By Paul Homewood
This article from August 2023 exemplifies just how poor the BBC’s journalism has become regarding climate and energy:
Huge battery storage plants could soon become a familiar sight across the UK, with hundreds of applications currently lodged with councils.
In one corner of West Yorkshire locals are fighting plans to site two facilities within a mile of their homes.
They cite concerns over the safety and environmental impact of the technology but the firms behind them say the processes are safe.
BBC Yorkshire spoke to those on both sides of the highly charged debate.
What are battery storage plants?
In short, battery storage plants, or battery energy storage systems (BESS), are a way to stockpile energy from renewable sources and release it when needed.
When the wind blows and the sun shines turbines and solar panels may generate more energy than needed on a particular day.
That excess electricity is then stored as chemical energy, usually inside Lithium-ion batteries, so when conditions are calm and overcast it can be sent back into the power grid.
National Grid says part of its job is to manage those fluctuations and match supply with demand, but said it can become more challenging when the target is to achieve net zero carbon production.
"Fossil-fuel fired plants have traditionally been used to manage these peaks and troughs, but battery energy storage facilities can replace a portion of these so-called peaking power generators over time," a spokesperson said.
As more power comes from wind and solar, the need for these batteries and similar storage sites is expected to grow.
"At the moment we have a total installed capacity in the UK of about 77gW, of which only 24gW is renewable," said Prathivadi Anand from the University of Bradford.
Dr Anand, a professor of public policy and sustainability, continued: "The more we rely on renewables, we need something to balance it, because the wind is not always blowing and the sun is not always shining."
https://web.archive.org/web/20230930183534/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-66584335
One of our readers submitted this complaint to the BBC:
“As more power comes from wind and solar, the need for these batteries and similar storage sites is expected to grow.”
Dr Anand is then quoted claiming:
"At the moment we have a total installed capacity in the UK of about 77gW, of which only 24gW is renewable”
1. The BBC should know that the initialised unit ‘giga’ prefix is capitalised i.e. ‘GW’. [Note: That correction was made in early Oct 2023]
2. Dr Anand’s quoted claim is both ambiguous AND inaccurate.
2.1 The article relates to battery *storage*, and Dr Anand specifically states “…the need for these batteries and similar *storage* sites is expected to grow.” A unit of energy storage capacity is GWh; a GW is a unit of power (discharge).
Yet his phrase “… we have a total installed capacity in the UK of about 77gW (sic), of which only 24gW (sic) is renewable" refers to GW units.
2.2 The UK has neither 77GWh of grid electricity storage capacity nor 77GW of grid electricity power capacity, so his claim is factually incorrect.
2.3 His reference to “….about 77gW (sic), of which only 24gW (sic) is renewable" implies he’s now referring to generating, not storage, capacity.
2.4 According to Elexon BMRS’s website “Installed Generation Capacity Aggregated (B1410)” at 1/1/2023 Britain had 101.83GW of generating capacity which included 49.426GW of renewables generating capacity.
2.5 According to the late Prof Sir David MacKay Britain’s grid has 26.7GWh of pumped hydro storage capacity having a discharge power of 2.86GW.
We’ve less than 3GWh of grid battery storage capacity, so total grid electricity storage capacity is <30GWh.”
.
Nearly a year later the ECU has finally accepted the complaint:
What makes the original report so bad was that the comments came not from somebody like Justin Rowlatt, who has no idea what he is talking about, but “a professor of public policy and sustainability” (whatever that is!)
That a “Professor” can come up with such gibberish is alarming.
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
September 13, 2024 at 12:04PM
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