UK’s Green Power Industry Receives Surprise £10bn Pledge
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in the Guardian.
This is the sub-heading.
Potential investment by NatPower would create largest portfolio of battery storage projects in Britain
These five paragraphs outline the proposed investment.
Britain’s under-pressure green power industry has received a surprise fillip after a renewables developer pledged to plough £10bn into what would become the largest portfolio of battery storage projects in the country.
NatPower, a UK startup that is part of a larger European energy group, is poised to submit planning applications for three “gigaparks”, with a further 10 to follow next year.
Battery storage projects are seen as a key part of the jigsaw to decarbonise Britain’s power grid, allowing electricity generated by wind turbines and solar panels to be stored for use when weather conditions are still or not sunny.
The NatPower investment would lead to the construction of 60 gigawatt hours of battery storage, with solar and wind projects also in the pipeline.
The two gigaparks would be located in the north of England, with a further site in the west of the country planned later this year. The projects would be built on industrial land, and also through leasing deals with farmers.
Note.
- To gauge the scale of this development; the largest energy storage development in the UK at present is SSE Renewable’s massive Coire Glas pumped storage hydro in the Highlands of Scotland, which is a 1.5 GW/30 GWh monster, that is budgeted to cost £1.5 billion.
- NatPower has a web site, which has an opening video, which is all landscape, sun, water and wind, that would be worthy of an epic from Hollywood or by Eisenstein.
- NatPower’s investment of £10 billion, buys them 60 GWh of storage and if it’s a proportionate amount of capacity to Coire Glas, perhaps around 3GW or around the capacity of Hinckley Point C.
I have a few thoughts.
Is It All A Hoax?
Those who were alive and sober in 1977, may well remember the April Fools’ Day Hoax of the Guardian of that year, which concerned a fake supplement in the paper promoting the island of San Serriffe.
The story has its own Wikipedia entry.
The web site; http://www.sanserriffe.com, doesn’t seem to be accessible.
Today’s story seems genuine, although some will smell a rat.
Work Starts On World’s Largest Floating Solar Project, Part of RWE’s OranjeWind
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The Nautical SUNRISE consortium partners have commenced the project whose goal is to facilitate research and development of offshore floating solar systems and its components. The project aims to integrate a 5 MW offshore floating solar system within RWE’s OranjeWind, a wind farm to be built 53 kilometres off the Dutch coast.
These three paragraphs outline the project.
Research and development on the offshore floating solar (OFS) systems and its components of the EUR 8.4 million project, supported by EUR 6.8 million of the Horizon Europe programme, kicked off in December 2023.
The project will enable the large-scale deployment and commercialisation of offshore floating solar systems in the future, both as standalone systems and integrated into offshore wind farms.
The project aims to design, build, and showcase a 5 MW OFS system using the modular solution of the Dutch floating company SolarDuck.
Note.
- It’s only the fourth of March and this is the second floating solar project of the month.
- The first was SolarDuck, Green Arrow Capital And New Developments S.R.L. Sign Collaboration Agreement For A Grid-Scale Offshore Hybrid Wind-Solar Project In Italy.
- I can understand Italy, but surely a solar farm in the Dutch waters of the North Sea, is being at least slightly optimistic.
But the home page of the Oranjewind web site, does have a mission statement of Blueprint For The New Generation Of Offshore Wind Farms.
Under a heading of The Perfect Match, this is said.
RWE’s OranjeWind offshore wind farm will be located 53 kilometers from the Dutch coast. To tackle the challenges of fluctuating power generation from wind and flexible energy demand, RWE has developed a blueprint for the integration of offshore wind farms in the Dutch energy system.
A combination of smart innovations and investments will be used to realise this perfect match between supply and demand.
Under Innovations At OranjeWind, this is said.
In order to realise system integration and accelerate the energy transition, RWE is working together with a number of innovators on new developments in offshore wind farms. The company is realising and testing these innovations in the OranjeWind wind farm.These innovations include offshore floating solar, a subsea lithium-ion battery, LiDAR power forecasting system and a subsea hydro storage power plant off-site.
These technologies have their own sections, which give more information.
- Subsea Pumped Hydro Storage Power Plant (Ocean Grazer)
- Floating Solar (SolarDuck)
- Intelligent Subsea Energy Storage (Verlume)
- LiDAR-based Power Forecasting (ForWind, University of Oldenburg)
The web site also says this about knowledge from OranjeWind.
There is a lot to learn in an innovative project such as OranjeWind. While developing the wind farm, RWE started the OranjeWind Knowledge programme. This programme aims to generate and share knowledge to accelerate the energy transition.
In strong partnerships with TNO and Dutch universities, research is carried out in parallel to the development and operation of OranjeWind. By sharing research results, lessons learned, and relevant in-house expertise, RWE aims to close knowledge gaps and provide valuable insights in key focus areas for system integration. The generated knowledge will become openly available to educational and research institutes, governments and the market.
To ensure the dissemination of knowledge, RWE will actively partner with educational institutions of all levels across the Netherlands. These partnerships allow RWE to share its expertise and provide the future workforce with the knowledge and skills needed to enable the energy transition.
It certainly appears that RWE intends to get as much out of this project as they can.
I don’t think that they can be criticised for that objective.
UK Can Secure Record Number Of Offshore Wind Farms In This Year’s Auction For New Projects
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from RenewableUK.
The first five paragraphs, should be read as a whole and are a good summary of, where the UK is with offshore wind.
A new report published today by RenewableUK shows that the Government has an opportunity to secure a record number of new offshore wind farms, and record amount of new capacity, in this year’s summer’s auction for contracts to generate clean power (Contracts for Difference). In a huge boost to the UK’s energy security, the Government has the potential to double the country’s offshore wind capacity in this year’s auction alone.
RenewableUK’s latest EnergyPulse Insights Offshore Wind report reveals that 14 wind farms are already eligible to bid into this year’s CfD auction (Allocation Round 6), providing nearly 10.3 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity. The previous records were set in 2022 when 8.5GW was eligible across 7 projects.
In addition to this, a further 4.7GW of new offshore wind capacity (out of 8.7GW in the planning system) could become eligible before applications open for AR6 at the end of March. If these projects were to receive consent from the Government, 14.9GW of offshore wind capacity would be eligible for this year’s auction. The report notes that being eligible does not mean that projects will choose to bid in – but they have the potential to do so.
To put this 14.9GW of potential new capacity into context, we currently have 14.7GW of fully operational offshore wind which generates 14% of the UK’s entire electricity needs. Just one gigawatt of offshore wind generates enough electricity to power over a million British homes for a year.
The report also shows that a further 5.2GW are already under construction in UK waters, and it forecasts that nearly 45GW could be fully operational by the end of 2030.
It is certainly worth reading through to the last paragraph.
The press release also lists the projects eligible to bid into AR6.
- Norfolk Vanguard West and Norfolk Vanguard East (2,760MW) – RWE
- Hornsea Four (2,600MW) – Ørsted
- Awel y Môr (1,100MW) – RWE
- East Anglia Two (900MW) – Iberdrola
- East Anglia One North (800MW) – Iberdrola
- Hornsea Three (753.1MW) – Ørsted
- Seagreen 1A (500MW) – SSE Renewables, TotalEnergies
- East Anglia Three (318MW) – Iberdrola
- Inch Cape (270MW) – Inch Cape Offshore
- Pentland (floating project) (100MW) – Highland Wind Limited
- Erebus (floating project) (100MW)
- Blyth 2 (floating project) (58MW)
- Forthwind (test and demonstration site) (8MW) – Forthwind Limited
These make a total of 10,267MW
Currently, as I write this the UK is generating 29 GW, so 45 GW with a lot of energy storage, should be enough to power the country.
Form Energy To Begin Manufacturing Iron Air Batteries In Weirton To Stabilize Electrical Grid
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on wesa.fm.
These three paragraphs detail the story.
A company pioneering electrical grid batteries that will provide days of backup power for power plants reliant on renewable energy is building out its manufacturing arm throughout the greater Pittsburgh region.
Form Energy is on track to begin manufacturing the new kind of grid asset this spring, one the company says is sorely needed in a destabilized climate. As bonuses, it’s cheap — made of earth-abundant and predominantly domestically sourced materials — and Form needs a large, maker workforce to pull it off.
This is a welcomed development in the community of Weirton, West Virginia, which has seen population and industry decline steadily since the 1970s. Most recently, Cleveland-Cliffs — a neighbor company in the small town — announced it would idle its tinplate production plant and lay off up to 900 employees.
I like Form Energy’s iron-air batteries.
They would appear to be a direct replacement for lithium-ion batteries in stationary applications likeBattery-Energy Storage Systems (BESS).
I suspect they will work eoth the grid-balancing software developed for lithium-ion batteries.
- They use rust and air to store energy.
- The science came out of MIT.
- The venture is well-backed by the likes of Bill Gates.
There’s more about this factory on this page of their web site.
- The web site talks of innovative software, like grid modelling software.
- They aim to start production in the second half of this year.
- At full production the factory will employ 750 people.
- The annual production will be 500 MW of batteries.
This is a company to watch.
Fire Safety Of Battery-Electric Vehicles
I notice that there has been talk of fires in battery-electric vehicles on this blog.
So I thought I’d put up a post with an appropriate topic.
There are some things that already could worry me.
- Vivarail had a fire early on.
- The Merseyrail Class 777 trains go in the tunnels under Liverpool.
- The new Piccadilly Line trains will have batteries.
- Did electric vehicle batteries contribute to the ferocity of the fire in the Luton Airport car park?
- Fire brigades are getting very worried about e-scooter and e-bike fires.
- This page on the Internet gives details of recent BESS fires.
- Do we investigate fires and publish the results properly?
I have some questions.
- Would it be sensible to have nationwide database of all batteries?
- Should we use more non-lithium methods in large stationary batteries?
- Should we use more capacitors?
- Should we make it a criminal offence to build or use a non-compliant e-bike or e-scooter?
- Should installing a battery in your house, need a safety certificate?
One half of me says yes and the other says no, to some of these questions.
The UK’s Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity
This post is a simple list of the UK’s pumped storage hydroelectricity.
- Balliemeanoch – 1500 MW/45 GWh – In Development
- Coire Glas – 1500 MW/30 GWh – Under Construction
- Corrievarkie – 600 MW/14.5 GWh – In Development
- Cruachan – 1000 MW/7.1 GWh – In Operation
- Fearn – 1800 MW/37 GWh – In Development
- Dinorwig – 1800 MW/9.1 GWh – In Operation
- Earba – 900 MW/33 GWh – In Development
- Foyers – 305 MW/10 GWh – In Operation
- Ffestiniog – 360 MW/1.44 GWh – In Operation
- Loch Kemp – 600 MW/9 GWh – In Development
- Loch Sloy – 152.5 MW/25 GWh – In Operation
- Red John – 450 MW/2.8 GWh – Under Construction
Note.
- Cruachan is only 440 MW and is being upgraded.
- The storage capacity at Foyers may be wrong, as I can’t find my original source.
When fully developed the total will be 10969.3 MW/223.94 GWh.
Gravitricity Weighs Up One Of Europe’s Deepest Mines
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Engineer.
This is the sub-heading.
Scotland’s Gravitricity is set to deploy its underground energy storage technology at Pyhäsalmi Mine in central Finland, Europe’s deepest zinc and copper mine.
These two paragraphs outline the scheme.
Located about 450km north of the Finnish capital Helsinki, the Pyhäsalmi Mine extends 1,444m below the Earth. With mine operations at Pyhäsalmi winding down, the local community set up a development company to explore redevelopment projects around the mine’s infrastructure, including energy storage.
Gravitricity is set to deploy its GraviStore energy storage technology in a 530m deep auxiliary shaft. GraviStore can utilise off-peak electricity by raising heavy weights in the mine shaft, releasing the energy back on to the grid during high demand by lowering the weights. It’s claimed the 2MW scheme at Pyhäsalmi will provide grid balancing services to the Finnish network.
There is also this quote from Martin Wright,who is Gravitricity’s executive chairman.
This project will demonstrate at full scale how our technology can offer reliable long life energy storage that can capture and store energy during periods of low demand and release it rapidly when required.
This full-scale project will provide a pathway to other commercial projects and allow our solution to be embedded into mine decommissioning activities, offering a potential future for mines approaching the end of their original service life.
Can it be that Gravitricity is finally on its way?
A New Future Beckons For Scotland’s Historic Canals
The title of this post is the same as that as this article on The Herald.
This is the sub-heading.
Scotland’s canals, created for the industrial revolution but in recent times focused more on leisure than industry, are finding a new purpose as a different revolution, this time a green one, gets underway
The article was found by my Google Alert for the Coire Glas project, which is one of the UK’s largest green projects.
The article describes how Scotland’s canals are helping a green revolution and is well worth a read.
Mortenson Announces Completion Of Edwards & Sanborn Solar + Storage Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Mortenson.
These two paragraphs describe the project,
Terra-Gen and Mortenson have announced the full substantial completion of the Edwards & Sanborn Solar + Energy Storage project, the largest solar plus energy storage project in the United States. Mortenson was the full Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractor on both the solar and energy storage scopes for this vanguard project in the energy industry.
This project stretches over 4,600 acres and includes more than 1.9 million First Solar modules. In total, the project generates 875 MWdc of solar energy and has 3,287 megawatt-hours of energy storage with a total interconnection capacity of 1,300 megawatts. The project supplies power to the city of San Jose, Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and the Clean Power Alliance, and Starbucks, among others. A portion of the project is situated on the Edwards Air Force Base and was the largest public-private collaboration in U.S. Department of Defense history. The project uses LG Chem, Samsung, and BYD batteries.
Note.
- 4,600 acres is just over seven square miles.
- There’s more about this massive project on this web page.
- Judging by the fact, they use three different makes of batteries, did Mortenson have a problem sourcing the number needed from a single manufacturer or are the contractors seeing, which perform best in the hot desert?
California and other places can build these projects, if there is masses of sun and flat desert.
Shotwick Solar Park is the largest solar farm in the UK. It has a capacity of 72.2 MW.
BESS Projects Represent ‘Encouraging Progress’ in New York Efforts To Replace Dirty And Polluting Peakers
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Energy Storage News.
These are the first three paragraphs.
Battery storage is playing an active role in helping New York City retire its fleet of peaker power plants, with around 700MW of its most polluting power generation assets already fully retired.
According to a new report, 4,019MW – about two-thirds of a 6,093MW fleet – has either retired or put in place plans to replace turbines with cleaner technologies since New York adopted its climate goals and environment protection policies in 2019.
In addition to 700MW already retired, around the same amount again is actively being moved towards end of life.
Note.
- Just over 6,000 MW seems a lot of extra peaker power, even for a city as large as New York.
- But at least over 4 GW has been retired or the plans to replace it with cleaner technologies are in place.
- The New Yorkers certainly seem to be getting on with the conversion, with about a GW/per year either retired or planned to do so.
The article says this about batteries.
Battery storage is one of a number of different technologies that can be used to replace peaking capacity. While lithium-ion batteries with 4-hour duration might be the most directly analogous in terms of technical capability to peakers, effectively retiring the power plants could be facilitated with a combination of other resources including rooftop solar, offshore wind and energy efficiency measures.
I find the 4-hour duration interesting, but I suspect the Yanks know what they’re doing.
So if you were going to replace the 240 MW Glanford Brigg power station, which Centrica describe as a peaker station, with energy storage, you’d use a 240 MW/960 MWh battery, if you were working to New York rules.
Batteries in the UK, that I’ve talked about lately include.
Amp Hunterston – 400 MW/800 MWh – 2 hours
Amp Kincardine – 400 MW/800 MWh – 2 hours
- Carlton Energy Park – 1040 MW/2080 MWh – 2 hours – Close to an 884 MW gas-fired power station.
- Coalburn – 500 MW/1000 MWh – 2 hours- Close to a 946 MW collection of wind farms.
- Gateway Energy Centre – 450 MW/900 MWh – 2 hours – Close to an 732 MW gas-fired power station.
- Normanton Energy Reserve – 500 MW/1000 MWh – 2 hours
- Richborough Energy Park – 100 MW/100 MWh – 1 hour
- Spalding Energy Centre – 550 MW/1100 MWh – 2 hours – Close to an 860 MW gas-fired power station.
Note.
- The first field is Output/Storage Capacity.
- The second field is the duration.
- I have assumed Spalding Energy Centre is another two hour duration system, like Gateway Energy Centre, which is also being developed by Intergen.
- Two hours seems to be the most common duration for a UK battery.
Adding the batteries up gives a virtual 3940MW/7780MWh battery.
It amazing how they add up to quite large values. But then every little helps!
And these are only the ones I’ve talked about.
The Anonymous Widower 