Centrica Business Solutions Powers Gressingham Foods Into A Sustainable Future
The title of this post, is the same as this press release from Centrica Business Systems.
This is the sub-heading.
Centrica Business Solutions has partnered with luxury poultry supplier, Gressingham Foods, to decarbonise its operation and unlock significant energy savings, with the installation of a 3.27MW solar array
These four paragraphs detail the project, its operation and the thinking it.
The energy solutions company will deliver a 5,100 solar panel array to Gressingham Foods’ main food processing site in Redgrave, Suffolk capable of providing more than a quarter of its total energy requirements – enough energy to power 111 homes.
The project will break ground in March and is expected to be fully operational by September 2025.
Once live, the solar project will accelerate the decarbonisation plans of the famous Gressingham Duck producer, by reducing more than 670 tonnes of carbon in the first year alone. The chosen site for the project is part of the original Gressingham duck farmland on the property – with low agricultural land grading, solar represents a great solution to make sustainable use of the space.
The solar project is part of a flexible Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that will see Gressingham Foods purchase the energy generated by the solar installation from Centrica Business Solutions over the next 12 years, with no upfront capital cost to Gressingham Foods. During this period, Centrica Business Solutions will own and maintain the solar site, guaranteeing its optimal performance.
I have posted this, as I feel the project is a good example of how this type of business can be partially decarbonised.
Certainly, with my rooftop solar installation, I now have the knowledge to have managed the energy on the stud farm, I owned with my wife, in a more efficient manner.
Centrica Business Solutions And Highview Power
Centrica Business Solutions is one of Centrica’s business units.
It has its own web page, with this sub heading.
Helping Organisations Balance Planet And Profit
This is followed by this mission statement.
Centrica Business Solutions helps organisations to balance the demands of planet and profit, by delivering integrated energy solutions that help you save money and become a sustainable business.
Several pictures show some of the solutions, that Centrica Business Solutions can provide.
Centrica Business Solutions In Numbers
These numbers are given about the customers of Centrica Business Solutions.
- Customer Sites Globally – 7000
- Solar PV Installations Delivered Worldwide – 16,380+
- Solar PV Installations Delivered Power – 240 MW
- CHP Units Operated And Maintained Globally – 700 MW+
- Energy Data Points Collected Each Month Globally – 29 billion
Theses are large numbers.
How Would Centrica Business Solutions Use Highview Power’s Batteries?
The obvious use of Highview Power’s batteries is to connect them between a solar or wind farm and the grid, for when the sun isn’t shining or when the wind isn’t blowing.
Currently, there are three sizes of Highview Power batteries, either working on under development.
5MW/15 MWh
This is the demonstration system, which is described on this page of the Highview web site.
Surely, if a system of this size is very useful for Viridor, there may be other applications and customers out there.
This system will provide 5 MW for three hours.
50MW/300MWh
This is the Carrington system, which is described on this page of the Highview web site.
The Highview web site says this about output potential and connectivity.
The facility will store enough clean, renewable energy to serve the needs of 480,000 homes, as well as providing essential grid stabilisation services. The site will use existing substation and transmission infrastructure.
This system will provide 50 MW for six hours.
200MW/2.5GWh
This is the larger system for Scotland and the North East, which is under development and described on this page of the Highview web site.
The Highview web site says this about output their use.
These will be located on the national transmission network where the wind is being generated and therefore will enable these regions to unleash their untapped renewable energy potential and store excess wind power at scale.
This system will provide 200 MW for 12.5 hours.
In Rio Tinto Punts On British Start-Up To Plug Renewables Gap, I said this.
In Britain, Highview hopes to be putting four 2.5-gigawatt assets into planning this year – one in Scotland, three with Orsted in England.
This sentence was originally published in this article on the Australian Financial Review.
I believe that Centrica could find applications for all three sizes of Highview’s batteries.
Suppose, though Centrica find that an application needs say a 100 MW/1 GWh battery.
From the mathematics, I did at ICI in the 1970s, when looking at the scaling of chemical plants, I believe that Highview’s battery design could be scalable, by just using appropriately-sized turbomachinery, matched to the right number of tanks.
So the customer would get the battery size they needed!
How Much Electricity Could One Of Highview’s Batteries Store?
This image shows large LNG tanks at Milford Haven.
In Could A Highview Power CRYOBattery Use A LNG Tank For Liquid Air Storage?, I did a rough calculation and found that the largest LNG tanks could hold enough liquid air, that would be the equivalent of around one GWh.
So the image above could be a 5 GWh battery.
This image clipped from Highview’s web site, shows large tanks for liquified gas storage.
With tanks like these, Highview could be building batteries with storage to rival the smaller pumped storage hydroelectric power stations.
In Grid Powers Up With One Of Europe’s Biggest Battery Storage Sites, I talked about how Ørsted were planning the Swardeston BESS, where the 2852 MW Hornsea Three wind farm connects to the grid.
The chosen battery will be from Tessla with an output of 300 MW and a capacity of 600 MWh.
I suspect Ørsted couldn’t wait for Highview, but circumstances might have changed now, with the financing deal for the Carrington battery!
Are Combined Heat And Power Units And Highview’s Batteries Interchangeable And Complementary Technologies?
According to the Centrica Business Systems web site, they have deployed over 700 MW of CHP systems globally.
I wonder how many of these systems could have used a standard Highview battery?
Perhaps, Centrica Business Systems have done a survey and found that it could be quite a few.
So, perhaps if Centrica Business Systems had access to Highview’s technology, it would increase their sales.
In addition how many of Centrica Business Systems existing CHP systems, would be improved with the addition of a Highview battery?
It appears to me, that if Centrica Business Systems were to develop a series of standard solutions based on Highview’s technology, they could substantially increase their sales.
What Could Centrica Business Systems Do For Highview Power?
Centrica Business Systems could probably develop several standard applications with Hoghview’s technology, which would be to the benefit of both companies.
But, I believe that as Centrica Business Systems are supporting large number of systems globally, that they are in a good place to help develop and possibly run Highview Power’s support network.
Conclusion
I can see Centrica Business Systems and Highview Power having a long and profitable relationship.
Recurrent Energy’s Middle Road Project Sold To Centrica
The title of this post, is the same as that pf this article on Solar Power Portal.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Recurrent Energy, a global solar and energy storage developer and a subsidiary of Canadian Solar, announced the sale of its 49.9 MWp Middle Road solar project in Harbury, Warwickshire, to Centrica Business Solutions. The subsidy-free project, slated for construction this summer, will commence operations in 2025.
The Middle Road project is just one piece of Recurrent Energy’s expanding UK pipeline, which boasts over 2.6 GWp of solar PV and 6.7 GWh of battery storage projects. This mirrors the broader trend of increased investment in UK solar. Indeed, Recurrent announced €1.3 billion of financing for EU and UK solar projects earlier this week.
This 49.9 MW solar project shows three ways to make money from a solar project.
The Developer
Recurrent Energy would appear to have developed the expertise to put together these solar farms and do all the legals and administration to connect them to the National Grid.
They obviously can show their financial backers, the cash flow, that the farms generates.
So if you’re good at building solar farms, I suspect you can develop a substantial pipeline of projects, each with their own case flow.
The Operator
Initially in the early days, Recurrent Energy will probably be the operator, so they can sort out any teething problems and build the financial profile of the site.
The Owner
But as at Middle Road, they may decide to cash in their investment.
Centrica have now taken over the ownership and they can operate the farm themselves or pay, Recurrent Energy a fee.
Note.
- Developer, operator and owner all have ways of making money from this solar farm.
- Developer and owner can use the solar farm, as an asset on which to raise money.
- Similar cash flows and inside probably apply to batteries and wind farms.
By buying, selling and updating the various assets, a financial operator, can use their assets to make money.
As Centrica are also an electricity supplier, they can probably suggest to developers, where a solar farm or battery-electric storage system is needed.
Are Centrica Developing A Pipeline Of Projects?
In Centrica Set For Solar Boost With Acquisition Of Two Projects In South-West England, I talked about how Centrica had acquired two projects in South-West England.
The Middle Road project is the third project that Centrica has purchased this year.
As a Control and Electrical Engineer, I know, that by careful management of the assets, Centrica can achieve the following.
- Delivery of electricity to their customers at a competitive price.
- If a battery is included in the local grid, higher supply reliability can be achieved.
- Batteries also allow the local network to carry out other tasks, like frequency stabilisation.
The flexibility of the local network should allow other assets to be added.
Centrica And Moog Inc. Agree Major Solar Power Purchase Agreement
The title of this post is the same as that of this press release from Centrica.
This is the sub-heading.
Centrica Business Solutions has completed a long-term solar power purchase agreement (PPA) with aerospace defence designer and manufacturer, Moog Inc. The solar array will accelerate the decarbonisation of its aerospace manufacturing site in Wolverhampton and help the business achieve its net zero goals.
These three paragraphs introduce the project.
The agreement sees Centrica lease roof space from Moog Inc. to install a 2,200 solar panel array capable of generating circa 1MW. The energy company will finance the project and have agreed on a PPA with Moog Inc. for the renewable electricity generated on site.
Construction is set to complete in the spring and the panels will provide Moog Inc. with 800 MWh of renewable, reliable energy every year for the next 25 years – around 10 per cent of the site’s existing electricity requirements.
This gives Moog Inc. price certainty and access to green electricity without any upfront costs, and it will reduce operational CO2 emissions by 175 tonnes every year.
Note.
- The roof is one of Centrica’s biggest roof top solar arrays to date.
- It’s the first retrofit on an existing manufacturing plant of a solar array for Moog Inc. and wthe’re looking forward to doing more.
The Wikipedia entry for Moog Inc. starts with this paragraph.
Moog is an American-based designer and manufacturer of electric, electro-hydraulic and hydraulic motion, controls and systems for applications in aerospace, defense, industrial and medical devices. The company operates under four segments: aircraft controls, space and defense controls, industrial controls, and components. Moog is headquartered in Elma, New York and has sales, engineering, and manufacturing facilities in twenty-six countries.
Bill Moog, who founded the company, was a cousin of the guy who invented the Moog synthesizer.
Their products feature on the Airbus A 350, the Boeing 787, the Lockheed Martin F 35 and are used to operate the roofs on Centre Court and Court One at Wimbledon.
Conclusion
We will see a lot more solar installations like these.
I am not sure of the type of solar panels used on Moog’s Wolverhampton factory, but these roofs must be an ideal place to use BIPVco steel solar panels as Network Rail used at Denmark Hill station.
This roof became operational in 2021.
This picture shows a Ventum Dynamics turbine on Skegness Pier.
On the Ventum Dynamics web site, there are several pictures of buildings with flat roofs, that have several turbines on each.
I believe these turbines would fit neatly on some large industrial roofs with solar panels to form an efficient wind/solar application.
The Modern Way To Grow Tomatoes
I was looking around the Centrica Business Solutions web site, when I found this page, which is entitled Second CHP Powers New Greenhouses At Frank Rudd & Sons, that describes how tomatoes are grown in large greenhouses.
These paragraphs introduce Frank Rudd & Sons and what they do.
Frank Rudd & Sons is a family-run producer of cherry vine and plum tomatoes, generating around 1,500 tonnes of produce every year. Based in Over Peover, near Knutsford, the business was started in 1939 and is now run by the third generation of the Rudd family.
Their greenhouses use an innovative growing system, with suspended grow bags full of nutrient seed. This means they’re able to grow tomatoes for 11 months of the year – and also means they have a continual need for heat.
What’s more, when they constructed new greenhouses – going from 9 acres of glass to 15 acres – Frank Rudd & Sons needed an energy partner who could support their increase in demand.
These paragraphs describes Centrica Business Solutions’s solution.
Centrica Business Solutions originally partnered with Frank Rudd & Sons in 2017 to install a new Combined Heat and Power (CHP) unit to power their operations. When Frank Rudd & Sons began to expand their greenhouses in 2023, they needed to install a second CHP to meet their increased demand. Once again, they invited Centrica Business Solutions to support.
We designed and installed a turnkey 1.5MW CHP system to power their production processes. The CHP generates heat and carbon dioxide, which are both fed into their greenhouses and are vital components to the growing process. The system also generates electricity, which Frank Rudd & Sons sells back to the grid through an export agreement – giving the business a significant ongoing revenue stream.
One of the pictures shows that the CHP unit is from Rolls-Royce mtu.
The Anonymous Widower 