BayWa r.e. Unveils Subsidy-Free Floating Wind Project Offshore Portugal
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the first paragraph.
BayWa r.e. has officially applied to secure the rights for an exclusive use of the seabed for a commercial-scale floating offshore wind project in Portugal, which the company said will be the first subsidy-free floating wind farm in the world.
Note.
- BayWa are a German company headquartered in Munich.
- The windfarm will have a 600 MW capacity in total, in a dedicated zone off the coastline of Viana do Castelo.
- It will be a floating wind farm.
- Viana do Castelo is situated at the mouth of the Lima River and is about 74 km. to the North of Porto.
But surely the most significant fact about this project is that it is subsidy-free.
BayWa And Subsidy-Free Wind Farms
This page on the BayWa web site is entitled BayWa r.e. Sells UK’s First Subsidy-Free Wind Farm.
This is the first paragraph.
BayWa r.e. has reached a milestone for itself and the UK renewable energy sector with the completion and sale of the country’s first subsidy-free windfarm to James Jones & Sons Ltd and London-based specialist asset manager, Gresham House Asset Management.
Note.
- This is the first time, I’ve seen Gresham House associated with wind farms.
- BayWa appear to have a fifteen year agreement with Tesco for the generated electricity.
The whole page is a must read.
Conclusion
Does this mean, that we will be seeing subsidy-free floating wind farms around the UK?
Get the engineering, manufacturing and financial support right for floating wind farms in the UK and wind farms could be bumper-to-bumper around these islands.
Plans Emerge For 8 GW Of Offshore Wind On Dogger Bank
Wikipedia has an entry, which is a List Of Offshore Wind Farms In The United Kingdom.
The totals are worth a look.
- Operational – 13279 MW
- Under Construction – 4125 MW
- Proposed Under The UK Government’s Contracts For Difference Round 3 – 2412 MW
- Proposed Under The UK Government’s Contracts For Difference Round 4 – 7026 MW
- Exploratory Phase, But No Contract for Difference – Scotland – 24,826 MW
- Exploratory Phase, But No Contract for Difference – England – 14,500 MW
Note.
- That gives a Grand Total of 66,168 MW or 66.168 GW.
- The government’s target is 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030.
- The typical UK power need is around 23 GW, so with nuclear and solar, we could be approaching three times the electricity generation capacity that we currently need.
The figures don’t include projects like Berwick Bank, Cerulean Wind, Norfolk Vanguard or Northern Horizons, which are not mentioned in Wikipedia’s list.
I regularly look at the list of wind farms in this Wikipedia entry and noticed that the number of Dogger Bank wind farms had increased.
They are now given as.
- Dogger Bank A – 1200 MW – Completion in 2023/24
- Dogger Bank B – 1200 MW – Completion in 2024/25
- Dogger Bank C – 1200 MW – Completion in 2024/25
- Dogger Bank D – 1320 MW – No Completion Given
- Dogger Bank South – 3000 MW – No Completion Given
Note, that gives a Grand Total of 7920 MW or 7.920 GW.
This article on offshoreWIND.biz is entitled BREAKING: SSE, Equinor Plan 1.3 GW Dogger Bank D Offshore Wind Project.
It was published on the October 6th, 2022 and starts with this summary.
SSE Renewables and Equinor are looking into building what would be the fourth part of Dogger Bank Wind Farm, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, whose three phases (A, B and C) are currently under construction. Surveys are now underway at an offshore site where the partners want to develop Dogger Bank D, which would bring Dogger Bank Wind Farm’s total capacity to nearly 5 GW if built.
Obviously, there are a few ifs and buts about this development, but it does look like SSE Renewables and Equinor are serious about developing Dogger Bank D.
More Dogger Bank Gigawatts for UK As RWE Moves Forward With Two 1.5 GW Projects
This subheading describes, the 3 GW wind farm, that I listed earlier as Dogger Bank South.
These three paragraphs describe the projects.
RWE is now moving forward with two new offshore wind farms in the Zone, each with a 1.5 GW generation capacity, after the company obtained approval from the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to enter into an Agreement for Lease with The Crown Estate this Summer, following the Round 4 leasing process.
The wind farms will be built at two adjacent sites located just southwest of the Dogger Bank A offshore wind farm and are dubbed Dogger Bank South (DBS) East and Dogger Bank South (DBS) West.
RWE has also started with geophysical seabed surveys within the wind turbine array areas for its two new projects.
It appears that they have already got the leasing process started.
When Will Dogger Bank D And Dogger Bank South Be Operational?
Consider.
- In How Long Does It Take To Build An Offshore Wind Farm?, showed that a lot of offshore wind farms have gone from planning permission to first operation in six years.
- I don’t think that there will be planning permission problems on the Dogger Bank.
- The two wind farms are a continuation of Dogger Bank A, B and C and the Sofia wind farms.
- A lot of the construction, would be more of the same.
With average luck, I can see Dogger Bank D and Dogger Bank South in full production before the end of 2028.
Portugal’s Sevenair Eyes Up To 6 Heart Aerospace ES-30 Electric Aircraft
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Simple Flying.
Some points from the article.
- Sevenair are a Portuguese regional airline.
- Sevenair run several short routes.
- Heart Aerospace has 230 firm orders and a 100 options for the the ES-30.
Heart Aerospace may not have been the first company to fly an electric airliner, but they do seem to be attracting orders.
Harbour Energy
This article in The Times in the Tempus column is entitled Oil And Gas Producer Harbour Energy Offers Safe Haven.
This is the first paragraph.
Booming commodity prices mean Harbour Energy is throwing off cash and yet the biggest oil and gas producer in the UK North Sea is still struggling to gain credibility in the eyes of investors.
Reading the column, it does seem a bit of a paradox, when the author says.
- London-listed oil and gas companies are cheap.
- Harbour Energy is in the bargain basement.
- The share price doesn’t reflect the P/E ratio.
- The company seems to have the money for acquisitions.
- It doesn’t seem to have taken advantage of the Ukraine situation.
- Revenues should transform its cash flow position.
The author finishes by recommending to buy the shares.
In Cerulean Winds Is A Different Type Of Wind Energy Company, I introduced Cerulean Winds and their £30 billion plan to decarbonise much of North Sea oil and gas production. This sensational plan is described in full on this page of their web site, which is entitled The Cerulean Winds Intog Scheme.
It strikes me that Harbour Energy could be the sort of energy company that could benefit from Cerulean Winds’s scheme.
- It could increase their gas production by ten percent.
- Harbour Energy probably have the money to decarbonise.
- Would decarbonising their North Sea operations improve the company’s profile?
I will certainly watch for any links between the two companies.
The Salamander Project
The Salamander project may be a strange name for a proposed Scottish offshore wind farm, but that is what it is.
It is being developed by Ørsted and the Simply Blue Group.
There is a web site, which has this bold mission statement.
Helping To Unlock Scotland’s Floating Offshore Wind.
These paragraphs outline the project.
The Salamander project will utilise innovative and cutting-edge floating offshore wind technologies to produce zero-carbon electricity. The development aims to be a stepping stone to help Scotland and the UK to progress towards a net-zero future.
With a proposed 100 MW pre-commercial size project, the Salamander project which is located off Peterhead in the East coast of Scotland, is in an advanced planning stage. Salamander has a strong focus on supply chain development and will provide an opportunity for the local supply chain to gear up for commercial scale opportunities in Scotland, as well as de-risking floating wind technologies for the future commercial projects in Scotland and beyond. This will allow Scotland to maximise the financial benefit of its strong offshore wind resource and generate long term jobs for its local communities.
The project will contribute to the Scottish government’s target of 11 GW of installed offshore wind by 2030, as well as the UK government’s target of 5 GW of operational floating offshore wind by the same date.
There is also a video, which is very much a must-watch.
Floating offshore wind is a relatively new technology and will become the major generator of the world’s electricity within the next decade.
Note this phrase in the first paragraph.
The development aims to be a stepping stone to help Scotland and the UK to progress towards a net-zero future.
This philosophy is shared with other projects.
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.
These Celtic Sea wind farms include Erebus, which like Salamander is a 100 MW demonstration project.
Salamander And Erebus Compared
Consider.
- Both are 100 MW floating wind demonstration projects.
- Salamander and Erebus are 27 and 21 miles offshore respectively.
- Salamander and Erebus are close to the deepwater ports of Peterhead and Milford Haven.
- Both are described as stepping-stone projects.
- Both projects talk about developing supply chains.
- The developers of Salamander and Erebus include Ørsted and EDF Renewables respectively, who are both big beasts of the offshore wind industry.
Both wind farms are in areas, where the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments want to develop massive offshore wind farms, that will eventually total over 50 GW. I believe that Salamander and Erebus will indicate any problems, that will be likely to occur in the building of these massive offshore floating wind farms.
It is a very sensible plan and could lead to an energy rich future for the UK.
How Long Will It Take To Assemble A Floating Wind Turbine?
Each floating wind turbine requires these major components.
- A wind turbine, which in the Kincardine Wind Farm have a capacity of 9.5 MW, is obviously needed. Some proposed floating offshore wind farm are talking of turbines between 14 and 16 MW. These turbines will be very similar to onshore turbines.
- A float, usually made out of steel or possibly concrete. Various designs have been built or proposed. The Wikipedia entry for floating wind turbine gives several examples.
- The anchoring system to keep the float with its turbine in the desired position.
- The electrical system to connect the wind turbine to the offshore substation, which could also be floating.
Note that the designs for the float, anchoring and electrical systems will rely heavily on technology proven in the offshore oil and gas industry.
Principle Power are the designer of the WindFloat, which is one of the first floats to be used in floating offshore wind.
Their home page has a continuous full-screen video, that shows a WindFloat being assembled and towed out.
The video shows.
- The completed float being floated alongside a dock, which obviously has an appropriate water depth.
- The dock has a large crane.
- The turbine tower and then the blades being lifted into position and securely fixed.
- Finally, a tug tows the completed turbine/float assembly to its position in the wind farm.
This would appear to be an assembly operation, that could flow just like the production in any world-class vehicle factory.
- There would need to be just-in-time delivery of all components.
- The weather would need to be cooperative.
- Lighting might be needed to work in poorer light levels.
- This method of assembly would be turbine and float agnostic.
- Multiple shift working could be employed.
My project management involvement tells me, that it would not be unreasonable to assemble, at least one complete turbine and its float and accessories in a working day.
I can do a small calculation.
The average size of turbine is 15 MW.
One turbine is assembled per day.
There are 300 working days possible in a year with multiple shift working, ignoring Bank Holidays and bad weather.
Just one site could produce 4.5 GW of floating wind turbines per year.
How Many Production Sites Could There Be?
These are surely the best possibilities.
- Barrow
- Belfast
- Clyde
- Devon/Cornwall
- Forth Estuary
- Great Yarmouth
- Haven Ports
- Holyhead
- Humber
- Liverpool
- Milford Haven
- Peterhead
- Southampton Water
- South Wales
- Teesside
- Thames Estuary
I have named sixteen areas, that could be suitable for the assembly of floating wind turbines.
So let’s assume that eight will be developed. That could mean as much as 36 GW of capacity per year.
The Energy Density Of Floating Wind Farms
In ScotWind Offshore Wind Leasing Delivers Major Boost To Scotland’s Net Zero Aspirations, I summarised the latest round of Scotwind offshore wind leases.
- Six new fixed foundation wind farms will give a capacity of 9.7 GW in 3042 km² or about 3.2 MW per km².
- Ten new floating wind farms will give a capacity of 14.6 GW in 4193 km² or about 3.5 MW per km².
Returning to the earlier calculation, which says we could have the ability to create 36 GW of wind turbines per year, with 15 MW turbines, this means with a generating density of 3.5 MW per km², the 36 GW would take up around a hundred kilometre square of sea.
Conclusion
We will become Europe’s powerhouse.
Battersea Power Station – 14th October 2022
I went to Battersea Power Station today and took these pictures.
Note.
- The picture of my jacket was taken in the toilet. All male toilets should have a hook for jackets.
- The crane is still in place.
- There are a number of shops still to open.
- There was no food store, although a Marks and Spencer’s food store is coming soon.
- The only place to have a coffee and cake and sit down was Starbucks. But I never eat in an American cafe or eat American food, as I don’t trust their gluten labelling.
One guy I met described it as Dubai without the sand.
I have some thoughts.
Getting There
There are two main routes.
- Northern Line to Battersea Power Station station.
- Thames Clipper to Battersea Power Station pier.
I went by the Northern line, changing both ways at Tottenham Court Road station to and from the Elizabeth Line.
- This interchange is a short walk and step-free, if you use the lift.
- There are no trains to Battersea Power Station on the Bank branch of the Northern Line.
- There are five trains per hour (tph) to Battersea Power Station, with an extra two tph in the Peak.
- There are no Night Tube trains to Battersea Power Station.
I can see this service being improved.
Arriving At Battersea Power Station By Underground
Punters were certainly arriving.
Gluten-Free Food
There was absolutely none, that I could find.
At least though a Gordon Ramsay restaurant is opening soon.
Signage
It wasn’t good. But then I have found several modern shopping centres work on this principle.
Conclusion
Canary Wharf is better.
- Partly because the shops are more useful and to my taste.
- But mainly because it is on the Elizabeth and Jubilee Lines, and the DLR.
- All rail lines go through Canary Wharf rather than terminate there.
Battersea Power Station might be better, when the Northern Line is extended to Clapham Junction station.
The First Of The Cavalry Arrive To Rescue Kwasi Kwarteng
Most commentators think Kwasi Kwarteng is in trouble, but I feel that he has the strength of the mathematics around him.
This press release from BP was released on Wednesday and is entitled UK Offshore Wind: Laying The Groundwork Today.
These two paragraphs outline the work BP are doing to develop wind power in the Irish Sea.
Plans are critical, but it’s putting them into action that counts. As part of our strategy to get wind turbines turning, specialist vessels and crew are out on the Irish Sea undertaking massive seabed survey work. It’s an early but important step on the road to building some of the UK’s biggest offshore wind farms.
Once up and running, our Morgan and Mona projects could deliver enough capacity to power 3.4 million homes with clean electricity and help the UK to meet its climate goals. Their near-shore location – around 30 kilometres off the coast of northwest England and north Wales – will allow for lower-cost, more reliable transmission infrastructure, making them a core part of our plans for more secure and lower carbon energy for the UK.
This EnBW-BP infographic describes the project.
Note.
- BP’s partner is EnBW, who are a publicly-traded German energy company.
- There is a project web site.
- The press release and the graphic are showing the same numbers.
- Morgan and Mona will use proven fixed-foundation wind turbine technology.
- The combined site is around 800 km² or a square of under thirty kilometers, so it is only quite small in the context of the Irish Sea.
- First operation is given on the web site as 2028.
As BP and enBW have massive financial, engineering and project management resources, I believe they will look to bring the 2028 operation date as far forward as is possible.
If you do the cash flow for a project like this, especially when you have the financial and engineering resources of BP and enBW, the mathematics show that if you can accelerate the installation of the turbines, you will start to have a cashflow earlier and this will finance the debt needed to install the wind farms.
Consider.
- I believe the 2028 date, is one that BP know they can keep, to satisfy the Stock Market and investors.
- BP have large cash flows from their profitable oil and gas businesses.
- BP have probably reserved places in the manufacturing queues for wind turbines, foundations and all the electrical gubbins to connect the turbines to shore.
- BP want to prove to themselves and sceptics, that they can handle the building of wind farms.
- The are already lots of wind farms along the North Wales Coast, so I suspect that the problems of building wind farms in the Irish Sea are well known.
I will not speculate on the date that Mona and Morgan are complete, but I very much doubt it will be in 2028.
These are some more thoughts from the BP press release.
What’s Happening And Why?
The purpose of these deep geotechnical investigations, carried out by specialist Geo-data company Fugro, up to 100 metres below the seabed is to determine soil characteristics for foundation design (find out how it’s done in the short film, above). Collecting this data will enable bp and EnBW to build efficient offshore wind farms with the least environmental impact. It is crucial for securing government consents for the projects and defining the structure and location of the individual turbines.
Even thirty kilometres off shore, there needs to be detailed planning permission.
Our Other Offshore Wind Projects
We aim to become a leader in offshore wind and, over the past three years, we’ve built up a pipeline of projects with partners in both the US and UK that have the potential to power more than 5 million homes.
And earlier this year, we agreed to form a partnership with Marubeni to explore an offshore wind development in Japan.
It’s all part of our aim to have 20GW of developed renewable generating capacity by 2025 and 50GW by 2030 – that’s broadly enough to power the needs of 36 million people.
Note.
- Their ambitions are high, but then so much of the experience of offshore oil and gas can be applied to offshore wind.
- BP has the cashflow from oil and gas to reinvent itself.
- Assuming a strike price of £40/MWh and an average capacity factor of 30 %, that is an income of around five billion pounds for starters.
- If they added energy storage to the wind farms, there’s even more money to be generated.
As Equinor, Ørsted and SSE have shown, you have to be big in this business and BP aim to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest.
Conclusion
Wind farms like Mona and Morgan, and there are several under development, will create the electricity and revenue, that will come to the rescue of the Chancellor.
As I update this after a busy day, it looks like Jeremy Hunt has inherited KK’s excellent groundwork and mathematics.
CIP Picks Stiesdal Floater For 100MW Scottish Offshore Wind Farm
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Offshore Engineering.
These two paragraphs introduce the project.
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has selected Stiesdal Offshore’s TetraSub floating foundation structure for the 100MW Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm project, to be located off the coast of Dounreay, Caithness, Scotland.
The technology has been said to offer a lightweight and cost-effective floating solution, based on factory-made modules which are then assembled domestically in port to form a complete foundation.
Note.
- The TetraSub seems to have been designed for ease of manufacture.
- One if the aims appears to be to build a strong local supply chain.
- The TetraSub was designed with the help of Edinburgh University.
- The TetraSpar Demonstrator is in operation off the coast of Norway.
- This page on Mission Innovation describes the TetraSpar in detail.
- The TetraSpar foundation, owned by Shell, TEPCO RP, RWE, and Stiesdal.
- It can be deployed in water with a depth of up to 200 metres.
- Currently, they carry a 3.6 MW turbine.
- At that size, they’d need 27 or 28 turbines to create a 100 MW wind farm.
The home page of the Pentland Offshore Wind Farm gives more details.
This article on offshoreWIND.biz is entitled CIP And Hexicon To Halve Pentland Floating Wind Project Area.
- The project area has been halved.
- The number of turbines has been reduced from ten to seven.
- Compact turbines will be used.
- The project will be built in two phases, one turbine in 2025 and six in 2026.
- Effectively, the first turbine will help to fund the second phase, which eases cash flow.
The changes show how the wind farm has changed during development due to local pressures and improved technology.
Conclusion
It does seem that the competition is growing in the field of floating wind turbines.
Given the quality of the research and backing for these floats and the fact they now have an order, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this technology be a success.
One Of The Three Best Pastas That I’ve Ever Eaten!
I like pasta and regularly cook myself a quick pasta dish, like this one in Serial Cooking – Pasta With Yogurt Sauce For One.
I was staying in the Premier Inn by Chester railway station last night, so I popped in to the Modern Italian Restaurant next door called The Yard.
It was one of the three best pasta dishes, that I’d ever eaten and the others had been in Michelin-starred restaurants in Italy.
The chef had one pasta dish on the main menu, but it wasn’t gluten-free.
So he happily modified it for me.
Battery Use In Class 777 Trains
In the November 2022 Edition of Today’s Railways, there is an article about Merseyrail’s new Class 777 trains.
This extract describes the use of batteries on the trains.
All units have small batteries for moving independently around depots. Seven units are now being fitted with larger 160 kWh Lithium Titanate Oxide (LTO) batteries and associated traction converter in the leading coaches in space that could also be taken up by a transformer and AC equipment if some units were converted to dual /Battery operation (there would not be the space for tri-mode AC/DC/Battery operation). The cooling system for the battery lies has been roof-mounted. The battery boxes have been supplied by ABB and the batteries themselves by Toshiba. 777002 has been converted as a trial to prove the concept in 2021 but has now been converted back to an EMU.
Stadler explained that the battery life would normally be 8-10years but if the units are only used in battery mode for the 2 km between Kirkby and Headbolt Lane then that is expected to be more like 15 years. However the batteries have the potential to do around 40 miles, so Bidston-Wrexham is possible, with a 15 minute recharge time required at Wrexham before returning. Maximum speed in battery mode is 60 mph compared to 75mph as a DC EMU.
This is a map of how the network might look.
These are the lengths of routes, where the Class 777 trains might run on batteries.
- Bidston and Wrexham Central – 27.5 miles – Possible with a charge at Wrexham Central.
- Canada Dock Branch – 4.7 miles – Dual-voltage trains.
- Chester and Crewe – 21.2 miles – Possible with a charge at Crewe
- Chester and Runcorn East – 13.1 miles – Possible without recharging
- Ellesmere Port and Runcorn East – 10.8 miles – Possible without recharging
- Hunts Cross and Manchester Oxford Road – 27.1 miles – Possible with a charge at Manchester Oxford Road
- Kirkby and Wigan Wallgate – 12.1 miles – Possible without recharging
- Ormskirk and Preston – 15.4 miles – Possible without recharging
Note.
- There are a lot of possibilities to use Class 777 trains with batteries.
- Charging might be needed at only three stations; Crewe, Manchester Oxford Road and Wrexham Central.
- Four route extensions are possible without charging.
Merseyrail are going to have plenty of uses for the sixty trains, that they have on option.
Train Efficiency On Battery Power
In an article in the October 2017 Edition of Modern Railways, which is entitled Celling England By The Pound, Ian Walmsley says this in relation to trains running on the Uckfield Branch, which is not very challenging.
A modern EMU needs between 3 and 5 kWh per vehicle mile for this sort of service.
Consider.
- The Class 777 train is a four-car train, but is only five metres longer than a three-car train.
- So applying Ian’s formula, it seems that to do forty miles, the battery will be between 480 and 800 kWh.
- If it is mathematically like a three car train, it seems that to do forty miles, the battery will be between 360 and 450 kWh.
A 160 kWh battery is obviously too small.
But the extract says that the batteries are fitted in the leading coaches, so can we assume that each battery train has two leading coaches and two batteries.
Does the battery train have a battery capacity of 320 kWh?
- Assuming it does, it would appear that after using Ian’s formula for a four-car train gives a figure of 2 kWh per vehicle mile.
- A three-car train gives a figure of 2.67 kWh per vehicle mile.
I suspect that these low figures are down to good engineering and a very efficient electrical system on the train.
But then I did write Stadler FLIRT Akku Battery Train Demonstrates 185km Range.
Conclusion
These trains are going to set new standards for a city metro.
The Anonymous Widower 