The Anonymous Widower

RWE And the Norfolk Wind Farms

In March 2024, I wrote RWE And Vattenfall Complete Multi-Gigawatt Offshore Wind Transaction In UK, which described how Vattenfall had sold 4.2 GW of offshore wind farms, situated off North-East Norfolk to RWE.

This map from RWE shows the wind farms.

Note.

1. The Norfolk Zone consists of three wind farms; Norfolk Vanguard West, Norfolk Boreas and Norfolk Vanguard East.
2. The three wind farms are 1.4 GW fixed-foundation wind farms.
3. In Vattenfall Selects Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone O&M Base, I describe how the Port of Great Yarmouth had been selected as the O & M base.
4. Great Yarmouth and nearby Lowestoft are both ports, with a long history of supporting shipbuilding and offshore engineering.

The wind farms and the operational port are all close together, which probably makes things convenient.

So why did Vattenfall sell the development rights of the three wind farms to RWE?

Too Much Wind?

East Anglia is fringed with wind farms all the way between the Wash and the Thames Estuary.

• Lincs – 270 MW
• Lynn and Inner Dowsing – 194 MW
• Race Bank – 580 MW
• Triton Knoll – 857 MW
• Sheringham Shoal – 317 MW
• Dudgeon – 402 MW
• Hornsea 3 – 2852 MW *
• Scroby Sands – 60 MW
• East Anglia One North – 800 MW *
• East Anglia Two – 900 MW *
• East Anglia Three – 1372 MW *
• Greater Gabbard – 504 MW
• Galloper – 353 MW
• Five Estuaries – 353 MW *
• North Falls – 504 MW *
• Gunfleet Sands – 172 MW
• London Array – 630 MW

Note.

1. Wind farms marked with an * are under development or under construction.
2. There is 4339 MW of operational wind farms between the Wash and the Thames Estuary.
3. An extra 6781 MW is also under development.

If all goes well, East Anglia will have over 11 GW of operational wind farms or over 15 GW, if the three Norfolk wind farms are built.

East Anglia is noted more for its agriculture and not for its heavy industries consuming large amounts of electricity, so did Vattenfall decide, that there would be difficulties selling the electricity?

East Anglia’s Nimbies

East Anglia’s Nimbies seem to have started a campaign against new overground cables and all these new wind farms will need a large capacity increase between the main substations of the National Grid and the coast.

So did the extra costs of burying the cable make Vattenfall think twice about developing these wind farms?

East Anglia and Kent’s Interconnectors

East Anglia and Kent already has several interconnectors to Europe

• Viking Link – Bicker Fen and Jutland – 1.4 GW
• LionLink – Suffolk and the Netherlands – 1.8 GW – In Planning
• Nautilus – Suffolk or Isle of Grain and Belgium – 1.4 GW – In Planning
• BritNed – Isle of Grain and Maasvlakte – 1.0 GW
• NeuConnect – Isle of Grain and Wilhelmshaven – 1.4 GW – Under Construction
• GridLink Interconnector – Kingsnorth and Warande – 1.4 GW – Proposed
• HVDC Cross-Channel – Sellinge and Bonningues-lès-Calais – 2.0 GW
• ElecLink – Folkestone and Peuplingues – 1.0 GW
• Nemo Link – Richborough and Zeebrugge – 1.0 GW

Note.

1. Five interconnectors with a capacity of 6.4 GW.
2. A further four interconnectors with a capacity of 6 GW are on their way.

At 12.4 GW, the future capacity of the interconnectors between South-East England and Europe, is nor far short of South-East English wind power.

There are also two gas pipelines from the Bacton gas terminal between Cromer and Great Yarmouth to Europe.

The Wikipedia entry for the Bacton gas terminal gives these descriptions of the two gas pipelines.

Interconnector UK – This can import gas from, or export gas to, Zeebrugge, Belgium via a 235 km pipeline operating at up to 147 bar. There is a 30-inch direct access line from the SEAL pipeline. The Interconnector was commissioned in 1998.

BBL (Bacton–Balgzand line) – This receives gas from the compressor station in Anna Paulowna in the Netherlands. The BBL Pipeline is 235 km long and was commissioned in December 2006.

It would appear that East Anglia and Kent are well connected to the Benelux countries, with both electricity and gas links, but with the exception of the Viking Link, there is no connection to the Scandinavian countries.

Did this lack of connection to Sweden make convincing the Swedish government, reluctant to support Vattenfall in their plans?

Bringing The Energy From The Norfolk Wind Farms To Market

It looks to me, that distributing up to 4.2 GW from the Norfolk wind farms will not be a simple exercise.

• Other wind farms like the 2852 MW Hornsea 3 wind farm, may need a grid connection on the North Norfolk coast.
• The Nimbies will not like a South-Western route to the National Grid at the West of Norwich.
• An interconnector to Denmark or Germany from North Norfolk would probably help.

But at least there are two gas pipelines to Belgium and the Netherlands.

RWE, who now own the rights to the Norfolk wind farms, have a large amount of interests in the UK.

• RWE are the largest power producer in the UK.
• They supply 15 % of UK electricity.
• They have interest in twelve offshore wind farms in the UK. When fully-developed, they will have a capacity of almost 12 GW.
• RWE are developing the Pembroke Net Zero Centre, which includes a hydrogen electrolyser.

RWE expects to invest up to £15 billion in the UK by 2030 in new and existing green technologies and infrastructure as part of this.

Could this be RWE’s plan?

As the Norfolk wind farms are badly placed to provide electricity to the UK grid could RWE have decided to use the three Norfolk wind farms to produce hydrogen instead.

• The electrolyser could be placed onshore or offshore.
• If placed onshore, it could be placed near to the Bacton gas terminal.
• There are even depleted gas fields, where hydrogen could be stored.

How will the hydrogen be distributed and/or used?

It could be delivered by tanker ship or tanker truck to anyone who needs it.

In Developing A Rural Hydrogen Network, I describe how a rural hydrogen network could be developed, that decarbonises the countryside.

There are three major gas pipelines leading away from the Bacton gas terminal.

1. The connection to the UK gas network.
2. Interconnector UK to Belgium.
3. BBL to The Netherlands.

These pipelines could be used to distribute hydrogen as a hydrogen blend with natural gas.

In UK – Hydrogen To Be Added To Britain’s Gas Supply By 2025, I describe the effects of adding hydrogen to the UK’s natural gas network.

 

 

 

 

May 16, 2024 - Posted by AnonW | Energy, Hydrogen | Bacton Gas Terminal, Belgium, Germany, Hydrogen Blend, National Grid, Norfolk, Norfolk Boreas Wind Farm, Norfolk Vanguard Wind Farm, Offshore Hydrogen Production, Offshore Wind Power, Pembroke Net Zero Centre, Port Of Great Yarmouth, RWE, Suffolk, Sweden, The Netherlands, Vattenfall, Viking Link