SSE Unveils Redevelopment Plans For Sloy Hydro-Electric Power Station
The title of this post, is the same as that of this news item from SSE Renewables.
These are the two bullet points of the news item.
- Scotland First Minister Humza Yousaf welcomes plans to convert conventional hydro plant to new, flexible pumped hydro storage facility
- If approved for delivery Sloy could provide firm, flexible renewable energy for up to 160 hours non-stop, enough to power 90,000 homes for one week
This is the introductory paragraph.
SSE Renewables, as part of SSE plc, has unveiled plans to convert its 152.5MW Sloy Power Station, Britain’s largest conventional hydro power plant, into a new pumped hydro storage facility to bolster energy security and help provide the large-scale and flexible renewable energy back-up needed in a future UK net zero power system.
And this describes the output and storage capacity.
Subject to final design, the converted Sloy scheme would be capable of delivering up to 25GWh of long-duration electricity storage capacity. At the flick of a switch, the converted Sloy scheme could provide firm, flexible renewable energy for up to 160 hours non-stop, enough to power around 90,000 homes for up to one week.
The Loch Sloy Scheme
In A Lower-Cost Pumped Hydro Storage System, I described the Loch Sloy scheme, as it currently exists.
Whilst writing some of the posts recently about pumped storage I came across the Loch Sloy Hydro-Electric Scheme.
This is the introductory sentence in Wikipedia.
The Sloy/Awe Hydro-Electric Scheme is a hydro-electric facility situated between Loch Sloy and Inveruglas on the west bank of Loch Lomond in Scotland.
This page on the Greenage web site gives comprehensive details of the power station and is well worth a read.
This Google Map shows the Lochs Sloy and Lomond.
Note.
- Loch Sloy is in the North-West corner of the map.
- The page on Greenage says that Loch Sloy can store 14 GWh of electricity
- Loch Lomond is the body of water towards the Eastern side of the map.
- Inverglas is on the West bank of Loch Lomond to the North of the Loch Lomond Holiday Park, which is indicated by the green arrow with a tent.
This second Google Map shows the power station and Inverglas.
Note.
- It is a classic layout for a hydro-electric power station.
- In the North West corner of the map is the valve house, which is connected to Loch Sloy by a three kilometre tunnel.
- The valve house controls the water flows to the power station by Loch Lomond.
- There are four two-metre pipes running down the hill, one for each of the four turbines.
- According to the page on Greenage, the power station has three 40 MW turbines and one 32 MW turbine, which gives a total output of 152 MW.
- The water discharges into Loch Lomond after doing its work in the power station.
Loch Sloy is the largest conventional hydroelectric power plant in the UK.
The 2010 Plan To Add Pumped Storage To The Loch Sloy Hydro-Electric Scheme
This page on Hydro Review, which is dated the 10th of November 2010, is entitled SSE Gets Government Consent For Sloy Pumped-Storage Hydropower Project.
These are the first paragraph.
SSE Generation Ltd., the wholly owned generation business of Scottish and Southern Energy, has received consent from the Scottish Government to develop a 60-MW pumped-storage hydro project at its existing Sloy hydropower station at Loch Lomond, SSE reported.
Note.
- Two 30 MW pumps will be added to the power station to pump water up the hill from Loch Lomond to Loch Sloy.
- According to the page on Greenage, if the two pumps worked together for six hours, they would transfer 432,000 m3 of water. Note that a cubic metre of water weighs a tonne.
- Water would be transferred, when there was a surplus of energy being generated over the demand.
It would appear to be a simple scheme, as it is just adding two pumps to pump the water up the hill.
- As pumps rather than pump/turbines as at Foyers are used, there is no corresponding increase in generating capacity.
- Water also appears to be pumped up to the valve house in the existing pipes.
- Loch Sloy and Loch Lomond would not need major works to enable the scheme..
The page on Greenage gives the cost at just £40 million.
Originally, the project was supposed to have started in 2012, but as there are environmental problems with the fish, the work has not started.
These problems are detailed on the page on Greenage.
It looks like this scheme would have had an output of 152.5 MW and a storage capacity of 14 GWh.
Expanding Loch Sloy
Yesterday’s press release says this about the proposed capacity of the proposed Loch Sloy pumped storage scheme.
Subject to final design, the converted Sloy scheme would be capable of delivering up to 25GWh of long-duration electricity storage capacity.
This Google Map shows Loch Sloy.
This second Google Map shows the dam at the Southern end.
Note.
- Earlier, I said that Loch Sloy can store 14 GWh of electricity.
- To be able to store 25 GWh would need a 78 % increase in capacity.
This could be possible to be obtained by enlarging the dam and perhaps reprofiling the banks of the loch.
Expanding Loch Slow Power Station
This Google Map shows the Loch Sloy dam and the power station.
Note.
The dam is in the North-West corner of the map.
The power station is in the South-East corner of the map.
This repeat of the second Google Map shows the power station in more detail.
There appears to be plenty of space for more turbines, pumps and other electrical gubbins.
Building The Scheme
There may be enlarged buildings and extra pipes up the mountain, but hopefully the major problem of digging more tunnels through the rock may be avoided.
For these reasons, it could be a relatively easy construction project costing tens of millions.
The 14 GWh scheme from 2010 was costed at £40 million, so this 25 GWh scheme would probably cost no more than double or £80 million.
Conclusion
This is a sensible and affordable scheme, that provides a lot of energy storage
Plans Submitted For Hydrogen Pilot Plant At Humber Power Station
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Business Live.
This is the sub-heading.
HiiRoc and Centrica partnership at Brigg moves forward as consent sought.
These two paragraphs complete the original article.
Plans for a hydrogen pilot plant to sit alongside Centrica’s Brigg Power Station have been submitted to North Lincolnshire Council.
The low carbon fuel is set to be blended with gas at the peaking plant, in a tie-up between the energy giant and green-tech start up HiiRoc, in which it has invested. The well-backed Hull-based firm is pioneering a new production method, and was named as KPMG’s Global Tech Innovator for 2022.
I have very high hopes for HiiROC, who in addition to Centrica, have Hyundai and Kia as investors.
Endorsement from KPMG is surely positive.
Vineyard Wind To Deploy US-Based Supplier’s Bubble Curtain During Foundation Installation
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Avangrid building the first large-scale offshore wind farm in the US, has signed an agreement with the US company ThayerMahan for a pilot programme to deploy and test a secondary bubble curtain during the installation of foundations
This is the first paragraph.
A bubble curtain mitigates noise created during foundation installation by absorbing and dampening sound. First, the curtain’s large, perforated hoses are placed on the seafloor around the monopile. Then, the hoses are filled with compressed air which, once the hoses are inflated, escapes through the perforations and creates a barrier of bubbles that reduce noise.
Nothing is said, as to how the bubbles cut the noise.
I’m fairly certain that I know why.
- The speed of sound in air on a standard day at sea level static conditions, is about 340 metres/second.
- In water it’s about 1500 metres/second.
So what would the speed of sound in a bubbly mixture of air and water be?
I asked this question of Google and got this answer.
Surprisingly, in a two- fluid mixture, the measured speed of sound can be one order of magnitude smaller than that of its constituents. For example for water and air in normal conditions the speed of sound in the mixture can be about 23m/s while it is 1500m/s in water and 330m/s in air.
I even made money out of this phenomena, by backing two guys, who used it to develop an aerosol valve that used nitrogen as a propellant.
This research indirectly led to the development of the Respimat inhaler for asthma drugs.
So how does it cut the noise?
I’m not sure of this, but we do know the noise of the piling will have to go through areas of water with different speeds of sound. So is the sound attenuated as it passes through the bubble curtain by the slow speed?
I have other ideas for this interesting phenomenon and if anybody is interested please contact me. One use may have applications in mixing dissimilar fluids.
Spirit Energy Welcomes Licence Award For World-Leading Carbon Storage Facility
The title of this post, is the same as that of this news item from Centrica.
This is the sub-heading.
Spirit Energy and its shareholders, Centrica Plc and Stadtwerke München GmbH (SWM), welcome licence award for world-leading carbon storage facility
These are the first two paragraphs.
Spirit Energy – with the support of majority shareholder Centrica Plc, and Stadtwerke München GmbH (SWM) – has today (18 May) been granted a carbon storage licence by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA). This represents a further step towards their net zero vision of repurposing the North and South Morecambe gas fields for carbon capture and storage.
Today’s announcement places the companies at the forefront of the decarbonisation efforts in the UK, with the MNZ (Morecambe Net Zero) Cluster having the potential to be one of the UK’s biggest carbon storage hubs. It will be able to store up to a gigaton of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of three years’ worth of current UK CO₂ emissions. It could initially store above 5MTPA of CO₂, scaling in time to 25MTPA. The MNZ Cluster will be able to accept CO₂ transported by pipeline, ship and rail.
Note.
- I would assume MTPA is megaton per annum.
- In the long-term, I believe we’ll find productive uses for a substantial amount of the CO₂ we create, in agriculture, manufacturing construction materials, animal foods and textiles and in other uses.
- The MNZ Cluster is very large and will be a superb partner for Carbon Capture and Use.
- The partners will invest over £1 billion in this project pending the outcome of the Track 2 process.
Neil McCulloch, CEO of Spirit Energy, finished the news item like this.
Spirit Energy has ambitions for the two gas fields to form the core of a green super-hub. This would explore opportunities like direct air capture, the manufacture of blue hydrogen, the production of green hydrogen, the integration of other renewable power generation facilities, and energy storage – all of which would put Barrow and the North West on the map as a centre for low-carbon innovation.
It is a good vision.
BlueFloat, Renantis Ink Exclusivity Agreements For Scottish Floaters
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The BlueFloat Energy and Renantis partnership has signed exclusivity agreements with Crown Estate Scotland to develop its Sinclair and Scaraben innovation projects which will now be part of a phased delivery of the partnership’s Broadshore project
This is the first two paragraphs.
The two 99.5 MW floating offshore wind farms will now be developed as part of a phased delivery of the partnership’s Broadshore project, located 47 kilometres north of Fraserburgh.
Sinclair and Scaraben will explore innovative foundation technologies, associated fabrication works, and mooring systems with a view to maximise opportunities for the Scottish supply chain, driving local investment and job creation, said the partners.
This would seem to be very sensible for manufacturing and project management reasons.
Japanese Companies To Invest GBP 14.2 Billion In UK’s Offshore Wind, Green Hydrogen
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Japanese giants Marubeni Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation, and Sumitomo Electric Industries have committed to investing a total of GBP 14.2 billion (approximately EUR 16.3 billion) in offshore wind and green hydrogen projects, and the offshore wind supply chain in the UK
These two paragraphs add a bit of context and flesh to the deal.
Ahead of the UK Prime Minister’s business reception in Tokyo on 18 May, the UK government announced that leading Japanese businesses have committed to invest GBP 17.7 billion (approx. EUR 20.3 billion) in businesses and projects across the UK.
Of this, GBP 14.2 billion has been committed by Marubeni, Sumitomo and Sumitomo Electric for projects in offshore wind, green hydrogen and offshore wind supply chain.
SSE’s Berwick Bank Wind Farm will have a capacity of 4.1 GW and is budgeted to cost just short of £18 billion. Doing a quick calculation, indicates that £14.2 billion would only finance £3.23 GW of offshore wind.
But the Japanese say they will invest in offshore wind, green hydrogen and offshore wind supply chain. Investing in the offshore wind supply chain, would surely attract more money as the developers placed orders for foundations, floaters, electrical gubbins and support vessels.
Note.
- In Japanese Giant Sumitomo Heavy Invests In Liquid-Air Energy Storage Pioneer, I wrote about Sumitomo’s investment in English energy storage. company; Highview Power.
- Electrolyser company; iTM Power has also sold a 1.4 MW electrolyser to Sumitomo and signed an agreement over American sales with another Japanese company.
I can see other similar co-operative deals being developed. Possible areas could be cables, transformers and support vessels.
Gresham House Energy Storage Sets GBP80 Million Fundraise
Gresham House Energy Storage Fund must be doing something right, as similar headlines are used in half-a-dozen places on the Internet and they regularly seem to be raising more money.
But then, as a Graduate Control Engineer and a previous owner of half a finance company, I’ve always thought raising money to build batteries was a good idea.
My only niggle with Gresham House, is that I would have thought by now, they would have put some money into building one of the excellent new technology batteries that are coming through.
The storage fund or some of its employees, may of course have contributed to some of the crowdfunding for these new technologies, all of which I feel have a good chance of being a success.
Note.
- Energy Dome is Italian and all the others are at least fifty percent British.
- Most of the British batteries have had backing from the UK government.
- All these batteries are environmentally-friendly.
- None of these batteries use large quantities of rare and expensive materials.
- Energy Dome even uses carbon dioxide as the energy storage medium.
In addition, in Scotland, there is traditional pumped storage hydro-electricity.
Project Iliad
This article on renews.biz has a slightly different headline of Gresham House To Raise £80m For US Battery Buildout.
This is the first two paragraphs.
Gresham House Energy Storage Fund is seeking to raise £80m through a share placing.
The new equity raised will primarily be used to finance 160MW of solar with co-located four-hour battery projects in California, US, known as Project Iliad.
The article then gives a lot of financial details of Project Iliad and Gresham House.
Will Gresham House be backing co-located solar/battery projects in the UK?
- In Cleve Hill Solar Park, I write about a co-located solar/battery project in Kent.
- This press release from National Grid is entitled UK’s First Transmission-Connected Solar Farm Goes Live, which also describes a co-located solar/battery project, being built near Bristol.
These two projects are certainly serious and could be pathfinders for a whole host of co-located solar/battery projects.
WillGresham House back some of this new generation?
Articles From The Engineer
I generally read articles from The Engineer once a week.
Here’s a few that are worth reading.
12th Feburuary 2023 – Hydrogen Ambulance Set For London
A project led by hydrogen fuel specialists ULEMCo is aiming to deliver the UK’s first zero emission hydrogen ambulance later this year
There is an interesting discussion, as to whether hydrogen or battery ambulances are better. Range and hotel power issues seem to favour hydrogen.
11th May 2023 – Bramble Energy Secures £12m For Hydrogen Bus
Bramble Energy has joined forces with Equipmake, Aeristech and Bath University to develop a new hydrogen double-deck bus integrating its printed circuit board fuel cell (PCBFC) technology
Bramble Energy can create bespoke fuel cell stacks in a ‘matter of days at scale and low-cost’.
12th May 2023 – Cornish Geothermal Project Leads Government Heat Scheme
The UK’s first deep geothermal heat network is one of seven new projects to receive funding as part of a new government programme to decarbonise buildings across England.
The full list of projects to receive support today via the Green Heat Networks Fund is detailed.
17th May 2023 – Ricardo Joins Pan-European Hydrogen Shipping Consortium
UK engineering firm Ricardo is set to play a key role in the sustainable HYdrogen powered Shipping (sHYpS) project being funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme.
One thing that is disclosed in the article, is that Ricardo have a new 400kW hydrogen fuel cell test chamber at the company’s UK headquarters.
Dutch Stop Offshore Wind Turbines To Protect Migratory Birds In ‘International First’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The wind turbines at Borssele and Egmond aan Zee offshore wind farms were stopped for four hours on 13 May, to help migrating birds pass by safely.
These three paragraphs outline the measures taken to protect the migrating birds.
According to the Dutch Government, this is the first time such a measure has been applied and is in line with the approach of the government and participating companies to increasingly focus on ecology and biodiversity in offshore wind farms.
The wind turbines’ speed will be reduced to a maximum of two rotations per minute during the predicted night-time peak migration to give the birds a safe passage.
The shutdown was part of a pilot phase, which could become standard this autumn and will also include wind farms that are still being built or will be constructed in the future.
I wonder how this Dutch action fits with research from Vattenfall, that I wrote about in Unique Study: Birds Avoid Wind Turbine Blades.
SSE Renewables Announces Construction Of Second Utility-Scale Battery Storage System
The title of this post, is the same as that of this news item from SSE Renewables.
These three paragraphs outline the project and its current status.
SSE Renewables has taken a Final Investment Decision to proceed with, and entered into contracts to deliver, its second battery energy storage system (BESS). The 150MW project is located at the site of SSE’s former Ferrybridge coal-fired power station in West Yorkshire, England.
The investment is part of SSE’s £12.5bn Net Zero Acceleration Programme and means construction will now commence later this month at the iconic site.
For decades the Ferrybridge coal-fired power station was a prominent feature of the West Yorkshire landscape, before being decommissioned by SSE in 2016. Now SSE Renewables’ plans to build a new 150MW battery storage project at Ferrybridge will provide flexible generation for Britain’s national grid and a new era for the site.
This Google Map shows the site.
Note.
- The A1(M) runs up the West side of the map, with the East Coast Main Line going up the East.
- The circular structures in the middle of the map appear to be the bases and remains of the eight cooling towers.
- There are a lot of labels saying Ferrybridge power station.
- One existing and one demolished sub-stations can be located.
- The last Ferrybridge power station; C had a capacity of just over 2 GW.
The Wikipedia entry for Ferrybridge C, is worth a read, as it details the struggles of various owners and their engineers to generate electricity efficiently and with regard to the regulations.
The site’s use since 2016 seems to have been varied with two multi-fuel power stations, that were designed to burn mixed fuel including biomass, general waste and waste wood, a carbon capture experiment for Chris Huhne and now the 150 MW battery, which other sources give as having a storage capacity of 300 MWh.
It looks to me that SSE still own the large site and I wonder what their plans envisage for the site.
- A large electrolyser to produce hydrogen could be invaluable for decarbonising the heavy industry in the area.
- According to Wikipedia, there was a plan to build the gas-fired Ferrybridge D and a gas pipeline to connect it to the gas transmission system, but neither were built.
- So could the gas pipeline be built to distribute the hydrogen?
- Or could a large hydrogen store and a small hydrogen-powered power-station be built at Ferrybridge to back up the renewables
- Alternatively, more batteries could be added to the site.
The size of the site, gives lots of possibilities.
The Anonymous Widower 