The Lincolnshire Wind Powerhouse
In August 2022, reports started to appear about the Outer Dowsing Wind Farm, like this article on offshoreWIND.biz, which is entitled Corio, Total Submit Scoping Report For 1.5 GW Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind Project.
There is now a web site.
- Outer Dowsing Offshore Wind is a 1.5GW project located approximately 54km off the Lincolnshire coast.
- It is a joint project between TotalEnergies and Corio Generation.
This map from the Outer Dowsing Wind Farm web site, shows the location of the wind farm.
These are the sizes of the various windfarms, that are shown on the map.
- Dudgeon – 402 MW
- Hornsea 1 – 1218 MW
- Hornsea 2 – 1386 MW
- Hornsea 3 – 2852 MW
- Hornsea 4 – 1000 MW – Not shown on map.
- Humber Gateway – 219 MW
- Lincs – 270 MW
- Lynn and Inner Dowsing – 194 MW
- Norfolk Vanguard West – No information, but Norfolk Vanguard is 1800 MW
- Outer Dowsing – 1500 MW
- Race Bank – 580 MW
- Sheringham Shoal – 317 MW
- Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon Extensions – 719 MW
- Triton Knoll – 857 MW
- Westernmost Rough – 210 MW
Note that these total up to 11724 MW, but with Norfolk Vanguard the total is 135224 MW.
Gas-Fired Power Stations
There are also several active gas-fired power stations.
- Immingham – 1240 MW
- Keadby – 734 MW
- Keadby 2 – 893 MW
- Keadby 3 – 910 MW – Planned to be fitted with carbon capture.
- Saltend – 1200 MW
- South Humber Bank – 1365 MW
- Spalding – 860 MW
- Sutton Bridge – 819 MW
Note that these total up to 8021 MW.
Viking Link
The Viking Link is a 1.4 GW interconnector, that links Bicker Fen in Lincolnshire and Denmark, that should be operational at the end of 2023.
Gas Storage
There are two major gas storage facilities in the rea.
- Aldbrough Gas Storage is formed of salt caverns to the North of the Humber.
- Rough Gas Storage is to the East of the Humber in a depleted gas field.
Both will eventually be converted to store hydrogen, which could be used by local industrial users or the proposed hydrogen power station at Keadby.
Significant Step Forward For Keadby 3 Carbon Capture Power Station
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from SSE.
These three paragraphs outline the project.
A landmark project in the Humber which could become the UK’s first power station equipped with carbon capture technology has taken a major leap forward following an announcement by the UK Government today.
Keadby 3 Carbon Capture Power Station, which is being jointly developed by SSE Thermal and Equinor, has been selected to be taken forward to the due diligence stage by the Department for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy (BEIS) as part of its Cluster Sequencing Process.
This process will give the project the opportunity to receive government support, allowing it to deploy cutting edge carbon capture technology, and to connect to the shared CO2 pipelines being developed through the East Coast Cluster, with its emissions safely stored under the Southern North Sea. The common infrastructure will also supply low-carbon hydrogen to potential users across the region.
The press release also says this about the power station.
- Keadby 3 power station could have a generating capacity of up to 910MW.
- It could be operational by 2027.
- It would capture up to one and a half million tonnes of CO2 a year.
It would provide low-carbon, flexible power to back-up renewable generation.
The H2H Saltend Project
The press release also says this about the H2H Saltend project.
Equinor’s H2H Saltend project, the ‘kick-starter’ for the wider Zero Carbon Humber ambition, has also been taken to the next stage of the process by BEIS. The planned hydrogen production facility could provide a hydrogen supply to Triton Power’s Saltend Power Station as well as other local industrial users. In June, SSE Thermal and Equinor entered into an agreement to acquire the Triton Power portfolio.
I wrote about H2H Saltend and the acquisition of Triton Power in SSE Thermal And Equinor To Acquire Triton Power In Acceleration Of Low-Carbon Ambitions.
In the related post, I added up all the power stations and wind farms, that are owned by SSE Thermal and it came to a massive 9.1 GW, which should all be available by 2027.
Collaboration Between SSE Thermal And Equinor
The press release also says this about collaboration between SSE Thermal and Equinor.
The two companies are also collaborating on major hydrogen projects in the Humber. Keadby Hydrogen Power Station could be one of the world’s first 100% hydrogen-fuelled power stations, while Aldbrough Hydrogen Storage could be one of the world’s largest hydrogen storage facilities. In addition, they are developing Peterhead Carbon Capture Power Station in Aberdeenshire, which would be a major contributor to decarbonising the Scottish Cluster.
This collaboration doesn’t lack ambition.
I also think, that there will expansion of their ambitions.
Horticulture
Lincolnshire is about horticulture and it is a generally flat county, which makes it ideal for greenhouses.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a large acreage of greenhouses built close to the Humber carbon dioxide system, so that flowers, salad vegetables, soft fruit, tomatoes and other plants can be grown to absorb the carbon dioxide.
It should also be noted that one of the ingredients of Quorn is carbon dioxide from a fertiliser plant, that also feeds a large tomato greenhouse.
We would have our carbon dioxide and eat it.
Other Uses Of Carbon Dioxide
Storing carbon dioxide in depleted gas fields in the North Sea will probably work, but it’s a bit like putting your rubbish in the shed.
Eventually, you run out of space.
The idea I like comes from an Australian company called Mineral Carbonation International.
- I wrote about their success at COP26 in Mineral Carbonation International Win COP26 Clean Energy Pitch Battle.
- The company has developed the technology to convert carbon dioxide into building products like blocks and plasterboard.
- Their mission is to remove a billion tonnes of CO2 by 2040 safely and permanently.
We would have our carbon dioxide and live in it.
I also think other major uses will be developed.
A Large Battery
There is the hydrogen storage at Aldbrough, but that is indirect energy storage.
There needs to be a large battery to smooth everything out.
In Highview Power’s Second Commercial System In Yorkshire, I talk about Highview Power’s proposal for a 200MW/2.5GWh CRYOBattery.
This technology would be ideal, as would several other technologies.
Conclusion
Humberside will get a giant zero-carbon power station.
A Trip To Skegness
Last Thursday, I took a trip to Skegness to get out of the heat.
I took these pictures on the way.
These are my observations and thoughts.
Changing At Grantham
A few minutes after getting off the LNER Azuma, the East Midlands Railway Class 156 train arrived at the opposite face of the wide platform.
Unlike some changes you get on trains in the UK, it was all rather painless and unhurried.
The change coming home was a bit slower, but there is a bar on the London platform, that serves a good selection of good beers.
Grantham To Skegness
The journey to Skegness took around an hour and a half and I arrived at 13:51.
Skegness Station
Skegness station is not the grandest, but it does have six platforms, which is probably a lot for just an hourly service from Nottingham and Grantham.
Skegness
I didn’t stay long, as it was surprisingly too cold and I hadn’t brought a coat.
Skegness To Grantham
The return trip was better, as the train was a more modern Class 170 train.
Surely, when East Midland Railways get their full quota of Class 170 trains, then the Poacher Line between Nottingham and Skegness will be one of the routes, where they will be used.
I also suspect that with 100 mph trains always running the service, as opposed to the Class 156 trains, which are only 75 mph units, there could be speed improvements on the line.
- Grantham and Skegness is 58 miles.
- There are a large number of level crossings.
An hour service between Grantham and Skegness could be possible and might generate more passengers.
Rolls-Royce MTU Hybrid PowerPacks
I wonder if this route could be improved by fitting the Class 170 trains with Rolls-Royce MTU Hybrid PowerPacks?
- The hybrid technology would have a lower fuel consumption and allow electric operation in stations.
- The prototype hybrid is already working on Chiltern Railways in a Class 168 train.
- The Class 168 train is an earlier version of the Class 170 train and they are members of the Turbostar family.
- Rolls-Royce are developing versions of these hybrid transmissions, that will work with sustainable fuels.
- As we have a total of 207 Turbostar trainsets, these could be a convenient way of cutting carbon emissions on long rural lines.
- As Rolls-Royce MTU are also developing the technology, so their diesel engines can run on hydrogen, it is not outrageous to believe that they could be on a route to complete decarbonisation of this type of train.
I believe that we could see hydrogen-hybrid Class 170 trains, with a Rolls-Royce badge on the side.
The Massive Greenhouse
I found that this was owned by Fountain Plants.
Is Lincolnshire going to grow the UK’s greens? Or at least give them a good start in life?
More greenhouses like this will enable the UK to create our carbon dioxide and eat it!
Connecting East Lincolnshire
The title of this post, is the same as that of this study by Greengauge 21.
The study goes through all the transport options in East Lincolnshire, comes to some interesting general conclusions, in addition to those specific to East Lincolnshire and then makes this recommendation.
We recommend putting in hand the studies to compare and select the best of the two ways identified here to use electrified net zero carbon public transport to meet East Lincolnshire’s future connectivity needs.
The two ways are.
Reopening the East Lincolnshire Railway
Reopening the East Lincolnshire Railway between Louth and Firsby and running these services.
- Skegness–Wainfleet–Boston–Sleaford–Grantham–Nottingham
- Louth–Wlloughby–Alford–Firsby–Boston–Donington–Spalding–Peterborough (and
thence potentially, London KX).
Note.
- There would be a mini-hub at Boston.
- There would be good connections to Lincolnshire’s InterConnect bus links.
I wrote about reinstating the East Lincolnshire Railway inBeeching Reversal – Firsby And Louth.
An Express Interurban Bus Alternative
The study describes this option like this.
A Louth–Boston–Spalding express bus, interchanging with the east west Nottingham–Skegness trains with timed
connections at a multi-modal hub at Boston and an improved hourly interval rail service onwards
from Spalding southwards.
One of their suggestions is to extend Thameslink to Spalding.
LNER To Serve Cleethorpes
Under the proposed new LNER timetable, which will start in May 2022, there will be a new train service between London Kings Cross and Cleethorpes.
According to this article on the Lincolnite, which is entitled Direct Cleethorpes To London Rail Link ‘Close’ To Getting Go Ahead, there will be one service per day.
It will leave Cleethorpes at 06:24 and Grimsby Town at 06:32 before arriving at King’s Cross at 09:25.
The return will leave King’s Cross at 16:10 and arrive in Grimsby Town at 19:05 and Cleethorpes at 19:20.
The August 2021 Edition of Modern Railways makes these points about the service.
- The larger Azuma fleet makes this extension possible.
- ,A more regular service would require additional trains.
- LNER is examining whether other intermediate stations east of Lincoln could be served.
I would have thought, that Market Rasen station could be a possibility for an intermediate stop.
I have a few thoughts.
Extra Services
This single service is ideal for though living in Lincolnshire, but it doesn’t suit those people, who perhaps need to go to the area from London for business or family reasons.
- Lincoln appears to get around five or six trains per day in each direction to and from King’s Cross.
- Services are roughly one train per two hours.
- I suspect the Lincoln service can be run by a single train, that shuttles between King’s Cross and Lincoln stations.
I believe, that Cleethorpes needs at least a pair of services to and from London, so that travellers can spend a day in North-East Lincolnshire.
- This would probably need more trains.
- Services would go via Lincoln and Lincoln may get extra services to London.
- Selected services could stop at intermediate stations, like Market Rasen.
There are surely possibilities for a integrated timetable between King’s Cross and Lincoln, Market Rasen, Grimsby Town and Cleethorpes.
Battery-Electric Operation
Consider.
- LNER’s Class 800 trains are prime candidates for conversion to Hitachi Intercity Tri-Mode Battery Trains, so they can run away from the overhead wires of the East Coast Main Line to places like Lincoln, by the use of battery power.
- These battery trains could charge using the electrification between King’s Cross and Newark North Gate stations.
- The distance between Lincoln Central station and the East Coast Main Line is 16.6 miles.
- In Plans To Introduce Battery Powered Trains In Scotland, I quote Hitachi, as saying they expect a sixty mile range for battery trains.
I am sure, that these trains would have sufficient range on battery to be able to work King’s Cross and Lincoln services without using diesel.
But could the Hitachi trains reach Cleethorpes with some well-positioned charging?
- The distance between Lincoln and Cleethorpes stations is 47.2 miles.
- In Solving The Electrification Conundrum, I describe Hitachi’s solution to running battery-electric trains, by using well-placed short lengths of 25 KVAC overhead electrification controlled by an intelligent power system.
With a range of sixty miles on batteries and charging at Lincoln and Cleethorpes stations, it would appear that battery electric operation of Class 800 trains between King’s Cross and Cleethorpes is a distinct possibility.
Lincoln Station
Lincoln station has three operational through platforms and I suspect all would need to be electrified, so that trains could be charged as they passed through.
These are distances from Lincoln station.
- Cleethorpes – 47.2 miles
- Doncaster – 36.9 miles
- Nottingham – 33.9 miles
- Peterborough – 56.9 miles
- Sheffield – 48.5 miles
It does appear that if Lincoln station were to be electrified, most services from the city could be run using battery-electric trains.
Cleethorpes Station
This picture shows Cleethorpes station with two TransPennine Express Class 185 trains in the station.
Note.
- The Class 185 trains are diesel, but could be replaced by Hitachi Class 802 trains, which could be converted to battery-electric operation.
- Cleethorpes and Doncaster are 52.1 miles apart, which could be in range of Hitachi’s battery-electric trains.
- It doesn’t look to be too challenging to electrify a couple of platforms to charge the battery-electric trains.
- Cleethorpes station could surely charge both the LNER and the TransPennine Express trains.
- The Cleethorpes and Barton-on-Humber service which is under fifty miles for a round trip could also be replaced with battery-electric trains.
Cleethorpes station could be totally served by battery-electric trains.
Battery-Electric Trains For Lincolnshire
At the present time, there is a surplus of good redundant electrical multiple units and the rolling stock leasing companies are looking for places where they can be used.
Porterbrook are already looking to convert their fleet of Class 350 trains to battery-electric operation and I am certain, that now that Hitachi and others have solved the charging problem, a lot more trains will be converted.
Most would appear to be four-car 100 mph trains, which will be very convenient and should fit most platforms.
Conclusion
Running battery-electric Class 800 trains to Lincoln, Grimsby Town and Cleethorpes could be the start of decarbonisation of Lincolnshire’s railways.
What would battery-electric trains do for the economy of Lincolnshire?
Are Kraft Heinz Up To Something?
This article on The Times, is entitled Ketchup On Its Way Back To Britain As Kraft Heinz Invests In UK Site.
This is the first two paragraphs.
Heinz tomato ketchup will be made in Britain again after its owner announced plans for a £140 million upgrade of a site on the outskirts of Wigan.
Europe’s largest food manufacturing facility is set to start making the sauces of Kraft Heinz, which also include mayonnaise and salad cream, in a move designed to meet demand in the UK.
I wrote about Kraft recently in Kraft Heinz And Freight Innovation, where they were experimenting with Network Rail to get goods to their Wigan site faster and with less carbon emissions.
I think the two stories might fit together.
have just looked at my 435 gram bottle of Heinz tomato ketchup. It states on the bottle that every 100 grams of the sauce is made from 174 grams of tomatoes. I suspect leaving in the pips and the skins would make a rather lumpy sauce!
But this means that for every tonne of sauce, there is a need for 1.74 tonnes of tomatoes.
Could this be a reason why Kraft Heinz ran an experiment a couple of months ago with bringing in goods to the site at Wigan by rail?
There could be TomatoLiner trains all the way from Spain or Italy.
Or perhaps, they could link Wigan to Lincolnshire or South Yorkshire, where tomatoes could be grown in large automated greenhouses, heated by the waste heat from all the power stations. Carbon dioxide from gas-fired power stations could also be used to make the tomatoes grow big and strong.
Why shouldn’t we eat the carbon dioxide we produce?
The more I look at Google Maps of Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire, the more I think that cost-competitive UK-produced tomatoes could be one of the reasons for this move.
I have found companies like Yorkshire Grown Produce, who grow the speciality varieties of tomatoes for supermarkets. and CambridgeHOK, who design and build the automated greenhouses.
But the problem, all growers of fruit and vegetables face, is the lack of people to do the harvesting, at an affordable price.
- As a Control Engineer, who has worked on automation, it is my view that robot or automatic harvesting is needed.
- After all robots don’t get drunk at the weekend and not turn up on Mondays.
I haven’t found a robot that would pick tomatoes yet, but I suspect there’s a company out there working on it.
Yorkshire Grown Produce are in Brough, a few files to the South-West of Hull. and say they can provide quality tomatoes from March to November.
So could a company provide affordable tomatoes to Kraft Heinz’s specification for 9-10 months of the year?
- Looking at bottles of Ketchup, it appears they have a shelf life of at least a year, so the month’s without tomatoes could be bridged by a warehouse.
- I also suspect that automated greenhouses could turn out guaranteed Organic tomatoes.
- The tomatoes would arrive in Wigan the day they are picked.
- It probably wouldn’t be a large train every day and the line at Wigan is not electrified, so it wouldn’t necessarily be a zero-carbon trip across the Pennines.
I can see an efficient system for the production of tomato ketchup, which could be labelled organic and 100 % British.
How many tonnes of carbon emissions would be saved? Probably not many! But it’s the thought that counts.
If this isn’t technology-aided marketing, I don’t know what is?
Conclusion
How many other production and delivery processes can be simplified by the use of rail?
Plans Announced For ‘Low Carbon’ Power Stations In Lincolnshire
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Hundreds of jobs could be created after plans were announced to build two “low carbon” power stations in North Lincolnshire.
Last year, I only had one night away from home and that was in Doncaster, from where I explored North East Lincolnshire and wrote Energy In North-East Lincolnshire, where I made a few predictions.
These are my thoughts on my predictions and other points made in the BBC article.
Keadby 1
Keadby 1 is a 734 MW gas-fired power station, that was commissioned in 1996.
Keadby 2
- Keadby 2 will be a 840 MW gas-fired power station.
- It will be possible to add Carbon Capture and Storage technology to Keadby 2 to make the plant net-zero carbon.
- Keadby 2 will be able to run on hydrogen.
Keadby 2 is under construction.
Keadby 3 And Keadby 4
I predicted that two new power stations would be added to the Keadby cluster.
- When I wrote the other post, SSE were still designing Keadby 3, but had said it would be a 910 MW station.
- This would mean that Keadby 1, Keadby 2 and Keadby 3 would have a combined capacity of 2484 MW of electricity.
- Adding a fourth station, which I called Keadby 4, which I proposed to be the same size as Keadby 3 would give a combined capacity of 3394 MW.
This will be more than the planned capacity of the under-construction Hinckley Point C nuclear power station will be able to generate 3200 MW.
The BBC article says this about the plans for Keadby.
One plant would burn natural gas and use carbon capture technology to remove the CO2 from its emissions. The CO2 would then be transported along pipelines before being securely stored in rocks under the North Sea.
The hydrogen power station would produce “zero emissions at the point of combustion”, its developers claimed.
It looks like Keadby will have the power of a Hinckley Point nuclear station, but running on gas.
Carbon Capture And Storage
From what I read on the sseThermal web site and published in Energy In North-East Lincolnshire, it looks like Keadby 2 and Keadby 3 will use carbon capture and storage and Keadby 4 will use hydrogen.
There are plenty of depleted gas fields connected to the Easington terminal that can be used for carbon-dioxide storage.
The Zero Carbon Humber Network
The Zero Carbon Humber is going to be a gas network along the Humber, that will distribute hydrogen to large industrial users and return carbon dioxide for storage under the North Sea.
This map shows the Zero Carbon Humber pipeline layout.
Note.
- The orange line is a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline
- The black line alongside it, is a proposed hydrogen pipeline.
- Drax, Keadby and Saltend are power stations.
- Easington gas terminal is connected to around twenty gas fields in the North Sea.
- The terminal imports natural gas from Norway using the Langeled pipeline.
- The Rough field has been converted to gas storage and can hold four days supply of natural gas for the UK.
I can see this network being extended, with some of the depleted gas fields being converted into storage for natural gas, hydrogen or carbon dioxide.
Enter The Vikings
This article on The Times is entitled SSE and Equinor’s ‘Blue Hydrogen’ Power Plant Set To Be World First.
This is the introductory paragraph.
The world’s first large-scale power station to burn pure hydrogen could be built in Britain this decade by SSE and Equinor to generate enough low-carbon energy to supply more than a million homes.
This second paragraph explains the working of the production of the blue hydrogen.
The proposed power station near Scunthorpe would burn “blue hydrogen”, produced by processing natural gas and capturing and disposing of waste CO2 in a process that has low but not zero emissions. Equinor is already working on plans for a blue hydrogen production facility at Saltend in the Humber.
This may seem to some to be a wasteful process in that you use energy to produce blue hydrogen from natural gas and then use the hydrogen to generate power, but I suspect there are good reasons for the indirect route.
I believe that green hydrogen will become available from the North Sea from combined wind-turbine electrolysers being developed by Orsted and ITM Power, before the end of the decade.
Green hydrogen because it is produced by electrolysis will have less impurities than blue hydrogen.
Both will be zero-carbon fuels.
According to this document on the TNO web site, green hydrogen will be used for fuel cell applications and blue hydrogen for industrial processes.
Blue hydrogen would be able to power Keadby 2, 3 and 4.
I can see a scenario where Equinor’s blue hydrogen will reduce the price of hydrogen steelmaking and other industrial processes. It will also allow the purer and more costly green hydrogen to be reserved for transport and other fuel cell applications.
Using The Carbon Instead Of Storing
The document on the TNO web site has this surprising paragraph.
Hydrogen produced from natural gas using the so-called molten metal pyrolysis technology is called ‘turquoise hydrogen’ or ‘low carbon hydrogen’. Natural gas is passed through a molten metal that releases hydrogen gas as well as solid carbon. The latter can find a useful application in, for example, car tyres. This technology is still in the laboratory phase and it will take at least ten years for the first pilot plant to be realised.
This technical paper is entitled Methane Pyrolysis In A Molten Gallium Bubble Column Reactor For Sustainable Hydrogen Production: Proof Of Concept & Techno-Economic Assessment.
This may be a few years away, but just imagine using the carbon dioxide from power stations and industrial processes to create a synthetic rubber.
But I believe there is a better use for the carbon dioxide in the interim to cut down the amount that goes into long-term storage, which in some ways is the energy equivalent of landfill except that it isn’t in the least way toxic, as carbon-dioxide is one of the most benign substances on the planet.
Lincolnshire used to be famous for flowers. On a BBC Countryfile program a couple of weeks ago, there was a feature on the automated growing and harvesting of tulips in greenhouses.
There are references on the Internet to of carbon dioxide being fed to flowers in greenhouses to make them better flowers.
So will be see extensive building of greenhouses on the flat lands of Lincolnshire growing not just flowers, but soft fruits and salad vegetables.
Conclusion
The plans of SSE and Equinor as laid out in The Times and the BBC could create a massive power station cluster.
- It would be powered by natural gas and hydrogen.
- Blue hydrogen will be produced by an efficient chemical process.
- Green hydrogen will be produced offshore in massive farms of wind-turbine/electrolysers.
- It would generate as much electricity as a big nuclear power station.
- All carbon-dioxide produced would be either stored or used to create useful industrial products and food or flowers in greenhouses.
Do power stations like this hasten the end of big nuclear power stations?
Probably, until someone finds a way to turn nuclear waste into something useful.
Batteries Could Save £195m Annually By Providing Reserve Finds National Grid ESO Trial
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Current News.
The title gives the findings of the Arenko-led trial.
What Is The National Grid Reserve Service?
It’s all about providing capacity for the National Grid Reserve Service, which is described in this Wikipedia entry. This is the introductory paragraph.
To balance the supply and demand of electricity on short timescales, the UK National Grid has contracts in place with generators and large energy users to provide temporary extra power, or reduction in demand. These reserve services are needed if a power station fails for example, or if forecast demand differs from actual demand. National Grid has several classes of reserve services, which in descending order of response time are: Balancing Mechanism (BM) Start-Up, Short-Term Operating Reserve, Demand Management and Fast Reserve.
The Wikipedia entry is very comprehensive.
A Collateral Benefit
This is a paragraph from the article.
Additionally, unlike CCGT plants, batteries do not need to be producing power in order to provide Reserve as they can charge when there is abundant renewable energy on the grid, and then wait to react when needed. As CCGT’s need to be producing power to provide this service, it can led to renewables switched off in favour of the more carbon intensive fossil fuel generation, to ensure Reserve is available if needed.
The article concludes that Reserve from Storage could help National Grid ESO’s reach their target of net-zero operation by 2025.
Could We Replace CCGT Plants With Batteries?
CCGT or combined cycle gas-turbine power plants are efficient ways to turn natural gas into electricity.
- Typical sizes are around 800 MW.
- They are reasonably quick and easy to build.
- As their fuel comes by a pipeline, they don’t need to be connected to the rail network, unlike biomass and coal power plants.
Because they burn methane, they still emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide, although levels much less than an equivalent coal-fired power station.
In Energy In North-East Lincolnshire, I described the three Keadby power stations.
- Keadby – In operation – 734 MW
- Keadby 2 – Under construction – 840 MW
- Keadby 3 – In planning – 910 MW
In total, these three power stations will have a capacity of 2484 MW.
By comparison, Hinckley Point C will have a capacity of 3200 MW.
Add Keadby 4 and the four CCGTs would provide more electricity, than Hinckley Point C.
I think it would be very difficult to replace a cluster of CCGT gas-fired power stations or a big nuclear power plant with the sort of batteries being deployed today. 2.5 to 3 GW is just so much electricity!
I do believe though, that instead of building a 3200 MW nuclear power plant, you could build a cluster of four 800 MW CCGTs.
But What About The Carbon Dioxide?
Using the Keadby cluster of CCGTs as an example.
- Keadby 2 and Keadby 3 are being built to be upgraded with carbon-capture technology.
- The HumberZero gas network will take the carbon dioxide away for storage in worked-out gas fields in the North Sea.
- Some carbon dioxide will be fed to salad vegetables and soft fruits in greenhouses, to promote growth.
- Keadby 2 and Keadby 3 are being built to be able to run on hydrogen.
- The HumberZero network will also be able to deliver hydrogen to fuel the power stations.
I’m certain we’ll see some of the next generation of wind turbines delivering their energy from hundreds of miles offshore, in the form of hydrogen by means of a pipe.
The technology is being developed by ITM Power and Ørsted, with the backing of the UK government.
- Redundant gas pipelines can be used, to bring the hydrogen to the shore
- The engineering of piping hydrogen to the shore is well-understood.
- Redundant gas pipelines can be used if they already exist.
- Gas networks can be designed, so that depleted gas fields can be used to store the gas offshore, in times when it is not needed.
But above all gas pipelines cost less than DC electricity links, normally used to connect turbines to the shore.
I can see very complicated, but extremely efficient networks of wind turbines, redundant gas fields and efficient CCGT power stations connected together by gas pipelines, which distribute natural gas, hydrogen and carbon dioxide as appropriate.
Could Offshore Hydrogen Storage And CCGTs Provide The Reserve Power
Consider.
- Using a CCGT power station to provide Reserve Power is well understood.
- Suppose there is a large worked out gasfield, near to the power station, which has been repurposed to be used for hydrogen storage.
- The hydrogen storage is filled using hydrogen created by offshore wind turbines, that have built in electrolysers, like those being developed by ITM Power and Ørsted.
- One of more CCGTs could run as needed using hydrogen from the storage as fuel.
- A CCGT power station running on hydrogen is a zero-carbon power station.
Effectively, there would be a giant battery, that stored offshore wind energy as hydrogen.
I can see why the UK government is helping to fund this development by ITM Power and Ørsted.
Could We See Cradle-To-Grave Design Of Gas Fields?
I suspect that when a gas field is found and the infrastructured is designed it is all about what is best in the short term.
Suppose a gas field is found reasonably close to the shore or in an area like the Humber, Mersey or Tees Estuaries, where a lot of carbon dioxide is produced by industries like steel, glass and chemicals!
Should these assessments be done before any decisions are made about how to bring the gas ashore?
- After being worked out could the gas field be used to store carbon dioxide?
- After being worked out could the gas field be used to store natural gas or hydrogen?
- Is the area round the gas field suitable for building a wind farm?
Only then could a long-term plan be devised for the gas-field and the infrastructure can be designed accordingly.
I suspect that the right design could save a lot of money, as infrastructure was converted for the next phase of its life.
Conclusion
It does appear that a lot of money can be saved.
But my rambling through the calculations shows the following.
Wind Turbines Generating Hydrogen Give Advantages
These are some of the advantages.
- Hydrogen can be transported at less cost.
- Hydrogen is easily stored if you have have a handy worked-out gas field.
- The technology is well-known.
Hydrogen can then be converted back to electricity in a CCGT power station
The CCGT Power Station Operates In A Net-Zero Carbon Manner
There are two ways, the CCGT station can be run.
- On natural gas, with the carbon-dioxide captured for use or storage.
- On hydrogen.
No carbon-dioxide is released to the atmosphere in either mode.
The Hydrogen Storage And The CCGT Power Station Or Stations Is Just A Giant Battery
This may be true, but it’s all proven technology, that can be used as the Power Reserve.
Power Networks Will Get More Complicated
This will be inevitable, but giant batteries from various technologies will make it more reliable.
Network Rail’s Big Push
The title of this press release on the Network Rail web site is 11,000 Tonne Tunnel To Be Installed On The Railway In First For UK Engineering.
They have also released this aerial photograph of the tunnel, before it is pushed into place.
Note.
- The tunnel, which is just a curved concrete box is in the middle of the picture.
- To its left is the double-track Peterborough-Lincoln Line.
- Running across the far end of the tunnel are the multiple tracks of the East Coast Main Line.
- Peterborough is a few miles to the left, with the North to the right.
This Google Map shows the same area from directly above.
Note.
- The double-tracks of the Stamford Lines closest to the South-West corner of the map. These link the Peterborough-Birmingham Line to Peterborough.
- Next to them are the triple tracks of the East Coast Main Line.
- The third rail line is the double-track of the Peterborough and Lincoln Line.
- The new tunnel can be seen at the top of the map.
This map from Network Rail, shows the new track layout.
The map shows that the Stamford Line will divide with two tracks (1 and 4) going North to Stamford as now. Two new tracks (2 and 3) will dive-under the East Coast Main Line to join the existing Peterborough and Lincoln Line.
The tracks will run through the tunnel in the pictures, after it has been pushed under the East Coast Main Line.
- This will mean that the many freight trains between Peterborough and Lincoln will not have to cross the East Coast Main Line on the flat.
- This in turn could allow faster running of trains on the East Coast Main Line, that are not stopping at Peterborough.
This second Google Map shows the area to the North of the first map.
Note.
- The East Coast Main Line in the South-West corner of the map.
- The Peterborough and Lincoln Line curving from North-South across the map.
- A bridge would appear to be being constructed to take the A15 road over the new tracks, that will go through the tunnel.
- Another bridge will be constructed to take Lincoln Road over the new tracks.
It is certainly not a small project.
That is emphasised by this third Google Map, which is to the North of the previous map.
This map would appear to show space for more than a pair of tracks.
It looks to me, that space is being left for future rail-related development.
- Could it be for a small freight yard, where trains could wait before proceeding?
- If it were electrified, it could be where freight trains to and from London, switched between electric and diesel power.
- Could it be passing loops, so that freight trains can keep out of the way of faster passenger trains?
- Would it be a place for a possible new station?
If it is to be a full rail freight interchange, I can’t find any mention of it on the Internet.
The Big Push
Summarising, what is said in the press release, I can say.
- Major works to occur over nine days between 16 and 24 January
- It will be pushed at 150cm per hour.
- A reduced level of service will operate.
- It will take several weekends.
I hope it’s being filmed for later broadcasting.
Thoughts On Services
I have a few thoughts on passenger services.
London And Lincoln Via Spalding And Sleaford
Consider.
- Peterborough and Lincoln is 57 miles.
- The route has lots of level crossings.
- Much of the route between Peterborough and Lincoln has an operating speed of 75 mph
- There is a 50 mph limit through Spalding. Is this to cut down noise?
- Trains between Peterborough and Lincoln take a shortest time of one hour and twenty-three minutes, with four stops.
- Peterborough and Lincoln is 57 miles.
- This is an average speed of 41 mph.
I wonder what time a five-car Class 800 train would take to do the journey.
- At an average speed of 50 mph, the train would take 68 minutes and save 15 minutes.
- At an average speed of 60 mph, the train would take 57 minutes and save 26 minutes.
- At an average speed of 70 mph, the train would take 49 minutes and save 18 minutes.
As the fastest London Kings Cross and Peterborough time is 46 minutes, this would mean that with an average speed of 60 mph, a time between London Kings Cross of one hour and forty-three minutes could be possible.
- There could be additional time savings by only stopping at Peterborough, Spalding and Sleaford.
- The Werrington Dive Under looks to be built for speed and could save time.
- If the 50 mph limit through Spalding is down to noise, battery electric trains like a Hitachi Intercity Tri-Mode Battery Train might be able to go through Spalding faster.
- Could some track improvements save time between Peterborough and Lincoln?
As the fastest journeys via Newark to Lincoln take one hour and fifty-six minutes, it looks to me, that LNER might be able to save time by going via Spalding and Sleaford after the Werrington Dive Under opens.
London And Skegness
If there were a fast London train from Sleaford, it will take under an hour and thirty minutes between London Kings Cross and Sleaford.
- Currently, the connecting train between Skegness and Sleaford takes an hour for the forty miles.
- The service is currently run by Class 158 trains.
- With some 100 mph trains on the Skegness and Sleaford service, it might be possible to travel between London and Skegness in two hours and fifteen minutes with a change at Sleaford.
There would appear to be possibilities to improve the service between London and Skegness.
Lincoln And Cambridge
I used to play real tennis at Cambridge with a guy, who was a Cambridge expansionist.
He believed that Cambridge needed more space and that it should strongly rcpand high-tech research, development and manufacturing all the way across the fens to Peterborough and beyond.
I listened to his vision with interest and one thing it needed is a four trains per hour express metro between Cambridge and Peterborough.
- Ely and Peterborough should be electrified for both passenger and freight trains.
- March and Spalding should be reopened.
- Cambridge has the space for new services from the North.
Extending the Lincoln and Peterborough service to Cambridge could be a good start.
Conclusion
The Werrington Dive Under will certainly improve services on the East Coast Main Line.
I also feel, that it could considerably improve rail services between London and South Lincolnshire.
It certainly looks, like Network Rail have designed the Werrington Dive Under to handle more traffic than currently uses the route.
Towns like Boston, Skegness, Sleaford and Spalding aren’t going to complain.
The Anonymous Widower 