"Beefy" sounds good. 75GW of power transmission capacity from Scotland to the south of England could supply average UK demand. You could also deploy regional batteries to handle peak demand (120GW) loads.
Dinorwig can store 9.1 GWh.
Scotland could host > 9,100GWh but the UK needs less than half that for a 120GW peak power grid - how many GWh exactly depends on how many GW of dispatchable backup power (biomass, last resort fossil fuel) is available.
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2017/07/14/w...
Lake District.
bsky.app/profile/scot...
Scotland could host 1,000 Dinorwigs' of energy storage capacity
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/02/05/m...
- the Lake District just 50.
But misgovernment leaves it to OFGEM.
The UK needs a pumped hydro Tsar (me) with compulsory purchase & borrowing powers to acquire the sites and build them.
Looks like knee-jerk opposition - possibly because the Highlanders are in a rebellious mood after years of getting totally shafted on energy prices - enjoying so little benefit for all the energy development.
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/02/05/m...
Onslow is not the hydro battery which NZ needs which should be on the North Island, triple the power of Onslow but only intra-week storage not the ruinous expense of Onslow's inter-year storage.
Triple wind power!
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Pumped hydro, of course, but not Onslow.
NZ's pumped hydro should be on the North Island, triple the power of Onslow, 3GW, but only intra-week storage of about 30GWh is really required - no need for the ruinous expense of Onslow's inter-year 5,000GWh.
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/04/12/n...
Do NOT "back Lake Onslow" because that's not the place to build the pumped hydro that New Zealand really needs.
Dry years problem solved, more wind power, North Island pumped hydro – New Zealand 100% renewables without Onslow
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/04/12/n...
Sure, with location pricing, dirt cheap power in Scotland would attract businesses from England to Scotland. Good for economic growth but jobs would move.
So whilst Red Ed called it "Great British Energy" he governs more like Little England Energy.
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2025/07/07/t...
There are sites in Scotland to build enough pumped hydro for the energy storage capacity equivalent to 1,000 Dinorwigs.
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/02/05/m...
(The Lake District - 50 Dinorwigs.)
Meanwhile, OFGEM is building pumped hydro like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.😱
"It would basically be buying a lot of power when power prices are low"
New Zealand has NO SUCH surplus of low-cost power so Onslow would remain mostly empty.
Marc Daalder 🤡should stop spouting Earl Bardsley's🤡 nonsense.
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#NZenergy #NZpol
Lake Onslow pumped hydro "back from the dead" but only to zombie (walking dead) status.
Onslow is not viable in the commercial sector. No-one will invest without a promise of a government bailout when it fails, as it will fail.
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/04/12/n...
'“just build more renewables” is not a strategy. It is an evasion of the real question'🙄
How dare the NZ Govt stall the build-out of wind power in the 2010s?🤨
There would be NO "dry year problem" if wind farm building had continued apace.
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/04/12/n...
PS... once again promoting the work of @scotscientist.bsky.social ... why does no one run the numbers here??
The nonsense of "Lake Onslow in" is bad news.
Onslow is not commercially viable.
NZ's pumped hydro needs to be on the North Island, 3 times more powerful than Onslow but only for intra-week storage, not "inter-year".
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/04/12/n...
Lake Onslow pumped hydro "resurrected" only to zombie (walking dead) status.
Onslow is not viable in the commercial sector. No-one will invest without a promise of a government bailout when it fails, as it will.
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/04/12/n...
Lake Onslow "resurrected" only to zombie (walking dead) status.
Onslow is not viable in the commercial sector. No-one will invest without a promise of a government bailout when it fails, as it will.
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/04/12/n...
#NZpol #NZenergy
Nuclear fusion reactor research is a waste of time and money. Scotland should not touch it with a barge pole.
F.U.S.I.O.N. Fraudulent, Unwanted, Specious, Illegal, Offworld, Never.
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/02/07/f...
This is way beyond a joke Liebour is deliberately sabotaging Scotland.
Current Capacity: The current interconnector capacity between Scotland and England is around 6.6 GW, with plans to increase this to 40 GW by 2040.
But if and when we need 80GW or even 120GW it is possible.
So Scottish pumped hydro could serve the whole UK grid no problem, other than misgovernment.
Titanic was a goer.
The UK needs to appoint me as its PUMPED HYDRO TSAR with compulsory purchase and government borrowing powers - to acquire the best sites and to fund construction.
Leaving it to OFGEM is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic and waiting for the iceberg.
There are sites in Scotland to build the equivalent energy storage capacity of 1,000 Dinorwigs.
But the UK needs a PUMPED HYDRO TSAR (me) with compulsory purchase and government borrowing powers.
OFGEM is not a plan for national infrastructure.🙄
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/02/05/m...
The UK has the necessary geography & water for pumped hydro but is limited by OFGEM free-marketeer misgovernment of national grid infrastructure projects.
The UK needs a PUMPED HYDRO TSAR (me) with compulsory purchase & government borrowing powers.
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/02/05/m...
Pumped hydro on the NORTH Island of 30GWh/3GW would cut it.
30GWh intra-week storage (so need for Onslow's inter-year storage of 5,000GWh)
3GW (triple Onslow's 1GW)
More wind power +2.4GW to triple to a total of 3.6GW (2.5GW N.I., 1.1GW S.I.)
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/04/12/n...
So what NZ needs from pumped hydro is about 30GWh/3GW on the North Island - perhaps as two 15GWh/1.5GW schemes at different locations on the North Island, where load balancing is needed - NOT on the South Island where only more wind power is needed.
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/04/12/n...
I may be the most knowledgeable detractor of the Lake Onslow project🤓 which is inappropriate for supply-demand load balancing - up to 3,000MW will be needed on the North Island, but intra-week storage is enough - no need for Onslow's inter-year.
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/04/12/n...
From #Russia without love: inside Putin’s grip on our #nuclear power
More than 2.5 million UK homes are powered by the Kremlin’s supply of unembargoed nuclear fuel.
Sizewell B reactor runs entirely on reprocessed uranium from Russia.
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Private capital CANNOT drive the Onslow producers scam.
The company needs Rodger Finlay, Reserve Bank Chairman, to underwrite it so when it goes belly-up the private financiers are bailed out.
They are baiting with private but will switch to bail out.
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/04/12/n...
Lake Onslow is economically hellish.
The alternative to gas peakers is North Island intra-week storage.
Dry years problem solved, more wind power, North Island pumped hydro – New Zealand 100% renewables without Onslow
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/04/12/n...
#NZBatteryProject #LakeOnslow
"it usually means there's a lot of spare power"
NZ has no such spare power to fill a 5,000GWh reservoir.
Dry years problem solved, more wind power, North Island pumped hydro – New Zealand 100% renewables without Onslow
scottishscientist.wordpress.com/2023/04/12/n...