|
From: Suitably Despairing blog
There's a problem with wind turbines that critics of renewable energy leap onto at the first opportunity - the wind doesn't blow all the time. Indeed, it has become such a ubiquitous argument that any time wind farms are mentioned on BBC Radio Scotland, you can be sure that the words "base load" will be muttered within a minute.
In his book Heat, George Monbiot points out that the wind is always blowing somewhere in the UK, and that an upgraded National Grid could take care of this problem easily. He then goes on to suggest that perhaps we could extend that "supergrid" to cover the whole of Europe and North Africa, with solar power from the south supplementing renewable energy from wind, wave and tidal schemes in the north. It would be a win-win situation for everyone, as detailed today on Celsias.
Perhaps we're beginning to see the first signs of that 'SuperGrid'. Back in February, Scotland and Northern Ireland agreed to look at running a cable between the two countries to share their renewable resources. Now, Scotland and Norway will be meeting in October to discuss the same thing.
Norway gets most of it's power from Hydro-Electric pumping schemes, releasing water from a higher reservoir into a lower reservoir via a turbine, and then pumping the water back up to use later. The idea is that when there is no wind blowing in Scotland, Norway would make up any shortfall via it's hydro-plants. When Scotland has surplus energy, it will feed that to Norway to provide the power to pump the water back up to the high reservoirs.
By connecting renewable resources in this way, the whole "base load" problem will be solved, and it can only be a matter of time before other countries start getting involved.
| 
Fossil Fuel
