Business
Call for Energy Storage for Stranded Wind Energy
Call for Energy Storage for Stranded Wind Energy.
About this update from Itm Power Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 8163F ITM Power PLC 03 May 2011 \n \n\n03 May 2011\n \n \nITM Power plc\n(\"ITM Power\" or \"the Company\")\n \nCall for Energy Storage for Stranded Wind Energy\n \nITM Power (AIM: ITM), the energy storage and clean fuel company, welcomes the comments from the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and National Grid calling for better energy storage facilities to be connected to renewable power sources. \n \nThis follows a report from the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) and recent press coverage noting that energy companies were paid a total of £890,000 to halt wind turbine energy production across six Scottish wind farms for several hours on the 5th and 6th of April 2011.\n \nREF noted: \"The April event occurred because the Scottish grid network could not absorb all the energy being generated, and chose to constrain wind power off the system, paying very high prices to compensate wind generators for the lost income, in some cases as high as 20 times the value of the electricity which would otherwise have been generated. In total approximately £890,000 pounds was paid over a few hours to six wind farms, these costs being ultimately destined to pass on to the consumer.\"\n \nDuring the period under investigation, the National Grid became unbalanced due to an excess of wind and hydro energy, resulting in the National Grid paying the generating companies to cease generation. A transmission fault in the grid meant that the energy could not be transferred to England, as would have happened normally.\n \nThe incidents highlight a major problem that has concerned the REF and various bodies for some time. The report stated: \"REF has consistently argued that the scale and pace of wind power development has exceeded the ability of the system to integrate this uncontrollable energy source, and that high costs to the consumer would result as a consequence.\" It adds \"We conclude that the scale and pace of wind development in the United Kingdom needs to be rethought, and more emphasis placed on the provision of economical solutions to the grid-balancing problem.\" \n \n\"Indeed, all the currently available solutions for the problems posed by uncontrollable generation such as wind power are expensive. It is conceivable that invention and...