Energy infrastructure

This could be interesting in the future , they're testing a 6kw model so not huge by modern standards - but far from a toy either ,

Should be less "visually intrusive "far less noise ,and less need for huge foundations,

Downsides could be less efficient , and if it's much lower to the ground less abilities to capture the wind , no idea how it's likely to affect turbulence ( better -worse - same) for wild life , but less likely for the blades to directly impact bird life , which could be a boon for offshore or floating platforms ,

But if it's only going for testing now I can't see it being used in mainstream operations in much less than a decade -

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/australia-to-test-6kw-vertical-wind-turbine

Thanks @Scarab80 , that explains a lot. I'm just inside the West constraint group. Presumably the planned upgrades to the grid will improve the flow of excess renewable generation to where it is most needed.

Not that significant a planning decision, but it's interesting how the media talks about solar farms ,

48 hectares is referred to as " vast "

And the residents are concerned that the area will be turned into " an industrial electrical hub "

https://www.leinsterexpress.ie/news/ecolive/1707853/decision-made-on-laois-rural-community-s-appeal-against-solar-farm.html

Talking of feasible sites. What would be determined the longest feasible distance from a substation site or HV line to establish any sort of viable solar farm or other generation site? Sitting here on the southeast coast with an abundance of sunshine, but 15 km (as the crow flies) from the nearest substation or HV line.

In fact a modern build with concrete screed under floor heating coupled with a heat pump IS a battery. The floor is a massive heat store. Even in a small house you have tens of tonnes of concrete mass storing the heat energy. You don't even need a battery because you effectively already have one, just one that stores the heat itself. Many people with PV on the roof actually run their heat pump at full tilt during the afternoon to store the sun's energy in the floor and then switch it off in the evening until the sun comes up the following morning.

I was thinking it must have happened. Looking at the eirgrid dashboard last night it was interesting to see that Greenlink was running outside of standard working hours when the vast majority of the commissioning tests were happening. Great to see this vital infrastructure online. Looking forward to Celtic interconnector following in 2026. Hopefully we'll see more interconnector proposals between Ireland and Britain in the near future. It looked like there were more private companies (like Greenlink) angling for regulatory approval from ComReg in Ireland and Ofcom in the UK.

I realize it's a relatively short period - about 4 hours? - but still very impressive. If anyone told me 10 years ago Ireland would be exporting electricity at the GW scale, I would have laughed. With the amount of solar coming online and off-shore wind capacity pending, I'm guessing it's going to become a more common occurence.