Accelerating The Delivery Of Offshore Wind Farms
It is one of Kwasi Kwarteng’s ambitions to accelerate the delivery of offshore wind farms.
In The Growth Plan 2022, these groups of wind farms are mentioned.
- Remaining Round 3 Projects
- Round 4 Projects
- Extension Projects
- Scotwind Projects
- INTOG Projects
- Floating Wind Commercialisation Projects
- Celtic Sea Projects
My thinking in this post, will probably apply to all of these groups.
These are my thoughts.
Accelerating Delivery Of A Wind Farm
This will have these positive effects.
- Electricity will be delivered earlier.
- Customers will have a more secure supply of electricity.
- The wind farm owner will start to be paid for their electricity.
- The Crown Estate will start to be paid for their leases. Although, these might start at signing.
- National Grid will be paid for the transmission of the electricity.
- An energy storage company could be paid for storing surplus electricity.
- Construction teams and engineers can move on to the next project.
- Expensive construction hardware like ship-mounted cranes will no longer be needed.
- I also suspect that the government will raise some taxes from the various companies involved.
It looks like it’ll be winners all round.
How Will Delivery Be Accelerated?
These are some thoughts.
Overall Project Time
In How Long Does It Take To Build An Offshore Wind Farm?, I came to these conclusions.
- It will take six years or less from planning consent to commissioning.
- It will take two years or less from the start of construction to commissioning.
I suspect that as we have been building offshore wind farms for some years, that it will be very difficult to reduce these times significantly.
But as some wind farms take quite a few years to progress from the initial proposal to planning consent, I suspect that improvements to the planning process may speed up the overall construction time of a wind farm.
Project And Resource Management
Good project and resource management will always help.
Better Design And Construction Methods
I always remember in the early days of North Sea Oil, being told by a very experienced project manager that construction of production platforms was accelerated by the availability of larger and more powerful cranes.
Are we approaching the design of the ultimate wind farm? I doubt it, as in the last few months, I’ve seen two very radical new designs.
In Hexicon Wins UK’s First Ever CfD Auction For Floating Offshore Wind, I show this image of one of their TwinHub turbine installations being towed into place.
The TwinHub home page has a title of The First Floating Offshore Wind Project in The Celtic Sea.
This is the description on the page.
The TwinHub offshore wind demonstration project intends to prove how Hexicon’s innovative design with two turbines on one floating foundation can further reduce the Levelized Cost of Energy (also referred to as LCoE) before large scale commercialisation. The TwinHub project is a stepping stone to help kick-start floating wind in the Celtic Sea, an area identified as a hotspot for floating wind by the UK Government. It will pave the path for larger and larger projects to help support The Crown Estates’ ambitious target of 4GW of floating wind in the Celtic Sea.
Scroll the page down and there is a fascinating short video of a pair of wind turbines in operation.
- It appears that when there is no wind, it automatically goes into a safe parked mode.
- As the wind rises, one turbine starts up.
- The second turbine starts up and the float turns so they face the wind.
It appears to be a classic example of disruptive innovation.
I have a feeling that this type of installation might have generation, assembly and cost advantages over a single turbine mounted on a single float.
RCAM Technologies are also creating interesting designs for mounting turbines and energy storage using 3D-printed concrete.
What Ts The UK Government Doing To Accelerate Projects?
This article on offshoreWIND.biz, was published in late September 2022 and is entitled BREAKING: UK Puts Massive Amount Of New Offshore Wind Capacity On Fast Track and this is the first paragraph.
The UK will speed up planning and development consent processes for projects from the recently completed, currently ongoing, and upcoming (floating) offshore wind leasing rounds to bring new energy capacity online faster and facilitate economic growth and job creation.
The article is based on what Kwasi Kwateng said on the 23rd of September about speeding up projects in the 2022 Growth Plan.
A Quick Summary Of Our Wind Energy
The article has this paragraph, which summarises our wind energy.
For the UK, which currently has around 14 GW of offshore wind capacity in operation and 8 GW under construction, the projects from the listed auction rounds could bring well beyond the targeted capacity for 2030, which was recently raised to 50 GW.
I can see the target being raised again to at least 60 GW.
Great Western Railway Get Innovative
This article on Rail Advent, which is entitled Great Western Railway Trial New Long Weekender Ticket Between London Paddington, Bristol And South Wales, caught my eye.
This is the Long Weekender page on the Great Western Railway web site.
This seems to be the basic rule.
Leave on a Friday or Saturday, return on a Monday and save over 60% compared to an Anytime Return.
You can also apply your Railcard.
This sounds very useful to me.
As an example, I spent an enjoyable couple of days in Swansea, where I explored the area on the rail network. This could be made to fit in with one of these tickets, even if it meant buying a return from Cardiff.
I shall investigate further, as the website booking doesn’t seem to know about the Long Weekender ticket.
I visited Paddington this afternoon and asked one of those guys in a green uniform.
He told me that at the moment you have to buy them in the Booking Office and that they will be available on the web site.
He also thought they were a good idea.
There is also this post on Ian Visits, which is entitled GWR Launches “Long Weekend” Train Tickets.
Ian says this.
GWR added that if the trial of the Long Weekender proves successful, it will be extended to other parts of the network.
Does that mean GWR’s or the National network?
Testing Of Digital Signalling To Close Northern City Line
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
This first paragraph indicates what’s happening.
Any passengers travelling on the Northern City Line between Finsbury Park and Moorgate on Sunday 9th October are being asked to check before they travel due to testing.
I hope that when they’ve finished the testing, they will increase the number of trains on this important route.
An Update To Will We Run Out Of Power This Winter?
My Methods
Project Timescales For Wind Farms
In How Long Does It Take To Build An Offshore Wind Farm?, I came to these conclusions.
- It will take six years or less from planning consent to commissioning.
- It will take two years or less from the start of construction to commissioning.
I shall use these timescales, as any accelerations by the government, will only reduce them.
Dates
If a date is something like 2024/25, I will use the latest date. i.e. 2025 in this example.
The Update
In Will We Run Out Of Power This Winter?, which I wrote in July this year, I did a calculation of how much renewable energy would come on stream in the next few years.
I summarised the amount of new renewable energy coming on stream like this.
- 2022 – 3200 MW
- 2023 – 1500 MW
- 3024 – 2400 MW
- 2025 – 6576 MW
- 2026 – 1705 MW
- 2027 – 7061 GW
This totals to 22442 MW.
But I had made two omissions.
- Hornsea 3 wind farm will add 2582 MW in 2026/27.
- Hinckley Point C nuclear power station will add 3260 MW in 2027.
Ørsted have also brought forward the completion date of the Sofia wind farm to 2023, which moves 1400 GW from 2024 to 2023.
The new renewables summary figures have now changed to.
- 2022 – 3200 MW
- 2023 – 2925 MW
- 3024 – 1326 MW
- 2025 – 6576 MW
- 2026 – 1705 MW
- 2027 – 13173 MW
This totals to 28554 MW.
Note.
- The early delivery of the Sofia wind farm has increased the amount of wind farms coming onstream next year, which will help the Winter of 2023/2024.
- It will also help the Liz Truss/Kwasi Kwarteng government at the next election, that should take place in early 2025.
- Hornsea 3 and Hinckley Point C make 2027 a big year for new renewable energy commissioning.
By 2027, we have more than doubled our renewable energy generation.
The Growth Plan 2022
In this document from the Treasury, the following groups of wind farms are listed for acceleration.
- Remaining Round 3 Projects
- Round 4 Projects
- Extension Projects
- Scotwind Projects
- INTOG Projects
- Floating Wind Commercialisation Projects
- Celtic Sea Projects
I will look at each in turn.
Remaining Round 3 Projects
In this group are the the 1200 MW Dogger Bank B and Dogger Bank C wind farms, which are due for commissioning in 2024/25.
Suppose that as with the Sofia wind farm in the same area, they were to be able to be brought forward by a year.
The new renewables summary figures would change to.
- 2022 – 3200 MW
- 2023 – 2925 MW
- 3024 – 3726 MW
- 2025 – 5076 MW
- 2026 – 1705 MW
- 2027 – 13173 MW
This totals to 28554 MW.
It looks like if Dogger Bank B and Dogger Bank C can be accelerated by a year, it has four effects.
- The renewables come onstream at a more constant rate.
- SSE and Equinor, who are developing the Dogger Bank wind farms start to get paid earlier.
- The UK gets more electricity earlier, which helps bridge the gap until Hornsea 3 and Hinckley Point C come onstream in 2027.
- The UK Government gets taxes and lease fees from the Dogger Bank wind farms at an earlier date.
Accelerating the remaining Round 3 projects would appear to be a good idea.
Round 4 Projects
According to Wikipedia’s list of proposed wind farms, there are six Round 4 wind farms, which total up to 7026 MW.
Accelerating these projects, is probably a matter of improved government regulations and pressure, and good project management.
But all time savings in delivering the wind farms benefits everybody all round.
This document from the Department of Business, Industry and Industrial Strategy lists all the Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 4 results for the supply of zero-carbon electricity.
Many of these projects are smaller projects and I suspect quite a few are shovel ready.
But as with the big wind farms, there are some projects that can be brought forward to everybody’s benefit.
Norfolk Boreas
Norfolk Boreas wind farm is one of the Round 4 projects.
The wind farm is shown as 1400 MW on Wikipedia.
On the web site, it now says construction will start in 2023, which could mean a completion by 2025, as these projects seem to take about two years from first construction to commissioning, as I showed in How Long Does It Take To Build An Offshore Wind Farm?.
The new renewables summary figures would change to.
- 2022 – 3200 MW
- 2023 – 2925 MW
- 3024 – 3726 MW
- 2025 – 6476 MW
- 2026 – 1705 MW
- 2027 – 11773 MW
This still totals to 28554 MW.
This acceleration of a large field would be beneficial, as the 2025 figure has increased substantially.
I would suspect that Vattenfall are looking hard to accelerate their Norfolk projects.
Extension Projects
I first talked about extension projects in Offshore Wind Extension Projects 2017.
The target was to add 2.85 GW of offshore wind and in the end seven projects were authorised.
- Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farm – 719 MW with Dudgeon
- Dudgeon offshore wind farm – 719 MW with Sheringham Shoal
- Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm
- Galloper offshore wind farm
- Rampion offshore wind farm – 1200 MW
- Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm – 1100 MW
- Thanet offshore wind farm – 340 MW
These are the best figures I have and they add up to an interim total of 3359 MW.
I suspect that these projects could be easy to accelerate, as the developers have probably been designing these extensions since 2017.
I think it is reasonable to assume that these seven wind farms will add at least 3000 MW, that can be commissioned by 2027.
The new renewables summary figures would change to.
- 2022 – 3200 MW
- 2023 – 2925 MW
- 3024 – 3726 MW
- 2025 – 6476 MW
- 2026 – 1705 MW
- 2027 – 14773 MW
This now totals to 31554 MW.
Accelerating the extension projects would be a good idea, especially, as they were awarded some years ago, so are probably well into the design phase.
ScotWind Projects
I first talked about ScotWind in ScotWind Offshore Wind Leasing Delivers Major Boost To Scotland’s Net Zero Aspirations.
It was planned to do the following.
- Generate 9.7 GW from six wind farms with fixed foundations.
- Generate 14.6 GW from ten floating wind farms.
But since then three more floating wind farms with a total capacity of 2800 MW have been added, as I wrote about in Three Shetland ScotWind Projects Announced.
I suspect that some of these projects are ripe for acceleration and some may well be generating useful electricity by 2030 or even earlier.
INTOG Projects
I wrote about INTOG in What Is INTOG?.
I can see the INTOG Projects contributing significantly to our fleet of offshore wind turbines.
I have already found a 6 GW/£30 billion project to decarbonise oil and gas rigs around our shores, which is proposed by Cerulean Winds and described on this web page.
If the other large INTOG projects are as good as this one, then we’ll be seeing some sensational engineering.
Floating Wind Commercialisation Projects
This page on the Carbon Trust website is entitled Floating Wind Joint Industry Programme (JIP).
They appear to be very much involved in projects like these.
The page has this description.
The Floating Wind Joint Industry Programme is a world leading collaborative research and development (R&D) initiative dedicated to overcoming technological challenges and advancing commercialisation of floating offshore wind.
This graphic shows the partners and advisors.
Most of the big wind farm builders and turbine and electrical gubbins manufacturers are represented.
Celtic Sea Projects
The Celtic Sea lies between South-East Ireland, Pembrokeshire and the Devon and Cornwall peninsular.
The Crown Estate kicked this off with press release in July 2022, that I wrote about in The Crown Estate Announces Areas Of Search To Support Growth Of Floating Wind In The Celtic Sea.
This map shows the five areas of search.
One Celtic Sea project has already been awarded a Contract for Difference in the Round 4 allocation, which I wrote about in Hexicon Wins UK’s First Ever CfD Auction For Floating Offshore Wind.
Other wind farms have already been proposed for the Celtic Sea.
In DP Energy And Offshore Wind Farms In Ireland, I said this.
They are also developing the Gwynt Glas offshore wind farm in the UK sector of the Celtic Sea.
- In January 2022, EDF Renewables and DP Energy announced a Joint Venture partnership to combine their knowledge and
expertise, in order to participate in the leasing round to secure seabed rights to develop up to 1GW of FLOW in the Celtic Sea. - The wind farm is located between Pembroke and Cornwall.
The addition of Gwynt Glas will increase the total of floating offshore wind in the UK section of the Celtic Sea.
- Blue Gem Wind – Erebus – 100 MW Demonstration project – 27 miles offshore
- Blue Gem Wind – Valorus – 300 MW Early-Commercial project – 31 miles offshore
- Falck Renewables and BlueFloat Energy – Petroc – 300 MW project – 37 miles offshore
- Falck Renewables and BlueFloat Energy – Llywelyn – 300 MW project – 40 miles offshore
- Llŷr Wind – 100 MW Project – 25 miles offshore
- Llŷr Wind – 100 MW Project – 25 miles offshore
- Gwynt Glas – 1000 MW Project – 50 miles offshore
This makes a total of 2.2 GW, with investors from several countries.
It does seem that the Celtic Sea is becoming the next area of offshore wind around the British Isles to be developed.
How do these wind farms fit in with the Crown Estate’s plans for the Celtic Sea?
I certainly, don’t think that the Crown Estate will be short of worthwhile proposals.
Conclusion
More and more wind farms keep rolling in.
What Is INTOG?
This page on the Crown Estate Scotland web site outlines INTOG.
This is the introduction at the top of the page.
Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) is a leasing round for offshore wind projects that will directly reduce emissions from oil & gas production and boost further innovation.
Developers can apply for seabed rights to build two types of offshore wind project:
IN – Small scale, innovative projects, of less than 100MW
TOG – Projects connected directly to oil and gas infrastructure, to provide electricity and reduce the carbon emissions associated with production
INTOG is designed, in response to demand from government and industry, to help achieve the targets of the North Sea Transition Sector Deal, which is a sector deal between government and the offshore oil and gas industry.
I have a few thoughts and have also found some news stories.
Isolated Communities
This document from the Department of Business, Industry and Industrial Strategy lists all the Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 4 results for the supply of zero-carbon electricity that were announced yesterday.
The document introduces the concept of Remote Island Wind, which I wrote about in The Concept Of Remote Island Wind.
I don’t know of one, but there might be isolated communities, with perhaps a dodgy power supply, who might like to improve this, by means of a small offshore wind farm, meeting perhaps these criteria.
- Less than 100 MW.
- Agreement of the locals.
- A community fund.
- An important use for the electricity.
Locations and applications could be.
- A small fishing port, where winds regularly bring the grid cable down in winter.
- A village with a rail station to perhaps charge battery-electric trains.
- A deep loch, where floating wind turbines are erected.
- To provide hydrogen for transport.
We shall see what ideas are put forward.
Floating Power Stations
Floating wind farms are generally made up of individual turbines on floats.
- Turbines can be up to the largest used onshore or on fixed foundations.
- The Kincardine floating offshore wind farm in Scotland uses 9.5 MW turbines.
- The floats are anchored to the sea bed.
- There is a power cable connecting the turbines appropriately to each other, the shore or an offshore substation.
But we are talking innovation here, so we might see some first-of-a-kind ideas.
Single Floating Turbines
A large floating wind farm, is effectively a large number of floating wind turbines anchored in the same area of sea, and connected to the same floating or fixed substation.
I can’t see any reason, why a single floating wind turbine couldn’t be anchored by itself to provide local power.
It might even be connected to an onshore or subsea energy store, so that it provided a more constant output.
Surely, a single turbine perhaps ten miles offshore wouldn’t be a very large blot on the seascape?
I grew up in Felixstowe and got used to seeing HM Fort Roughs on the horizon from the beach. That is seven miles offshore and some people, I know have windsurfed around it from the beach.
TwinHub
I talked about TwinHub in Hexicon Wins UK’s First Ever CfD Auction For Floating Offshore Wind.
TwinHub mounts two turbines on one float and this is a visualisation of a TwinHub being towed into place.
Note.
- The design turns into the wind automatically, so that the maximum amount of electricity is generated.
- A Contract for Difference for a 32 MW TwinHub has been awarded, at a strike price of £87.30/MWh, that will be installed near Hayle in Cornwall.
- With a capacity factor of 50 %, that will produce just over 140,160 MWh per year or over £12 million per year.
This article on the BBC, which is entitled Funding Secured For Floating Wind Farm Off Cornwall, gives more details of the Hayle TwinHub.
The possibility of a floating wind farm off the coast of Cornwall has moved a step closer after securing government funding, project bosses have said.
Swedish company Hexicon plans to install its TwinHub system, with the hope it could begin operating in 2025.
It would be deployed about 10 miles (16km) off Hayle.
Project supporters said it could be a boost to the local economy and help establish Cornwall in the growing renewable energy sector.
Figures have not been released, but it is understood the government funding has effectively secured a fixed price for the power TwinHub would produce for 15 years, making it economically viable.
The article says that this 32 MW system could develop enough electricity for 45,000 homes.
This could be a very suitable size for many applications.
- As at Hayle, one could be floated just off the coast to power a remote part of the country. As Cornwall has a few old mine shafts, it might even be backed up by a Gravitricity system on shore or another suitable non-lithium battery.
- Could one float alongside an oil or gas platform and be tethered to it, to provide the power?
Scotland’s hydroelectric power stations, prove that not all power stations have to be large to be successful.
Vårgrønn and Flotation Energy’s Joint Bid
This article on offshoreWIND.biz is entitled Vårgrønn And Flotation Energy To Jointly Bid in INTOG Leasing Round, gives a few details about their joint bid.
But there is nothing substantial about ideas and locations.
I can see several joint ventures with a suitable system, bidding for various projects around the Scottish coast.
Cerulean
Cerulean sounds like it could be a sea monster, but it is a shade of blue.
This article on offshoreWind.biz is entitled Cerulean Reveals 6 GW Floating Offshore Wind Bid Under INTOG Leasing Round.
These are the two introductory paragraphs.
Green energy infrastructure developer Cerulean Winds has revealed it will bid for four seabed lease sites with a combined capacity of 6 GW of floating wind to decarbonise the UK’s oil and gas sector under Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round.
This scale will remove more emissions quickly, keep costs lower for platform operators and provide the anchor for large-scale North-South offshore transmission, Cerulean Winds said.
Note.
- It is privately-funded project, that needs no government subsidy and will cost £30 billion.
- It looks like each site will be a hundred turbines.
- If they’re the same, they could be 1.5 GW each.
- Each site will need £7.5 billion of investment. So it looks like Cerulean have access to a similar magic money tree as Kwasi Kwarteng.
Effectively, they’re building four 1.5 GW power stations in the seas around us to power a large proportion of the oil and gas rigs.
For more on Cerulean Winds’ massive project see Cerulean Winds Is A Different Type Of Wind Energy Company.
Will There Be An Offshore Wind Supermarket?
I can see the big turbine, float and electrical gubbins manufacturers establishing a one-stop shop for developers, who want to install small wind farms, that meet the INTOG criteria.
So suppose, the archetypal Scottish laird in his castle on his own island wanted a 6 MW turbine to go green, he would just go to the B & Q Offshore web site and order what he needed. It would then be towed into place and connected to his local grid.
I can see modular systems being developed, that fit both local infrastructure and oil and gas platforms.
Conclusion
I can see scores of projects being submitted.
I even know the son of a Scottish laird, whose father owns a castle on an island, who could be taking interest in INTOG. They might also apply under Remote Island Wind in another leasing round.
But we will have to wait until the end of March 2023, to find out who have been successful.
Six Good Points Of The Elizabeth Line
The Ride Quality
I wrote about this in The Quality Of The Ride On The Lizzie Line.
The Virtual Extension Of The Elizabeth Line To Epping And South West Essex
I wrote about this in Elizabeth/Central Line Interchange At Stratford – 23rd June 2022.
The Quality Of The Station Staff
They are excellent and I suspect they’ve been very well-trained.
The Bakerloo Line Link At Paddington Station
I wrote about this in Elizabeth Line – Paddington Bakerloo Line Link – 24th May 2022.
The Connection Between The Northern And Lizzie Lines At Tottenham Court Road Station
Iwrote about this in The Connection Between The Northern And Lizzie Lines At Tottenham Court Road Station.
The Underground Link between Liverpool Street and Moorgate Stations
I wrote about this in London’s First Underground Roller Coaster.
I wrote about my first ride in Elizabeth Line – Riding The Underground Roller Coaster At Liverpool Street Station – 24th May 2022.
Elizabeth Line: Bond Street Station Gets Opening Date
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
These are the first two paragraphs.
The opening date for the Elizabeth line at Bond Street station has been revealed.
The central London station will begin taking passengers from 24 October, subject to final approvals, Transport for London (TfL) said.
The 24th of October is a Monday.
Serious Fire At Silvertown Tunnel Worksite: Severe Repercussions?
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Murky Depths.
Apparently, this may mean that the tunnel builders may have to build more affordable homes, if the tunnel is delayed.
Given the serious opposition to this tunnel, I wonder if this wasn’t an accidental fire.
‘It Was Wonderful’: Eviation’s Alice Electric Airplane Wins Praise After Its First Flight Test
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on GeekWire.
The long-expected first flight of Eviation Alice has happened.
The flight was only a short one and was described like this in the article.
Alice flew for eight minutes and reached a maximum altitude of 3,500 feet before landing safely back at the airport.
There is also a video in this article on Electrek, which is entitled Watch Eviation’s All-Electric Alice Aircraft First Flight.
This is an important milestone in the history of aviation.
Coeliacs On A Gluten-Free Diet And The AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine
I am coeliac and I am on a strict gluten-free diet.
I have not had a serious dose of Covid-19, but I may have had a very mild dose, after a meeting with about twenty Chinese students, that I described in Did I Have A Close Brush With Covid-19?
That would not be possible to check now, but I did have a bad reaction after my AstraZeneca vaccine, which I wrote about in July 2021 in Hay Fever, Coeliac Disease And The AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine. I also told my GP about it and he said he’d heard similar tales.
I had no reaction to my second AstraZeneca vaccine.
This year my hay fever was even worse. Is this due to my immune system being boosted by the vaccines?
Yesterday, at a funeral, I met an old friend, who is on a strict gluten-free diet and she had not had a serious dose of Covid-19. But like me, she did have a serious reaction to her first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
I’d like to hear any experiences of coeliacs on a gluten-free diet during the pandemic.
The Anonymous Widower 