The electrons vibrate at 60 cycles per second, 60 Hz, and travel at less than 0.1 inch/second. What happens where there is insufficient wind for the required duration to powerup the batteries? With wind power usage in 2015 equal to 12.5 billion kWh, Dutch demand for wind power amply exceeds supply. Either figure comfortably exceeds the amount of electricity NS uses to power its electric trains, which is variously quoted as either 1.2 or 1.4TWh/year. (CONTINUED), London Underground trains use two conductor rails to manage their electricity needs (Image courtesy [+] of BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images), In all cases, this regenerated electricity can be returned to the power line via the conductor rail. For offshore wind a new system of tendering is under development. However, this quotation, which comes from an essay written by earth scientist David Hughes, was cherry-picked and presented out of context to create a deliberately misleading version of what the author actually said. If thats the case, it marks a major turning point in the story of renewables. Rather they act like a component in an electric circuit. Homer-Dixon did not write this viral quote, but he did comment on it in a May 2018 blog post entitled: "No . Once stored, this electricity can be sold to the main power grid, helping the city to top up peak demand, and earning the train company money in the process. (End of excerpt). These sites are also surveyed centrally by the government allowing developers to avoid costly and multiple surveys.[11]. Per Physics 101, once electricity is fed into the grid it travels, as electromagnetic waves, at near the speed of light on un-insulated wires, i.e. The story of Apple data centre in Denmark: Data from Frontier Economics. This has already led to a savings of 1.43 billions kilograms of C02 emissions. It probably has a lower calorific value, a greater CO2 content (up to 30%/40% from some sources), and your local regs may insist it be odourised. It is a special fund used by the Dutch government to make investments in renewable energy profitable. However, wind power consumption in the Netherlands in 2015 was 12.5TWh, indicating that about 5TWh of wind power was imported during the year. The supply of wind power to the Dutch grid will also not be constant. In 2017, our trains in the Netherlands became the first in the world to run for 100% on wind energy, giving travellers the option of travelling without CO2 emissions. As his statements were presented in that meme, Homer-Dixon appeared to have asserted that windmills never produce as much energy as is expended in building them: The quotations selectively employed in the meme were taken from Homer-Dixon's 2009 book Carbon Shift: How Peak Oil and the Climate Crisis Will Change Canada (and Our Lives). All day so far. Bach supplies data for Belgium, which should be a close analogy, and Figure 4 shows Belgian wind generation for September 2014: Figure 4: Belgian wind generation, September 2014, With an installed capacity of around 1850MW in this month the overall wind capacity factor was 11% and there were a number of occasions on which wind generation fell effectively to zero for hours on end. Everyone drawing energy from the grid is equal, on a physical basis. As Enecos account manager Michel Kerkhof pointed out, the key objective is to avoid procuring energy from the limited existing number of sustainable energy projects in the Netherlands, thus promoting renewable growth both domestically and Europe-wide., This partnership ensures that new investments can be made in even newer wind farms, which will increase the share of renewable energy, Kerkhof continued. The largest wind farm in the Netherlands is Noordoostpolder with a capacity of 429 MW. For example, in 2015, Burlington, Vermont, became the first city to announce it was running totally on renewable power. There are several Dutch turbine manufacturers that continue to manufacture both large and small installations for domestic and international clients. Active 2016. Impressively, this means their initial goal was met one whole year ahead of schedule. These wind turbines generate enough power to sustain the equivalent of 2.4 million homes. Do the Netherlands trains really run on http://elering.ee/cross-border-physical-flows/, http://ast.lv/eng/power_system/current_situation_in_power_system/state_of_power_system/, http://www.litgrid.eu/index.php/sistemos-duomenys/79, Antidotes were hard to find this week as one cheering message after another was debunked only Positive News was buoyant | C 3000: antidote to gloom, International Energy Agency Electricity Production Statistics for OECD Countries 2014 2016 | Blogging about energy and transitioning to clean energy, Drone Strike on Saudi Arabia Knocks out 5% of Global Oil Supplies, Grazing, desertification and climate change. Most wind power is produced in the province of Flevoland. And only half of the wind power NS has contracted for comes from the Netherlands. Its standard accounting practice. Wind contributes 4,117MW, representing 13% of the capacity mix. Only about 2% of Finlands generation mix is wind, and by the time it passes through the Finnish, Swedish and German grids on its way to the Netherlands it will effectively have disappeared. A two-megawatt windmill contains 260 tonnes of steel requiring 170 tonnes of. Railway Gazette reports that NS records about 1.2 million passenger-journeys per day, with an annual energy requirement for 1.2 billion kWh. As Cleantechnica puts it: the GoO system allows for the transfer of the rights to call electricity green from those who actually generate renewable energy to those who dont but want to classify their power as such. [10] [11] [12], 2015 But lets be real. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com. It feels to many like progress. Where I post my arguments on various things climate-related, belief that a 100% renewable-powered train can and does exist is ubiquitous. So pick your choice However, early successes in rolling out the clean energy program . In total there were 3,004 MW of onshore wind power at the end of 2015. The farm consists of three smaller wind farms owned by separate organisations with local community links. Willem, forgive the pedantry, but its the second time you said it. Its our offshore coal burn. More than 12% of the Netherland's electricity is generated from renewable sources, mainly biomass and waste (5% of the total) and wind (7% of the total). Two of the models are still under production. And of course no such connections exist. As of the 1st of January, 2017, electric Dutch trains are now completely powered by wind energy, according to NS, the national railway company. The comment about T1s was meant to be a wry tomayto vs tomarto thing which probably didnt work as an explanation of why I get pedantic. There are very little poor people in Germany. [61] A further 228 MW of installed capacity will be added when completed. The company is also looking for a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Thats true, of course. Harried Dutch commuters may not be entirely cognisant of the fact . As a retired telecomms engineer Im glad not to be repeatedly telling folks from the US that T1 is not a global standard any more! Transmission costs of 1.4 eurocent/kWh is to be added as TenneT is required to take power from sea to shore. The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. So that is coal fired power not going into the Netherlands grid. Active 2020. Money doesnt matter to me. Knew this was BS from the headline. That's something. I read about them and saw a documentary film about them. . In this video, NS CEO Roger van Boxtel is humorously strapped to a windmill blade as he touts his companys latest renewable energy achievement. * Just an FYI, this official infographic shows that the scheme saves 1.4 billion kWh of electricity, which they say is the same as whats used by ALL of Amsterdams residents. One windmill running for an hour can power a train for 120 miles, the companies said. The two Dutch wind farms that have contracted to sell power to NS (Noordoostpolder and Luchterduinen) are both connected directly to the Dutch grid, along with all the other power plants in the country, and NS draws its power from the grid: Figure 3: The Netherlands electricity grid. NS Dutch Railways has partnered with energy company Eneco to use its wind. 01-13-17 Dutch Railways' Electric Trains Now Run On 100% Wind Energy Now 1.2 million people per day can commute without raising their carbon footprint. "Since 1 January, 100% of our trains are running on wind energy," said NS spokesman,. These include the 580km NorNed submarine cable (700 MW) link to Norway, the 1,000 MW BritNed cable link to the United Kingdom and the COBRA cable link to Denmark (700 MW). Consumer unions help by auctioning for grouped members. The Netherlands is the first country in the world where all electric trains are. Eneco has agreed to supply 1.4 terawatt hours (TWh) of wind-sourced power by 2018, which is roughly the same amount of energy consumed by all the households in Amsterdam, the capital city. When you dont know reality and cant speak German you have to believe what you find on the English writing interwebs . EDF was 13.44p but I keep reading comments about how RE fans should take electricity only from PV and wind turbines, so I decided I should do the same. EV Use Is Growing, But Where Are The Chargers. Only a small fraction of the power delivered to its trains actually comes from wind.. I find that the electrified portion of the Dutch railway network (Nederlandse Spoorwegen, or NS) runs on grid electricity that comes dominantly from fossil fuel generation (natural gas and coal). Blunt, Elizabeth. 600,000 passengers daily are "the first in the world" to travel thanks to wind energy. This question generated a number of comments in the last Blowout so I thought I would take a quick look at it. The commercials know that the public will probably think that the commercial parties are spending out of the goodness of their hearts, to save the planet. Electricity is electricity, electron charge transfer. Produced at least 19 models at 250, 750, 1500, 2000, 2300, 2500, 2600, 3000, 3600, 3800, 4000 and 4500kW. Hinkley C will have a footprint of 165 acres when operational and an equivalent footprint for onshore windturbines would be from 160,000 to 490,000 acres (dependent on power of turbines available) to produce the same power output over a year. New wind farm deployment is based on the SER agreement that describes a plan for five years of tendering 700 MW per year. Since 1 January, 100% of our trains are running on wind energy. Roger, This year the country is due to start operating a 600-megawatt offshore wind farm, called Gemini. This was 2015 data, so the wind fraction seems to have gone up from 7% to 10% but coal is really powering those trains at least 3x more than wind hey, coal powered trains, where have I heard that before? You make one good point here which is that France has cheap electricity but expensive heating. I think the trains in the Netherlands use 1.5kVDC anyway bet there are no wind turbines producing that directly. Produced at least 3 models of outputs 100, 200, 250kW. Still don't like the disingenious advertisement thought. The rationale is: If the Dutch railways sourced 100% of the 1.4 tWh of energy they needed each year from within the Netherlands, this would decrease availability and increase prices of green power for other parties. Built 1992 this nearshore wind farm had just 4 Nedwind 500 KW turbines based 1km to shore. First some details on the Netherlands electricity sector. Sign up for our email newsletter! How much wind? There is a way of saying this, which characterises this behaviour, but I cant write it here because it is not politically correct too bad. NS claims 100% wind power because it has a contract with various wind farms to produce enough energy to power its rail system, but this is just an accounting transaction, writes author Roger Andrews. Instead of trains recovering energy for their own use, any excess power is directed to a centralized bank of lithium-ion batteries. Intercity train arriving at Leiden Central railway station, Netherlands. All renewable energy gets paid the FIT out of the so-called SDE budget. "Since 1 January, 100% of our trains are running on wind energy," said NS. Updated [5 February 2019]: Original version of this article attributed this quote to Thomas Homer-Dixon. According to Thomas Homer-Dixon, wind turbines never recoup the energy it takes to build them. Whilst there are a growing number of large onshore wind farms in Holland, most of the onshore farms in 2015 consisted of a large number of small wind farms, including many single installation turbines as well as farms of between 110 turbines. Only a small fraction of the power delivered to its trains actually comes from wind. Since 2015 there has been a trend towards the deployment and planning for large wind farms, both onshore and offshore, with a view to the approximate tripling wind power capacity from 2015 levels by 2023. The wholesale price of GOs seems to be a mere 0.36/MWh or so. Such as happened earlier this year in the UK when we had several days of around only 300MW of total metered wind power. Grid power in fact reflects the overall generation mix, which in the case of the Netherlands is dominantly gas and coal with only a small contribution from wind. Under this system the government chooses locations and organizes tenders for projects of 350 MW, and project developers can offer bids for each farm. Electricity backed 100% by low-carbon generation, Its also why we make good on our supply promise for homes on our Blue tariffs: well match every unit you use with electricity generated from low-carbon nuclear sources.. The Dutch rail network will run entirely on renewable wind energy by 2018 under a new contract signed by power company Eneco and energy procurement cooperative VIVENS. So I know that its true, just as if I had read it in the Guardian. The Trains that run on Wind - BBC News 18,865 views Oct 17, 2017 This year, Dutch commuters ditched fossil fuels to power their country's trains on 100% wind energy - and it's a grand. Some of the nations that supply power to NS such as Germany, Belgium, and Finland, do generate wind power, but only in modest amounts. [3], In March 2022, the Dutch government announced that by 2030 offshore wind was to become the Netherlands' biggest power source, aiming at 21 GW of installed capacity.[4]. Wind farmsboth onshore and offshoreare regarded as a key component in renewable energy policy and an important tool in mitigating the risks of climate change. Produced at least 8 models with power outputs of 100, 250, 500, 1000kW. Same thing if you got solar panels on your house. An all-electric heating is much easier to implement, few properly dimensioned wires and cheap heaters, while a gas heater needs specific know-how and is much more capital-intensive. [17] Where the parks will come and how they will be built is still being discussed. The only way we could get close would be to take this measure of the citys population (813, 562) and this value for electricity consumption per person (1800 kWh). Wind power from Finland can be discounted. All wind amd solar energy gets a hefty FIT tariff in the Netherlands, intended to guarantee profitability of the energy investment over the long term (even if the electricity market price goes negative, for example). In late 2015, the Dutch government announced its goal to power the country's electric trains entirely with wind power by 2018. The company aims to further reduce consumption by 2 percent a year with an energy efficiency program, with total consumption already reduced by 30 percent since 2005. Just whatever serves your agenda. Do Dutch trains run on Wind? A little more than a tenth of all electricity consumed in the Netherlands comes from wind power, some of which is imported. If you want to be generous to NS, you can say that the BritNed interconnector is definitely being fed by the coal fired Maasvlakte power stations when it is delivering 1GW to the UK, because theyre right next door to the HVDC converters. This article was amended on 11 January 2017. It's a bit of smoke and mirrors but it helps to subside more expensive forms of generation. This energy is directly traceable to individual wind farms, because we use the GVO European Certification System. Temporarily, they might even have a surplus to sell. According to Statistics Netherlands, gross electricity generation was approximately 110 billion kilowatthours (BkWh) in 2015. The Dutch government has set a target of 6,000 MW nameplate capacity of onshore wind power by 2020 (not met, as per the data above) and 4,450 MW of offshore wind power by 2023. What Is (And Isn't) Scientific About The Multiverse. However, the government wants 40% of the total electricity used in 2030 in the Netherlands to be supplied by wind. All Dutch electric trains are now powered by wind energy, the national railway company NS has said . Rod, you must live in Albania E.ON wanted to put my tariff up from 9.79p to 13.87p. Since Lithuania has a chronic power shortage the flow normally goes North-South. The turbines supply enough energy to power 2.4 million households. If there was a utility providing KiteGen power I would sign up with them. Thatd give us a consumption figure for the city of around 1.5 billion kWh. Calculated value from total installed nameplate capacity and actual electricity generation. What is clear is that most of those electrons didnt originate from wind turbines. Berlin Neighborhood to Experiment With Eliminating Parking Spaces, High PFAS Levels in Norwegian Arctic Ice Pose New Risk to Wildlife, Report: London Ultra Low Emissions Zone Succeeded in Curbing Harmful Air Pollution, Studies Find Louisiana Government Helped Create Cancer Alley, Prestigious Engineering Prize Awarded to Pioneering Solar Team, Leaked Video Shows Sediment Release in Deep-Sea Mining Test, After Record-Breaking 2022, China Told to Brace for Another Year of Weather Extremes, Seed Saving 101: Everything You Need to Know. Good for Nederlandse Spoorwegen. . With this, offshore wind energy makes an important contribution to achieving the increased climate target of 55% less CO2-emissions. It sharply cut subsidies down to 1.5 billion, leaving private sector to carry over wind turbine investments should these be beneficial.[6]. This is hardly enough to make a big deal about. If you would like to know more, click here. Offsets. The national railway company, NS, said that its renewables target had been met a year earlier than planned. To aver otherwise displays ignorance or deception. - YouTube 0:00 / 6:04 Do Dutch trains run on Wind? This passage was written by David Hughes. The next largest onshore wind farm is the Westereems wind farm located in Eemshaven in Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands. Furthermore, both solar panels and wind turbines are capable of functioning under cold . 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