14 hours ago, pellinore said:

And solar panels need sunshine. But to have power 24/7, 365 days a year, you need coal, oil, gas, or nuclear power. The UK National Grid isn't modern enough to take surges of power- so solar power and wind power is switched off if too much is generated, and when not enough is generated fossil fuels make up the deficit. Until we have gravity batteries (still a long way off) 'green' energy is more talk than action.

  'too much is generated' !!!!  ....solar & wind?

The point is wind & solar never generate enough.

https://gridwatch.co.uk/

 

Edited February 6 by itsnotoutthere

[Timothy]

11 hours ago, Sir Wearer of Hats said:

Tesla disproved that in South Australia.

You might want to read a little more into that.

[pellinore]

1 hour ago, itsnotoutthere said:

  'too much is generated' !!!!  ....solar & wind?

The point is wind & solar never generate enough.

https://gridwatch.co.uk/

 

You are right, in that there can never be enough energy available. But the problem at the moment is how to store energy when there is an oversupply for needs. Like a domestic solar house generates most electricity in the day when people are at work and least after dark when people are at home. Hydroelectric dams use electricity to pump water into the dam in the day to be released later through turbines when it is needed. People don't want to have to charge their cars only when it is windy. No countries National Grid has solved the problem of balancing power supply. 

[+Desertrat56]

15 hours ago, Timothy said:

Current battery technology isn’t a viable option for this application.

It is used on the east coast U.S., so yes the technology is viable.   And Tesla has improved the technology but I don't know if they have considered the scale you are talking about.

 

[Doug1066]

20 hours ago, Desertrat56 said:

I thought the point of wind turbines was to have the wind power them.

Remember Texas in 2021?  Wind turbines failed because they didn't close the ventilators and the lubricants froze up.

Doug

[Doug1066]

20 hours ago, pellinore said:

But to have power 24/7, 365 days a year, you need coal, oil, gas, or nuclear power.

You can do it with wind if you maintain your equipment.  Also hydro.  It's one thing not to have the generating capacity; it's another thing entirely to have it and wreck due to lack of maintenance.

Had some problems in Texas last summer:  they got caught under a heat dome where there was not much air movement so turbines did not put out the power that was needed.  Texas could have had all the power it needed by importing it from other states, but because of their dreary political situation they didn't build the links needed to import it.  It's a shame because there are lines from other grids running right through Texas.

Doug