[16], In March 2018 the Dutch government announced that it will build between 2023 and 2030 several new windfarms with a total installed capacity of 7 gigawatt. Plus, it turns out that about half the electricity NS uses to power its rail system comes from outside of the Netherlands. Earlier this week, one of their national railway companies, Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), announced that, since 1st January, every single one of its electric trains have been running on energy harvested from wind. I am surrounded by almost 3000 MWs of hydro power in my county alone, but because of these guarantees of origin my supposed consumption is very dirty, consisting mostly of a central European mix of coal, natural gas, nuclear with some renewables added. 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. London Undergrounds system provides 600V of direct current to their conductor rails, still enough to be potentially lethal. The other half comes from newly built wind farms in . The question is: how long must a windmill generate energy before it creates more energy than it took to build it? These were often manufactured by lesser known wind turbine manufacturers, sometimes producing innovative products such as the Nedwind 2 blade turbine. Only the Guardian has seen fit to publish a correction: An earlier version said all Dutch trains were now 100% powered by wind-generated electricity, according to the national railway company NS. N.p., 13 November 2000. Thats true, of course. 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. All Dutch electric trains are now powered by wind energy, the national railway company NS has said . According to LJ Electrical only 2,231km of NSs total 3,223km of track is electrified): Figure 2: The Netherlands railway network. 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. An extra live rail that has direct current flowing through it at all times. Fossil fuel-fired power plants produced over 80% of the electricity in the Netherlands, mainly natural gas (42%) and coal (35%). Dutch trains to be wind-powered from 2018. Produced at least 14 models of 100. Their original goal was to transition the trains to 100 percent renewable energy by 2018, but that target was moved up after reaching 75 percent in 2016. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. [14] A second hand market for turbines also exists, which could grow as older turbines are replaced by larger newer ones. Apparently Eneco can make the wind blow to order.). In other words, the two oldest sources of renewable power, water and wood, are carrying most of the burden for Burlingtons renewable achievement, not the sources that might come to mind when people read the headline. The headline: Netherlands Trains Now Running on 100% Wind Power. Conductor rails carry lower voltages than overhead wires, although low is a relative concept. But a recent piece of news about electricity caught my attention. 15ct/kWh, 100%hydro, no nuclear or gray labeled power bought for pumping. Knew this was BS from the headline. Sign up for our email newsletter! Started operations in 1979. 2015 was a record year for the countrys wind industry according to the Global Wind Energy Council, turbines capable of generating 586 MW of electricity were installed between January and December. Smaller turbines are often used for off grid, bespoke and community power internationally. The Netherland's national railway company, NS, has announced that all of its electric passenger trains are now 100 percent powered by wind energy. Snopes did not find evidence that Germany was experiencing a "total collapse" in wind and solar energy. Apart from the first rather obvious problems, anyone with the most basic understanding of electrical enrgy, as taught before 16 at school, would immediately know this was a wholly untrue technical assertion., Thats the whole point, Brian There are hardly any people with a basic understanding of electrical energy If most would have an understanding, there would be no renewables at all The whole charade would not even have started in the first place , Just as Otter says above, on different forums, lots of people are claiming Im 100% renewable (because I have a 100% RE contract with Essent, or Lampiris, or Belpower, or ENI, or ), Neither humour (so you got all the wind power this morning, because there was none left for me !, nor hard facts (for the 8-day period 27/12 03/01, that I just took a look at for another discussion, Wind and Solar provided a grand total of 4.6% of all electricity used in Belgium Was that enough for all of them 100% RE contracts ? The European high voltage grid connects Finland with Sweden but doesnt go through the Baltic States. BBC News. Initially, trains in the Netherlands were set to run entirely on renewable energy by 2018. It doesnt add up, I would say about Euro 47 million is big money especially when you consider it`s for nothing.. 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). This quote appeared in a book edited by Homer-Dixon, but it was actually written by David Hughes. The wholesale price of GOs seems to be a mere 0.36/MWh or so. There is, however, a problem. * 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. Belgium and Finland, wind farm portfolio guarantees sufficient capacity to cover such eventualities, http://www.sciencealert.com/all-electric-trains-in-the-netherlands-are-now-100-powered-by-wind-energy, http://www.djtelectricaltraining.co.uk/downloads/50Hz-Frequency.pdf, http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-e1-and-vs-t1/, https://askjaenergy.com/2015/03/23/does-apple-not-want-truly-green-data-centers/. The role of the third (or conductor) rail is to ensure that the electricity is always directly available, so its installed alongside, or in between, the pair of running rails (Keep an eye out for it when youre next on an underground train). But in reality, the commercial parties are making a double killing: getting free money throughout the FIT contract (paid for 100% by households) *and* profiting from the PR value of presenting themselves as selflessly investing their own money in wind and solar energy for the planet. Stations are heated using heat exchangers, green gas or green electricity. It is a pity that they are allowing so many onshore/offshore wind turbines to blight our green and pleasant land and sea. Two of the models are still under production. With this, offshore wind energy makes an important contribution to achieving the increased climate target of 55% less CO2-emissions. Headlines like this make people feel good. Passing through the gates without traveling, Forgetting to check in or out and requesting refunds, Sustainable accessibility of the Netherlands, More information about NS buses that run on HVO. The turbines supply enough energy to power 2.4 million households. Works for me, and they were cheaper than EON too. Its 50Hz in the Netherlands and most of the planet apart from (mainly) the US, Canada and half of Latin America. NS first announced their target for a wind-powered train fleet back in 2015, but they've hit their target a year earlier than planned - way ahead of their 2018 goal. Over the course of this year the average will be around 11%, equal to wind powers share of the Netherlands annual grid electricity consumption. Nor should you you probably get shaved 20% faster than me! The energy comes from new wind farms in the Netherlands and surrounding countries - and it's a lot. Wind power now supplies about 10% of Belgiums electricity, so power imported from the Belgian grid will be about 10% wind. How much wind? The next largest onshore wind farm is the Westereems wind farm located in Eemshaven in Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands. The new Zuidwester site at the wind farm will have just 12 turbines and a total nameplate capacity of 90 MW. According to Cleantechnica For offshore wind a new system of tendering is under development. The T1 standard relates to telecommunications. However, everyone must have a contract to be authorized to draw energy from the grid; otherwise it would be stealing. 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. Homer-Dixon did not write this viral quote, but he did comment on it in a May 2018 blog post entitled: "No . What Was It Like When The Universe First Created More Matter Than Antimatter? Does anyone even believe that? (Although Eneco, NSs wind power procurer, claims that its wind farm portfolio guarantees sufficient capacity to cover such eventualities . Thank you for explaining it to everyone else. However, it seems officials have been able to beat that goal by an entire year. How it then gets used depends on the city were in. Burlingtons biggest source of electricity is hydropower imported from across the region. Not big money, even on 100TWh. Yeap. Eneco and NS said on a joint website that around 600,000 passengers daily are the first in the world to travel thanks to wind energy. Can Renewable Portfolio Standards make RE Work? It goes back to the start of 2016, and includes the Netherlands as well as Belgium and the Nordic countries (and Germany) that NS claim to be supplied by. Began operating in 1990. How Dutch and German train and bus firms are taking British taxpayers for a ride, Solar panel researchers investigate powering trains by bypassing grid, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. If the train line is a busy one, with small gaps between scheduled trains, the electricity produced by one helps to power the very next one that comes along. Since 1 January, 100% of our trains are running on wind energy, said NS spokesman, Ton Boon. You may opt-out by. Active 2016. 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. Overall, the Netherlands has over 2,000 wind turbines spread across the country. Were starting to see this ploy more often in recent years. French people are bricoleurs they like to build their own house, thanks to the fact that if it has a surface below 175 m2 you dont need to go through an architect, you can do your own building plan. Such as happened earlier this year in the UK when we had several days of around only 300MW of total metered wind power. Ah, so the train really runs on smoke & mirrors. Other peoples Money doesnt matter to you.. wrong! it MATTERS to those like heavyweather all savvy investors who have installed PV on their rooftops, PV which funnels 29 cEuro/kWh (on average) for each useless and counter-productive kWh which they dump on the network sums charged on the electricity bill of all the OTHER germans, of course! Electricity is electricity, electron charge transfer. Started operation in 2001 and is developing a 6,000kW two blade downwind turbine. This is about two-thirds of the system. 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. In fact, he allowed that a windmill situated at a good location could pay back the energy costs of creating it in under three years, but that aspect was omitted from the memed version of his quote: The concept of net energy must be applied to renewable sources of energy, such as windmills and photovoltaics. Under this system the government chooses locations and organizes tenders for projects of 350 MW, and project developers can offer bids for each farm. The Harried Dutch commuters who are travelling on one of the most environmentally friendly rail networks in the whole of Europe, if not the world are being sold a bill of goods. New wind farm deployment is based on the SER agreement that describes a plan for five years of tendering 700 MW per year. There are very little poor people in Germany. In Norway 132,2 million guarantees of origin for hydro power were issued in 2014, corresponding to 132,2 Twh. But lets be real. Its own wind farms, built in the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, and Sweden, aim to generate enough energy to fulfill NS's demand of about 1.4 terawatt-hours for 2017 (enough to power a million . According to Statistics Netherlands, gross electricity generation was approximately 110 billion kilowatthours (BkWh) in 2015. This page was last edited on 14 January 2023, at 23:49. http://www.euanmearns.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/interconnectors.png. Since 2019, the buses have been powered by HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) made from processed deep fryer oil and industrial fats. Several commercial parties have now caught onto the PR value of claiming they are not getting government subsidies for their investment in renewable energy. Heres a fantasy as to how Nederlandse Spoorwegen could make their claims of only using wind power a reality. At this point, total Dutch wind power generation is about 7.4 billion kWh annually. 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. The fund is paid for by adding a surcharge to household electricity bills. if any Finnish electron reaches Netherlands most likely it goes via Baltic states, Poland and Germany. (Figure 2: Note the dotted lines showing non-electrified track. supply from NSs contracted windfarms,and if their supply drops below the train systems demand, Established 1983. I have just signed up with EON at 9.4p per Kwh, It is common for major companies to claim they use renewable or carbon-free power only, on the grounds of green certificates. Stuart You can't pull line between your house and a windmill and hope you have 100% power for all the time. [5] This will contribute towards the Dutch target of 14% renewable energy use out of total energy use by 2020[10] and 16% by 2023. Putting these numbers together indicates that only 10-15% of the electricity consumed annually by NSs electric trains will come from wind, with the rest a mixture that includes mostly Dutch gas and coal plus a small amount of Belgian and German coal, nuclear and lignite and maybe even a little German solar, Andrews explains. Claims that Dutch trains running entirely on wind power are way off track. This article was amended on 11 January 2017. This energy is directly traceable to individual wind farms, because we use the GVO European Certification System. This is the cause of the very bright, blue-white spark you sometimes see near the third rail, as well as flickering carriage lights. [2] [6] The wind park was developed off the coast of IJmuiden by Econcern and Eneco Energie, at a total cost of $522.3 million.[6]. No direct subsidies from the government are related to this contract.. That would meet approximately 75% of the countries electricity needs. And only half of the wind power NS has contracted for comes from the Netherlands. I see the logic behind the options for supply that can be taken, but how can any householder take a contract for 100% wind power when often this is not available, certainly if a large number opt for green power. Dutch Electric Trains Become 100% Powered By Wind Energy Technology Dutch Electric Trains Become 100% Powered By Wind Energy By Garrett Parker Posted on January 20, 2017 Updated on April 8, 2020 The Netherlands are called the Netherlands because so much of its landscape lies below sea level. In an anything goes era of news and social media, its not often that a post jumps off the page. The story of Apple data centre in Denmark: Physically it makes no difference as you say, but as HeavyWeather pointed out above my money is now going to fund reactors not Energiewende, so Im happy. Thus, all of NE has the same energy mix, i.e., there is not one mix for VT, another for NH, or one mix for the Netherlands, another for Germany. Its our offshore coal burn. Often only 100% renewable utilities are allowed to participate in the auctions. In this way, the Dutch railways aim to reduce the greatest negative environmental impact caused by CO2 in such a way that its demand actually contributes to the sustainable power generation in the Netherlands and Europe.. So while wind contributes about 7% to the Netherlands electricity generation it contributes about 11% to the countrys electricity consumption. Julian Turner gets the inside track on the unique collaboration from Michel Kerkhof, account manager at Eneco. It becomes inextricably mixed with all the electromagnetic waves of the other. So, as you can see, your silly view of the frrrench domestic heating habits are wrong, probably based on indoctrination from greenpiss or the like. 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. Electric trains also use regenerative braking, similar to whats found in hybrid and electric cars. Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Ad Meskens. Where I post my arguments on various things climate-related, belief that a 100% renewable-powered train can and does exist is ubiquitous. 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. [20], The Rachel Carson wind farm (also known as the Eemmeerdijk Wind Park.) But of course even two-thirds of the NS system doesnt run completely on wind power. And no facts will ever get in the way of a true believer . The company is also looking for a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. One windmill running for an hour can power one train across about 200km (120 miles). The historical land of windmills is leading the charge in wind energy development. So pick your choice Its standard accounting practice. No I live in Scotland a potential world leader in renewable technology according to our government! What happens where there is insufficient wind for the required duration to powerup the batteries? NS operates about 5,500 train trips a day. [21], In November 2011, the Dutch government decided to no longer fund 6 billion per year to maintain subsidized wind kWh at 0.18. When challenged on its claim, NS clarified that only the electrified portion of its system runs completely on wind power. Dutch electric trains are running on 1.2 billion kilowatt-hours of wind energy supplied by sustainable energy supplier, Eneco. But its a funny read. Green energy for train, bus and station 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. Smoke & mirrors potentially lethal per year often manufactured by lesser known turbine! In an anything goes era of news and social media, its often... 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