Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
“Electric Mountain”, the Dinorwig power station in Snowdonia, is the only non-
fossil-fuelled power station in the UK that could give the UK a “black start” -
re-starting the national grid in the event of its failure.
Importing more power into the system
The traditional fall-back has been gas-fired power, which is relatively
cheap to build and therefore tolerable to keep in reserve for moments of
peak demand. But the green ideal would be to have renewable back-up.
If the system is big enough, then it is sometimes possible to balance a
drop in wind power in one part of the system with a rise in wind genera-
tion in another part of the system - for instance a lull in southern England
compensated by rising wind power in Scotland. But even in a big state
such as California this has not worked well - the wind or sun either blows
or shines throughout the state or not at all. Furthermore, transmission
over long distances leads to electricity losses. Sometimes wind and solar
power can complement each other well. It is, for instance, an awkward fact
for wind that an anti-cyclone high pressure, with little or no wind, can
bring the coldest and the hottest weather. Fortunately, such anti-cyclones
are usually sunny as well as windless, and produce solar power.
