Grid data and energy balance.

[etienne]

I found that I was often a little bit out of topic in the renewable energy topic, so here is a new topic to talk about grid and energy balance.

You will find below the graphs I made per month from the Swiss load curve and I added the cost of the equilibrium current in Luxembourg.

Data come from here :
https://www.swissgrid.ch/swissgrid/en/home/reliability/griddata/data_downloads.html
http://www.creos-net.lu/creos-luxembourg/coordinateur-dequilibre/equilibre.html

Here are the other links that have been shared in the renewable energy trend. Sorry for not giving each time who is the "owner".

http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
http://www.rte-france.com/en/eco2mix/eco2mix-mix-energetique-en
http://www.V2G.co.uk/2017/09/national-grid-launches-carbon-intensity-data-feed/#comment-58425
https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/data-analysis/market-analysis

[etienne]

Interesting comments about DOE grod study recommendations
http://www.utilitydive.com/news/silverstein-if-id-written-the-doe-grid-study-recommendations/506274/

Here an excerpt regarding subsidies.

Subsidies – Every type of energy resource today receives some type of support or subsidy.  Oil and gas get depletion allowances, renewables get production tax credits, investment tax credits and R&D, nuclear generation gets insurance, R&D and construction work in progress, natural gas gets depletion allowances and R&D, and so on.  But new subsidies for coal and nuclear plants won’t level the playing field relative to renewables nor undo the impact of old subsidies – they’ll just make the playing field even bumpier.

Any new subsidies – including direct state payments, out-of-market uplift payments, or potential cost-of-service payments for non-competitive resources -- should have a specific purpose and a limited duration.  As renewable PTCs end, Congress and regulators should consider also ending old subsidies of traditional resources insofar as they are based on outdated assumptions about the unique role and value of these resources.

[Bob Wallace]

Can we be real for a moment?

All this subsidizing fossil fuels and nuclear is just more 'governing out of spite'.

Trump absolutely hates Obama because Obama made fun of him years ago during the 2011 Correspondents Dinner at the White House.  Trump is on a mission to undo everything that Obama accomplished in office.  Trump really doesn't give a damn about who might be hurt, he's all about revenge.

The US is in a world of trouble.  Hopefully we won't end up with a mess we can't clean up.  But that may depend on somehow getting Trump out of office before he starts a war.

[SteveMDFP]

. . .

Trump absolutely hates Obama because Obama made fun of him years ago during the 2011 Correspondents Dinner at the White House.  Trump is on a mission to undo everything that Obama accomplished in office.  Trump really doesn't give a damn about who might be hurt, he's all about revenge.

The US is in a world of trouble.  Hopefully we won't end up with a mess we can't clean up.  But that may depend on somehow getting Trump out of office before he starts a war.

I entirely agree about the Correspondents Dinner episode, and Trump's hatred of all things Obama.  Though I've never heard anyone else voice this hypothesis.  Obama masterfully skewered Trump in a way that I'm sure Trump has never, ever experienced before.  I thought Obama was rather over-the-top with hostility, frankly.  Though roasts are not uncommon for this event, so everyone gave it a pass.

But I don't think Trump gave it a pass.  So the entire world suffers because Trump is on a mission to undo all the progress of the Obama years.  Sigh.  See for yourself:

Obama ROASTING Trump Compilation

[Bob Wallace]

That wasn't my insight.  It's well accepted in Democratic circles that one of Trump's drivers is a hatred of Obama stemming from that dinner.  A consistent rumor is that the Russian pee tape is from a time after the dinner when Trump paid hookers to pee on the bed that Barak and Michael slept in when they were in Russia.

Remember that leading up to that event Trump had been a leader of the 'Obama born in Africa' group.  Trump had been attacking Obama fairly strongly for a long time. 

Obama burned Trump a bit in a setting where that sort of behavior is expected and appreciated.

[Jim Hunt]

Getting back to grid balancing in a renewable world for a moment, please feel free to take a look at the Great British OpenLV project:

https://www.westernpower.co.uk/Innovation/Projects/Current-Projects/Open-LV.aspx

The OpenLV Project will trial and demonstrate an open, flexible platform that could ultimately be deployed to every LV substation in Great Britain. Through three key Methods, the Project will demonstrate the platform’s ability to provide benefits to the network, customers, commercial entities and research organisations.

Except of course that

Western Power Distribution is a subsidiary of the American utility corporation PPL.

[etienne]

Getting back to grid balancing in a renewable world for a moment, please feel free to take a look at the Great British OpenLV project:

https://www.westernpower.co.uk/Innovation/Projects/Current-Projects/Open-LV.aspx

The OpenLV Project will trial and demonstrate an open, flexible platform that could ultimately be deployed to every LV substation in Great Britain. Through three key Methods, the Project will demonstrate the platform’s ability to provide benefits to the network, customers, commercial entities and research organisations.

Except of course that

Western Power Distribution is a subsidiary of the American utility corporation PPL.

The project really looks great from the grid side, but I wonder what are the real advantages for the people participating once the project is over. The sharing of the benefits of a balanced grid is a very complicated issue.

Maybe I am unfair with the project because somehow I believe that there is more money to do with an unbalanced network, so a balanced one should bring general costs down which should also bring down the final cost for customers.

Regarding the origin of the company, I never understood why countries agree to sell strategical infrastructure. Even for public tranportation, why is it a french company that manages public busses in Zeeland, Netherland (haven't been there for a long time, don't know how it is now) ? But that is out of topic.

[BenB]

National Grid has started publishing interesting daily balancing data for the UK grid:

https://www.nationalgrid.com/sites/default/files/documents/Charging%20Circular%20-%209th%20January%202018-%20Daily%20Balancing%20Costs%20Data.pdf

From the daily reports, it is clear that the Western HVDC Link is already playing an important role in reducing constraints on Scottish wind power.