The Anonymous Widower

Engie Partners Innovate UK For £4 Million Energy Transition Competition

The title of this post is the same as this article on Current News.

• This is an interesting link-up between the UK Government Agency; Innovate UK and the French energy giant; Engie.
• Wikipedia defines energy transition as a long-term structural change in energy systems.
• It is the first time Innovate UK has secured overseas private funding.
• It aims to fund the very best of \british innovation in clean growth innovation.
• Grants of between £100,000 and £1.2 million will be awarded.
• There appears to be no mention of Brexit!

It looks to me, like a very strong endorsement of British innovation and the British energy industry by the French.

I also think, that if there is one industry where the British and the French should be linked, it is energy.

The UK has the following energy sources and resources.

• Offshore and onshore oil and gas.
• Redundant gas fields for carbon capture and storage.
• Offshore and onshore wind.
• Large areas of sea for offshore wind.
• We have 8,183 MW of installed offshore wind capacity, which is the largest in the world.
• The possibilities of tidal and wave power from a long Western coast.
• Vast experience in building off-shore structures in some of the worst weather on the planet.
• Interconnectors to Norway and Iceland to import their surplus geothermal and hydroelectric energy.

Could we become a renewable-energy powerhouse?

The French have the following.

• Nuclear power, some of which will need replacing.
• Only 500 MW of offshore wind.
• More solar power than we have.
• Easy connection to North Africa for solar power.

But in some ways, most important is the several interconnectors between the UK and France, with more planned.

Conclusion

Between the UK and France, with help from Ireland, Spain and Portugal, can develop a massive Western European renewable energy powerhouse, backed  by the following, non-renewable or external sources.

• French nuclear power.
• North African solar.
• Icelandic geothermal power
• Icelandic hydro-electric power
• Norwegian hydro-electric power

It should be noted that in a few years, the UK will have joined Iceland, Norway and North Africa outside of the European Union.

I believe that Sovereign Wealth Funds, Hedge Funds, Pension Funds, Insurance Companies and other individuals, groups and organisations will increasingly see renewable energy as good places for long-term investment of their funds.

The two big problems are as follows.

• What happens when all these renewable energy sources are producing more energy than we can use?
• What happens when there is an energy deficit?

Energy storage is the solution, but the amount needed is massive.

In Airport Plans World’s Biggest Car Parks For 50,000 Cars, I looked at the mathematics in using car parks for electric cars for energy storage.

These are a few figures.

• Electric Mountain is the UK’s largest electricity storage scheme with a capacity of 9.1 GWh.
• The largest battery in the world is the Bath County Pumped Storage Station with a capacity of 24 GWh, which works on similar principles to Electric Mountain.
• Building another Electric Mountain would cost £1350 million, if we could find somewhere to put it.

But supposing half the 35.5 million cars and light goods vehicles in the UK were replaced by new electric vehicles containing a battery of around 20 kWh, that would be a total storage of 355 GWh or nearly forty Electric Mountains.

Conclusion

Harnessing all of these batteries will be an enormous challenge, but it will be ideas like this, that will enable the world to go carbon neutral by 2050.

But I don’t think we’ll ever see Trump or Xi Jinping in an electric limousine..

June 21, 2019 - Posted by AnonW | World | Africa, Energy, Engineering, France, Geothermal Energy, Hydro-Electric Power, Iceland, Innovate UK, Innovation, Norway, Solar Power, Spain, Wind Power