Cold Snap Leaves Britain With Less Than A Week’s Worth Of Gas
The title of this post, are the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
The closure of Russian pipelines through Ukraine and recent weather conditions have left gas stores ‘concerningly low’
These are the first two paragraphs.
Britain has less than a week of gas supplies in storage, the country’s largest supplier has warned after plunging temperatures and high demand.
Centrica, the owner of British Gas, said the UK’s gas storage was “concerningly low” after coming under pressure this winter.
The two largest gas storage facilities in this country are both in the Humberside area.
- Aldbrough is in salt caverns North of Hull and is owned by SSE.
- Rough is under the North Sea and is owned by Centrica
Both are being converted to store hydrogen.
Some might thing that is a bit stupid if we’re short of storage, but we need the hydrogen storage for four reasons.
- To store hydrogen created by electrolysers on Humberside, which will enable heavy gas users in the area to decarbonise.
- The hydrogen will also be burnt in a 1 GW hydrogen-fired power station at Keadby to back up the wind turbines, with zero-carbon electricity.
- The hydrogen will also be sold to the Germans to replace Putin’s blood-stained gas. It will be sent to Germany in a pipeline called AquaVentus, which will also deliver Scottish hydrogen across the North Sea. Hopefully, the Germans will pay a good price for the hydrogen.
- The hydrogen will be used for transport.
The mistake the Government is making is not to develop smaller gas fields, so that domestic gas users can continue to use natural gas, until the technology to replace it with zero-carbon sources is fully developed.
‘Europe’s Biggest Battery Farm’ Built On Coal Mine
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Work is under way to create what has been described as Europe’s largest battery storage project at Coalburn in South Lanarkshire.
These three paragraphs add a bit more detail.
Developers say the two huge neighbouring battery farms – one at the site of a former opencast coal mine – will store enough electricity to power three million homes.
Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are being built across the UK to help balance the electricity grid, which is becoming increasingly powered by renewables.
Almost 90% of the electricity generated in Scotland last year was from low carbon sources like wind, solar or nuclear, according to figures from the Scottish government.
A search of the Internet found this paragraph describing the size of the battery.
The CIP BESS portfolio (Coalburn 1, Coalburn 2, and Devilla) will have total power capacity of 1.5GW and will be able to store and supply the grid with a total of 3GWh of electricity, equivalent to the electricity demand of over 4.5 million households, across a 2-hour period.
Note.
- CIP is Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, who are a large developer of energy infrastructure.
- It appears there are three separate 500 MW/ 1 GWh batteries being developed together.
- The batteries can supply electricity for two hours.
This looks like a sensible project in an area, where there could be plenty of spare electricity.
Competition With Highview Power
Highview Power’s web site has a Projects section, where this is said.
Scotland And The North-East, UK
Highview Power’s next projects will be located in Scotland and the North East and each will be 200MW/2.5GWh capacity. These will be located on the national transmission network where the wind is being generated and therefore will enable these regions to unleash their untapped renewable energy potential and store excess wind power at scale.
I can see Highview Power’s 200MW/2.5GWh liquid air batteries and 500 MW/ 1 GWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) competing for the same projects.
However, it does appear at Trafford Energy Park, both types of battery appear to be being installed.
- Carlton Power Secures Planning Consent For World’s Largest Battery Energy Storage Scheme
- Centrica Invests In Renewable Energy Storage Capabilities To Boost UK’s Energy Security And Accelerate Transition To Net Zero
Perhaps the two together give the best response?
The Anonymous Widower 