Great Northern’s Class 717 Fleet Receives Go-Ahead From ORR To Operate With In-Cab Digital Signalling
The title of this post is the same as that of this press release from Great Northern.
These five paragraphs outline how the new signalling will be introduced.
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has received authorisation from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to place its Class 717 fleet into passenger service using Level 2 European Train Control System (ETCS) digital signalling.
This is a key step towards the introduction of digital signalling on both the Northern City Line, between Finsbury Park and Moorgate in London, and the East Coast Main Line between London and Grantham, as part of the government-funded East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP).
The programme will see traditional lineside signals replaced by state-of-the-art in-cab signalling technology (ETCS). On the Northern City Line this will give Great Northern passengers a more reliable service.
The trains, leased to GTR by Rock Rail, will begin running in passenger service once Network Rail has completed its approval works to switch on the trackside ETCS system. Once this second milestone is achieved later this year, GTR will start training, in passenger service, two hundred and fifty of its Great Northern drivers to drive using ETCS.
The new system overlays the traditional signals, so drivers will be able to continue using ETCS alongside their untrained colleagues once they are qualified, ensuring they maintain full competency until everyone is trained and the old system can be switched off.
I used the route from Essex Road to Moorgate stations, this morning about 09:30 and Great Northern seems to be running eight trains per hour (tph) on that section.
Floating Offshore Substation Project Secures EUDP Funding
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Semco Maritime, ISC Consulting Engineers, Aalborg University, Energy Cluster Denmark, and Norway and Sweden-based Inocean have secured funding to further develop a floating offshore substation (FOSS) concept.
This is the first paragraph.
The parties announced their collaboration in 2022 and are now set to further accelerate floating offshore substation development through funding from the Energy Technology and Demonstration Program (EUDP).
These three paragraphs talk about the design.
The substation layout has been developed to fit the shape of a three-column stabilised substructure, according to the partners.
The floating offshore substation is a crucial component in the offshore wind farm industry as deeper ocean sites further from the coastline are to be utilised, the partners said.
Between 60-80 per cent of the world’s offshore wind energy potential is in areas with depths greater than 60+ metres, which presents a need for an alternative solution to bring the power to shore, such as a floating offshore substation, according to the developers.
That all seems sensible.
Apollo to Work On Celtic Sea Multi-Connection Offshore Substations
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Celtic Sea Power has awarded the Aberdeen-based engineering consultants, Apollo, with the pre-FEED contract for the 400 MW Pembrokeshire Demonstration Zone Multi-connection Offshore Substation (PDZ MOS) and 2x 1 GW MOSs targeting The Crown Estate Refined Area of Search (RAoS) A offshore Wales
This is the first paragraph.
Located 19 kilometres off the Pembrokeshire coast, the PDZ MOS project is designed to allow offshore renewable energy technology developers easy access to a consented test site complete with a grid connection to prove their technology in the offshore environment.
Sounds like the sort of infrastructure that is needed, so you can tow up your experimental floating wind turbine, secure it and just plug it in.
£100m Boost For Biggest UK Hydro Scheme In Decades
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
A giant hydro scheme which would double the UK’s ability to store energy for long periods is taking a leap forward with a £100m investment by SSE.
These are the first three paragraphs.
The proposed 92m-high dam and two reservoirs at Coire Glas in the Highlands would be Britain’s biggest hydroelectric project for 40 years.
Scottish ministers approved the 1.5 GW pumped storage facility in 2020.
But power giant SSE wants assurances from the UK government before finally signing it off.
There are two major problems with this scheme.
Why The Forty Year Wait?
I am an Electrical and Control Engineer and it is a scandal that we are waiting forty years for another pumped storage scheme like the successful Electric Mountain or Cruachan power stations to arrive.
Petrol or diesel vehicles have batteries for these three main purposes.
- To start the engine.
- To stabilise the output of the generator or alternator.
- To provide emergency power.
As to the latter, I can’t be the only person, who has dragged a car out of a ford on the starter motor. But think of the times, you’ve used the hazard warning lights, after an accident or an engine failure.
The nightmare of any operator of a complicated electricity network like the UK’s is a black start, which is defined by Wikipedia like this.
A black start is the process of restoring an electric power station or a part of an electric grid to operation without relying on the external electric power transmission network to recover from a total or partial shutdown.
Hydro electric power stations and especially those that are part of pumped storage schemes are ideal for providing the initial power, as they are often easy to start and have water available. Cruachan power station has a black start capability, but at 440 MW is it big enough?
Over the last few years, many lithium-ion batteries have been added to the UK power network, which are used to stabilise the grid, when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.
There are four pumped storage hydro-electric schemes in the UK.
- Cruachan – 440 MW/7 GWh – 1965
- Dinorwig (Electric Mountain) – 1800 MW/9.1 GWh -1984
- Ffestiniog – 360MW/1.44 GWh – 1963
- Foyers – 300 MW/6.3 GWh – 1974
Note.
- I always give the power output and the storage capacity for a battery, if it is known.
- According to Wikipedia, Scotland has a potential for around 500 GWh of pumped storage.
- The largest lithium-ion battery that I know, that is being planned in the UK, is Intergen’s 320 MW/640 MWh battery at Thames Gateway, that I wrote about in Giant Batteries Will Provide Surge Of Electricity Storage. It’s smaller than any of the four current pumped storage schemes.
- The Wikipedia entry for Coire Glas says that it is a 1.5 GW/30 GWh pumped storage hydro-electric power station.
I very much feel that even one 1.5 GW/30 GWh pumped storage hydro-electric power station must make a big difference mathematically.
Why have we had to wait so long? It’s not as though a pumped storage hydro-electric power station of this size has suffered a serious disaster.
Drax Needs Assurances Too?
The BBC article says this.
Scotland’s only other pumped storage scheme, operated by Drax Group, is housed within a giant artificial cavern inside Ben Cruachan on the shores of Loch Awe in Argyll.
The North Yorkshire-based company plans to more than double the generating capacity of its facility, nicknamed Hollow Mountain, to more than 1GW, with the construction of a new underground power station.
But both Drax and SSE have been reluctant to press ahead without assurances from Whitehall.
It looks like the right assurances would open up at least two pumped storage hydro-electric power station projects.
But it could be better than that, as there are other projects under development.
- Balliemeanoch – 1.5GW/45 GWh
- Corrievarkie – 600 MW/14.5 GWh
- Loch Earba – 900 MW/33 GWh
- Loch Kemp – 300 MW/9 GWh
- Red John – 450 MW/2.8 GWh
This totals to 3750 MW/104.3 GWh or 5850 MW/134.3 GWh with the addition of Coire Glas and the extension to Cruachan.
Getting the assurances right could result in large amounts of construction in Scotland!
What Assurances Do Power Giants SSE And Drax Want Before Signing Off?
This news item on SSE Renewables, which is dated 18th March 2022, is entitled Ministerial Roundtable Seeks To Unlock Investment In UK Energy Storage.
These three paragraphs gives details of the meeting.
Business leaders have met with UK Energy Minister the Rt Hon Greg Hands MP to discuss how the government could unlock significant investment in vital energy storage technologies needed to decarbonise the power sector and help ensure greater energy independence.
The meeting was organised by the Long-Duration Electricity Storage Alliance, a new association of companies, progressing plans across a range of technologies to be first of their kind to be developed in the UK for decades.
Representatives from Drax, SSE Renewables, Highview Power and Invinity Energy Systems met with The Rt Hon Greg Hands MP, Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth [yesterday].
But they still don’t seem to have come up with a funding mechanism.
- In this case, it seems that multiple politicians may not be to blame, as Greg Hands was the Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth until the 6th of September 2022, when he handed over to Graham Stuart, who is still the incumbent.
- Could it be that civil servants for this problem need to be augmented by a Control Engineer with mathematical modelling skills from a practical university?
It is the sort of problem, I would love to get my teeth into, but unfortunately my three mentors in accountancy and banking; Bob, Brian and David, who could have helped me, have all passed on to another place to help someone else with their problems.
I’ve just had a virtual meeting with all three and they told me to look at it like a warehousing system.
Consider.
- It would be very easy to measure the amount of water stored in the upper reservoir of a pumped storage hydro-electric power station.
- It would also be easy to measure the electricity flows to and from the pumped storage hydro-electric power station.
- A monetary value could be placed on the water in the upper reservoir and the flows, depending on the current price for electricity.
So it should be possible to know that a pumped storage hydro-electric power station, was perhaps storing energy as follows.
- 10 GWh for SSE
- 8 GWh for RWE
- 6 GWh for Scottish Power
- 6 GWh is not being used
And just as in a warehouse, they would pay a fee of so much for storing each GWh for an hour.
- The system would work with any type of storage.
- Would competition between the various storage sites bring down prices for storing electricity?
- Pumped storage operators would get a bonus when it rained heavily.
- Just as they do now, electricity generators would store it when prices are low and retrieve it when prices are high.
A lot of the rules used to decide where electricity goes would still work.
Offshore Drone Challenge Takes Off
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
German energy company EnBW and its project partner, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), have published the conditions of entry and the specific flight tasks for the Offshore Drone Challenge (ODC) for the first time.
This is the first paragraph.
As part of the Offshore Drone Challenge, drone manufacturers and service providers are invited to demonstrate their technologies for transporting maintenance equipment to offshore wind farms.
It’s an interesting idea and would make a good television program.
But I suspect, that the winner will be a Ukrainian company, as recently, they’ve had a lot of practice delivering cargoes with a high level of precision into confined and difficult places.
BW Ideol In Talks To Raise EUR 40 Million For Floating Wind Development
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Norway-headquartered BW Ideol and French state-owned investment company ADEME Investissement have agreed to enter into exclusive negotiations for EUR 40 million in funding by ADEME Investissement for BW Ideol’s project development activities.
The rest of the post is all about the clever, but I suspect legal ways, that the € 40 million is raised.
When I needed any advice in that area, I used to consult my late friend the banker; David, who is mentioned in Diversifying A US$200 billion Market: The Alternatives To Li-ion Batteries For Grid-Scale Energy Storage.
When he needed computing advice, that is another story.
RWE Underlines Commitment To Floating Offshore Wind In The Celtic Sea Through New ‘Vision’ Document
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from RWE.
These are the three bullet points.
- Offshore floating wind in the Celtic Sea could unlock 3,000 jobs and £682 million in supply chain opportunities by 2030
- RWE is targeting the development at least 1GW of floating wind in the region
- Using experience from demonstrator projects and partnerships with local supply chain to strengthen ambitions
These opening three paragraphs outline more of RWE’s vision.
RWE, the world’s second largest offshore wind player and largest generator of clean power in Wales, has unveiled its vision for the future of floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea region and the opportunities it presents from new large-scale, commercial projects. Entitled “RWE’s Vision for the Celtic Sea”, the document was unveiled during day one of the Marine Energy Wales conference, in Swansea, where RWE is the Platinum Sponsor.
RWE sees floating wind technology as the next frontier in the development of the offshore wind sector, and which could potentially unlock a multi-billion pound opportunity for the broader Celtic Sea region and the UK.
Studies anticipate the first GW of floating wind to be developed in the Celtic Sea could potentially deliver around 3,000 jobs and £682 million in supply chain opportunities for Wales and the south west of England. Against this backdrop, it’s anticipated the technology could unlock a resurgence in Welsh industry, helping to decarbonise industry and transport, spur on academic innovation, and spearhead the growth of a new, highly skilled workforce.
Reading further down, there are these statements.
- RWE will be bidding in the upcoming Celtic Sea auction with the aim of securing at least 1 gigawatt (GW) of installed capacity, to be developed throughout the 2020’s.
- The Celtic Sea region is pivotal to RWE’s ‘Growing Green’ strategy in the UK, where we expect to invest £15 billion in clean energy infrastructure by 2030.
- A cooperation agreement with Tata SteelUK to understand and explore the production of steel components that could be used in high-tech floating wind foundations and structures for projects in the Celtic Sea.
- The company has also signed agreements with ABP Port Talbot, the Port of Milford Haven and Marine Power Systems of Swansea, to explore opportunities for building the supply chain for floating wind.
- RWE is the largest power producer and renewable energy generator in Wales with more than 3GW of energy across 11 sites.
- If successful in the leasing round, RWE’s Celtic Sea projects will also play a key role in the development of RWE’s Pembroke Net Zero Centre, as well as decarbonizing wider industrial processes and transportation across South Wales.
It looks like RWE are very serious about the Celtic Sea and Pembrokeshire.
Pembroke Net Zero Centre
The Pembroke Net Zero Centre looks to be a powerful beast.
It will be located at the 2200 MW Pembroke power station, which is the largest gas-fired power station in Europe.
These are the first two paragraphs on its web page.
RWE is a world leader in renewables, a market leader in the development of offshore wind and a key driver of the global energy transition. In turn, Pembroke is looking to continue its transformation as part of a decarbonisation hub under the title of the PNZC, linking-up with new innovative technologies needed for a low carbon future, including hydrogen production, Carbon Capture and Storage and floating offshore wind.
The PNZC will bring together all areas of the company’s decarbonisation expertise, including innovation, offshore wind, power engineering, trading and the development/operation of highly technical plants.
The page also talks of burning hydrogen in the power station and an initial 100-300 MW ‘pathfinder’ electrolyser on the Pembroke site.
Conclusion
In some ways, RWE are following a similar philosophy in the area, to that being pursued by SSE at Keadby on Humberside.
As The Crown Estate is talking of 4 GW in the Celtic Sea, it looks like RWE are positioning Pembroke to be the backup, when the wind doesn’t blow.
The Anonymous Widower 