<UK's new power station The Oil Drum: Europe 5th International Conference on Oil and Gas Depletion>

17 comments on Photovoltaic Contribution to UK Electricity

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

| Show without comments | PDF version

mikepepler on June 22, 2006 - 1:46am Permalink | Subthread | Comments top
I'm not sure about the 168GW being generated... Peak demand in the UK is something like 60GW, so you need to assume that the output of the solar panels never goes above this. Either that, or find some way to store the surplus energy on sunny days to use up at night. And that's before you allow for nuclear stations that will be generating 24/7 can can not be switched on and off every day.
Comments can no longer be added to this story.
Chris Vernon on June 22, 2006 - 3:36am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I'm not sure about the 168GW being generated... Peak demand in the UK is something like 60GW

That's a good point and maybe a fundamental limit of the contribution of a single variable energy source like wind or solar?  Peak generation can't really exceed the simultaneous peak demand and probably needs to be quite a bit less for practical reasons (nuke and coal slow start, national distribution limits). Peak demand could certainly be shifted a bit in response to supply and storage through electrolysed hydrogen, although inefficient, would be better than wasting it.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

17 comments on Photovoltaic Contribution to UK Electricity

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

| Show without comments | PDF version