Bord Gáis Energy Acquires Leading Irish Solar PV Installer Swyft Energy
The title of this post, is the same as that of this news item from Centrica.
This is the sub-heading.
Bord Gáis Energy today announced the acquisition of Swyft Energy, a leading solar PV provider in Ireland for an undisclosed sum.
Note.
- Bord Gáis Energy is a subsidiary of Centrica.
- Swyft Energy has this web site.
These three paragraphs give more details of the acquisition.
Bord Gáis Energy already operates in the solar PV market: directly to residential customers, and through its partnership with Irish Farmer’s Association delivering solar PV to farms across Ireland, helping farmers transition to green energy. The acquisition of Swyft Energy now brings deeper solar PV capability to residential as well as business and farming customers of Bord Gáis Energy, as the company transitions to a green energy business.
Swyft Energy, a technology-led solar PV and boiler installation company, brings over six years of experience in delivering customer-focused solutions using a digital-first platform. This acquisition enhances Bord Gáis Energy’s highly skilled workforce and strengthens its customer proposition.
With a target of 10,000 installations over the next 5 years, this will allow Bord Gáis Energy to compete better for the growing demand for solar energy in residential, commercial and agricultural sectors. Customers can save an average of 50-70% on their electricity bills with the installation of rooftop solar panels.
The deal certainly looks a good fit between two ambitious companies, who are operating in similar areas of the Irish market.
I have my thoughts and observations.
Are Bord Gáis Energy And Swyft Energy Stronger Together?
Do both companies feel, that by working together, they will be stronger from a financial point of view?
It wouldn’t be unusual for this to be a reason behind a deal like this.
Centrica Are Making Lots Of Deals At The Present Time
Centrica are also continuing, the tendency to expand, that they’ve shown in recent weeks.
These are some of the deals I have noted.
- Aberdeen’s Exceed Secures Centrica Rough Contract
- HiiROC Partners With Siemens To Boost Clean Hydrogen Production
- Centrica Strikes 200MW Lithuanian Green Power Deal
- Centrica And Coterra Energy Announce Natural Gas Sale And Purchase Agreements
- Centrica And European Energy Sign Agreement On Måde Green Hydrogen Facility
- Recurrent Energy’s Middle Road Project Sold To Centrica
- Team GB And ParalympicsGB Athletes Find New Career Pathway At Centrica
- UK Infrastructure Bank, Centrica & Partners Invest £300M in Highview Power Clean Energy Storage Programme To Boost UK’s Energy Security
Centrica certainly have been busy expanding.
Energy Storage In The Island Of Ireland
It is generally accepted, that if you have a lot of renewable energy, then you need a lot of energy storage, to bridge the gaps in wind and solar.
In the Wikipedia entry for Energy In Ireland, there is a section called Energy Storage.
It seems to me, that Ireland could be short on energy storage, so is it likely that the enlarged Bord Gáis Energy will look for possibilities for energy storage.
Recently, Centrica formed a business relationship with Highview Power, who are developing environmentally-friendly liquid-air batteries. These smaller and more affordable batteries might be suitable for the island of Ireland.
Conclusion
There’s more to this deal, than at first meets the eye.
Lakeside Facility Connects To Grid And Becomes UK’s Largest Transmission Connected Battery
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from National Grid.
These three bullet points, act as sub-headings.
- National Grid plugs TagEnergy’s 100MW battery project in at its Drax substation.
- Following energisation, the facility in North Yorkshire is the UK’s largest transmission connected battery energy storage system (BESS).
- The facility is supporting Britain’s clean energy transition, and helping to ensure secure operation of the electricity system.
This paragraph introduces the project.
A battery storage project developed by TagEnergy is now connected and energised on the electricity transmission network, following work by National Grid to plug the facility into its 132kV Drax substation in North Yorkshire.
- Lakeside Energy Park’s 100MW/200MWh facility is now the largest transmission connected BESS project in the UK following energisation.
- The new facility will boost the capacity and flexibility of the network, helping to balance the system by soaking up surplus clean electricity and discharging it back when the grid needs it.
- To ensure a safe connection, National Grid, working with its contractor Omexom, upgraded its Drax 132kV substation to accommodate the additional clean power.
- Works included extending the busbars – which enable power flows from generation source on to power lines – upgrading busbar protection and substation control systems, and installing an operational tripping scheme, all of which helps keep the network stable and operating securely.
Owned and operated by TagEnergy – with Tesla, Habitat Energy and RES as project partners – the newly-connected battery will help exploit the clean electricity potential of renewable projects in the region, storing and releasing green energy to power homes and businesses and also helping to relieve any system constraints.
National Grid’s adjacent Drax 400kV substation already hosts the connection for Drax power station – the UK’s largest biomass facility – and will also connect the Eastern Green Link 2 electrical superhighway when it starts importing clean energy from Scotland in 2029.
Drax power station seems to be growing into a large node with several gigawatts of electricity, the UK’s largest BESS, a large biomass power station and the Eastern Green Link 2 electrical superhighway which will import clean energy from Scotland from 2029.
Drax appears to be transforming from the dirty man of the UK into a Jolly Green Giant.
I can see further power stations and sources, storage devices and technology joining the party at Drax.
This Google Map shows the Drax site.
Note.
- The cooling towers can be picked out in the South-East quarter of the map.
- The site is rail and road connected, with the River Ouse nearby.
- There is a lot of space.
Surely, Drax would have a big enough space, with a high quality and high capacity electrical connection for Ørsted and Highview Power to put one of their three 200 MW/2.5 GWh batteries, that I talked about in Centrica Business Solutions And Highview Power.
Race For Clean Power Surges Ahead As New Electricity Superhighway Greenlit
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Ofgem.
These three paragraphs, explain the infrastructure.
Flagged by the National Energy System Operator (NESO) as an essential element in achieving the Government’s Clean Power 2030 ambition, Eastern Green Link 1 (EGL1As part of its mission to rapidly upgrade the energy system with a minimum cost to customers, Ofgem has identified over £43m of savings which have been cut from the project costs without impacting delivery or quality. Communities that host the infrastructure in Scotland and North-East England are also set to benefit from a £7.9m social value and community benefit fund.) is a high voltage electricity superhighway able to transport 2 gigawatts of homegrown wind generated electricity between Torness, East Lothian and Hawthorn Pit, County Durham. A gigawatt (GW) is equivalent to one billion watts, and one gigawatt hour (GWh) of electricity is enough to power one million homes for one hour. Most of the 196km cable will be under the North Sea, with the remaining 20km of cables underground linking the cable to substations and converter stations in Scotland and England.
The project will reduce Great Britain’s reliance on volatile international gas markets by further harnessing the power of homegrown North Sea wind. NESO’s recent Clean Power 2030 Report has also shown that the project will deliver annual saving of over £870m by reducing the need to compensate British wind generators who are currently asked to turn off production during times of high wind due to lack of grid capacity. This in turn will help drive down consumer bills.
Note.
- Eastern Green Link 1 (EGL1) is a high voltage electricity superhighway able to transport 2 gigawatts of homegrown wind generated electricity between Torness, East Lothian and Hawthorn Pit, County Durham.
- This is the second down the eastern side of the UK.
- In Contracts Signed For Eastern Green Link 2 Cable And Converter Stations, I described how contracts were signed for EGL2 from Peterhead in Scotland to Drax in England .
- Most of the 196km cable will be under the North Sea, with the remaining 20km of cables underground linking the cable to substations and converter stations in Scotland and England.
There are another two 2 GW cables to follow in the current plan!
DCO Decision On 480MW West Burton Solar NSIP Delayed Until 2025
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Solar Power Portal.
The article talks about Island Green Power and their plans to develop three large solar farms in Eastern England.
They appear to be a UK-registered company with international connections.
These are the three projects.
The West Burton Project
This is the introductory paragraph for the West Burton Project.
Solar PV developer Island Green Power has seen a development consent order (DCO) decision delayed by the UK government for its 480MW West Burton project located across Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.
Note.
- The West Burton Project has a web site.
- It will have a capacity of 480 MW.
- The solar farm will use the grid connection of the former coal-powered West Burton power station.
- The project will cover 788 hectares.
The site is a few miles South-West of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire.
The East Pye Solar Project
These are the two introductory paragraphs for the East Pye Solar Project.
This setback comes days after Island Green Power opened a public consultation on early-stage plans for a 500MW solar PV power plant co-located with a battery energy storage system (BESS) that could have up to 500MW output.
The East Pye Solar project will be situated on 1,100 hectares of land south of Norwich and north of Harleston. Solar PV modules would be installed at two points within this area, approximately 6.5km apart.
Note.
- The East Pye Solar Project has a web site.
- It will have a capacity of 500 MW, with a battery with a 500 MW output. The battery capacity is not stated.
- The project will cover 1100 hectares.
- This article on the BBC is entitled New Proposed Solar Farm Could Power 115,000 Homes, gives more details.
- It appears that the solar farm will have a new grid connection to the grid connection between Norwich and Bramford to the West of Ipswich.
- There is also a web site, which is entitled Block The Development of East Pye Solar Farm.
The site is a few miles East of Long Stratton in South Norfolk.
The Cottam Solar Project
These are the two introductory paragraphs for the Cottam Solar Project.
The non-statutory consultation comes after Island Green revealed plans for the development early in September, just one week after energy secretary Ed Miliband granted the developer a DCO for the 600MW Cottam Solar Project.
The 600MW development will comprise four ground-mounted solar PV generating stations in West Lindsay, Lincolnshire, four on-site substations and a BESS across four separate sites, totalling an area of 1,270 hectares.
Note.
- The Cottam Solar Project has a web site.
- It will have a capacity of 600 MW, with a battery, with a battery with a 600 MW output and a 600 MWh capacity.
- The solar farm will use the grid connection of the former coal-powered Cottam power station.
- The project will cover 1270 hectares.
The site is a few miles East of Retford in Lincolnshire.
Island Green
It does appear that Island Green like large solar farms.
- West Burton – 480 MW – 788 hectares
- East Pye – 500 MW, – 500 MW battery- 1100 hectares
- Cottam – 600 MW, 600 MW/600 MWh battery – 1270 hectares
Whether some of their neighbours will is another matter.
But at least two of them have batteries.
What we will be forced to accept from this unscientifically-green Government, I dread to think.
Aberdeen’s Exceed Secures Centrica Rough Contract
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Energy Voice.
This is the sub-heading.
Well and reservoir management firm Exceed has secured a contract with Centrica Energy Storage for the redevelopment of the Rough gas storage field.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Exceed said its role in the initial stages of the project, which is exploring converting the Rough field into a hydrogen storage facility, could create more than 30 jobs.
In Wood To Optimise Hydrogen Storage For Centrica’s Rough Field, I talked about changing Rough from a gas to a hydrogen store, so it looks like Centrica are going to create a vast hydrogen storage facility.
This all fits with my belief, that Centrica’s Rough facility and SSE’s nearby Aldbrough storage facility, will at sometime in the future be connected to the Germany hydrogen pipeline; AquaVentus to perform backup to hydrogen produced in the North Sea.
I also feel that the hydrogen trading will be of benefit to Centrica and SSE.
The last section of the Energy Voice article is entitled Rough Hydrogen Storage Concerns.
The following facts are given.
There are currently eight geological gas storage sites across Great Britain, containing approximately 3.1bcm in capacity and maximum deliverability rates of 124mcm/day.
Five of these gas storage sites are in salt caverns while the remaining three are depleted oil and gas fields, with the Centrica’s Rough field in the North Sea the only site located offshore.
The British Geological Survey estimates the UK could store up to 3,000 TWh of hydrogen.
Currently, we use the following energy in a year.
- 263 TWh of electricity
- 705 TWh of natural gas
So we use a total of 968 TWh of energy.
3,000 TWh of hydrogen would keep the UK going for three years. So we should be fine!
Scottish Ministers Approve 200MW Battery Storage Project
The title of this post is the same as that as this article on Solar Power Portal.
These three paragraphs add further meat to the story.
Developer Intelligent Land Investments (ILI) Group has received planning consent for a 200MW battery energy storage system (BESS).
The BESS will be adjacent to the Easterhouse substation near Gartcosh, Glasgow, at Whitehill Farm. ILI Group received Section 36 planning consent, meaning that the BESS is classed as a change to the existing consent granted to the generating substation.
Consent from Ministers follows support for the project from both the Glasgow City Council and North Lanarkshire Council.
ILI seem to be doing well, as they regularly appear in my data searches.
The article sums up ILI Group’s portfolio like this.
ILI Group has a portfolio of over 4.7 GW energy storage projects, including 2.5 GW of utility-scale battery storage and 2.5 GW pumped storage hydro.
They must be doing something right.
ILI Group’s biggest success to date would appear to be developing the Red John pumped hydro power station, which they sold to Statkraft, as I reported in Statkraft To Acquire Major Loch Ness Pumped Storage Hydro Project From Intelligent Land Investments Group.
Conclusion
The batteries and the pumped storage keeps coming in Scotland.
It appears Scotland will not only generate the renewable energy, but store it until it is needed.
As a Control Engineer, my nose is telling me, that Scotland is going to need a few more interconnectors to sell the energy to those, who need it.
Alternatively, it will attract industries, that will need a lot of electricity.
Pumped Storage Hydro In The Highlands – Is Anywhere Still Off Limits?
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on UK Climbing.
This is the sub-heading.
Are the enormous Earba and Fearna hydro projects merely the thin end of an ever bigger wedge? Thanks to a relaxed developer-friendly planning regime, is anywhere in Highland Scotland now safe from energy projects designed to feed an insatiable demand down south? In pursuit of clean power, do we risk permitting huge and irreparable harm across our remaining wild habitats and scenic land? And if so, what (and who) is it all really in aid of? It’s not too late to shed light on the murky world of Highland mega-energy, says Jane Meek, but time is running out for our mountain heritage.
These are the first three paragraphs.
In case you haven’t heard, Earba is the codename for a massive pumped storage hydro scheme to be hosted by Ardverikie Estate of Monarch of the Glen fame on behalf of Gilkes Energy, a Lakes-based engineering firm hitherto better known as a developer of small-scale run-of-river hydro schemes on Scottish burns and rivers. Some of these may be familiar to you: they include Pattack on Ardverikie Estate, Ben Glas on Glen Falloch Estate near Crianlarich, and Neaty Burn in Glen Strathfarrar, to name just three.
Gilkes Energy has now moved up into the big league of pumped storage hydro (PSH). Visit their homepage to admire a brief slide show of projects past, present and in planning. It’s glossy professional stuff, just what you’d expect from the self-styled “leading independent developer” of conventional hydro and PSH in the UK.
The aerial shots are particularly fine but… hang on a minute… isn’t that Loch a’ Bhealaich Leamhain down there, gleaming like a pearl in the high pass between Munros Beinn a’ Chlachair and Mullach Coire an Iubhair (Geal Charn as was)? And … oh dear, isn’t that Loch Fearna, the glittering shelf lochan below Spidean Mialach, immortalised in countless photographs by walkers crossing the col between Spidean and neighbouring Gleouraich? From the slopes above Fearna, the views across Loch Quoich to Gairich and beyond are simply stunning. After watching the slide show, you may feel simply stunned.
The author of the article makes a statement and asks a question.
It’s industrialisation on a vast scale. Are these truly the right schemes in the right places?
The author may have a point, but environmentalists will argue that saving the planet is more important and that pumped storage hydroelectricity is one of the technologies, that will help us do that!
The MailOnline’s View Of Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity
The MailOnline gives their view on Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity on the front page of their web site today.
This is the bold title.
Scotland is littered with windfarms. Now the impact of billion-pound hydro projects to store energy they produce threatens our scenic landscapes… and led critics to brand the plans – The Loch Ness Monstrosity
To my mind, the site’s language leaves no doubt that they are not keen on either windfarms or the hydro projects to store energy.
Calling the plans the Loch Ness Monstrosity, is an insult to the engineers, who have devised the plans.
The journalist, who wrote the article has made the same mistake, that many do when they write about any form of energy storage – They only give the output of the battery and not the output and the storage capacity.
Thus Red John Pumped Hydro is described in the article like this.
The £550million Loch na Cathrach venture (formerly known as Red John, after a popular local lochan), is one of the biggest renewable energy projects in the North and was granted consent by the Scottish Government in June 2021 despite strong objections from campaigners and Highland Council but has yet to be built in the hills near Dores.
The 450MW project owned by Norwegian state firm Statkraft hopes to start construction next year and be operational by 2030.
Note.
- Red John is a 450 MW project with a storage capacity of 2,800 MWh, which is conventionally shown as a 450 MW/2,800 MWh battery.
- A battery of this size can supply 450 MW for 6.2 hours, which is more than a lithium-ion battery of the same cost could manage.
- 450 MW is about the average size of a gas-fired power station.
Where the geography is suitable, pumped storage hydroelectric stations may be able to replace gas-fired power stations.
- There would be no cooling towers.
- There would be no chimneys or associated pollution.
- The electrical gubbins to connect to the grid would be the same and could probably be refurbished.
The new lake could be used for water-based activities like fishing, sailing skiing and swimming.
Conclusion
Obviously, playing the Nimby-card sells newspapers.
Energy Dome Pens Contract For First US Project
The title of this post is the same as that as this article on Energy Storage News.
I like Energy Dome, as it makes one of the causes of global warming; carbon dioxide help with the storage of energy, which many argue is part of the solution of the problem.
This press release gives more details.
- The project is a 20MW/200MWh Battery.
- The battery will be located in Wisconsin.
- In parallel, the construction of Energy Dome’s first-of-a-kind standard CO2 Battery plant in Sardinia, Italy, is also proceeding at full speed.
As Energy Dome is an Italian company, the solution is also more about finesse than brute force.
Highview Power Releases More Details Of The Hunterston LDES
In a long and detailed press release, these are the first two paragraphs.
London, 15 October 2024: The First Minister for Scotland, John Swinney MSP, welcomed Highview Power Executives to Scotland House in London today as the company announced its intention to develop its Hunterston project in Scotland as part of its multi-billion-pound LDES programme. Hunterston will deliver five times Scotland’s current operational battery storage capacity and is strategically placed in the grid transmission network to maximise the use of Scottish-produced renewable electricity. This follows Highview Power’s funding round in June where it secured a £300 million investment for its 300MWh proprietary Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) technology at Carrington, near Manchester.
Supported by the Scottish Government, Hunterston is the first project in Highview Power’s second phase, which comprises four projects across Scotland and Northern England. The 2.5GWh LAES plant at Hunterston will deliver an 8-fold increase in storage capacity on Carrington – to deliver enough power 650,000 homes for 12.5 hours.
Note these important points.
- The Hunterston battery will be the first of four 200 MW/2.5 GWh batteries.
- Together, these four batteries will have a distributed 1600 MW/10 GWh capability.
- For comparison, Dinorwig pumped storage hydroelectric power station, in Snowdonia, which opened in 1984, has a 1600 MW/9.1 GWh capability.
- The second battery will be in Aberdeenshire.
- The Hunterston project will support 1,000 jobs onsite during construction and 650 jobs in the supply chain.
John Swinney, who is First Minister for Scotland, summed the project up like this.
The creation of the largest liquid air energy facility in the world, in Ayrshire, demonstrates just how valuable Scotland is in delivering a low carbon future as well as supporting the global transition to net zero.
The Anonymous Widower 