The Islands With Too Much Power

[@TomScottGo]

This video has a correction: Hornsdale Power Reserve didn't catch fire! It was the newer Victorian Big Battery, near Geelong. Complete blunder on my part, apologies to the Hornsdale team. See all corrections on this channel: www.tomscott.com/corrections/

[@Taib-Atte]

Glad you cleared that up

[@ayeansh]

Hmmm

[@theintelligentcow7447]

Hmmmmmm 🧐

[@Stewi1014]

Thanks for being so honest with everyone, you're amazing.

[@nerdtitan333]

Here we go again, why cant we create things from 0 I believe this power is for the planet suffering us taking everything on it, we as species should be thinking how to not take but give how to make etc etc etc!!! Stop it!

[@asyndeton]

Orkney: Suffering from Success

[@Henk14789]

*absurd government demands

[@h-hhh]

The logistics of producing too much renewable power

[@aturchomicz821]

@@Henk14789 How is it absurd exactly, or are you just blaming the Government because they tax to provide the people this wondefull service hm?🙄

[@DragonWinter36]

@@aturchomicz821 >government >wonderful pick one

[@aturchomicz821]

@@DragonWinter36 Found the American, imagine thinking the Government isnt the closest thing you have to a reliable friend in this world HA

[@TomScottGo]

Distilling everything that's happening with power in Orkney into one video was incredibly difficult, but I did the best I could! Next week is the last one of the Orcadian trilogy, and my luck with the weather ran out...

[@aimohsin1380]

Ok

[@jissi1184]

How tf are you time traveling

[@meepulp]

@@jissi1184 video was private

[@BiasOfficialChannel]

That date is sus

[@humanhuman5024]

Time travel Scott back at it again

[@C2K777]

How genuinely refreshing to hear someone, who clearly has a financial interest in something, turn around and say "what we're doing right isn't the most efficient way" rather than 'this is the the most amazing and best system ever'.

[@conyo985]

IKR!

[@yiff]

Honestly it's kind of amusing to hear it's not the most efficient way like that's going to be a problem with how much extra power they have to throw around.

[@RWoody1995]

@@yiff it will be if its still being done in less than the most efficient way possible when they scale it up so it does matter, renewable energy still costs money and has an environmental impact so should still be used in the most efficient way possible.

[@unhippy1]

Difference between British and Yankee PR me thinks?

[@porcorosso4330]

I mean no honest person should say electrolysis is the best way/most efficient to capture/produce hydrogen fuel. Anyone that has knowledge on the topic know the input is high and the output is relatively low.

[@TitaniumSteelGreatest]

*turns off lights* "Wait don't turn it off! Keep it on!" "That's a little bit wasteful innit? Not very good for the environment?" "That's the point! Waste as much electricity as possible!"

[@BuhBaBiBeBo]

I am *SO* Sorry... It's actually "much"

[@leoanker]

that's literally what they used to do in Norway when they got their hydro-electric power running, since the power was so cheap

[@luggy9256]

They should set up a massive brewery and make scotch, the world always needs more scotch.

[@TitaniumSteelGreatest]

@@BuhBaBiBeBo It's fine. I'm not a native English speaker so I'm used to this.

[@lordgarion514]

Electricity can always be used. It's wasteful to be able to make it, and just let the equipment sit there doing nothing but degrade. America is having a liquid oxygen supply problem. They could use the extra to take oxygen from the air.

[@Bempes3477]

For a second I thought Tom was finally announcing his intention on overthrowing his own national government.

[@stiinkysocks6354]

I would not be opposed to that

[@wellhellothere2291]

To her majesty? Impossible!

[@yoooranium9293]

He’s finally going to beat Sark with his football prowess. The Channel Islands shall be his!

[@Cailus3542]

What, again?

[@milandu]

Mad Cap'n Tom, Britain's new ruler

[@hadrosaur-harley9623]

"The islands with too much power" Uk: *nervous sweating*

[@Ali_Nar]

Luckily it’s part of the UK

[@phazonlord0098]

@@Ali_Nar ....for now...

[@STUCASHX]

@@phazonlord0098 😂

[@nitehawk86]

Don't worry. If it was too much oil, then you should worry.

[@RedHotBagel]

Da dada da da Da dadada dayada Dada da da dayada Hamilton has ruined my view of Britain somewhat :D

[@sminthian]

I used to live on an island a lot like this (Kodiak, AK) where they just had an unlimited amount of electricity. There are lots of wind turbines and a giant hydroelectric dam, enough to power everything. I always thought it was strange that they were 100% against using electric things there. The cars are gasoline. The houses are heated with home heating oil. The stoves use propane. All of these could very easily be switched to electric, but the city totally did not want to.

[@watersportsbyjamesfitzroy5870]

Selfish town

[@SilmarilS79]

Most of the time is because the grid can't move the current. And the city don't want to pay to upgrade the network...

[@spudgamer6049]

Heating oil does have advantages over electric heating, especially when the grid experiences failures as can happen in a winter storm. And good luck with the batteries for electric cars in the cold weather, at least until very, very recently.

[@verygoodbrother]

@@spudgamer6049 Then just buy a diesel generator for the unlikely event you don't have electricity.

[@davetaylor2088]

Something to do with the Alaskan oil pipeline too, maybe? Converting to a new type of infrastructure is eye-wateringly, pants-poopingly expensive. A small tax base often can't afford the transition or the transition would occur so slowly it would be obsolete before it was finished.

[@thewatermillscotland]

There's over 1 million watts of wind power generation visible from the watermill we're restoring.. all of it private, the community wind turbine is the majority of that. Our island has a 40 year old ferry, we'd love a new ferry that runs on something renewable. Our island also has a surplus of energy, so could easily charge or generate hydrogen. Sadly, while we have so much renewable energy, too much to export, Orkney is also one of the most fuel poor areas in the country. We don't have trees, and we have more old houses as a percentage of housing stock which all require a LOT of heating compared to modern houses with modern insulation. Those old houses are almost exclusively heated by coal or oil, there's go town gas supply here. Electricity is just too expensive to heat homes with, people can't afford it so they burn coal instead, despite the fact turbines are on standby because we can't export any more energy.

[@apex0214]

Thanks!

[@TheModdedwarfare3]

The cities should buy home heating energy and give it away free. I bet it would be cheaper than the other options.

[@martijn9568]

@@TheModdedwarfare3 Question number one: Are there actually cities on the Orkney Islands and not just large villages?

[@nicolascomesse7432]

Maybe a stupid idea, but why not give away electricity (as it is both renewable and plentiful) and fund the different projects with the money you make exporting the surplus to the mainland? I mean, with free energy, people might stop burning coal and gas, and invest in electric cars and heating instead.

[@blandedgear9704]

@@nicolascomesse7432 At the very least, with so much electricity you could make it very cheap, right?

[@Opus313]

I'm glad that Tom supplies the great content that his audience demands... Great balance of power, Tom!

[@Xavier_Renegade_Angel]

he's always great

[@novamaster0]

The youtuber that produced too much power.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

And the content is all completely sustainable.

[@srpacific]

Tom: “What happens if you always have too much power?” Politicians: *sweating profusely*

[@MinusMOD98]

Thanks for making that joke so I don't have to :D

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Deny it?

[@tuttosalve8352]

Get more power!

[@silentype3008]

You blame someone else for your mistakes.

[@zachduperron8543]

Unlimited power!

[@rachaelbradley1980]

Sounds like the Orkney Islands should open their own Centre for Alternative technology, I love visiting the one in Wales, the kids adore it.

[@cometive6075]

@serry ciok It's because they're a small archipelago numbering only 22,000 with barely any historical industry and commercial areas that cannot be demolished as well as no borders between states or nations and they are a nation who's biggest problem is more tourism than internal affairs.

[@oronjoffe]

@@cometive6075 “barely any historical area”?! Have you ever been to Orkney???

[@MrTHEljack]

Apart from barren hills what is there?

[@oronjoffe]

@@MrTHEljack Skarra Brae? The Ring of Brodgar? Maes Howe? Lots more besides and there are hundreds, if not thousands of additional sites that haven't been excavated yet but which are plain for anyone to see. I grew up in Israel, which is full of archaeological sites, but I have never seen anything like the density of sites in Orkney there or anywhere else. There may not be an awful lot there today, but in (pre)-historic sites I think Orkney has no equal.

[@TheEvilCheesecake]

Museums require visitors, something Orkney does not see many of.

[@catfish552]

A delightful side effect of Tom Scott videos is the ever growing collection of regional UK accents.

[@koigoi]

you're spitting straight facts my friend

[@maryavatar]

Sadly, there were no Orcadian accents in that video.

[@angus5427]

You'd know if there was Orcadian in this video trust me

[@jalbo9975]

Sounded like a mix of Irish/Scottish with some Southern English to me.

[@Lewwww]

@@angus5427 would need subtitles😂

[@nitehawk86]

"The Islands With Too Much Power " is definitely a GPT3 title suggestion

[@cubing7276]

Bot be smart

[@Praecantetia]

True

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Yep, definitely.

[@draw4kicks]

I'm literally moving to the Orkney Islands in a week to start a masters degree in Marine Renewable Energy, looks like I've made a good choice!

[@jn278]

wow i'm thinking of the same thing. This place looks to be at the forefront of renewable technologies and seems like a good place to move to to study the future of energy. Best of luck in your studies.

[@Sparrowash97]

Nah mate, worst place you could pick :p

[@robertholmes9169]

I lived there for 12 years and it’s awesome, are you arriving on boat or plane?

[@seanlewis34]

Great education, stunning vistas, clean air and even more importantly, two excellent breweries.

[@finlaycraig1810]

UHI?

[@groatiebuck23]

I’m glad Orkney is getting the recognition it deserves

[@DavidKnowles0]

Fully Charged covered this and the issues on the island 2 or 3 years ago, Tom is playing catch up.

[@zapfanzapfan]

In the right column I get a Fully Charged episode on Orkney from 7 years ago.

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

Tom really is living the dream life, traveling across the globe and exploring while having the most bizarre adventures.

[@julianc.1300]

Sounds like a dream job to have, but when I think about it, I realize that I'm no where near smart enough to actually do it T-T

[@tomyinit818]

is that a jojo reference

[@tirxan4189]

@@llopl28 no you

[@terrabosskiller1988]

@@tomyinit818 Tom Scott’s Bizarre Adventures.

[@ScoobsMcDoobers]

IS THAT A JOJ-

[@angusross-thomson1288]

Hi from the Orkney Islands, good to see the message being spread. Surprisingly, many do have solar arrays up here, probably not the best place but ours work well enough, and we hope to put more in when the restrictions are lifted.

[@emmastilwell759]

Genuine question, why put in more? If you already have a renewable grid wouldn't it have a greater environmental impact to invest in say, an electic car, improved housing insulation, or electric heating?

[@thesaxophoneboy]

I guess it's unfortunate that winter, the time of the greatest energy use, is also the time in which Orkney has barely six hours of daylight each day!

[@angusross-thomson1288]

@@thesaxophoneboy yes, not ideal, but on the other hand, that is when the winds tend to be strongest and start to fry the grid!

[@BooBaddyBig]

@@emmastilwell759 Solar tends to complement wind though because it works well in summer, while wind works better in winter, so it's not stupid. It also tends to statistically cancel out the variations to have as many independent sources as possible.

[@thewiseturtle]

Also, solar is highly adaptable, and uses very little infrastructure. You can get a small 5 watt panel with a battery the size of a shoebox to power something smallish out in the middle of nowhere, such as lights, or a smartphone, or a water pump. You CAN do that with wind turbines, but it's a lot less efficient when you're using a smaller turbine, since there's more friction/mass per inch of blade.

[@bartholomewdan]

Someone needs to make a playlist of "Tom Scott stands somewhere windswept and talks about infrastructure".

[@TheThirdPrice]

Tom already has an uploaded video playlist ;D

[@ernestolombardo5811]

Usually I love Tom's videos, but this one... this one was extraordinary. A cut above. BRAVO!

[@kmc7355]

There is a side effect of all that wind. Last time i was up in Orkney i had to walk everywhere at a 45 degree angle to compensate for it.

[@adrianschmidt5564]

But aren't all the turbines using up the strong wind? (/s)

[@celecitaxerror9553]

@@adrianschmidt5564 that's not how it works. wind turbines dont 'block out' the wind.

[@Hill_Walker]

@@celecitaxerror9553 They do a bit. I vaguely remember seeing a talk on wind power and hurricane Katrina. In the talk they said had the US spent the money, that it cost to repair the aftermath of Katrina, on wind turbines in the Gulf of Mexico. So much energy would have been sapped, it would just have been a strong storm. Also spot their /s

[@fuckinantipope5511]

@@celecitaxerror9553 that was a joke...

[@rikospostmodernlife]

@@celecitaxerror9553 /s means "I'm being S arcastic" /j means "I'm making a J oke"

[@snakey084]

It’s nice to watch a video about climate change adaptation and not feel depressed, so thanks Tom. Happy Sunday and good week ahead everyone!

[@adamthorntonillustration9281]

Absolutely!

[@mobiustrip1400]

Well done Tom. You were lucky enough to film this on the one day of summer in Orkney!

[@AboutTimeFFS]

Stop spreading misinformation, having grown up in Orkney I can tell you for a fact that we get two days of summer a year. Three if enough of us strip naked and dance around the Ring of Brodgar during a full moon.

[@SMNAviation]

How is the weather normally like?

[@kb7881]

@@SMNAviation Wind and rain

[@visitante-pc5zc]

@@kb7881 isnt that the normal weather in the whole scotland anyway? Cold, rainy and windy

[@krashd]

@@visitante-pc5zc 30 years ago it was, but today most of the central belt can rival the temperatures of southern France during the summer.

[@MrGrayWolf]

*cryptominers move to the island for cheap electricity* Orkney: Why do I hear boss music

[@dsherratt74]

And promptly move again because our internet is worse than dial up.

[@1313nate]

@@dsherratt74 What about Starlink in your area?

[@dsherratt74]

​ @Nathan Cobb nope, cant get that and even if it was available 90%% of the islands wouldn't be allowed it because of the conservation area order on almost all residential areas. That means we're not allowed to alter the outward appearance of our properties. No modern UPVC triple glazing windows, never mind sticking a satellite dish on the side of your house. Yes we have too much power and in spite of this we actually have the highest electricity prices in the UK becasue all the power generated by the windfarms that the council in their wisdom decided not to the main electrical grid so everyone would benefit means we still have to buy our electric from electric companies. Only a few private properties (farms and really remote properties on the smaller islands) have their own private turbines and they still have to buy electric as the turbines don't produce enough. Honestly cryptominers, gamers (of which I am one myself) and server farms are better off where they are. In short any place but Orkney. The place where you need to take a 2 hour flight (or 2 hour boat trip followed by 2 hour drive) for major surgery or to get take away from your favourite fast food chain (no we don't have any of them either).

[@neilford7338]

This is one of the absurdity of UK electric grids, despite being self sufficient in renewable energy, orkney has the most expensive electricity in UK - for consumers AND generators. It's crazy. There is a huge problem with fuel poverty in the islands.

[@andrewjensen8189]

@@dsherratt74 Didn't Tom say 1 in 12 properties generate their own power, via turbines? Seems like more than "a few". But also, is Satellite TV outlawed then? Because a Starlink dish is only 1-2 feet in diameter, and doesn't even need to be mounted on your house. If you're allowed to have a picnic table in your yard, or even have a rugby ball sitting around in your garden, then one would think you could place a Starlink dish in your garden if you wanted to. That aside, when Starlink becomes available in your region, if your wifi connection is as horrid as you make it out to be, your government would probably remove any red tape that hinders individuals from going in that direction.

[@EngineeringMindset]

Now I need to spend all evening googling what nerdy power engineering tours I can do in Orkney. Who has tips?

[@lifeisok7726]

Orkney deez nuts

[@electronresonator8882]

how to cheaply heat homes with electricity in Orkney

[@tomcardale5596]

An engineering tour of Orkney would be awesome. I'd sign up for it!

[@tomgillespie195]

Don’t come we don’t want your covid

[@maciejmeszka5285]

Come during the Orkney International Science festival, it's a week long event full of lectures etc. Check the website for details

[@parallax_review]

So that's the place where you can run AC in summer, electric heating in winter AND pat yourself on the back for preventing the breakdown of the local electricity grid?

[@PabloSanchez-qu6ib]

No. You use an electrically powered robot arm to pat your back.

[@lucie4185]

Air conditioning in Orkney, ha ha ha.

[@andybrown4284]

Summer air con is when you turn the heater down a bit.

[@cubing7276]

@@PabloSanchez-qu6ib lmao

[@cheighes1]

We call it saxet.

[@TheIronArmenianakaGIHaigs]

I think their is so much political feet dragging in renewables because big investors in fossil fuels would lose out on their investments. Renewables pay for themselves fairly quickly these days and are also cheaper per MWh to buy.

[@gizmodobaggins7040]

You *think?*

[@alexp6013]

I live in France. Less than 5% of our electricity is produced by either petrol or coal, and that number should go down even more in the next few years. We are still struggling to get renewables without this constraint (we mainly use nuclear), because renewables use a _lot_ of land that can't do much else, requires a large investment, and it is quite hard to store power to handle highs and lows in the production. Getting approval for those projects is hard, simply because, while everybody knows that renewables will need to happen, nobody wants them in their back garden.

[@Sancarn]

In fairness, if you were to decide to spend a quarter of a billion pounds on an interconnector, you'd also want to make sure it was going to be used. I don't think this situation is totally because of fossil fuel lobbying, but it might be a related factor.

[@toreole]

Dont forget that the politicians in charge most likely have a financial gain from fossil fuels in one way or another. Which is a huge problem

[@georgf9279]

Renewables have advanced so quickly over the last 15-20 years that people struggle to keep updating their perception of them. Just yesterday I heard "Knowing Better" say that solar, wind and storage were far away from being viable solutions. But of course it doesn't help that politicians are stuck head to waist in the asses of the oil industry. Edit: I had to repost this answer three times before youtube stopped auto-deleting it.

[@caiusofglantri5513]

0:37 technologies to balance power supply and demand 1:00 Welcome to the Orkneys 1:23 David Hannon's talk 2:02 Local microgeneration 2:13 Orkney Experiments 2:29 Interconnector Cable capacity 2:53 Potential production - Neil Kermode 3:26 Cost & obstacles to new cable 3:40 Ways to increase electricity consumption 4:02 Hydrogen fuel system

[@nighteye5253]

Any gaming setup: "allow me to relieve all of that surplus and more" Great video as always!

[@SilverMe2004]

Just as long as you're not using a Gigabyte power supply

[@billul1]

RGB spotlights

[@davidclayworth2271]

I suspect that if you don't have a cable capable of moving the power to the mainland you probably also don't have an internet connection capable of handling a massive gaming server.

[@tacticalguy6473]

@@davidclayworth2271 fiberoptics costs nothing compared to km's of copper wiring

[@mikieswart]

meanwhile in california… “dell won’t ship your gaming pc you ordered and paid like four thousand dollars for because it eats too much electricity” 🥲

[@sundhaug92]

"The Islands With Too Much Power " isn't that the history of the British isles?

[@reggaefan2700]

Good one.

[@callmememe1308]

To be fair, that only really applies to Great Britian, not Ireland or the other, smaller islands.

[@SavageGreywolf]

this time it's the good sort of power ...Electric Boogaloo

[@ChelleC33]

The ‘big lithium ion setup’ referred to is near Jamestown in South Australia, but the big 3 day fire happened at a battery being tested near Moorabool, Victoria.

[@dylanlong6269]

I was very surprised to see this error, especially as it seemed to be a bit of a diss against battery storage for no real reason

[@travisyayes6343]

Seems to me that by immensely lowering the cost of the electricity would be an incentive for everyone to drive an electric vehicle in turn making use of the extra electricity in turn having a much cleaner environment and eventually changing all things from fossil fuel to electric on that one Island. That island could be a model for the rest of the world. This is a perfect opportunity and I hope it's not wasted to greed.

[@wopmf4345FxFDxdGaa20]

Price of electricity is already so low that it's not a problem and price of fossil fuel heavily taxed in most European countries, by other words you should make the electricity price heavily negative to have any effect by that. The problem is the price of the battery in the car and the price of the charging infrastructure. But electric cars are getting cheaper as the battery production is scaled up. Over production like this could also be used for synthetic fuel production, for those applications that can't be easily converted to battery power.

[@FryzuxD]

I'd imagine that if they have too much electricity, the prices are already low.

[@casemodder89]

now go ahead and put that much wind in the air all around the globe.

[@bobstirling6885]

The problem with that philosophy is the massive loss of tax revenue when fossil fuels are phased out....it would have to be replaced and the obvious target would be electricity taxation or road mileage charging.

[@jasonreed7522]

Electricity is already as cheap as it can be, the price is determined through some linear algebra to find the next generator that needs to turn on for the lowest marginal costs of production. This means that the cost of electricity is the minimum wholesale price needed to profitably run all the generators. (Basic economic requirement is expenses

[@yolobro2071]

I feel like this channel is perfect for aliens to learn about earth and our technology

[@shambhav9534]

If you ignore the skeleton lie detector video. That is for learning human stupidity.

[@MaxxMcGeePrivate]

The aliens would massively overestimate us.

[@chronictimewasterdisease]

actually no, it's worst place ever for aliens, if they see the contrast between this and what actually happens in the world boy, they sure are going to destroy the planet

[@HaliOnRepeat]

Maybe after all this time, Tom is actually an alien relaying information on humans and Earth technology.

[@Mousy677]

tom scott sees a windy place with curious infrastructure and asks "is anybody gonna talk about that", and doesn't wait for an answer

[@WanderTheNomad]

"Yes, that person will be me"

[@Markle2k]

Fully Charged was up here talking about "that" years ago.

[@marinecommando7150]

Went on a tour of Orkney this summer and would definitely recommend it to everyone, there is so much history and uniqueness to the island that is impossible to convey through short form media and is definitely worth experiencing for yourself!

[@davecooper3238]

The good lady & I used to visit Orkney on a regular basis. The coming of the cruise ships spoilt it for us. You will have had almost a pre cruise ship experience. We found that the number visitors had started to cause excessive wear & tear on places like The Italian Chapel etc. Our last visit took place in 2015. But I am sure that the loss of a couple of independent travellers is not too much of a loss when we have been replace by thousands off the ships.

[@GodlyDra]

Does it have massive bloody conflicts or folklore about snakes and dragons? That’s the only history I care for.

[@MrDiggy96]

@@davecooper3238 as a local i sadly agree. going about your business down town nowadays is a no go in summer. thankfully most "rural" places are fairly empty so plenty of places to visit! try some of the islands around the mainland and youll have a great time!

[@Anonymous-hj7op]

The whole world : WE NEED MORE POWER Orkney : 👀

[@aiosquadron]

Maybe sell the spare electricity?

[@rmdhn1]

@@aiosquadron they sell it to the rest of Scotland afaik but the current cable just can't sell enough

[@visassess8607]

Did you not watch the video?

[@MrGonzonator]

Tom, the battery that caught fire in Australia was a second big Tesla facility, and it's only being built rn. The Hornsdale one has been operating successfully for a couple of years now.

[@Neojhun]

In Victoria not South Australia. Roughly 500 miles apart.

[@robertkat]

Ford had to recall all their electric cars because the batteries where burning. Cost of recall 1 billion dollars US.

[@Neojhun]

@@robertkat Umm not Ford. They barely have Electric cars. You have no clue what you are talking about it.

[@Markle2k]

@@robertkat That's not true, either.

[@robertkat]

It is actually the GM BOLT recall, batteries started on fire. Cheap lithium ion batteries.

[@Clonefire.]

I now have a desire to see Tom in a windy location, wearing an audacious cape.

[@darkstarfirestudios4500]

Yesss

[@lewisleslie2821]

A brilliant video about my home archipelago! I am both gladdened and saddened to hear that my isolated island group is leading the world in renewable energy, and much of it is wasted due to poor infrastructure.

[@ScottsSynthStuff]

This is being done in Toronto, Canada as well. They have a wind turbine at the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) grounds, which powers a hydrogen plant, and extracts hydrogen from the fresh lakewater of Lake Ontario. This hydrogen is used in fuel cells to power transit buses.

[@pbsquilz]

I'm loving these Orkney videos, giving me major PTSD from a project we just did at university in the form of designing a wind farm at these islands. Love seeing the insides of it through this video's and being able to link what we did to these videos.

[@terencetsang9518]

All those KZbin ads hailing Scotland as the land of sustainable energies popping up in the past months suddenly make a lot more sense to me. Way to go!

[@angus5427]

That's been true for years this is just the next stage.

[@worldcomicsreview354]

I'm getting no end of ads for investing in Ireland, myself

[@drawapretzel6003]

yet they wont let the island send them more power until they make an even bigger energy surplus just to get rid of a tiny energy surplus. Honestly turning off the turbines is starting to sound like the cheapest option.

[@gordonmcgrath1626]

@@drawapretzel6003 it's probably down to the Budget. No point in using 250m of your 60to70b budget on something that can't yet deliver

[@Cosmic_Ray_]

I hope one day, within our lifetime, this is the biggest power problem we have to deal with. Just having to much clean, renewable energy.

[@Sorcerers_Apprentice]

What would be great would be if we routed surplus renewable energy to carbon capture and storage systems to remove surplus carbon dioxide from the air.

[@freshrot420]

@@Sorcerers_Apprentice They're called trees.

[@k0zzu21]

Current wind power is not but any means clean energy. The lifespan of the rotors is about 25 years, after which they are non-recyclable and toxic waste. There's around 10 tonnes of fossil based lubricants in the generators, that need to be replaced or disposed after the lifespan of the turbine. Yes it doesn't emit carbon dioxide while in operation, but it pollutes in various other ways, so it is not a good thing but any measure to have too much renewable energy.

[@BJS42069]

I know absolutely nothing about any of these informational videos. but they’re so interesting. I love you tom scott

[@londonpunk]

"The islands with too much power" Crypto Miners: *_IT'S FREE REAL ESTATE_*

[@WinterNorth]

Just dont look up the cost of power there

[@cubing7276]

Profit

[@gungan7859]

@@WinterNorth Holy crap. Roughly 0.7 cents per kWh. That's crazy. For comparison, New York pays 21 cents per kWh.

[@sireric41]

@@WinterNorth Cost is different for large takers in wasted/stranded energy markets

[@MrTomtomtest]

@@jslavertu That and blockchain to track energy would be an infinite loop, as you'd need said energy just to write something in the blockchain

[@LIETUVIS10STUDIO1]

I never thought there'd be a place where making hydrogen fuel is actually economically viable.

[@chriskroeker1889]

Just wait until renewables have higher penetrations throughout the world. This will be the norm.

[@Dennis19901]

@@chriskroeker1889 It's not that easy

[@ericmyrs]

@@Dennis19901 it certainly won't be with that attitude

[@Colaman112]

@@Dennis19901 Let me guess. You work in the fossil fuel industry. /s

[@thesenate8268]

@@Dennis19901 Inventing trains wasn't easy. Discovering America either.

[@LittleDergon]

"this island has every type of renewable energy...except solar" that cracked me up 😂

[@angusross-thomson1288]

We do actually! Probably not the best place for them but ours work well enough, and we hope to add more when the restrictions are lifted.

[@abehme]

Britain in a nutshell 😂😂

[@joshsheffsagain4662]

And they still get shafted by the energy cos!!

[@samiuddin328]

Timestamp?

[@katrinabryce]

@@angusross-thomson1288 I’m guessing not in winter when it is dark most of the time?

[@scottishsuzuki8132]

I was up in orkney a few moths back connecting the new sub sea cables from Sanday to Eday. Great job to be on.

[@thomasdyer8667]

Spot on, 4pm on Monday with an amazing video, cheers Tom!

[@Concodroid]

but it's not 4pm yet

[@MarcusWolfWanders]

@@Concodroid hi yes just a reminder that time zones are a thing

[@Concodroid]

@@MarcusWolfWanders what?

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

Sounds like they could use a colony of PC gamers with high end set ups.

[@eramsorgr]

That was exactly in my mind.

[@Akkbar21]

They need some Intel enthusiasts. About 4 should do it.

[@kas-lw7xz]

@@Akkbar21 and novideo*

[@marshmilos]

@@do0nv There is a bitcoin miner on westray, it's hooked up to a wind turbine

[@kampfnudel22]

Or server farms. They need huge amounts of juice to be cooled, the Orkneys apparently have plenty of that plus its relatively cool anyway

[@forbiddenknowledge5722]

This content is what makes YT. Please never stop 🤟🏻

[@alexstark5568]

I vacation with my family (we’re from the US) at a place called Block Island, they’ve experimented with some of these techniques on a smaller scale. Less than a decade ago, the island got power from a large system of diesel generators. Today, they are the site of the only offshore wind turbines in America.

[@LachClark]

"An old day when you used to burn coal and send us electricity. That's gone. We don't do that anymore." *_The Australian Government has entered the chat_*

[@callummclachlan4771]

Except Tasmania (where I live). We generate all our electricity through renewables, majority is hydro. Still have fossil fuelled generators as a backup though (which I think we should always have. Fossil fuels are more reliable as a backup. Simply turn them on when you need to).

[@supchefofficial]

THE LIBERAL GOVERNMENT!

[@kellymoses8566]

Why does α country with so much uranium not have α single nuclear reactor?

[@duckwhistle]

@@callummclachlan4771 I thought Aus sold most of its coal to China anyway! I assume the Tasmanian grid doesn't connect to the mainland at all?

[@alicequayle4625]

@@kellymoses8566 why does a country with so much sunshine not have massive solar farms?

[@bowtieproductions6708]

The fact that these islands literally have more power than they know what to do with, from sustainable, renewable, clean sources, gives me a lot of hope that in the near future the entire world could actually pull that off.

[@oooooooorion]

no because the entire world doesn't have this space, wind, water or sun.

[@drdewott9154]

@@oooooooorion True but other bits have a plethera of such and so sending the excess energy from there to where its needed would be great! Like take the Wind from the North Sea and send it to places like central europe. Or solar energy from the Iberian peninsula and potentially even northern africa and the middle east!

[@callumparker3293]

@@drdewott9154 unfortunately it would be very difficult and expensive to set that up, compared to selling barrels of oil or coal to other countries

[@caenir]

@@callumparker3293 Which is part of the reason why it's taking so long. We aren't discussing what is easy to do, we are discussing what is possible to do.

[@oooooooorion]

@@drdewott9154 electricity power decays with distance - a alot

[@cactustactics]

Genuinely had no idea Orkney was so cutting edge! All those projects going on, that's rad as hell

[@flytrapYTP]

Their own renewable tech is ahead of the island residencies.

[@boblowes]

Microsoft are testing undersea server farms off Orkney, because submerging them makes them so much cooler, so less energy intensive to run.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

It's always the little places.

[@youtubewatcher7570]

It's being paid for by the British government

[@Nill757]

Like the Taliban in Afghanistan, or the CCP taking over Hong Kong: brand new and rad.

[@aatheus]

I want to hug Orkney. It's such a cool testbed for cool SCALABLE renewable tech

[@rayt5383]

"You can never have too much of a good thing" - Not Tom

[@cubing7276]

Let’s give it to poor countries! cost of building that cable: **HUGE**

[@236Doodad]

I know you don't care what I think, Tom, but I'm really grateful for all your hard work.

[@Monkeypolice188]

I love how they're finding modern day solutions that will genuinely help the planet, rather than just burning off the excess on 10,000 more street lights or something.

[@mauricioweber8879]

Great one TomS! Like that you go straight to the idea.. 👍

[@DanielGomez-mn5po]

This may be my favorite video of yours ever and i'm not really sure why. Love to see all the ingenuity on these islands.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Of all the things we might not know, this is some of the most inherently interesting because it might really mean something in the future.

[@savanamoon107104]

I recently saw the arms of one of those giant wind turbines being transported on a train. They look like giant eels and they are MASSIVE. Each one was slightly over the length of two train cars

[@shreddagorge]

Those were likely for offshore wind turbines; they are significantly longer than most onshore turbine blades. (My company makes the largest blades in the industry for both types).

[@_zoey.17]

Very fascinating and interesting video, as always. I wouldn't have know about the island that has too much power otherwise. I love the fact that I can count on a video from Tom Scott every Monday at 4 PM. That's my highlight of the week.

[@jamesmcpherson1590]

The Orkneys are a very special place for me. The man whom the city I live in was named after, Lord Kitchener, died near the Orkneys, and there is a monument to him on the Orkney coast near where his ship sank. I loved visiting the archaeological sites there like the Ring of Brogar and Skara Brae, and it also happens to be the farthest north latituted that I have visited on Earth.

[@Yitzh6k]

I've always thought the issue of inefficiency in hydrogen generation could be solved by just... not caring about it! If there are periods of massive surplus from wind and solar, who cares if 40% of the energy is lost when turned to hydrogen? The alternative is to disconnect the generators and lose it all!

[@ruslbicycle6006]

I think that also... But maybe the hydrogen isn't valuable enough yet to pay to do that at this point?

[@Maddinhpws]

A really big problem is really storing all that hydrogen. By essentially not caring it means you are wasting time whenever there is not a surplus production. You need a good deal of workforce and tech at these hydrogen plants so shutting them off and on all the time based on energy demand is not really going to work. At least not for a private company.

[@porcorosso4330]

There is also maintenance cost and wear and tear. There might be a point where turning it off is still a better deal.

[@peterwilliamson1825]

The inefficiency problem regarding hydrogen has more of an effect on the end user than the creation of it. Relatively little energy reaches the wheels of the vehicle, essentially making it far more expensive to use a hydrogen fuel cell to power the vehicle, especially when compared to a battery electric vehicle. Not only that, the molecules are so small it's incredibly hard to prevent leaks in both the storage facility and the vehicle itself.

[@steveheist6426]

Depending on the usefulness of the compressed hydrogen, being able to capture it more efficiently means more hydrogen to throw at their other problems (like, say, hydrogen ferries or lorries / semi trucks)

[@Musicofwei]

A quarter of a billion pounds is peanuts - theres so much wasteful spending everywhere else, would love to see this become fully funded and what an amazing thing itd be to see soon

[@Nintentheheartless]

Not to mention how cheaper it'll be compared to the costs that will caused by worsening climate disasters (flooding, hurricanes, rising tides etc.)..

[@Grort]

Scottish governments budget usually hovers around £30bn, UK gov's is about £840bn, so it probably depends if it's a devolved project or a reserved one. And in both cases, you'd end up with either people in the south of Scotland or in England (or both) complaining about so much of their money going to the north with our comparably tiny population. Politics isn't kind to northern Scotland.

[@rdsimonse2001]

Tom, you did it. You gave me an hopeful end of the day. I must say, that doesn't happen often anymore...

[@rowenthomson2351]

We're getting a new interconnector cable here in the Shetland islands for a 103 turbine onshore windfarm. Will be producing about 370MW, nearly 8 times our peak consumption.

[@timwatterson8060]

0:50 that battery fire was a separate "big battery" in another state of Australia, it was still in the construction phase and I believe it was being tested when one module when up.

[@lavasharkandboygirl9716]

I really want Tom to come back to New Zealand, there’s so much interesting stuff on the recycling and renewable energy side of things. Once we’re out of lockdown, I’d dive on the chance to arrange a couple tours through recycling industry yards and factories in Wellington

[@davidlawrence8711]

we have recycling factories in Wellington? I had no idea and I live here!

[@SirZeck]

Summit it on his website.

[@finngeometry7570]

@@davidlawrence8711 Same, I didn’t know we had them either.

[@lavasharkandboygirl9716]

@@davidlawrence8711 mostly metal recycling, ever heard of Macaulay Metals? We’re one of the biggest in the country

[@lavasharkandboygirl9716]

@@finngeometry7570 Seaview, just past Petone in Lower Hutt, drive down Seaview road and you’ll see 3 or 4 recycling yards

[@donaldmorrison9940]

Really interesting. I’m from the Western Isles and we’re following in their footsteps and having some of the same issues with an interconnector.

[@CaptainBrews]

Thank you for this video. I really enjoy watching your videos. I learn so much.

[@syedmustafa3145]

“No one land should have all that POWER” -Tomye west, 2021, Donda

[@Moon-Jelly]

I hate that I understand this

[@Andyatl2002]

I love that I understand this

[@disonwijeratne2532]

"You can never have too much power"- Jeremy Clarkson probably.

[@jackkraken3888]

Or you can pretend there isn't enough power- Jeremy Clarkson (lying about the Tesla running out of power)

[@aidanfl]

@@jackkraken3888 lawsuit was lost

[@BooBaddyBig]

@@jackkraken3888 And windmills would NEVER be able to power it!!!

[@volundrfrey896]

@@jackkraken3888 Omg, teslas claims didn't make any sense which is why they lost. Get over it already.

[@LSK2K]

@@jackkraken3888 The future is bright and it's made of petrol. Get over it.

[@adrian_lee]

Great video, here's a minor correction though. The Telsa battery that caught on fire is the Victoria Big Battery (300MW) located in Geelong, VIC. It's not yet operational but is twice as big as the previous "biggest battery in the world" which is the Telsa battery at Hornsdale Power Reserve (150MW) in South Australia, next to Hornsdale wind farm. Love your work and consistent good pace of new interesting content Tom.

[@Wizarth]

I was wondering about that, as I hadn't heard the SA plant caught fire. I'd expect our coal-loving pollies to be crowing about it if it had.

[@Techman83]

It's also not finished the construction phase. It was a bit of a throwaway line, but following a point about pumped hydro it did bother me a little. Pumped Hydro is awesome, but it can only be built in places that have the right landscape for it. Batteries can be plonked down just about anywhere. Hornsdale was so successful, the company behind it is also behind the new one in Vic.

[@everything777]

I helped with a project in Orkney that connects EV car chargers to the distribution network. The chargers can be remotely instructed to charge at a faster rate when there is a surplus from generation. The EV batteries essentially become a distributed storage system and help balance the grid.

[@randaranatunga7259]

“What happens when you have too much power?” Rico the penguin would ask: “Kaboom?”

[@DomenBremecXCVI]

Well... Yes, actually.

[@lucie4185]

"Kablamo"

[@michaelnelson2976]

Absolutely adoring this issue and I am so curious to see how they handle this in the future and how we all learn from them

[@enigmabodylanguage]

Tom, you are a blessing on KZbin. You have inspired me to not only learn about engineering, but also to make content on KZbin. Thank you!

[@ROZDAB]

Just awesome. These videos and information help make me believe in the future of humanity.

[@designersheets]

Never thought it was possible, but renewable energy is even more effective than I ever dreamed! It gives me hope knowing those people are out there studying the heck out of it and finding how best to use their surplus.

[@sahlofolina2994]

No redshirt- *panic* Sees the red shirt under the pullover hoodie- *kalm*

[@markm0000]

Phew

[@Ice_Karma]

That's completely mad, that they need an interconnector to carry tens or even hundreds of gigawatts _to_ the mainland, instead of tens of _megawatts from_ the mainland!

[@Winiarus1435]

B-but... money!

[@Ice_Karma]

@@Winiarus1435 I was just marvelling at the scale of the "role reversal". I don't know anything specific about the situation in the Orkneys, but in principle I don't have a problem with them profiting from their renewable energy production.

[@MrDiggy96]

@@Ice_Karma weve been asking for a cable for this for over a DECADE! SNP keep promising it but it never comes. and P.s its just orkney, not Orkneys. dont mean to be snippy but many an orcadian will bite youre ear off for saying it haha!

[@-DeZiRe-]

Scott always knows how to peak my interest in the most random things.

[@mirror1675]

pique, not peak. ffs.

[@alainportant6412]

@@mirror1675 peec

[@alainportant6412]

peek

[@cruachan1191]

The sound of the turbines is kind of post apocalyptic when you're up close. I did a 10K around Whitelee Windfarm just outside Glasgow a couple of years ago, it feels like the Hunger Games when all you can hear is feet pounding on paths and the turbines.

[@mgntstr]

but its green energy, green is good! No drawbacks

[@foximacentauri7891]

That is a bit out of perspective. A wind farm is about ad loud as a busy road, and that only if you’re directly below one.

[@cjxgraphics]

We deal with the sounds of production plants and factories nearby, as well as oil and chemical processing plants.

[@cruachan1191]

@@foximacentauri7891 How so? Wind farms are (usually) well away from residential areas and the volume of the sound is not what I was commenting on but the sound itself.

[@Djuntas]

yep, windmills are stupid. Id rather go tide or solar. Us dane lives well off Vestas and Siemens wind power, among many other windmill-service-operating firms that services them globally. Its dumb tech.

[@DANNYonPC]

Ah yes, my favorite brit talking about random topics

[@don_p7546]

Ah yes, my favourite dutch person talking about random things in bf

[@thessalonikiosmusv]

Ah yes, my favourite dutch person once again appearing just everywhere.

[@scotts.2624]

They need an aluminum smelter or steel plant that recycles steel using an electric arc furnace. Those things will suck down an enormous amount of electricity.

[@robertlees2065]

That or just any type of manufacturing that consumes decent amount of electricity, reshore production of something that is sold locally from a country burning low grade coal and you could have a double win.

[@barvdw]

A big server room, perhaps? Those are notorious for being very energy needy.

[@Jakob_DK]

@@barvdw servers has a problem with distance, the delay caused by distance. Otherwise great.

[@Grort]

Interestingly, that sort of already happened on the Highland mainland, the aluminium plant in Fort William, when it was built, wasn't as competitive as other smelters but did have the boon of having a dedicated hydro in the shadows of Scotland's tallest mountains. When fuel prices went up, most of it's competition died and Fort William's plant stayed alive as one of the few survivors, almost entirely due to it's hydro.

[@TriNguyen-he7xk]

thinking like iceland

[@adamhilmi761]

Absolutely fantastic video and case study. Throughly appreciated using it in my academic research! Don't worry - I promised to source your channel.

[@anthonym1880]

Tom can refresh his knowledge on vowel shifts while he's up there ;)

[@fukpoeslaw3613]

wonder how they pronounce skill

[@rainbow6siegetutorials328]

“so there c-ahh-n bee a lot of…”

[@zolacnomiko]

As an American expat currently hanging out in Orkney, I'm enjoying this Orkney trilogy. Looking forward to seeing what your final topic is next week!

[@JT29501]

With such a huge surplus, is electricity super cheap on Orkney? Just out of interest! I mean it's not *that* expensive in much of the UK honestly, compared to other places I have been.. I assume the electric companies do want to make back the costs of turbine construction and upkeep, but if they have so much power going unused and actually causing problems for the grid, surely they'd almost want to be giving it away, especially at non-peak times!?

[@beuy544]

@@JT29501 quite the opposite in fact, we have some of the highest electricity costs in The UK.

[@daveaneil]

@@JT29501 I'm afraid we're charged a surcharge per unit here for "network transmission costs"

[@NuSpirit_]

Honestly I think using excess from renewables to produce hydrogen is much better solution than shutting them down when demand is low. Yes it may not be the most efficient way but you can produce cheap hydrogen to power trucks, trains and cars or use it as batteries to store some power for the grid when it'll be needed.

[@adrianthoroughgood1191]

Exactly. It doesn't matter how inefficient it is when the alternative is throwing the energy away. They absolutely should be producing hydrogen to power the ferries at least. It's the perfect use case.

[@BertGrink]

Add to that that when burning hydrogen, the only "waste product" is pure water (H2O)

[@DRakeTRofKBam]

Hydrogen is the future for sure, the only problem is that its hydrogen; very hard to store and transport

[@Plotatothewondercat]

@@DRakeTRofKBam If you've got some way of capturing carbon dioxide from the water or atmosphere, hydrogen is excellent feedstock for producing synthetic methane or propane.

[@92Pyromaniac]

This probably has to do with scale, really. Hydrogen is a very immature technology which makes it very expensive and potentially you'd save less money than you had to spend upfront.

[@ParagonPKC]

For those wondering, wind energy isn't enough to supply many other grids elsewhere, I live in SoCal, and all those turbines out in the desert do barely anything for us. t's not very efficient in many setting, also considering the size they have to take up. A place like this is good for it, so it does create an interesting problem, where it's always windy, and you can't transfer the power to another grid

[@MishaFlower]

All of the us except texas, alaska and hawaii are linked to two electrical grids. So no. this isn't a problem.

[@gabrieldsouza6541]

california is perfect for solar and storage, as well as offshore wind in the pacific. it's exceptionally sunny and windy offshore, if you pair those with some nuclear power plants and keeping some gas generation on standby, you can probably get to net zero.

[@CK_5]

Thank you once again Tom for teaching me things I didn’t even know existed

[@peterpanda5069]

Two batteries now, one fire. Hornsdale (SA) has been up since 2017. The fire was during testing on a new unit in Victoria that is not yet online.

[@dmryan8355]

When discussing option 3 (get folks to use more electricity), I noticed no-one said "lower the price."

[@rtfazeberdee3519]

the wholesale price is already cheap, its the commercial utilities that want to keep their profits high

[@SomeFreakingCactus]

@@rtfazeberdee3519 So it's the movement of energy that you're paying for.

[@rabbitdrink]

@@rtfazeberdee3519 if people used it more then the utilities wont lose a dime while solving their problem until they get a way to bring that electricity off the island

[@Colin623]

@@rtfazeberdee3519 Yes, better known as "The Middleman"

[@Zer0Blizzard]

I like how at 4:15 they talk about how they make hydrogen using the excess electricity, but they're ignoring a lot of potential there. There are all kinds of trace minerals from seawater, including lithium, phosphate, gold, that can be essentially mined using electrolysis, and the oxygen can be used as a pure oxygen source for chemical gas production/pure oxygen furnaces for smelters/trash incinerators. Yes it's expensive to make such a system, but the homebrew options with free electricity can probably dump out a 400g gold bar given enough seawater in probably a year or less. Edit: not quite. I was curious, so I started some basic research. Doing some basic google search math, 1 kwh of electricity boils around 5 liters of seawater, the Orkney Islands make 70 MW (per hour, presumably), which is 120% of their electricity needs, let's say 10 MW is available for this project, therefore you could boil 50,000 liters of seawater an hour, a liter of seawater has 13 billionths of a gram of gold, (or ~76,923,077 seawater liters for 1 gram of gold), or about 64 days for 1 gram of gold. At that point, you'd have absolutely insane amounts of oxygen (you'd be boiling 100,000 lbs of water into gases an hour forever), so you'd make more money by using the oxygen than from the gold, if I had to guess.

[@paperclip9558]

I love that the place looks incredibly humble despite the fact that world changing innovation is working 24 hour nonstop within it. Very cool place!

[@LordDragox412]

It looks humble because despite overproduction of electricity, it's not cheap there at all. The costs of living also aren't small. So they're not really humble by choice... :|

[@mikespearwood3914]

A place can't look "humble". Humble is a human emotion. A place is just a place!

[@dafoex]

Why are their at least two other people that have commented this exact thing?

[@MrDiggy96]

@@LordDragox412 theyre about the same as any other place and the cost of a house is cheaper. you just have to be able to put up with orcadian winters wich isnt up to most peoples tolleanrces1

[@vidiottheowl2825]

oh! this is the place Real Engineering was talking about with the tidal turbines! that's so cool! I had no idea it was testing hydrogen fuel production too!

[@wirelesmike73]

They're doing it right! Good on them! I've been saying for years that excess power should go toward making Hydrogen instead of shutting down production during low use hours. It's the best way to bring down the cost of Hydrogen and find the best means of its production. This is awesome. Makes me want to move there.

[@ArrangedNoiseFan]

Tom Scott is one of the few youtubers who can make a video about powering an island interesting