Going Green

Can we rely on renewables?

October 08, 2021 Philip Russell / Paul Russell Season 1 Episode 20
Going Green
Can we rely on renewables?
Show Notes

The PM announced UK to move to all renewable energy by 2035. Much of this power will come from Wind Turbines, which over the past 4 years have nearly doubled in capacity from 19GW to 35GW. But the easy installations of the offshore wind farms have been done, so now it is more likely to have to be floating  wind farms further out to sea or just in deeper waters. It is not just these wind farms that we need, because although this year we have more capacity to produce wind power, the total was less due to less wind than over the past few years. Solar was also down due to a cloudier year. So what else can we use and how can we store the electricity made in windier and sunnier times. One method is to use liquified air. Air is cooled and compressed using  surplus energy. When not enough electricity is around the compressed liquified gas is allowed to warm producing very large amount of air to drive a turbine and make electricity.

More wind farms may not be enough and so additional sources like wave power that is being used in the Orkneys may need to be deployed around the coast of the UK.