Dogger Bank C In UK Offshore Wind First To Provide Reactive Power Capability
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from the Dogger Bank wind farm.
This paragraph gives an explanation.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm has secured a UK power first by becoming the first offshore wind farm project to win a tender from National Grid ESO to provide reactive power capability. The sector-first contract will help deliver a greener grid, maintain a stable voltage power supply, and help drive down UK consumer costs by millions of pounds.
Note that the three Dogger Bank wind farms; A, B and C will each have a capacity of 1.2 GW and that Hartlepool nuclear power station has a capacity of 1.32 GW. The latter is due to be decommissioned in 2024.
So the wind farms will effectively replace the nuclear power station.
This paragraph describes the contract.
Under new £22.5m Pennines Voltage Pathfinder contracts announced today, National Grid ESO has awarded a 10-year power contract to Dogger Bank C that will see its onshore converter station at Lazenby in the North-East of England provide 200 MVAr* of reactive power capability between 2024 and 2034. This marks the first time that an offshore wind transmission asset has been awarded a contract through a reactive power tender by National Grid ESO.
I suspect that there will need to be some form of energy storage added to the system somewhere, either at Lazenby or could we see a system like one of Highview Power’s CRYOBattery installed offshore?
It should be noted that CRYOBatteries are no more complicated, than some of the equipment installed on offshore gas and oil platforms.
The Lackenby Substation
It does seem that there has been a mix-up between the two nearby villages of Lazenby and Lackenby.
I can’t find a Lazenby substation, but I can find one at Lackenby.
This Google Map shows that the location of the Lackenby substation.
This second map shows the substation in more detail.
Note.
- There are a lot of large chemical works on both banks of the Tees.
- I can find nothing on the route of the cable from Dogger Bank C to Lackenby substation.
- Perhaps, it’s planned to go up the River Tees or it could come ashore South of the mouth of the River Tees.
Plans must be published soon, so that the substation can be updated before the wind farm is commissioned.
The Anonymous Widower 
The wind farm itself isn’t providing reactive power support its equipment at the land end substation thats being equipped with the necessary kit. All this is because there are less and less spinning turbines connected directly at the AC level – wind turbines are through inverters and increasing as well by DC links to the mainland.
Comment by Nicholas Lewis | February 8, 2022 |
There has also been a lot of talk about connecting our Dogger Bank wind farm to the Dutch one on their section of the Dogger Bank, so effectively creating another interconnector. Before of the large numbers of wind turbines proposed for the Dogger Bank, this will have to be a very high capacity interconnector.
Comment by AnonW | February 8, 2022 |
I’ve been looking at what continental countries are up to. TenneT, the Dutch xmission operator, seems to be concentrating on IJVER, which is further south than Dogger https://offshoreservicefacilities.nl/ijmuiden-ver They are also involved in https://northseawindpowerhub.eu/ along with the Danes and one of the German operators. Really ambitious is the Eurobar concept – see presentation from Amprion, one of the other German operators https://www.amprion.net/Bilder/Netzjournal/2020/Eurobar/Eurobar_Handout_final_EN.pdf
The potential is certainly there.
Comment by Peter Robins | February 9, 2022
Indeed huge potential and lets hope we aren’t stupid enough not to participate in an integrated transmission systems across the N. Sea.
The other thing that i discovered when looking into Dogger Bank is that the C phase will have a joint converter station with Sofia windfarm – separate converters but same site but joint onshore cable run.
Comment by Nicholas Lewis | February 9, 2022
yes, I see that phases A and B come ashore S of Bridlington, and run to converters near Creyke Beck substation between Beverley and Hull. There’s a gas peaker and some battery storage there. I was on the train which goes past the site back in the autumn, though I can’t say I noticed it.
The Teesside converters are very similar to the situation for the Norwegian interconnector at Blyth/Cambois: take a substation for a defunct power station and repurpose for a new power source. I see this interconnector has just been ramped up a notch. It was working at half power 0.69GW, but over the last couple of days this has gone up to 1.05. Still not the full 1.4, but currently supplying 2.5% of total power demand.
As for international integration, the Grid have made it clear they think it’s essential.
Comment by Peter Robins | February 9, 2022
https://en.energinet.dk/Infrastructure-Projects describes Danish interconnectors. The Combined Grid Solution links Danish and German wind farms in the Baltic, opened end 2020, so they’re well ahead of the planned British multi-purpose ones (though the distances are of course much less). And the energy islands page describes their plans for both the Baltic and N Sea. Their home page shows the current power movements.
Comment by Peter Robins | February 10, 2022
more on Creyke Beck https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/harmony_energy_gains_lease_for_100mw_creyke_beck_energy_storage_project
Comment by Peter Robins | February 11, 2022
Just taken a deeper look into Dogger Bank certainly is an impressive project and if i was younger would like to have been part of the planning and logistics for such a feat. Whats depressing though is that the majority of the “kit” has to be procured from overseas companies now. When the CEGB built out the grid and the 2GW coal fire power stations through the 60/70’s all that equipment came from the likes of GEC now we are down to making a few support boats and some some tiddly 1.5T cranes for each turbine base. For sure there is more but billions are going to GE and ABB for equipment built in other European countries although at least the blades for the C farm will be manufactured in the NE. We should have extracted far more construction and manufacturing jobs for the UK. Anyhow lets hope by 2030 the interconnectors will be making the money back by being in export mode to Europe not import like most days.
Comment by Nicholas Lewis | February 8, 2022 |
The Grid’s press release is at https://www.nationalgrideso.com/news/voltage-pathfinder-results-consumer-savings https://medium.com/drax/what-is-reactive-power-and-why-does-it-matter-9dcd6aee7871 is a page from Drax explaining how they currently provide reactive power. If a wind farm substation can now provide this, that’s a significant step forward for bringing renewables into the full power supply system. This is though unrelated to the power capacity of the wind farm.
Comment by Peter Robins | February 8, 2022 |
Reactive power can be provided at any substation if you install static Var compensators whats not clear from this press release is whether thius is being delivered by the converter station they are installing or additional kit.
Comment by Nicholas Lewis | February 8, 2022 |
Reading the National Grid ESO document and particularly taking note of the last paragraph, I think that the engineers have probably done an excellent job here and won the contract for the accountants. I’ve read somewhere else that GE (?) have been improving switchgear and given the size and number of these large windfarms, any company that can provide more efficient and affordable switchgear, is going to do well.
Comment by AnonW | February 8, 2022
Reading through an online article by offshoreWIND.biz issued yesterday it talks about Dogger Bank C having… “the added benefit of eliminating the need to develop new grid solutions in the region to provide this service, thereby averting the construction of additional energy infrastructure and so reducing visual impact on coastal communities”
Further Julian Leslie, Head of Networks at National Grid ESO is quoted as saying
“Reactive power capability is vital for managing voltage …… we’re excited to see that an offshore wind farm’s transmission asset will deliver reactive power to support the wider network for the first time in Britain”.
Am I correct to interpret these remarks as saying that the substation is effectively situated offshore as part of the windfarm?
If my interpretation is correct I was wondering what challenges the siting of a substation offshore represents.
Comment by fammorris | February 9, 2022 |
according to https://www.nationalgrideso.com/news/voltage-pathfinder-results-consumer-savings “reactive power capability … will be provided by Dogger Bank C’s onshore converter station”. I take that as meaning the power will be brought from the wind farm via HVDC, and then converted to AC – and that is where the reactive power will be provided. This power will then be provided to the grid via the local substation.
Comment by Peter Robins | February 9, 2022 |
more on this at https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/business/dogger-bank-offshore-wind-farm-6192540
Comment by Peter Robins | February 9, 2022
this is a bit confusing, as there are 2 places Lazenby and Lackenby which are next door to each other, both to the E of Middlesbrough. The converters are at Lazenby, where the former power station was, whereas the substation is at Lackenby. I assume the cables come ashore near Redcar somewhere.
Comment by Peter Robins | February 9, 2022
It is confusing. But if you get on Google Maps you can find the substation. I’m having breakfast at the moment. When I get home, I’llupdate the post.
Comment by AnonW | February 9, 2022
https://sofiawindfarm.com/onshore-construction/ has a map showing current construction works
Comment by Peter Robins | February 9, 2022
Thanks I think I’ve understood it now. Incidentally I have just read a couple of other websites which say that it’s situated at Lackenby
Comment by fammorris | February 9, 2022
yes, it looks like the brown field site at https://goo.gl/maps/jgMswUJDmGt3G8sX9 is where the converter station will be
Comment by Peter Robins | February 9, 2022
I’ve been reading some more articles on the Grid’s plans for providing reactive power as traditional fossil-fuel power stations are closed down. https://www.current-news.co.uk/news/national-grid-eso-hails-world-first-transition-of-gas-power-plant-to-provide-inertia is mainly about repurposing the gas turbines at Deeside, but also mentions providing inertia from Cruachan pumped storage. Deeside is next door to the converter for the EW interconnector from Ireland.
Comment by Peter Robins | February 11, 2022 |
Further to this, news outlets like https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4044864/breakthrough-moment-renewables-generators-green-light-provide-grid-stability-services are reporting that the Grid Code has now been changed so that “interested stakeholders can now prepare their equipment to meet the required specification to be able to participate in the procurement process for system services including providing inertia and frequency support”. Can’t find anything on the Grid’s website as yet though.
Comment by Peter Robins | February 14, 2022 |
the Grid’s press release is at https://www.nationalgrideso.com/news/landmark-moment-renewables-get-green-light-support-grid – a ‘landmark moment’.
Comment by Peter Robins | February 14, 2022 |
I like the term energy transition jigsaw.
All the innovation we saw in the 1960s with North Sea oil and gas, seems to be repeating itself.
Comment by AnonW | February 14, 2022
As an adjunct I was intrigued by the decision by the National Grid to install a 500MW Ultracapacitor as an analogous ‘Sonar System’ to detect the inertial state of the network.
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/12/14/uk-installs-5-mw-ultracapacitor-as-sonar-to-detect-power-grid-inertia/
Comment by fammorris | February 14, 2022
Yes, that’s interesting: the Grid’s press release for that is at https://www.nationalgrideso.com/news/how-sonar-power-grid-helping-britain-decarbonise and see https://theenergyst.com/worlds-biggest-continuous-ultracapacitor-on-teesside-super-stabilises-national-grid/
Comment by Peter Robins | February 15, 2022
Skeleton Technologies have some useful webpages that give background to the use of Ultracapacitors as a means of providing virtual inertia. This would effectively be the part delivered by the Spanish Ingeteam’s scope of supply.
https://www.skeletontech.com/skeleton-blog/frequency-response-with-ultracapacitors
https://www.skeletontech.com/transmission-distribution-synthetic-inertia
There are other pages on their site which also are of interest
The novelty in the National Grid device and what extends it beyond proposed solutions is the superimposition of Reactive Technologies equipment that provides the high frequency monitoring system. I’m still trying to appreciate a “sonar” operating at 48KHz.
Comment by fammorris | February 15, 2022
[…] But could HVDC-connected wind farms have advantages, when it comes to providing a reactive power capability to the grid, as I wrote about in Dogger Bank C In UK Offshore Wind First To Provide Reactive Power Capability. […]
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