Mapped: How The UK Generates Its Electricity - Carbon Brief

[6Foot2]

Link: Mapped: How the UK generates its electricity - Carbon Brief [Option: Filter power sources]

 

[DalekSec]

Just sent this off to our Geo teachers, think it might be of interest! (only 1 place around here on the map, trouble with living in the stick)

[Joanne]

Awesome. I always wondered why they didn't use landfill gas... but they actually do!

[nullensc]

This one is also interesting (and dynamic):

 

U.K. National Grid status

 

[localzuk]

Really surprised how little hydro power there is outside Scotland! We've got the capability country-wide so why isn't it used! It isn't even new tech!

[southhamster]

Really surprised how little hydro power there is outside Scotland! We've got the capability country-wide so why isn't it used! It isn't even new tech!

 

Most of the good sites are either developed or uneconomic. Bringing the HV grid to remote areas is very expensive as well as the long payback on the massive civil works.

The Scottish Hydro Board did most of the UK capacity in the 50's. Also flooding lots of pretty scenery and putting up more grid lines would provoke the NIMBY brigade, so larger new works are probably limited.

There's a lot of potential with small schemes (run of river) at old mills and beside rivers; especially using the archimedes screw devices as they don't damage fish.

Here's a community funded example near us on the River Dart; the local college will use the electricity onsite and sell the rest onto the grid.

Dart Renewables

[sted]

there is a solar plant in sherburn in elmet wtf?

 

also the current usage is only enough to power 37 deloreans lol

[pcstru]

Really surprised how little hydro power there is outside Scotland! We've got the capability country-wide so why isn't it used! It isn't even new tech!

 

I think part of the problem is that Hyrdo in the UK is generally storage, not (primary) generation. It doesn't make sense to build storage for gas plants that can spin up and down with demand. Coal is somewhat less responsive but we aren't building those. Hydro make sense coupled with Nuclear which is not very responsive to demand, but we haven't been building any new Nuclear for a while. Hydro would also make sense with Wind and Solar but it's very expensive to put in place vs another gas plant and any commercial operation would only be exploiting a difference between the rate they can buy and sell power, which in the current market wouldn't stack up against just building the renewables and grabbing the feed in tariffs even though some of the time the grid can't actually use the power.

[6Foot2]

Link: Map of UK Renewable Electricity Sites | UK Data Explorer

 

An interactive map of renewable electricity sites in the UK. Hover over a site for details.

 

[TechMonkey]

Just to be warned, although a nicer map that data is older and therefore missing a lot of Solar farms.