Originally Posted by
Kent Based
There's a fair number of comments on here that seem to have missed the point.
One issue with wind farms is that when the wind is good then their generation exceeds local demands and is effectively wasted. A large amount of thought is being put into storing this excess electricity. This company can use excess wind turbine generation to take CO2 out of the air and store it as aviation fuel to be used later. The RAF have tested the fuel to ensure it meets their demands. If it's also as good a fuel as the existing one (UL91) then what's the problem?
Is that something you know, KB, or something you think you know? The problem with this bit of commercial self promotion is that we are told very little. I suspect that is because there is very little to tell right now. A small quantity of synthetic fuel was put into a small SE a/c and flown over Kemble. All the rest is hype. If the production process can be improved upon so that large quantities of AVTUR can be obtained at reasonable cost then it might well end up in the fuel tanks of RAF a/c (and that of LCCs too!). I very much doubt that process will be turned on and off dependent on the wind. Large capital investments as this would need continuous operation to justify that investment, quite apart from the physics and chemistry involved which most likely need the same. If Orkney can't use all the electricity it produces then pipe it into the National Grid. Can't imagine why that wouldn't be the case now, as we already receive electric power from Norway.