The Anonymous Widower

Vattenfall Stops Developing Major Wind Farm Offshore UK, Will Review Entire 4.2 GW Zone

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.

This is the sub-heading.

Vattenfall has stopped the development of the Norfolk Boreas offshore wind power project in the UK and will review the way forward for the entire 4.2 GW Norfolk Zone, the Swedish energy company revealed in its interim report.

This is the first paragraph.

The developer said that the decision to stop the project was made due to ”challenging market conditions”, adding that ”financial frameworks have not adapted to reflect the current market conditions” so far.

Vattenfall are also complaining about inflation and cost increases if up to 40 %.

I have my thoughts.

Great Yarmouth Support Base

In some ways, I find this decision to pull out strange, as it was only in March this year that Vattenfall signed a contract with Peel Ports to build a support base for their Norfolk wind farms at Great Yarmouth.

I don’t think that Peel Ports will be too bothered, as they are a well-funded company and there are plenty of wind farm proposals in the sea around Norfolk, who could use a base at Great Yarmuth.

Cable Routes And Nimbys

These Norfolk wind farms have suffered opposition from Nimbys to the cable route, that will be taking the electricity away from the coast. This may have increased the cost of delivery of the electricity to market.

An Offshore Cable Route

In January 2022, I wrote Is There A Need For A Norfolk-Suffolk Interconnector?, where I analysed the amount of energy, that will be produce in Norfolk and Suffolk.

This was my conclusion.

I believe there are a lot of possibilities, that would meet the three objectives, I stated earlier.

• • Avoid as much disruption on the land as possible.
  • Create the capacity to deliver all the energy generated to customers, either as electricity or hydrogen.
  • Create an expandable framework, that would support all the wind farms that could be built in the future.

In addition, simple mathematics says to me, that either there will need to be extra capacity at both Bicker Fen and Bullen Lane substations and onward to the rest of the country, or a large electrolyser to convert several gigawatts of electricity into hydrogen for distribution, through the gas network.

Note.

1. An offshore Multiple Purpose Interconnector (MPI) could be built between Bicker Fen in Lincolnshire and the Isle of Grain.
2. An electrolyser could be built offshore, joined to the MPI and connected to the Bacton gas terminal.
3. There could be local offshore hydrogen storage.
4. Bicker Fen is connected to the Viking Link to Denmark.
5. An offshore link could have its Southern end at the Isle of Grain, from where the electricity can be exported to Germany, by the NeuConnect interconnector, that is under construction.

There must be sufficient capacity, so that all energy is delivered to customers, as either electricity or hydrogen.

 

I’ve always favoured delivering electricity from these and other East Anglian wind farms with an offshore cable route away from the coast between perhaps Bicker Fen in Lincolnshire and the the Isle of Grain, from where the electricity can be exported to Germany, by an interconnector, that is being built.

Competition From Scotland

National Grid are improving the offshore grid between Scotland and Humberside, so perhaps Vattenfall might have a competition problem, when it comes to selling their electricity.

If you have no market for a product, then the price drops.

Is East Anglia A Bad Place To Have Surplus Electricity?

Consider.

• It should also be remembered that East Anglia has no heavy electricity users.
• There are also no substantial mountains for building large pumped-storage hydro schemes, as Scotland is proposing to do.
• The construction of Sizewell C will add more electricity to the area.

In my view the best thing to do would be to build a giant electrolyser near the Bacton gas terminal.

Was It A Mistake For Vattenfall To Make A Bid?

Looking at the delivery problems for the Norfolk wind farms, I think that Vattenfall made a bad decision to bid for them.

• The wind farms are too far North to serve London and the South-East and to export the electricity to the Continent.
• They are also too far South to serve the industry in the North around the Humber and the Tees.

It looks an obvious case of wrong Location, Location and Location.

Could Norfolk Boreas And Norfolk Viking Work Economically?

I suspect these ideas could help.

• A Multiple Purpose Interconnector (MPI) would be built between Bicker Fen in Lincolnshire and the Isle of Grain.
• The MPI would connect to any wind farms on the route.
• An offshore electrolyser opposite Bacton would be connected to the MPI to use surplus electricity to generate hydrogen, which would be distributed through the gas grid.

The whole network of wind farms, interconnectors, electrolysers and storage needs to be comprehensively designed, so that it provides the South-East corner of England, with enough reliable electricity and hydrogen.

July 20, 2023 - Posted by AnonW | Energy | Great Yarmouth, National Grid, Nimbies, Norfolk Boreas Wind Farm, Norfolk Vanguard Wind Farm, Offshore Wind Power, Vattenfall, Viking Link, Wind Power