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. 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. In fact, an investigation by Energy Matters finds that the electrified portion of NS mainly runs on electricity derived from coal and natural gas. As shown in the table below installed capacity is dominantly fossil fuel, with natural gas making up 61% of total installed capacity and coal 15%. This year, Dutch commuters ditched fossil fuels to power their country's trains on 100% wind energy - and it's a grand idea that's catching on the world over. The headline: Netherlands Trains Now Running on 100% Wind Power. Pingback: 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, Pingback: International Energy Agency Electricity Production Statistics for OECD Countries 2014 2016 | Blogging about energy and transitioning to clean energy, Click image to download live UK grid data, Per Capita Energy Consumption North America, Per Capita Energy Consumption South America, Per Capita Energy Consumption Former Soviet Union, Per Capita Energy Consumption Middle East, Per Capita Energy Consumption Asia Pacific, Refinery Output and Product Demand North America, Refinery Output and Product Demand Europe, Refinery Output and Product Demand Middle East, Refinery Output and Product Demand Asia Pacific, newly built wind farms in . The Netherlands is the first country in the world where all electric trains are. So how does NS justify the claim that all Dutch trains run on 100% wind power? A little more than a tenth of all electricity consumed in the Netherlands comes from wind power, some of which is imported. Nevermind the entirety of it. I cant help feeling that inexperienced power traders at NS will have been taken to the cleaners at the expense of passengers. The new Zuidwester site at the wind farm will have just 12 turbines and a total nameplate capacity of 90 MW. The Dutch railways network (NS) started using wind energy generated by the turbines owned by electric company Eneco two years ago when they signed a ten-year agreement. But you can arrange for a proxy burn of biogas in another state, say Colorado, and buy the rights to say you consumed it. When "green" energy is generated the producer can sell a Guarantee of Origin certificate for the amount generated. Produced at least 3 models of outputs 100, 200, 250kW. The evidence speaks for itself. 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). I guess I could have found something cheaper still if Id looked hard enough. As Hughes observed, his point was that "the concept of net energy is crucial if we want to find a policy that will see us through the Energy Sustainability Dilemma," not that windmills should be eschewed for using up more energy than they ever create. Sign up for our email newsletter! It seems that NS may be outsourcing costs as well as power. [20] An additional 228 MW of capacity was installed at sea. Therefore, entities enter into power purchase agreements, PPAs, with various other entities that produce, or resell energy, such as electric utilities. Wheres the renewable engy only socket? http://www.euanmearns.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/interconnectors.png. Some of the newer larger wind farms currently under construction are replacing smaller turbines previously installed at given locations. supply from NSs contracted windfarms,and if their supply drops below the train systems demand, Do Dutch trains run on Wind? This passage was written by David Hughes. But of course even two-thirds of the NS system doesnt run completely on wind power. 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. quite an amount of work youve done there, It doesnt add up ! 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/. 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. However the electricity is delivered to the train, once its there, it is used to power lights, and air-conditioning, as well as the traction motors, which are what turn the trains wheels. Since 2019, the buses have been powered by HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) made from processed deep fryer oil and industrial fats. 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. Good for Nederlandse Spoorwegen. One windmill running for an hour can power one train across about 200km (120 miles). If it was based on the former there would a strong possibility that these companies could be oversubscribed with customers who may not receive true renewable energy when the wind does not blow. Burlingtons biggest source of electricity is hydropower imported from across the region. NS consumes 1.2 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity each year, which is the equivalent of 1% of the Netherlands' electricity consumption, or the total electricity consumption of all the households in Amsterdam. No direct subsidies from the government are related to this contract.. 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. Deregulation Is Still Wrong for Consumers. So pick your choice According to Cleantechnica Great post. Wind farm output goes up again ? These. These systems are found on underground trains in Los Angeles, Auckland and Buenos Aires, among others. The US city of Philadelphia has taken regenerative braking to a new level though. [14] A second hand market for turbines also exists, which could grow as older turbines are replaced by larger newer ones. Since 1 January, 100% of our trains are running on wind energy. 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). [5] In 2020 wind power provided 11.54% of the Dutch electricity generation (see table above) while solar power provided an additional 7.25% for a combined 18.79% - easily meeting the target without taking other renewable sources into account, even though the target for onshore wind capacity was not met. In 2006, the Egmond aan Zee Offshore Wind Farm was built, consisting of 36 Vestas V90 3MW turbines, totaling 108 MW, sufficient to light 100,000 houses. 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. 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. See the table below for the current situation. In August 2015, a meme posted to the Google+ group "The Secret Society of Anti-AGW-ACC Cultism," an organization that claims climate change is a hoax, reproduced the words allegedly written by Thomas Homer-Dixon, the Associate Director of the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation, on the subject of windmills. In 2020 wind power provided 11.54% of the Dutch electricity generation (see table above) while solar power provided an additional 7.25% for a combined 18.79% - easily meeting the target without taking other renewable sources into account, even though the target for onshore wind capacity was not met. Its standard accounting practice. So that is coal fired power not going into the Netherlands grid. If you would like to know more, click here. When challenged on its claim, NS clarified that only the electrified portion of its system runs completely on wind power. The Eneco Luchterduinen wind farm was officially opened in September 2015 and is a 50/50 joint venture between Dutch energy company Eneco and Japan's Mitsubishi corporation. Rod, you must live in Albania E.ON wanted to put my tariff up from 9.79p to 13.87p. Knew this was BS from the headline. Indirect Contributions Are Essential To Physics, The Crisis In Theoretical Particle Physics Is Not A Moral Imperative, Why Study Science? A book co-edited by Thomas Homer-Dixon contained a passage stating that windmills "might never generate as much energy as was invested in building [them]." Two of the models are still under production. Heating with electricity is their homemade problem that escalates bills for the poor with no alternative. Only a small fraction of the power delivered to its trains actually comes from wind. Stations are heated using heat exchangers, green gas or green electricity. As well as the technological problems discussed in this blog can we afford this destruction of our landscapes pursuing this RE dream. Dutch trains to be wind-powered from 2018. Overall, the Netherlands has over 2,000 wind turbines spread across the country. Nor should you you probably get shaved 20% faster than me! Train tickets for international journeys can be purchased from NS International. But how does NS know the power it imports is wind? Electricity is electricity, electron charge transfer. In 2016, Dutch wind hit the headlines again, when a 700 MW offshore windfarm near the town of Borssele became the most cost-effective in the world. 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). Initially, trains in the Netherlands were set to run entirely on renewable energy by 2018. I am told Biogas is not actually allowed in our pipeline system. Conductor rails carry lower voltages than overhead wires, although low is a relative concept. (my emphasis). Dutch electric trains are running on 1.2 billion kilowatt-hours of wind energy supplied by sustainable energy supplier, Eneco. For example, in 2015, Burlington, Vermont, became the first city to announce it was running totally on renewable power. 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. Our ambition is also to use more of our own resources (buildings, property) to generate sustainable energy. The farm was dismantled after 22 years service in 2016. It is just another way for RE politicians to bamboozle the lay public and keep the green mythology alive. Dutch electricity company Eneco won a tender offered by NS two years ago and the two companies signed a 10-year deal setting January 2018 as the date by which all NS trains should run on wind energy. 22 May 2018. [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. "So we in fact reached our goal a year earlier than planned," spokesman Ton Boon told AFP. There are very little poor people in Germany. EV Use Is Growing, But Where Are The Chargers. Still don't like the disingenious advertisement thought. They say that this makes them the first rail company in the world that runs it fleet entirely on renewable energy. The best of EcoWatch right in your inbox. It is reportedly due to the early completion of some of these farms that enabled the 100% wind target to be reached one year in advance. 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