Amber,
After becoming PM, Cameron, has woken up and smelled the coffee and so he's become more realistic. However, UK's nuclear plans have suffered a setback due to the fact that Merkel is still sleeping soundly. The Horizon joint venture, co-owned by German utilities, RWE and E.ON, has collapsed due to the financial difficulties faced by these utilities following the German decision to put the squeeze on nuclear power.
The interesting point about the German decision to close nuclear power plants by 2022 is that by that point of time renewables will have to contribute an incredible 42 per cent of German electricity demand. That's unlikely to happen so German will happily buy more coal from Poland, import more gas from Russia and horror of horrors, import more nuclear power from France. So we could have the very interesting situation of the Germans having more coal plants - and more electricity generated by coal - in Germany by 2022, all in the name of having a more healthier and purer climate. However, this winter the Germans had to reopen one of their nuclear power pants due to energy shortage. Let's see what happens if the Russian Bear plays hardball with Gas.
Another issue that has direct relevance to India.
Folks here talk pithily about renewables as if it's just a question of choosing which type of generation plants we are happy with. I suspect many of them fail to realise what kind of sophisticated ecosystem is required in the form of support infrastructure in order to have a situation whereby solar and wind power can contribute a significant chunk of total energy requirement.
A highly developed country like Germany which has a stable demand (in that it does not go up exponentially every year as it does in India) for electricity, is relative small and homogenous (in comparison to India) also requires to get it just right in order to make renewables a mainstream electricity generation option.
According to this
article, headlined,
Germany’s new energy policy a complex puzzle, this is the kind of set up Germany will need:
Renewable resources are best exploited where they are plentiful – wind on the high seas and sun in warm regions. With power superhighways such as high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission lines, energy can be transported to consumers without substantial loss. For example, a Siemens HVDC system in China is proving how 5 000 MW of electricity can be transported over a distance of 1 400 km with a loss of only about 5%. Had conventional alternating current power lines been used, the loss would be two to three times as high.
All this is fine. Now apply this to the Indian situation. Will electricity produced, by say wind energy on the high seas, be allowed to move wholesale from one coastal state to say a state like Karnataka which has no access to the sea? Keep in mind Jayalalitha's latests demand that
all power generated by KNPP should be reserved for Tamil Nadu as a typical example of the mindset.
And yet another challenge: as weather conditions change, so does the output of wind and solar systems. That is why facilities that can store excess energy for hours, days and, if necessary, even weeks, are indispensible. To expand pumped-storage power plants in Germany would be very difficult. However, excess electricity can also be used in electrolytic plants to generate ecofriendly hydrogen, which can then be fed into the natural gas grid, stored in underground caverns, reconverted into electricity and used in fuel-cell vehicles. Batteries in buildings and electric cars can also serve as intermediate storage facilities. Siemens is conducting research in all these fields. {This reads like a PR piece for Siemens but let's ignore that bit and concentrate on the processes involved.}
When the wind suddenly drops or clouds move across the sun, fluctuations in power output have to be quickly offset. This is where quick-start gas power plants are particularly effective. Combined with steam turbines, they are also extremely efficient. Working with German energy giant EON, Siemens has built the world’s most efficient power plant in Irsching, Bavaria. The plant, which can convert natural gas into electricity at an efficiency of 60.75%, consumes a third less fuel per kilowatt hour than the average gas power plant worldwide. Substantially cutting greenhouse gas emissions, the facility, which can reach its full capacity from standstill in less than 30 minutes, generates 578 MW of electricity – enough to meet the energy needs of a city the size of Berlin.
Fifteen years ago, there were only a few hundred energy producers supplying electricity to Germany’s power grids. In the future, there will be millions – generating power from solar, wind and biomass systems and from small basement cogeneration units. Today’s energy consumers will increasingly be ‘prosumers’ – both producers and consumers of electricity. This fact – coupled with the increased use of renewable-energy sources that cause strong fluctuations in electricity prices – will make smart grids indispensable. With partners in Germany, Siemens is already demon- strating how these grids will function. Local energy producers in Wilpoldsried, a municipality in the country’s Allgäu region, are generating twice as much electricity with photovoltaic, biomass and wind power systems as they consume themselves. They are also using electric cars. {OK now I get it, we need to sell the Tata Pixel and MegaPixel in India's villages} Smart grids are ensuring network stability while balancing production and consumption.
Yet even after going through all these hooplas what do we have:
The cleanest energy is always the energy that is not consumed. And here, there is still considerable potential for savings – in industry, for example. Electric motors currently consume nearly two-thirds of the power used in industrial applications – in drives and pumps, for instance. Energy-saving motors and intelligent controls from Siemens consume up to 60% less power than their conventional counter- parts. As a result, investments in this area pay for themselves in less than two years.
^^^
Admirable sentiments. However, what happens in societies which suffer from an existing energy deficit and which is seeing a soaring rise in the total demand for electricity as it attempts to catch up with developed countries such as Germany?
I tell you what happens. In the absence of nuclear power, they go on to build coal fired power plants while paying lip service to "renewable forms of energy" in order to feel nice with a box kool aid at their side. And then the next stage is to talk about stuff like "clean coal" and of course "carbon-free" coal.
I find it ironic that folks who lose sleep at night worrying for the environment when nuclear power is involved, are totally cool with coal-fired thermal power plants. Standard refrain: "Coal is there, will be there, so learn to live with it and don't try to do anything about it by suggesting that every MW produced by nuclear power is one less produced by sulphur and CO2 spewing coal plants!"
Jai Ho!
