Comparing & Evaluating the Efficiency of Gas Heating vs. ASHP Powered by Gas-Fired Electricity
Allow me to post a hypothesis...
It's possible that 'we' discard renewable generation in order to keep gas-generation plants operating in combined cycle mode overnight. But I'm not yet sure how to verify that.
Allow me to use my own region to illustrate this. It makes life simpler because it's a peninsula, and the source of electricity is therefore much easier to trace.
Here's a snapshot of the Connected Large Generation sites from last year...
Fraddon is a Bulk Supply Point (BSP) which takes the electricity generated by those onshore wind-farms I've identified on the north Cornwall coast.
Here's where a BSP sits in the Distribution Grid hierarchy of voltages:
Since we've had a lot of wind from the north during the last week, you'd expect these wind-turbines to be generating lots both day & night.
We can see that my looking at the statistics for Fraddon itself over that time:
The lower-half of that graphic displays the actual situation between 22:00 - 23:00 last night (Thurs 6th June) because that's the time period I clicked on. I want to ensure I'm selecting a time when there's no solar generation for the purposes of this exercise.
Let me now expand that to see a breakdown of generation types behind the Renewables and Fossil Fuels labels:
And that raises an interesting question as to why Fraddon would need any electricity from a gas generation plant last night?!
Let's just see where that gas generation site is:
Is it possible that the Gas Turbine generators at Langage, east of Plymouth, are reducing the amount they charge for electricity at night, such that it costs less to buy than the Zero-Carbon output from the Cornish wind-turbine sites?
Such a move would allow the gas-turbine generators to remain operating in closed-cycle mode instead of shutting down overnight.
Here's another graph which might shed some light on this:
It shows an 'illustrative' ANM plot which would apply if I was wanting to connect a commercial battery storage (BESS) plant to the Distribution Grid in the vicinity of Fraddon. ANM is Automated Network Management, which reduces the amount of power that may be fed to the grid during times of excess generation.
The graph shows time of day (x-axis) against day of the year (y-axis).
The darker the colour, the less electricity I would be able to export to the grid.
That ANM plot is typical of a location where the dominant generation is from wind.
And if we're 'discarding' wind generation in the Fraddon area because there's over-supply, then why would there be the need for any electricity derived from a gas-turbine plant 50-miles away? We should be seeing the night-time energy-mix at Fraddon to be almost exclusively from those nearby wind-turbines, wouldn't we?
Save energy... recycle electrons!
If the electricity supply industry and grid was still state owned, then renewable generation make take precedence over other forms of generation, but that is no longer the case. Owners of gas fired power stations may therefore find it more cost effective to supply electrical energy at cost or slightly below cost rather than shutting down for several hours during low demand periods.
The grid and distribution operators have to balance supply to demand, and to be able to do so they must have a percentage of the overall supply which they can call upon to increase or reduce generation in a controlled manner. At the moment this is normally gas fired power stations. There must be some controlled generation operating to be able to balance the changes in supply from renewable sources.
That is a well-reasoned and persuasive argument, @transparent. I'd guess we'd need an insider to confirm that, of course, but what you say certainly hangs together.
Is it possible to get a dataset of price per MW per generator over time for each power source in the UK? I feel sure a bit of data mining could reveal quite a lot....
105 m2 bungalow in South East England
Mitsubishi Ecodan 8.5 kW air source heat pump
18 x 360W solar panels
1 x 6 kW GroWatt battery and SPH5000 inverter
1 x Myenergi Zappi
1 x VW ID3
Raised beds for home-grown veg and chickens for eggs
"Semper in excretia; sumus solum profundum variat"
My wife and I have just been out for a meal with some close friends. My friend, who works for NG, made me aware of quite an interesting fact, that the present gas distribution system transports 3 times more energy than the electricity distribution system, the later of which could be struggling to meet demand come the next Winter.
It may be time to buy a portable generator.
- 26 Forums
- 2,104 Topics
- 46.3 K Posts
- 118 Online
- 3,393 Members
Latest Posts
-
RE: Who's your electricity provider and what's your tariff?
I've been on Octopus Agile for the last couple months. ...
By Old_Scientist , 11 minutes ago
-
@bart It's a pleasure. If you need anything else, feel ...
By Brendon Uys , 2 hours ago
-
RE: Aira Heat Pump: Stylish Scandinavian Heating
Is anyone else with an Aira heat pump experiencing issu...
By ChandyKris , 3 hours ago
-
RE: Location of hot water isolation valve on cylinder
@transparent Thank you so much and very helpful. Earlie...
By rossowheels , 16 hours ago
-
RE: Ecodan consuming 100kwh per day in new build!!!
It does indeed look like that, @skyefarmer. There is ...
By Majordennisbloodnok , 23 hours ago
-
RE: Plug and play solar. Thoughts?
Have a read of my previous posts on so-called Balcony S...
By Lucia , 2 days ago
-
RE: Compressor attempts start but fails - Nibe Fighter 2005 8kW
"To tell you the truth, I don't know if HAL is homicida...
By Scalextrix , 2 days ago
-
The Importance of Radiator Balancing for Efficient Heating: Introducing the Flow Regulating Valve
It’s fascinating to watch how low-temperature heating i...
By Mars , 3 days ago
-
RE: Servicing Hitachi HP in rural Somerset
I'd give GreenGenUK a call or email them: sales@greenge...
By Mars , 3 days ago
-
RE: Heating coming on when not required
I played with a max heating temp but there is a world o...
By JamesPa , 4 days ago
-
RE: Pressure drop Primary circuit
I've always regarded topping up heating systems as my j...
By JamesPa , 4 days ago
-
RE: Heat pump solutions and/or installer recommendations for France
I’d travel to France for work if you were struggling wi...
By Damon Blakemore , 4 days ago
-
RE: 5 Star Service from Havenwise
That's always a danger with any new good idea, @morgan....
By Majordennisbloodnok , 4 days ago
-
Have your say in the Renewable Heating Hub Awards
It’s time to celebrate the best (and call out the worst...
By Mars , 5 days ago
-
-
RE: Mitsubishi cycling while on chilled water output
@iaack yes there's no denying that cold air sinks! I s...
By downfield , 5 days ago
-
RE: Weather compensated secondary circuits with Biomass
@andycoo that flooring sounds ideal. Extra volume is ...
By Sune , 5 days ago