Ministerial Roundtable Seeks To Unlock Investment In UK Energy Storage
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Drax.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Business leaders have met with UK Energy Minister the Rt Hon Greg Hands MP to discuss how the government could unlock significant investment in vital energy storage technologies needed to decarbonise the power sector and help ensure greater energy independence.
The meeting was organised by the Long-Duration Electricity Storage Alliance, a new association of companies, progressing plans across a range of technologies to be first of their kind to be developed in the UK for decades.
This press release, which I found on the Drax website, has obviously been produced by the four companies; Drax, Highview Power, Invinity Energy Systems and SSE Renewables.
Greg Hands MP, who is the Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth said this.
The Long-Duration Electricity Storage Alliance is a key part of our plan to get the full benefit from our world-class renewables sector. Government have already committed £68 million of funding toward the development of these technologies.
“This will support the UK as we shift towards domestically-produced renewable energy that will boost our energy security and create jobs and investment.
The three CEOs and a director from SSE, make statements about what they are doing and what they need from Government, which are all worth reading.
- Drax still needs planning permission for its flagship project at Cruachan, that is called Cruachan 2.
- SSE are saying that the massive 30 GWh Coire Glas pumped hydro scheme has full planning permission and is shovel-ready.
- Drax and SSE appear to be in favour of Cap and Floor regimes to support long term energy storage.
- Highview Power and Invinity Energy Systems appear very optimistic.
- Finance for capital cost is not mentioned. As billions will be needed for some of these schemes and the returns are very predictable, I assume that it has been promised.
After reading this press release fully, I too am optimistic.
Conclusion
I feel sure, that a sensible plan will evolve fairly soon, which will involve these four companies and possibly some others.
Giant Batteries Will Provide Surge Of Electricity Storage
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Britain’s capacity to store electricity in giant batteries is set to double after dozens of new projects won contracts through a government scheme to keep the lights on.
Developers of battery storage projects with a total output capacity of at least 3.3 gigawatts won contracts to operate from winter 2025-26 through the government’s “capacity market” auction, according to Cornwall Insight, the consultancy.
Note that Hinckley Point C is only 3.26 GW.
The biggest battery in these contracts is a giant that Intergen will be building at the London Gateway.
When the battery got planning permission in November 2020, Intergen published this press release, which is entitled InterGen Gains Consent To Build One Of The World’s Largest Battery Projects In Essex.
These are three bullet points at the head of the press release.
- Edinburgh-headquartered energy company InterGen has been granted planning consent to build the UK’s largest battery storage project at DP World London Gateway on the Thames Estuary.
- £200m project is set to provide at least 320MW/640MWh of capacity, with the potential to expand to 1.3GWh – more than ten times the size of the largest battery currently in operation in the UK and set to be one of the world’s largest.
- The battery will provide fast-reacting power and system balancing with an initial two-hour duration, and is a significant piece of infrastructure on the UK’s journey to net zero.
As Cilla might have said. “What a lorra lorra lot of lithium!”
But it’s not just lithium-ion batteries that are getting large.
In The Power Of Solar With A Large Battery, I talked about a Highview Power CRYOBattery with a capacity of 50MW/500MWh, that is being built in the Atacama desert in Chile.
The Essex battery is a giant battery and it’s bigger than the one in Chile, but I’m fairly sure Highview Power could build a battery bigger than the one InterGen are building. You just add more liquid air tanks and turbomachinery.
Dogger Bank C In UK Offshore Wind First To Provide Reactive Power Capability
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from the Dogger Bank wind farm.
This paragraph gives an explanation.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm has secured a UK power first by becoming the first offshore wind farm project to win a tender from National Grid ESO to provide reactive power capability. The sector-first contract will help deliver a greener grid, maintain a stable voltage power supply, and help drive down UK consumer costs by millions of pounds.
Note that the three Dogger Bank wind farms; A, B and C will each have a capacity of 1.2 GW and that Hartlepool nuclear power station has a capacity of 1.32 GW. The latter is due to be decommissioned in 2024.
So the wind farms will effectively replace the nuclear power station.
This paragraph describes the contract.
Under new £22.5m Pennines Voltage Pathfinder contracts announced today, National Grid ESO has awarded a 10-year power contract to Dogger Bank C that will see its onshore converter station at Lazenby in the North-East of England provide 200 MVAr* of reactive power capability between 2024 and 2034. This marks the first time that an offshore wind transmission asset has been awarded a contract through a reactive power tender by National Grid ESO.
I suspect that there will need to be some form of energy storage added to the system somewhere, either at Lazenby or could we see a system like one of Highview Power’s CRYOBattery installed offshore?
It should be noted that CRYOBatteries are no more complicated, than some of the equipment installed on offshore gas and oil platforms.
The Lackenby Substation
It does seem that there has been a mix-up between the two nearby villages of Lazenby and Lackenby.
I can’t find a Lazenby substation, but I can find one at Lackenby.
This Google Map shows that the location of the Lackenby substation.
This second map shows the substation in more detail.
Note.
- There are a lot of large chemical works on both banks of the Tees.
- I can find nothing on the route of the cable from Dogger Bank C to Lackenby substation.
- Perhaps, it’s planned to go up the River Tees or it could come ashore South of the mouth of the River Tees.
Plans must be published soon, so that the substation can be updated before the wind farm is commissioned.
Could Norfolk And Suffolk Be Powered By Offshore Wind?
This week this article on the BBC was published, which had a title of Government Pledges £100m For Sizewell Nuclear Site.
These are the first three paragraphs.
The government is putting up £100m to support the planned Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk, Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has announced.
The investment marks the latest stage in efforts to build the £20bn reactor on the east coast of England.
However, it does not commit the government to approving the project, which is still subject to negotiations.
My view of the proposed Sizewell C nuclear plant is that of an engineer, who used to live within thirty minutes of the Sizewell site.
- Hinckley Point C power station, which is currently being constructed, will have a nameplate capacity of 3.26 GW.
- Sizewell C would probably be to a similar design and capacity to Hinckley Point C.
- Sizewell C would likely be completed between 2033-2036.
- Sizewell B is a 1250 MW station, which has a current closing date of 2035, that could be extended to 2055.
- East Anglia and particularly the mega Freeport East, that will develop to the South at the Ports of Felixstowe and Harwich will need more electricity.
- One of the needs of Freeport East will be a large supply of electricity to create hydrogen for the trains, trucks, ships and cargo handling equipment.
- Sizewell is a large site, with an excellent connection to the National Grid, that marches as a giant pair of overhead cables across the Suffolk countryside to Ipswich.
But.
- We still haven’t developed a comprehensive strategy for the management of nuclear waste in the UK. Like paying for the care of the elderly and road pricing, it is one of those problems, that successive governments have kept kicking down the road, as it is a big vote loser.
- I was involved writing project management software for forty years and the building of large nuclear power plants is littered with time and cost overruns.
- There wasn’t a labour problem with the building of Sizewell B, as engineers and workers were readily available. But with the development of Freeport East, I would be very surprised if Suffolk could provide enough labour for two mega-projects after Brexit.
- Nuclear power plants use a lot of steel and concrete. The production of these currently create a lot of carbon dioxide.
- There is also a large number of those objecting to the building of Sizewell C. It saddened me twenty-five years ago, that most of the most strident objectors, that I met, were second home owners, with no other connection to Suffolk.
The older I get, the more my experience says, that large nuclear power plants aren’t always a good idea.
Small Modular Nuclear Reactors
In Is Sizewell The Ideal Site For A Fleet Of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors?, I looked at building a fleet of small modular nuclear reactors at Sizewell, instead of Sizewell C.
I believe eight units would be needed in the fleet to produce the proposed 3.26 GW and advantages would include.
- Less land use.
- Less cost.
- Less need for scarce labour.
- Easier to finance.
- Manufacturing modules in a factory should improve quality.
- Electricity from the time of completion of unit 1.
But it would still be nuclear.
Wind In The Pipeline
Currently, these offshore wind farms around the East Anglian Coast are under construction, proposed or are in an exploratory phase.
- East Anglia One – 714 MW – 2021 – Finishing Construction
- East Anglia One North 800 MW – 2026 – Exploratory
- East Anglia Two – 900 MW – 2026 – Exploratory
- East Anglia Three – 1400 MW – 2026 – Exploratory
- Norfolk Vanguard – 1800 MW – Exploratory
- Norfolk Boreas – 1800 MW – Exploratory
- Sheringham Shoal/Dudgeon Extension – 719 MW – Exploratory
Note.
- The date is the possible final commissioning date.
- I have no commissioning dates for the last three wind farms.
- The East Anglia wind farms are all part of the East Anglia Array.
These total up to 8.13 GW, which is in excess of the combined capacity of Sizewell B and the proposed Sizewell C, which is only 4.51 GW.
As it is likely, that by 2033, which is the earliest date, that Sizewell C will be completed, that the East Anglia Array will be substantially completed, I suspect that East Anglia will not run out of electricity.
But I do feel that to be sure, EdF should try hard to get the twenty year extension to Sizewell B.
The East Anglia Hub
ScottishPower Renewables are developing the East Anglia Array and this page on their web site, describes the East Anglia Hub.
This is the opening paragraph.
ScottishPower Renewables is proposing to construct its future offshore windfarms, East Anglia THREE, East Anglia TWO and East Anglia ONE North, as a new ‘East Anglia Hub’.
Note.
- These three wind farms will have a total capacity of 3.1 GW.
- East Anglia ONE is already in operation.
- Power is brought ashore at Bawdsey between Felixstowe and Sizewell.
I would assume that East Anglia Hub and East Anglia ONE will use the same connection.
Norfolk Boreas and Norfolk Vanguard
These two wind farms will be to the East of Great Yarmouth.
This map from Vattenfall web site, shows the position of the two wind farms.
Note.
- Norfolk Boreas is outlined in blue.
- Norfolk Vanguard is outlined in orange.
- I assume the grey areas are where the cables will be laid.
- I estimate that the two farms are about fifty miles offshore.
This second map shows the landfall between Eccles-on-Sea and Happisburgh.
Note the underground cable goes half-way across Norfolk to Necton.
Electricity And Norfolk And Suffolk
This Google Map shows Norfolk and Suffolk.
Note.
- The red arrow in the North-West corner marks the Bicker Fen substation that connects to the Viking Link to Denmark.
- The East Anglia Array connects to the grid at Bawdsey in the South-East corner of the map.
- Sizewell is South of Aldeburgh in the South-East corner of the map.
- The only ports are Lowestoft and Yarmouth in the East and Kings Lynn in the North-West.
There are few large towns or cities and little heavy industry.
- Electricity usage could be lower than the UK average.
- There are three small onshore wind farms in Norfolk and none in Suffolk.
- There is virtually no high ground suitable for pumped storage.
- There are lots of areas, where there are very few buildings to the square mile.
As I write this at around midday on a Saturday at the end of January, 49 % of electricity in Eastern England comes from wind, 20 % from nuclear and 8 % from solar. That last figure surprised me.
I believe that the wind developments I listed earlier could provide Norfolk and Suffolk with all the electricity they need.
The Use Of Batteries
Earlier, I talked of a maximum of over 7 GW of offshore wind around the cost of Norfolk and Suffolk, but there is still clear water in the sea to be filled between the existing and planned wind farms.
Batteries will become inevitable to smooth the gaps between the electricity produced and the electricity used.
Here are a few numbers.
- East Anglian Offshore Wind Capacity – 8 GW
- Off-Peak Hours – Midnight to 0700.
- Typical Capacity Factor Of A Windfarm – 20 % but improving.
- Overnight Electricity Produced at 20 % Capacity Factor – 11.2 GWh
- Sizewell B Output – 1.25 GW
- Proposed Sizewell C Output – 3.26 GW
- Largest Electrolyser – 24 MW
- World’s Largest Lithium-Ion Battery at Moss Landing – 3 GWh
- Storage at Electric Mountain – 9.1 GWh
- Storage at Cruachan Power Station – 7.1 GWh
Just putting these large numbers in a table tells me that some serious mathematical modelling will need to be performed to size the batteries that will probably be needed in East Anglia.
In the 1970s, I was involved in three calculations of a similar nature.
- In one, I sized the vessels for a proposed polypropylene plant for ICI.
- In another for ICI, I sized an effluent treatment system for a chemical plant, using an analogue computer.
- I also helped program an analysis of water resources in the South of England. So if you have a water shortage in your area caused by a wrong-sized reservoir, it could be my fault.
My rough estimate is that the East Anglian battery would need to be at least a few GWh and capable of supplying up to the output of Sizewell B.
It also doesn’t have to be a single battery. One solution would probably be to calculate what size battery is needed in the various towns and cities of East Anglia, to give everyone a stable and reliable power supply.
I could see a large battery built at Sizewell and smaller batteries all over Norfolk and Suffolk.
But why stop there? We probably need appropriately-sized batteries all over the UK, with very sophisticated control systems using artificial intelligent working out, where the electricity is best stored.
Note that in this post, by batteries, I’m using that in the loosest possible way. So the smaller ones could be lithium-ion and largest ones could be based on some of the more promising technologies that are under development.
- Highview Power have an order for a 50 MW/500 MWh battery for Chile, that I wrote about in The Power Of Solar With A Large Battery.
- East Anglia is an area, where digging deep holes is easy and some of Gravitricity’s ideas might suit.
- I also think that eventually someone will come up with a method of storing energy using sea cliffs.
All these developments don’t require large amounts of land.
East Anglia Needs More Heavy Consumers Of Electricity
I am certainly coming to this conclusion.
Probably, the biggest use of electricity in East Anglia is the Port of Felixstowe, which will be expanding as it becomes Freeport East in partnership with the Port of Harwich.
One other obvious use could be in large data centres.
But East Anglia has never been known for industries that use a lot of electricity, like aluminium smelting.
Conversion To Hydrogen
Although the largest current electrolyser is only 24 MW, the UK’s major electrolyser builder; ITM Power, is talking of a manufacturing capacity of 5 GW per year, so don’t rule out conversion of excess electricity into hydrogen.
Conclusion
Who needs Sizewell C?
Perhaps as a replacement for Sizewell B, but it would appear there is no pressing urgency.
Amp Wins Consent For 800MW Scots Battery Complex
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on renews.biz.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Canadian storage player Amp Energy has revealed that its 800MW battery portfolio in Scotland has secured planning consent.
The portfolio is due to be operational in April 2024 and will comprise two 400MW battery facilities, each providing 800 megawatt-hours of energy storage capacity.
Some other points from the article.
- The two facilities will be located at Hunterston and Kincardine.
- They will be the two largest grid-connected battery storage facilities in Europe.
- The two batteries will be optimised by Amp Energy‘s proprietary software.
This Google Map shows the Hunterston area.
Note.
- The Hunterston A and Hunterston B nuclear power stations, which are both being decommissioned.
- Hunterston B only shut down on the 7th of January, this year.
- There is also a large brownfield site in the North-East corner of the map.
This second Google Map shows the South-East corner of the nuclear power station site.
It’s certainly got a good grid connection.
But then it had to support.
- The Hunterston A nuclear power station rated at 360 MW.
- The Hunterston B nuclear power station rated at 1.2 GW.
- The Western HVDC Link, which is an interconnector to Connah’s Quay in North Wales, that is rated at 2.2 GW.
I’m sure that National Grid has a suitable socket for a 400 MW battery.
This Google Map shows the Kincardine area.
Note.
- The Clackmannanshire Bridge down the Western side of the map.
- The Kincardine Substation to the East of the bridge close to the shore of the River Forth.
- The 760 MW Kincardine power station used to be by the substation, but was demolished by 2001.
As at Hunterston, I’m sure that National Grid could find a suitable socket for a 400 MW battery.
Amp Energy’s Philosophy
As a trained Control Engineer I like it.
- Find a well-connected site, that can handle upwards of 400 MW in and out.
- Put in a 800 MWh battery, that can handle 400 MW in and out.
- Optimise the battery, so that it stores and supplies electricity as appropriate.
- Throw in a bit of artificial intelligence.
Old power station sites would seem an ideal place to site a battery. Especially, as many demolished coal, gas and nuclear stations are around 400-600 MW.
It should be noted that Highview Power are building a 50 MW/400 MWh CRYOBattery on an old coal-fired power station site in Vermont.
The Western HVDC Link
I mentioned earlier that the Northern end of the Western HVDC Link, is at Hunterston.
The Wikipedia entry for the Western HVDC Link, says this about the link.
The Western HVDC Link is a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) undersea electrical link in the United Kingdom, between Hunterston in Western Scotland and Flintshire Bridge (Connah’s Quay) in North Wales, routed to the west of the Isle of Man.[2] It has a transmission capacity of 2,250 MW and became fully operational in 2019.
The link is 262 miles long.
This Google Map shows the Connah’s Quay area in North Wales.
Note.
- The red arrow indicates the Flintshire Bridge HVDC converter station, which is the Southern end of the Western HVDC Link.
- The Borderlands Line between Liverpool and Chester, runs North-South to the East of the convertor station.
- To the East of the railway are two solar farms. The Northern one is Shotwick Solar Park, which at 72 MW is the largest solar farm in the UK.
- To the West of the converter station, just to the East of the A 548 road, is the 498 MW Deeside power station.
- Follow the A548 road to the West and over the River Dee, the road passes South of the 1420 MW Connah’s Quay Power station.
- The two power stations burn gas from Liverpool Bay.
- There are a lot of wind turbines along the North Wales Coast and Liverpool Bay.
The map also shows a lot of high electricity users like Tata Steel.
I can certainly see why the Western HVDC Link was built to connect Scotland and North Wales.
- There is a lot of renewable energy generation at both ends.
- There are heavy electricity users at both ends.
- The Scottish Central Belt is at the North.
- Greater Merseyside is at the South.
The Western HVDC Link is an electricity by-pass, that must have avoided expensive and controversial construction on land.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see another 400 MW/800 MWh battery at the Southern end.
Conclusion
The Canadians seem to have bagged two of the best battery sites in Europe.
- Both sites would appear to be able to handle 400 MW, based on past capabilities.
- There is lots of space and extra and/or bigger batteries can probably be connected.
- Scotland is developing several GW of wind power.
I can see Amp Energy building a series of these 400 MW sites in the UK and around Europe.
This is the big news of the day!
Energy Storage Could Emerge As The Hottest Market Of 2022
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Nasdaq.
This is the introductory paragraph.
A few years ago, battery energy storage began drawing attention as what one industry executive at the time called the Holy Grail of renewable energy. In the years since, EVs have stolen the spotlight but now battery storage is back, larger than life and, quite likely, twice as expensive.
I would wholeheartedly agree.
Although, I do think, that some of the major players over the next few years will not be based on lithium-ion batteries.
I have invested in Gravitricity and Rheenergise and would have invested in Highview Power, if I had had the chance.
My stockbroker has also invested some of my pension in energy storage and battery funds.
Two-Hour Energy Storage Offers Better Value As UK Frequency Response Market Saturating, Investor Gresham House Says
The title of this post, is the same as this article on Energy Storage News.
I would agree with what Gresham House says and it is my view that we need a lot more energy storage.
I like the system that Highview Power are building at Carrington near Manchester.
- It has an output of 50 MW.
- It has a capacity of 250 MWh.
This means it can supply 50 MW for five hours.
As they have sold other systems to Chile, Spain and the United States, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of their systems sold in the UK.
Cap And Floor Mechanism The ‘Standout Solution’ For Long Duration Storage, KPMG Finds
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Current News.
These are the first two paragraphs.
A cap and floor regime would be the most beneficial solution for supporting long duration energy storage, a KPMG report has found.
Commissioned by Drax, the report detailed how there is currently no appropriate investment mechanism for long duration storage. Examining four investment mechanisms – the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, Regulated Asset Value (RAV) model, cap and floor regime and a reformed Capacity Market – it identified cap and floor as the best solution.
Cap and floor has been used successfully in the financing of interconnectors, so perhaps to apply it to long duration energy storage, will lead to greater use of such storage.
Carlton Power, Stag Pool Knowledge For UK Energy Storage, Green H2
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Renewables Now.
This is the introductory paragraph.
British energy infrastructure developers Carlton Power and Stag Energy are merging their operations with plans to develop projects that will help improve energy storage, grid stability and green hydrogen production in the UK.
The article says this about Carlton Power.
Yorkshire-based Carlton has delivered more than 6 GW of thermal and renewables generation in the past 30 years. It is the lead developer of the Trafford Energy Park in Manchester, which foresees a 50-MW/250 -MWh liquid air energy storage plant to be built in partnership with Highview Power, a 200-MW hydrogen electrolyser and commercial hydrogen hub for use in transport and heating as well as a 250-MWe battery energy storage facility. Carlton also plans to expand its Langage Energy Park near Plymouth with the addition of energy storage and electrolyser facilities.
They certainly seem to have a history, that will be worth extending into the future, with energy storage and hydrogen production.
The article says this about Stag Energy.
Edinburgh-headquartered Stag Energy, for its part, has previously developed open-cycle gas-turbine (OCGT) plants in England and Wales and has a joint venture with Lundin to build the Gateway offshore underground gas storage facility in the Irish Sea using salt caverns. Stag Energy is also part of the National Grid’s Pathfinder process to uncover ways to improve electricity system stability.
This article on Hydrocarbons Technology is entitled Gateway Gas Storage Facility and starts with these two paragraphs.
The Gateway Gas Storage Company (Gateway) is developing an underground natural gas storage facility, Gateway Gas Storage Facility (GGSF), 25km offshore south-west Barrow-in-Furness, UK, in the East Irish Sea.
The GGSF plant has a strong locational advantage for developing offshore salt cavern gas storage facilities, according to the British Geological Survey.
In my time at ICI in Runcorn, I learned a lot about salt caverns and once had a memorable trip into their salt mine under Winsford, which was large enough to accommodate Salisbury cathedral. A couple of years later, I worked with a lady, who arranged for ICI’s historic documents to be stored in the dry air of the mine.
Natural Gas Storage In Salt Caverns
This section in Wikipedia describes how caverns in salt formations are used to store natural gas.
In the 1960s, ICI used to create boreholes into the vast amount of salt, that lay below the surface and then by pumping in hot water, they were able to bring up a brine, which they then electrolysed to obtain chlorine, hydrogen, sodium hydroxide and sodium metal.
When they had taken as much salt out of a borehole, as they dared, they would move on.
Provided the salt stayed dry, it didn’t cause any problems.
It sounds like the Gateway Gas Storage Facility will use new caverns carefully created under the Irish Sea.
This document from the Department of Energy and Climate Change is an environmental impact assessment of the project.
It has a full description of the project.
The proposed gas storage facility will be located southwest of Barrow-in-Furness, approximately 24 km. offshore from Fylde, North West England. It will comprise 20 gas storage caverns created in the sub-seabed salt strata. A single well will be drilled at each cavern location, and the salt will be removed using seawater pumped down the well. The dissolved salt, or brine, will then be discharged directly to the sea. The size and shape of the caverns will be controlled using an established technique known as Solution Mining Under Gas (SMUG). At each well location, a monopod tower facility will be installed, to house the solution mining equipment required during the construction phase, and the gas injection and extraction wellhead equipment that will be required for the storage operations. It is proposed that the monopod towers will be drilled into position, although there is a contingency for them to be piled into place if drilling is not feasible.
A short pipeline and methanol feeder pipe will connect each wellhead facility to an 8 km. ‘ring main’ linking all the caverns. The ‘ring main’ will consist of a single 36″ diameter gas pipeline with a ‘piggy-backed’ 4″ methanol feeder line. Two 36″ diameter carbon steel pipelines will connect the ‘ring main’ to the onshore gas compressor station at Barrow. A 4″ methanol feeder line will be ‘piggy-backed’ on one of these pipelines. Power for the offshore facilities will be provided via a single cable laid alongside the more southerly of the two pipelines, with individual connections to each monopod tower. The offshore sections of the pipeline and cable systems up to the point of connection with the ‘ring main’ will be approximately 19 km. in length. The pipeline and cable systems will be trenched, and the trenches allowed to backfill naturally. Where necessary this will be supported by imported backfill. The trenches for the two 36″ pipelines will be approximately 20 metres apart, and the trench for the power cable will be approximately 10 m from the more southerly of the two pipelines. The two pipelines will cross the Barrow Offshore Windfarm power cable and the ‘ring main’ will cross the Rivers Field export pipeline and the Isle of Man power cables. All crossings will be suitably protected.
Note.
- The multiple cavern structure would surely allow different gases to be stored. Natural Gas! Hydrogen? Methanol? Carbon Dioxide?
- On this page of the Stag Energy web site, they state that forty caverns could be created, with each having the capability of storing around 75 million cubic metres of working gas.
- Converting that amount of natural gas to gigawatt-hours (GWh) gives a figure of around 800 GWh per cavern.
- This page on the Statista web site, shows that we used 811446 GWh of gas in 2020, so we will need around a thousand of these caverns to store our gas needs for a year.
It sounds just like the sort of gas storage project we need for a harsh winter.
In Do BP And The Germans Have A Cunning Plan For European Energy Domination?, I talked about BP’s plans for wind farms in the Irish Sea and speculated that they would create hydrogen offshore for feeding into the UK gas network.
The Gateway Gas Storage Facility would be ideal for holding the hydrogen created by electrolysis offshore.
Conclusion
The deal does seem to be one between equals, who have an enormous amount of practical knowledge of the energy industry.
I also think, that it will see full development of the Gateway Gas Storage Facility.
What Happens When The Wind Doesn’t Blow?
In Future Offshore Wind Power Capacity In The UK, I analysed future offshore wind power development in the waters around the UK and came to this conclusion.
It looks like we’ll be able to reap the wind. And possibly 50 GW of it!
The unpredictable nature of wind and solar power means that it needs to be backed up with storage or some other method.
In The Power Of Solar With A Large Battery, I describe how a Highview Power CRYObattery with a capacity of 500 MWh is used to back up a large solar power station in the Atacama desert in Chile.
But to backup 50 GW is going to need a lot of energy storage.
The largest energy storage system in the UK is Electric Mountain or Dinorwig power station in Wales.
- It has an output of 1.8 GW, which means that we’d need up to nearly thirty Electric Mountains to replace the 50 GW.
- It has a storage capacity of 9.1 GWh, so at 1.8 GW, it can provide that output for five hours.
- To make matters worse, Electric Mountain cost £425 million in 1974, which would be over £4 billion today, if you could fine a place to build one.
But it is not as bad as it looks.
- Battery technology is improving all the time and so is the modelling of power networks.
- We are now seeing large numbers of lithium-ion batteries being added to the UK power network to improve the quality of the network.
- The first Highview Power CRYObattery with an output of 50 MW and a capacity of 250 MWh is being built at Carrington in Manchester.
- If this full size trial is successful, I could see dozens of CRYOBatteries being installed at weak points in the UK power network.
- Other battery technology is being developed, that might be suitable for application in the UK.
Put this all together and I suspect that it will be possible to cover on days where the wind doesn’t blow.
But it certainly will need a lot of energy storage.
Gas-Fired Power Stations As A Back Up To Renewable Power
Last summer when the wind didn’t blow, gas-fired power stations were started up to fill the gap in the electricity needed.
Gas-fired power-stations normally use gas turbines similar to those used in airliners, which have a very fast startup response, so power can be increased quickly.
If you look at the specification of proposed gas-fired power stations like Keadby2, they have two features not found in current stations.
- The ability to be fitted in the future with carbon-capture technology.
- The ability to be fuelled by hydrogen.
Both features would allow a gas-fired power-station to generate power in a zero-carbon mode.
Carbon Capture And Storage
I am not in favour of Carbon Capture And Storage, as I believe Carbon Capture and Use is much better and increasingly engineers, researchers and technologists are finding ways of using carbon-dioxide.
- Feeding to tomatoes, salad vegetables, soft fruits and flowers in greenhouses.
- Producing meat substitutes like Quorn.
- Producing sustainable aviation fuel.
- An Australian company called Mineral Decarbonation International can convert carbon dioxide into building products like blocks and plasterboard.
This list will grow.
Using or storing the carbon-dioxide produced from a gas-fired power station running on natural gas, will allow the fuel to be used, as a backup, when the wind isn’t blowing.
Use Of Hydrogen
Hydrogen will have the following core uses in the future.
- Steelmaking
- Smelting of metal ores like copper and zinc
- As a chemical feedstock
- Natural gas replacement in the mains.
- Transport
Note that the first four uses could need large quantities of hydrogen, so they would probably need an extensive storage system, so that all users had good access to the hydrogen.
If we assume that the hydrogen is green and probably produced by electrolysis, the obvious place to store it would be in a redundant gas field that is convenient. Hence my belief of placing the electrolyser offshore on perhaps a redundant gas platform.
If there is high hydrogen availability, then using a gas-fired power-station running on hydrogen, is an ideal way to make up the shortfall in power caused by the low wind.
Conclusion
Batteries and gas-fired power stations can handle the shortfall in power.
The Anonymous Widower 