Is There A Virtuous Circle In The Installation Of Wind Farms?
Because we are developing so much offshore wind turbine capacity, this will result in two things.
- A big demand for steel for the foundations and floats for wind turbines.
- A large amount of electricity at a good price.
In my view the UK would be the ideal country to develop an integrated steel and wind turbine foundation/float capability.
There will also be a strong demand for deep water ports and sea lochs to assemble the floating turbines.
Our geography helps in this one. We also have Milford Haven, which is just around the corner from Port Talbot. Scunthorpe is on the River Trent, so could we assemble floats and foundations and take them by barge for assembly or installation.
We probably need an integrated capability in Scotland.
Conclusion
It looks to me, that there is a virtuous circle.
- The more offshore wind turbine capacity we install, the more affordable electricity we will have.
- This will in turn allow us to make more steel.
- If this steel was produced in an integrated factory producing foundations and floats for wind farms, this would complete the circle.
- It would also be inefficient to make the foundations thousands of miles away and tow them to UK waters.
Any improvements in costs and methods, would make the system more efficient and we would have more wind turbines installed.
It looks to be a good idea.
The Monster In The Mountains That Could Save Europe’s Winter
Ulla-Førre is a complex of five hydroelectric power stations and a massive lake in the Norwegian mountains to the East of Stavanger.
- The power stations have a total generating capacity of 2.1 GW.
- Lake Blåsjø is able to hold enough water to generate 7800 GWh of electricity.
- The complex is at the Norwegian end of the North Sea Link to Blyth in England.
This YouTube video from Statkraft, explains how Ulla-Førre was built.
I have some further explanation and thoughts.
What Is The Operating Philosophy Of The North Sea Link?
This press release from National Grid says this.
The Norwegian power generation is sourced from hydropower plants connected to large reservoirs, which can respond faster to fluctuations in demand compared to other major generation technologies. However, as the water level in reservoirs is subject to weather conditions, production varies throughout seasons and years.
When wind generation is high and electricity demand low in Britain, NSL will enable renewable power to be exported from the UK, conserving water in Norway’s reservoirs. When demand is high in Britain and there is low wind generation, hydro power can be imported from Norway, helping to ensure secure, affordable and sustainable electricity supplies for UK consumers.
It almost seems to me, that the North Sea Link is part of a massive pumped-storage system, where we can bank some of our wind-generated electricity in Norway and draw it out when we need it.
Suppose There Is No Wind In The UK And Norway’s Giant Reservoirs Need Filling?
We could always throw on a substitute, which is the 1,185 MW Hartlepool nuclear power station.
- Unfortunately, this will close in 2024.
- Wikipedia indicates that Hartlepool’s closure has been on and off several years, so I don’t think it will be delayed again.
- A new station probably couldn’t be commissioned until 2029, at the earliest.
But over the next few years these wind farms will be connected to the North-East.
- Sofia wind farm should commission the 1.4 GW Phase 1, which connects to Teesside in 2023.
- Dogger Bank wind farm should commission 3.6 GW, which connects to Teesside and Humberside in 2025.
- The 4.1 GW Berwick Bank wind farm will have a second connection to Blyth by 2030. Say 2 GW!
There’s more than enough wind there to fill up Norway’s reservoirs and replace Hartlepool nuclear station.
Will Ulla-Førre Be Expanded?
It does sound to me that the video does imply that Ulla-Førre could be expanded.
Will Norwegian Pumped Storage Hydro Help Us Through The Winter?
In UK To Norway Sub-Sea Green Power Cable Operational, I discussed the North Sea Link interconnector to Norway.
The North Sea Link is no ordinary interconnector, as it is a lot more than a 1.4 GW cable linking the electricity grids of the UK and Norway.
- At the UK end, there is an increasing amount of wind power. The UK has added 3.5 GW in 2022.
- At the Norway end, there is the 2.1 GW Ulla-Førre hydropower complex.
- The water to generate electricity at Ulla-Førre comes from the artificial Lake Blåsjø, which contains enough water to generate 7.8 TWh of electricity.
- The storage capacity at Ulla-Førre is 857 times greater than that at the UK’s largest pumped storage hydroelectric power station at Dinorwig in North Wales.
- The power complex consists of five power stations and some can also be used as a pump powered by UK electricity to fill Lake Blåsjø with water.
Effectively, the North Sea Link, the Ulla-Førre power complex and Lake Blåsjø are a giant pumped storage hydro battery, that can either be filled by Norwegian precipitation and water flows or by using surplus UK electricity, through the North Sea Link, which opened a year ago.
If the Norwegian precipitation goes on strike, the only way to fill Lake Blåsjø is to use surplus UK power, which I suspect will be British wind and nuclear in the middle of the night!
But then I thought we will be short of electricity this winter.
- I suspect we will be at times, but then at others there will be a surplus.
- So the surplus will be pumped to Norway to top up the reservoir at Lake Blåsjø.
- When we are short of electricity, the Norwegians will turn water back into electricity and send it back through the North Sea Link.
It will be more sophisticated than that, but basically, I believe it provides us with the electricity we need, at the times, when we need it.
I wouldn’t be surprised to be told, that we’ve been squirreling away overnight wind energy to Norway over the last few months.
I have written more about Ulla-Førre in The Monster In The Mountains That Could Save Europe’s Winter.
It includes a video about the building of the complex.
The Belgians Go Large
This press release from Elia Group is entitled Elia Presents Its Plans For An Energy Island, Which Will Be Called The Princess Elisabeth Island.
These two paragraphs outline the project.
In the presence of federal ministers Tinne Van der Straeten (Energy) and Vincent Van Quickenborne (North Sea), system operator Elia has presented its draft plans for what will be the world’s first artificial energy island.
The Princess Elisabeth Island will be located almost 45 km off the Belgian coast and will serve as the link between the offshore wind farms in the second offshore wind zone (which will have a maximum capacity of 3.5 GW) and its onshore high-voltage grid. The energy island will also be the first building block of a European offshore electricity grid that will serve as a central hub for new interconnectors with the UK and Denmark. The island is an innovative tour de force that once again puts Belgium on the map as a pioneer in offshore energy.
Note, that Princess Elisabeth is the heir apparent to the Belgian throne.
I have some thoughts.
Will The Wind Turbines Float Or Have Fixed Foundations?
Consider.
- 3.5 GW of wind farms will probably need around 220 wind turbines.
- Most of the large wind farms in the seas around the UK, that are below about 50 miles from the shore are on fixed foundations.
- The seas around East Anglia and Belgium are probably fairly similar.
I suspect that using today’s technology, the turbines will have fixed foundations.
But floats with two or more turbines , that generate more electricity per square kilometre may be developed.
Will Hydrogen Be Generated On The Island?
This could happen and I don’t see why not.
Tankers could even dock on the island to transport the hydrogen.
Could The Island Service Floating Wind Turbines?
All that is needed, is sufficient depth of water and a large crane.
It is a possibility!
Will There Be A UK Interconnector To Princess Elisabeth Island?
The press release says this.
The energy island will also be the first building block of a European offshore electricity grid that will serve as a central hub for new interconnectors with the UK and Denmark.
There could be interconnectors all over the North Sea linking wind farms and energy islands to the UK, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Norway.
We’d all be in it together.
Conclusion
This is a very ambitious project.
Rolls-Royce And SOWITEC Cooperate On Power-To-X Projects
The title of this post, is the same of that of this press release from Rolls-Royce.
The press release starts with these two bullet points.
- Target: up to 500 MW electrolysis capacity for power-to-X projects
- Production of green hydrogen and e-fuels for shipping, aviation, mining, agriculture, data centers
In Rolls-Royce Makes Duisburg Container Terminal Climate Neutral With MTU Hydrogen Technology, I wrote how Rolls-Royce were building a carbon-neutral energy supply for the port.
This Rolls-Royce graphic illustrates the project.
It looks like SOWITEC would be the sort of company to install the decentralised renewables for this project.
Rolls-Royce seem to be collecting the technology to build complex projects like the power supply for the Duisburg Container Terminal, either by acquisition or negotiating friendly links.
But I do think, that Rolls-Royce possibly need two items for a complete portfolio.
A factory with a large capacity to build electrolysers. The press release says they need 500 MW by 2028 or nearly 100 MW per year.
Some form of GWh-sized energy storage. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rolls-Royce do a deal with an energy storage company.
Florescent Lights On The Circle Line
These pictures show a selection of florescent lights on the Circle Line.
The pictures were taken at Monument and Temple stations.
In Seeing London Underground’s Bakerloo Line Trains In A New Light, I talked about fitting LED lighting on Bakerloo Line trains.
As LED replacements for florescent tubes seem to exist, are these tubes up for replacement?
Seeing London Underground’s Bakerloo Line Trains In A New Light
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
This is the first paragraph.
A 50% energy saving and a substantial reduction in maintenance costs is being achieved by replacing fluorescent tubes on London Underground’s Bakerloo Line trains with custom designed LED lights from MARL International.
From the pictures in the article, they look to be a good design.
I took these pictures of a train with the new lighting on the 6th of November.
These pictures show a train with the old lighting.
Note.
- The old lighting has round lights at the end of the cars.
- The hole for the round lights has been covered by a blanking plate. See the first picture of the new lights.
- Some of the old fluorescents have died.
- Four passengers, that I spoke to, thought the cars were brighter.
The shots through the empty cars were all taken in Elephant & Castle station, so they show a comparison between new and old lighting.
I also spoke to a driver, who said the headlights on the trains will be replaced. He’d driven the train with the prototype installation and said it was much better.
Is This The World’s Best Renewable Energy Video?
This is a promotional video from Minesto about their Deep Green technology.
Is it a serious proposition or is it just kite-flying?
After reading their web site in detail, I think they are serious.
Here’s why!
The Company Is A Well-Backed Spin-Out from Swedish Aerospace Company SAAB
These two paragraphs are from the About Us page.
Minesto is a marine energy technology developer, founded in 2007 as a spin-off from Swedish aerospace manufacturer Saab. Since then, Minesto has successfully developed its unique Deep Green technology.
The company has operations in Sweden, Wales, Northern Ireland and Taiwan, with headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. Main owners are BGA Invest and Midroc New Technology. The Minesto share is listed on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Stockholm.
A company rarely succeeds without appropriate and sufficient financial backing.
One Of Their Target Markets Is Powering Remote Islands
This page from World Atlas is entitled Which Countries Have The Most Islands?
These are the top five countries.
- Sweden – 267,570
- Norway – 239,057
- Finland – 178,947
- Canada – 52,455
- United States – 18,617
Note.
- That’s a lot of islands.
- The United Kingdom is 26th with a thousand islands.
- Scandinavia has 685574 islands or 686993 if you include Denmark.
Sweden has a thousand inhabited islands, so that means that in Scandinavia alone, there are about 2,500 inhabited islands. How many need a reliable decarbonised power supply?
In the UK, we are developing Remote Island Wind to serve similar locations, which I wrote about in The Concept Of Remote Island Wind.
The UK and Minesto are both looking at the supply of power to remote islands.
One of Minesto’s projects is in the Faroe Islands and it is described in this page on the Minesto web site, which has a title of Faroe Islands – Tidal Energy To Reach 100% Renewable By 2030.
These are the first two paragraphs.
In the Faroe Islands, Minesto is part of one of the world’s most ambitious energy transition schemes.
Collaborating with the electric utility company SEV, Minesto is working to pave the way for tidal energy to become a core part of the Faroese energy mix, allowing them to reach 100% renewable energy by 2030.
Onshore wind and tidal could be an ideal combination, if they worked together.
At the bottom of the Faroe Islands page, the web site talks about The Deep Green Island Mode Project, where this is said.
In June 2019, Minesto was awarded a €2.5 million grant from the European Commission’s SME Instrument programme. The awarded funding will support the installation of Minesto’s technology in the Faroe Islands together with the utility company SEV. The aim of the project, called Deep Green Island Mode (DGIM), is to install Minesto’s first two commercially viable microgrid units in a production and customer environment.
Successful demonstration of DGIM will act as a first step to developing commercial ties with utilities across Europe, both for smaller-scale microgrid systems and as a catalyst for the market up take of larger utility-scale Deep Green systems.
This is also said about the number of installations in Europe.
15 million Europeans live on Europe’s 2,400 inhabited islands, at an average of approximately 1,500 households per island. As recognised by the European Commission, island energy is expensive, polluting, inefficient and dependent on external supply, with significant negative impacts on emissions, the competitiveness of businesses, and the economy.
It appears to me, that Minesto have researched their market well.
Minesto Can Provide Baseload Power
Another of Minesto’s projects is in Taiwan and it is described in this page on the Minesto web site, which has a title of Taiwan – Replacing Nuclear With Renewable Baseload.
These are the first two paragraphs.
In Taiwan, Minesto is carrying out site development with the purpose to establish the first tidal energy arrays with Minesto’s technology in Asia – and to demonstrate renewable baseload generation from the continuously-flowing Kuroshio current.
The conditions for extracting marine energy in Taiwan are very good due to access to both tidal streams and continuous ocean currents. Taiwan aims to produces 20% of electricity from renewable sources by 2025 and has decided to scrap its nuclear power capacity within the same timeframe. Today, 97.5 percent of the country’s total energy use comes from imported fossil fuels.
Taiwan has a well-developed industrial infrastructure and a number of stakeholders in the private and public sectors are active in marine energy.
Decarbonising Taiwan and removing nuclear is a tough ask!
Conclusion
Minesto may be kite-flying in an unusual way, but they appear to be a very serious Swedish company.
Full Story Of Hywind Scotland – World’s First Floating Wind Farm
The title of this post, is the same as that of a YouTube video.
I’m posting this, as I spent an enjoyable few months, doing simulations for a similar structure from a company called Balaena Structures, that had been founded by two engineering professors from Cambridge University.
Their structure was to be used as an oil or gas platform.
- It would have been built horizontally in a dock, where you might build supertankers.
- It would have been launched and then erected to a vertical position.
- Equipment would then have been craned on top.
- The professors also talked of it being held in place by means of the gumboot principle and the large weight.
- It was also designed to be reusable.
Sadly, they never sold an example.
I said more about my involvement with Balaena Structures in Are Floating Wind Farms The Future?.
Cerulean Winds Is A Different Type Of Wind Energy Company
I introduced Cerulean Winds in a post called What Is INTOG?, but I have decided it is too important a concept to be buried in another post.
Cerulean sounds like it could be a sea monster, but it is actually a shade of blue.
This article on offshoreWind.biz is entitled Cerulean Reveals 6 GW Floating Offshore Wind Bid Under INTOG Leasing Round.
These are the two introductory paragraphs.
Green energy infrastructure developer Cerulean Winds has revealed it will bid for four seabed lease sites with a combined capacity of 6 GW of floating wind to decarbonise the UK’s oil and gas sector under Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round.
This scale will remove more emissions quickly, keep costs lower for platform operators and provide the anchor for large-scale North-South offshore transmission, Cerulean Winds said.
Note.
- It is privately-funded project, that needs no government subsidy and will cost £30 billion.
- It looks like each site will be a hundred turbines.
- If all the sites are the same, they could be 1.5 GW each, with the use of 15 MW turbines.
- Each site will need £7.5 billion of investment. So it looks like Cerulean have access to a similar magic money tree as Kwasi Kwarteng.
This paragraph describes their four hundred floating bases.
The steel floating bases would constitute hundreds of thousands of tonnes of steel, which unlike cement fixtures, can be floated out from shore which is said to be ideal for the UK.
Building those bases, is a very large project.
On their web site, Cerulean Winds have a page entitled Targeted Oil And Gas Decarbonisation.
This the page’s mission statement.
Cerulean Winds, a green energy & infrastructure developer, is leading a pioneering bid to reduce carbon emissions from oil and gas production through floating offshore wind.
These three paragraphs describe the scheme.
Cerulean Winds pioneering bid proposes an integrated floating wind and hydrogen development across four offshore floating wind farms located West and East of the Shetland Islands and in the North and the South of the Central North Sea (CNS). The objective of the project is to generate electricity from floating wind farms located far offshore on otherwise unallocated and uneconomic seabed areas in order to power oil and gas platforms with green energy.
Cerulean Winds’ dedicated power transmission network will offer both green electrons and green molecules to oil & gas production facilities across the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) with surplus energy used in the production of green hydrogen. This dual approach allows the project to support all ages of oil and gas platforms with constant, reliable power and minimal brownfield modifications.
The optimised scale at which Cerulean Winds’ proposed scheme operates makes it the world’s largest decarbonisation project. It offers green energy to operators for asset power generation, delivered through an affordable Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Another big advantage is the scheme does not require any public subsidies, but funded entirely through private investment.
That is sensational.
Effectively, they’re building four 1.5 GW power stations in the seas around us to power a large proportion of the oil and gas rigs.
I do have some thoughts.
Who Pays For This Massive Project?
This project overview on the Cerulean web site is entitled The Cerulean Winds INTOG Scheme and it gives many more details of the project.
I will refer to this page as the project overview in the subsequent text.
This is the first sentence of the first paragraph.
Our basin-wide scheme represents more than £30 billion of private investment in a single strategic infrastructure project.
Consider.
- The London Olympics in 2012 cost £9 billion.
- The Elizabeth Line will probably cost around £20 billion.
- The Channel Tunnel in 1994 cost £9 billion.
This project is a lot bigger than these.
Will your spare fifty pounds, still be in your mattress, when Cerulean Winds has put its £30 billion together?
I think so, as this is the last sentence on the page.
The scheme is ‘private wire’ and will not require Government subsidies… being funded entirely through private investment, with no cost to the tax payer.
There will of course, be tax rebates available, as they are for any business from the smallest to the largest.
Green Hydrogen Will Be Produced Offshore
The project overview says this about green hydrogen.
The scheme would use floating offshore wind to power oil and gas assets with surplus energy converted into green hydrogen. Cerulean Winds recognise each brownfield site has a different set of requirements and this would give operators the flexibility to electrify some Brownfield assets without the need to interrupt existing production or shutdown. It would also safeguard oil and gas jobs and create new green energy jobs within the floating wind and hydrogen sectors within the next five years.
The operator will have a choice of energy – electricity or hydrogen.
How Will The Project Earn An Income?
It appears that the project, will have a number of income streams.
The main stream, is described in this sentence from the project overview on the web site.
We have a deep understanding across the energy sector and will partner with the operator to agree the best way to achieve decarbonisation targets at the lowest possible cost. Our approach offers both green electrons and green molecules to the platforms through an affordable Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
It looks like the oil and gas companies that own the rigs will be significant contributors to Cerulean’s cash flow.
Green electrons (electricity) and green molecules (hydrogen) will also be brought ashore and sold to various operators and the grid.
What Happens To The Gas That Is Currently Used To Power The Oil And Gas Rigs?
I do wonder, the gas, which will no longer be needed to power the rigs will give a boost to the supply to UK consumers.
They’ve thought of that one.
Under a heading of Reducing Gas Imports, this is said.
The project also aims to maximise recovery of energy from offshore platforms. With few exceptions, each platform have their own gas turbines for power generation, burning gas extracted from the reservoirs. Approximately 10% of the gas produced each year is used in offshore power generation. By replacing the need for gas power generation with a supply of clean, green energy, Cerulean Winds’ project frees important volumes of gas produced by platforms for consumption and reduces the UK’s import of gas from overseas.
This project, when it is fully implemented could increase UK gas production by up to ten per cent.
What’s In It For The Rig Operators?
They will have some benefits.
- They will cut their carbon dioxide emissions.
- They will sell about ten percent more of the gas they extract.
- Decarbonisation will not necessarily mean large capital expenditure on the rig.
- I also suspect, that some conveniently-placed rigs will be used to send excess hydrogen from Cerulean Winds’ electrolysers to the shore.
Some rig operators will make money from decarbonisation.
When Will The Project Be Complete?
This is the first paragraph on the project overview.
Our basin-wide scheme represents more than £30 billion of private investment in a single strategic infrastructure project. The locations will be West and East of the Shetland Islands and in the Central North Sea (CNS). They will become operational by 2028.
So we don’t have to wait for ever!
What Happens To Cerulean’s Project, When The Oil And Gas Runs Out Or We Stop Using Oil And Gas?
There would now be four 1.5 GW wind farms in the North Sea, that could be connected to the National Grid.
Conclusion
It looks like Cerulean Winds are a very different energy company.
The Anonymous Widower 