Wind power is amazing.
Each massive turbine built tends to claw back the carbon emissions used to construct it in under a year.
But like many renewables, there are intermittency problems. You only get power when the wind blows.
This can be a pain in the ass, though there are solutions on the way to stop having to switch to fossil fuels to fill in the “gap”.
I just stumbled upon a totally different point of view when it comes to wind power, involving a project taking place in Cornwall, England:
Obviously, if there’s no wind blowing anywhere at all in a region, then what I’m about to say isn’t going to work either.
But in all other situations, it looks like you may actually be able to use wind power to fill in the “gaps” in the grid supply.
As far as I can tell, this means building special wind turbines that are not running “at full power” by default. They sit there, turned off or spinning slower than they could, and when the grid needs to fill in a “gap”, they can be put into action and get spinning fast(er) in a jiffy.
Using wind as a grid “back-up” had not occurred to me before.
As the article explains, this would happen alongside solar power, battery installations, etc.:
“A trial to test the concept of using a wind turbine to help smooth peaks and troughs in electricity supply and demand on the grid began earlier this month.
“Located in Cornwall in the southwest of England, the 2.3-megawatt turbine will generate enough electricity to power around 1,500 homes each year. But it will also test a solution to an issue that is increasingly affecting the U.K.’s clean energy transition: grid constraint.
“Cornwall is one of the sunniest and windiest regions of the U.K., and its high levels of renewable energy capacity have resulted in severe grid constraints. It is one of the reasons why no wind turbines have been installed there since 2016, alongside planning restrictions and the removal of government subsidies to the sector.
“Traditional network reinforcement is an expensive and lengthy process. However, utility Centrica has been leading trials to find more cost-effective solutions to grid constraints that boost the business case for renewable energy generation and storage at the same time.
“Centrica's Cornwall Local Energy Market (LEM) project has installed solar panels, battery storage units and other smart energy devices at 100 homes and 125 businesses across the county. These provide the network with flexible demand, generation and storage when requested.
“The turbine in Cornwall is part of these trials. Using an Enercon E82 E4 machine, the project team aims to be the first in the U.K. to demonstrate the concept of making small adjustments in output to help smooth peaks and troughs in electricity supply and demand on the grid.”
So the idea is to let wind turbines spin but not quite as fast as the actual wind conditions allow. Then if the grid needs a bit of a boost, you set the turbine free and a few seconds later it’s spinning faster and producing more power.
Win!