Tesla application for an electricity generation licence

[Battpower]

This is due to how mechanical to AC generation works. There is an induced field in the rotor that acts on the stator to generate power. This field is not synchonous and you have slip.

I guess I need to do some reading to understand this. I get the concept, but cant really visualise whats going on. I guess it's to do with reactive components. Always have trouble visualising them!

 

[mongo]

That's exactly what I wanted to hear.

So, in that case, why was there a push to get renewable (wind? - but I thought PV too) taken off-line at such a high cost recently? Relating to the mix of generating method?

Is Wind typically rectified and inverted? (therefore looking the same as PV to the grid?

I guess I need to do some reading to understand this. I get the concept, but cant really visualise whats going on. I guess it's to do with reactive components. Always have trouble visualising them!

Yeah, slip is weird. It's a result of the rotor spped, voltage, and current.

Not sure the reasoning behind removing inverter sources. Could be that the current grid setup needs a certain percentage of rotary loads and generation to stabilize. Also, things like nuclear and hydro can't throttle quickly, so if renewables started cutting into base load, that could cause issues.

Wind could be direct connect with variable pitch (constant speed) blades. Or DC plus inverter. One interconnect method for AC outpur systems is a phase meter to measure the grid vs the turbine and a big switch that gets flipped when they aligned.

 

[Battpower]

Could be that the current grid setup needs a certain percentage of rotary loads and generation to stabilize.

That was the impression I got.

 

[Gil Kat]

So it may well be that Tesla is just tapping into the rather lucrative market of peak generation with megapacks (or terapacks) and not really having anything to do with renewable power sources.
Allegedly, the megapack in Australia has already paid for itself...
It's interesting. When cell production is very much the rate limiting step, Tesla seem to be putting their fingers in possibly far too many pies. I would be delighted to see a cheaper and more energy-dense Powerwall 3...

Grid prices per kWh vary from 35p+ to negative, with the more usual range from about 25p down to 5p. So Tesla will install a massive bank of Megapacks, charge up at 5p or less and then sell at 25p++. It is basically money for nothing and they will amortise their capital costs within some short space of time and then sit back and enjoy the free cash. The U.K. is one of the few countries in the world that has a real-time wholesale market to allow this

 

[ACarneiro]

Grid prices per kWh vary from 35p+ to negative, with the more usual range from about 25p down to 5p. So Tesla will install a massive bank of Megapacks, charge up at 5p or less and then sell at 25p++. It is basically money for nothing and they will amortise their capital costs within some short space of time and then sit back and enjoy the free cash. The U.K. is one of the few countries in the world that has a real-time wholesale market to allow this

Yes, pretty sure that’s what they did in Australia. Apparently they’ve already paid for the cost of the Megapack (couple of million AUD).

 

[MrBadger]

Load shifting at Hornsdale is not what its really about. Its mostly about stabilising southern areas of the grid via frequency control. The load shifting is only about 30% of its capacity. Most of its capacity is used for high power in short bursts.

 

[arg]

It is possible for inverters to provide "fake inertia", mimicing how rotating generators behave, but my understanding is that standard small ones generally just provide voltage support - following the grid frequency and making part of the load "disappear" from the grid's point of view, but not attempting to regulate frequency. For domestic-scale inverters, the anti-islanding detection is usually frequency-based, so that may inhibit implementing fake inertia (though I am not certain of that).

As we saw last year, anti-islanding adds instability: once the frequency goes out of range, all the distributed generation goes offline making it even harder to bring the frequency back where it should be. This shouldn't apply to larger wind turbines however.

My understanding is that wind turbines are not typically grid-synchronous, as the turbine speed needs to vary with wind strength, so they are rectified and fed to the grid via an inverter; some of these now do have fake inertia, but I think it is a relatively recent development.

The other part of why action was needed to take wind offline is commercial: wind generators get paid both for their power output and for REGOs (used to prove the source of "green" energy to people on green tariffs). The two are traded separately, and normally wind will generate flat out even if the price goes negative because they are also being paid for the REGOs, while the gas generators don't want to run below a price that pays for the gas (subject to start-up/shut-down considerations).

 

[CMc1]

And it begins...

This new system has allowed facilities like the Tesla Megapack-powered 7.5 MW Holes Bay energy storage plant, located in Dorset and operated by Fotowatio Renewable Ventures BV and Harmony Energy Ltd, to help the country’s energy grid when needed. In its debut in the UK energy market, Tesla, using its Megapack batteries and Autobidder platform, successfully bid the Holes Bay battery into the BM — and it did so close to real-time.

Tesla Megapack batteries help balance the UK's energy grid for the first time

 

[M3noob]

And it begins...



Tesla Megapack batteries help balance the UK's energy grid for the first time

Whither V2G possibilities?

 

[LongRanger]

Yep, went live yesterday with real delivery of energy notifications and confirmations across the balancing mechanism for UK electricity.

Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside, Tesla is the first of many new market entrants - a step change in complexity for the balancing process is coming.

 

[tomorrowman]

next step tesla virtual powerplant and I get my subsidised powerwall

Tesla Virtual Power Plant In Australia Outperforms Expectations

 

[Sean.]

And it begins...



Tesla Megapack batteries help balance the UK's energy grid for the first time

Thought it was 15 MWh cap. and not 7.5 as it’s states in the article linked?

Maybe it’s just a typo but it looks like 6 Megapacks (3 lots back to back) as in the earlier pics courtesy from Electrek...