On Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:45:36 GMT, Stephen wrote:

but it was very close to a couple of nuclear power stations
(probably
now closed) so the distribution losses would actually be rather
low.

it is still running, but nt for much longer

http://www.magnoxnorthsites.com/abou...ylfa/facts-and
-figures

1GW, enough for two big cities it says and it will have been doing it
for 39 years when it finally closes. I don't really believe the "day
in, day out" but I guess with 4 sets and two reactors it could well
have been producing something all the time just not full or near full
ouput.

The really big windmills are 2MW so you need 1500 "jumbo jets on a
stick" spread out over the country to have even a hope in hell of
matching this one nuke station.

even then the pumped scheme is a bit bigger scale than the local
nuclear station - Dinorwic can generate at over 2 GW.

But not for very long.

all this green electricity that seems a lot more reliable than all
those dinky toy wind turbines....

Dinorwic is an impressive site, the speed that it can get synced and
online at full power is quite amazing. But it can't run for very long
before the water up top runs out. It's there for the peaks not the
base load. It is also an essential part of the grids "black start"
should that ever be needed.

--
Cheers
Dave.