December 1, 2015

Germany’s wind farms are now producing so much electricity they are paying users to take it

Germany Pays to Halt Danish Wind Power to Protect Own Output

Bloomberg Business

Germany pays to idle Danish wind farms to ease grid congestion

Danish power producers pulled 37 gigawatt-hours in November

Germany’s wind farms are now producing so much electricity one of its grid managers is paying generators in neighboring Denmark to shut down to keep its network from overloading.



German network operator TenneT TSO GmbH paid Danish power producers to withhold 37 gigawatt-hours of output in November, or about a day of production from the region’s biggest nuclear reactor, according to data from the Nord Pool Spot AS exchange in Oslo. The increase from 1.5 gigawatt-hours a year ago came as TenneT began from 2015 to boost payments to Danish producers via its neighboring grid to avoid cutting German output.

When gusty weather floods the network with power and threatens stability, Germany can seek cuts, according to grid rules. If such reductions are still not enough, Germany will then start shutting its own turbines. The country’s shift to renewables has more than doubled its wind power over the past decade, with output reaching a record on Nov. 18. Investment in power lines to move it across the country has failed to keep up...snip

...This comes as Germany saw negative prices in the market for hours on at least 10 days during the last month in high winds, forcing producers to pay as much as 116.99 euros per megawatt-hour to users to take electricity. Danish electricity output had to be reduced by 237 gigawatt-hours so far this year, a 25-fold increase year on year...snip
MORE: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-01/german-wind-power-surplus-spurs-cash-for-neighbor-to-switch-off

How to store this renewable electricity that producers are paying people to take? H2 is better than batteries.

December 1, 2015

Energy Storage: ‘Windgas’ could drive car industry

Bdlive.co.za | Horst Hamm | December 01 2015

FOR all the talk about the imminent end of the oil era, 99% of the cars, trucks and planes currently operating are still petrol-powered.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has insisted that change is on the way: in 2011, she predicted that 1-million electric cars would be in use in Germany by 2020. Yet, as of January 1 this year, there were only about 19,000 electric cars registered in Germany...snip


An Audi is filled with e-gas which uses electricity from wind turbines to turn water and carbon dioxide into methane Picture: BLOOMBERG/JASPER JUINEN

..Superfluous ecoelectricity from wind turbines and solar panels can be used to produce hydrogen and relatively simple organic compounds, such as methanol and methane. These compounds can be used to power cars, either in a combustion engine, or with the use of a fuel cell that can transform the materials back into electricity.

This is precisely the alternative Audi has been exploring in Werlte, Lower Saxony, where it commissioned Etogas to build the first power-to-gas plant.

Power-to-gas is the process by which wind and solar power are transformed into hydrogen and methane, a technique developed at the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research in Stuttgart...snip
MORE: http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/innovation/2015/12/01/windgas-could-drive-car-industry

E.ON Power-to-Gas facility in Falkenhagen with Hydrogenics technology

Dec 11, 2013

On August 28, 2013, E.ON inaugurated commercial operations at its Power-to-Gas (P2G) facility in Falkenhagen, Germany. The plant uses wind power and Hydrogenics' electrolysis equipment to transform water into hydrogen, which is then injected into the existing regional natural gas transmission system. The hydrogen, as part of the natural gas mix, can be used in a variety of applications including space heating, industrial processes, mobility, and power generation. The facility, which has a capacity of two megawatts, produces 360 cubic meters of hydrogen per hour.

December 1, 2015

Irish politicians face Christmas jail time for trying to inspect US war planes

Source: RT

Two members of Ireland’s Dáil (parliament) face Christmas in the clink for trying to inspect US military aircraft at Shannon airport.

Independent TD (MP) Mick Wallace and United Left TD Clare Daly used a rope ladder to gain access to a restricted area of Shannon Airport in July 2014.

They suspected the US of carrying weapons through Ireland, a neutral country that is not part of NATO, and were arrested as they approached two US planes on the taxiway guarded by police and the Irish army.

The pair contested charges of trespassing on the grounds that they were inspecting the planes for humanitarian reasons and to highlight Ireland’s lack of neutrality...

Read more: https://www.rt.com/news/324029-irish-politicians-planes-war/

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Sep 23, 2015: Clare Daly asked the Minister for Transport about request by US Military Planes to land at Shannon airport.

Clare Daly Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/claredalyirl