Coffee Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 With so much money going into renewable energy why can they not utlize the Weir by the Riverside shopping Center and the Lymm Dam (which I am told used to generate electricity) to produce power now, or this not possible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 I think it'd take a much larger head of water level to generate any meaningful amounts of power. It could be done but it'd be largely symbolic much like the wind turbine on the council offices. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Presume any flow of water can turn a turbine, but whether sufficient to be cost effective, I wouldn't know. Think we need to look a bit closer at "renewables"; according to Countryfile, wind turbine producers are being compensated for switching off supplies to grid, due to an excess of supply - figure that one out ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee Posted February 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 Yes but its there already so it os a matter of connecting it up Both the lymm dam and the weir used to do that It takes just a stream to generate enough power to run a fairly large mill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted February 12, 2015 Report Share Posted February 12, 2015 There is also plenty of water coming over Howley Weir which might be useful. There seems to be a problem with politicians getting behind renewable energy though & i can really imagine in say 50 years time ,when gas & oil is running out, that we will still be in the same situation as we are now. I know it may not be popular but my only vision of the future is nuclear power. This thread sounds familiar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Watched a prog once, which showed a huge hydraulic ram, which is lifted by water pressure during off peak periods, then released to force water through turbines when peak hour demand kicks in. So it seems there is a capacity to store excess energy in the grid, rather than paying wind farms not to supply it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbrakes Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Peel have put a water turbine in at Barton locks on the MSC.It uses the water that normally goes through the sluices to power 600 homes.I think similar is planned for Irlam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Yes well that does make some sense because of the much greater head of water that a canal has but it's still not an ideal solution because it's still somewhat weather dependant. Even if we pulled out all the stops and put hydro schemes into every waterway, it would still only produce a small fraction of the countries demands and leave us more vulnerable during drought conditions. We need a solution that doesn’t depend on sunshine, wind OR rainfall and that's environmentally sustainable. Such a thing hasn't yet been created but I'm confident it will be at some point in the future. I'm working on it don't rush me! Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbrakes Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 I worked on Heysham 1 and 2.We finally got AGR design right, and then for political reasons threw it all away to build an American design PWR.Westinghouse couldn't give'em away until unlamented Margaret went sucking up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 I believe this is the only country in the world with AGR. Can't be that good then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbrakes Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Heysham 1 and 2 have reached the end of their planned 30 year life span. The operators have requested extension. Not good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbrakes Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Re.AGRs.Read the report on Three Mile Island. PWRs are scaled up ship propulsion plant. The characteristics required of such plant are not necessarily these required desirable for electricity generation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbrakes Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Maybe of interest to industrial archaeologists. Thornley's corn mill at Warburton had a Swiss made water turbine installed in 1907,28BHP off a 7 foot fall.Sometime in the 70s the rotor was lifted out for a look.The bearings still carried the fitter's scraping marks so it was put back and remained in use until demolition of the mill. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Re.AGRs.Read the report on Three Mile Island. PWRs are scaled up ship propulsion plant. The characteristics required of such plant are not necessarily these required desirable for electricity generation. Several nuclear powered vessels are electric powered, i.e. the steam produced drives a turbo alternator which produces electricity to power electric motors which drive the propellors. My point about the popularity of AGRs remains. There must be some drawbacks to the design which puts people off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted February 15, 2015 Report Share Posted February 15, 2015 Think it probably the term nuclear. Nuclear = big boom = big big hole in ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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