Canal Water To Heat Some Of Liverpool’s Most Famous Buildings In Hi-Tech Carbon-Cutting Scheme
The title of this post is the same as that of this press release from Liverpool City Region.
These five bullet-points act as subheadings.
- Energy generated from Leeds and Liverpool canal by one of the UK’s largest water source heat pumps
- Announcement comes as Mersey Heat Energy Centre officially opens
- Scheme to connect Georges Dock, Cunard and the Museum of Liverpool buildings to Mersey Heat Network
- Joint project between Combined Authority, Liverpool City Council and National Museums Liverpool
- Key part of Combined Authority plan to reach net zero by 2035
These introductory paragraphs add more detail.
Three major public buildings on Liverpool’s waterfront are to slash carbon emissions by joining a heat network driven by energy from canal water.
Under the plan, an extended pipeline will connect Georges Dock building, the Cunard building, and the Museum of Liverpool, part of National Museums Liverpool (NML), to the Mersey Heat network.
The newly opened Mersey Heat Energy Centre is already supplying the Liverpool Waters site, the Titanic Hotel and the Tobacco Warehouse apartments.
It uses one of the UK’s largest water source heat pumps to extract energy from the Leeds and Liverpool Canal to power a network of heating pipes.
The project is the latest in the Liverpool City Region’s five-year carbon action plan and journey to reach net zero. The Combined Authority has recently secured an additional £35m to decarbonise dozens of other public buildings from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.
This map of the Liverpool Waterfront shows the canal and some of the buildings mentioned.
Note.
- In the top-left corner is Everton’s new Hill-Dickenson Stadium, which at the time of this map was under construction.
- The pink arrow to its right indicates the Titantic Hotel.
- The Leeds and Liverpool canal passes on the South side of the hotel.
- On the other bank of the canal is the Tobacco Warehouse.
- The canal goes East and then turns North before going all the way to Leeds. The Wikipedia entry gives full details of the canal.
- From the Titanic Hotel, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal also turns South and boats can go along Liverpool’s famous Waterfront to Canning Dock, in front of the Tate Liverpool.
- The red arrow marks the Liver Building.
- Georges Dock building, the Cunard building, and the Museum of Liverpool are just to the South the Liver Building.
- To the East of the Liver building, there is Liverpool City Centre, with beyond it Liverpool Lime Street station, with another collection of important buildings including St. George’s Hall, the Picton Library, World Museum and the Walker Art Gallery.
The Combined Authority will not have a shortage of buildings to decarbonise with the £35m from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.
These are my thoughts.
What Is A Water Source Heat Pump?
I asked Google AI this question and received this answer.
A water source heat pump (WSHP) is a highly efficient, low-carbon renewable energy system that extracts heat from a nearby water source like a lake, river, or canal to provide heating and hot water for a building, and can also be used for cooling. It works by using electricity to transfer this thermal energy into the building’s heating system, offering a more efficient alternative to traditional boilers and reducing energy bills. There are two main types: closed-loop systems, which circulate a fluid through pipes submerged in the water, and open-loop systems, which directly pump and then discharge the water.
Is Mersey Heat Energy Centre A Closed Or Open-Loop Water Source Heat Pump?
I asked Google AI this question and received this answer.
The Mersey Energy Heat Centre uses an open-loop water source heat pump system. It abstracts water from the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, extracts heat from it, and then returns the water back to the dock system.
As the Leeds and Liverpool Canal is 127 miles long, and there appears from the map to be a lot of water in the docks at the Liverpool end, I would expect that Liverpool will have more than enough water to extract heat from.
Where Exactly Is The Mersey Heat Energy Centre?
In this article on Place North West, which is entitled Work Begins On Peel’s Mersey Heat Energy Centre, has this image, which is labelled as the Mersey Heat Energy Centre.
Note the large building in the foreground with the circular objects on the roof. Could these be fans or vents?
This Google Map shows the area.
Note.
- The two docks at the top of the map can be picked out in the image.
- The main breakwater on the left, which is marked Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, looks very similar to the one shown in the image.
- The bridge between the two docks on the left appears to be the same in both map and image.
I am fairly sure, that the large building on the breakwater with the three circles on the roof, is the Mersey Heat Energy Centre.
It certainly looks to be a building, that could provide a substantial amount of heat and power .
What Is The Output Of The Mersey Heat And Energy Centre?
I asked Google AI this question and received this answer.
The Mersey Heat and Energy Centre produces low-carbon heat for up to 6,700 homes and 1.3 million square feet of commercial space, aiming to deliver around 20GWh of heat per year. The project is also planned to expand to supply around 45GWh annually. This heat is delivered to buildings for their heating and hot water needs through the Mersey Heat network.
This article on Place North West, also has this similar answer.
Led by district heat network specialist Ener-Vate, the Mersey Heat Energy Centre will feature two 3MW water source heat pumps that would work on an ‘open loop’ system to take heat from water from the Leeds-Liverpool canal. This heat would be used to warm surrounding homes and businesses within six kilometres.
Plans form the first phase of Peel NRE’s Mersey Heat network. The initial project could supply 20GWh of heat every year, with planning permission secured to expand to supply around 45GWh – the equivalent of supplying heating and hot water to 17,000 homes.
It looks like we’re getting similar answers from different sources.
Does the Merseyside Area Have Enough Green Electricity To Power A Large Water Source Heat Pump?
In Could Liverpool Develop A Massive Zero-Carbon Data Centre?, I calculated the operational and planned offshore wind power in Liverpool Bay and got these results.
- 2509 MW has been commissioned.
- 3980 MW is being planned.
That is a total of 6489 MW or about twice the output of Hinckley Point C nuclear power station.
This map shows the existing wind farms in the sea between Liverpool, Lancashire and the Isle of Man.
Note.
- Each green arrow is a wind farm.
- There is the 2452 MW Heysham nuclear power complex near Lancaster.
- The Western HVDC Link is a 2250 MW connection between Hunterston in Western Scotland near Glasgow and Connah’s Quay on the Wirral.
- I also suspect more space in Liverpool Bay could be developed with wind farms.
Spinal Tap turned the power up to 11, Liverpool, being Liverpool, they have enough power to go to at least sixteen.
Will Merseyside Have Lots Of Data Centres?
Consider.
- It has the power.
- It has the water.
- The locals speak a form of English.
- Merseyside will be two hours from London by train.
- There are two Premier League football teams.
- The golf courses are good.
- It is a city that is famous all over the world.
I am sure the number of data centres will grow.
Backing Up The Wind With The Keadby Power Stations
I went to Cleethorpes from Doncaster by train yesterday. You pass the Keadby site, where there are two large gas–fired power stations of 734 MW and 710 MW. A third one ; Keadby 3 of 910 MW complete with carbon capture and storage should join them by 2027.
So that will be nearly 2.5 GW of reliable electricity.
I find it interesting that one of our first gas-fired power stations with carbon capture will be in Lincolnshire, which is famous for growing plants of all shapes, types and sizes. So will we be seeing lots of greenhouses on the flat lands I saw yesterday, growing plants in an atmosphere they like, so that we can generate our carbon dioxide and eat it.
The next power station at Keadby is called the Keadby Next Generation power station, which is intended to be complete by 2030. It is a bit of a puzzle in that it will run on up to 1800 MW of hydrogen and only produce up to 910 MW of electricity.
Note.
- The hydrogen will come from SSE’s hydrogen store at Aldbrough and Centrica’s store at Rough.
- Surely, the amount of hydrogen and electricity should balance.
When I worked in ICI’s hydrogen plant in the 1960s, ICI had no use for the hydrogen, so they sent it to their power station, blended it with coal gas and used it to make steam for other processes.
Could Keadby Next Generation power station be providing zero-carbon steam for the chemical and other processes on Humberside?
Adding the 910 MW of electricity to Keadby’s gas-fired total of 2.5 GW gives 3.4 GW of electricity from Keadby to back up the wind farms.
3.4 GW at Keadby is what I call backup!
It also should be noted, that one of the reasons for building the Mersey Tidal Barrage is to provide backup for all the wind farms in Liverpool Bay.
Conclusion
I believe that SSE could be supplying zero-carbon steam in addition to electricity from the Keadby Hydrogen power station.
Could Liverpool Develop A Massive Zero-Carbon Data Centre?
There is an article in The Sunday Times today, which is entitled Google Signs Nuclear Deal To Power AI Data Centres.
These are the first three paragraphs of the article.
Google has struck a deal with a nuclear power start-up to provide low-carbon energy for its data centres and AI operations, marking a world-first in the tech industry.
The California-based company said the agreement to buy energy from multiple small modular reactors developed by Kairos Power could help spur a nuclear revival in America.
The first reactor is scheduled to come online in America by 2030, followed by additional deployments through 2035.
I am not against nuclear-powered data centres, but could Liverpool build a massive zero-carbon data centre?
This Google Map shows Liverpool Bay, which is a vast expanse of water that stretches along the North Wales coast to Anglesey and all the way to the Isle of Man.
Note.
- The Isle of Man in the North-West corner.
- Liverpool, Birkenhead and the River Mersey in the South-East corner.
- Anglesey in the South-West corner.
- Blackpool with Morecambe Bay to its North in the North-East corner.
Liverpool Bay could be one of Europe’s zero-carbon energy powerhouses.
Wind Farms In Liverpool Bay
At the present time, these wind farms are producing electricity or planned in Liverpool Bay.
- Barrow – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2006
- Burbo Bank – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2007
- Burbo Bank Extension – 258 MW – Commissioned in 2017
- Gwynt y Môr – 576 MW – Commissioned in 2015
- North Hoyle – 60 MW – Commissioned in 2003
- Ormonde – 150 MW – Commissioned in 2012
- Rhyl Flats – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2009
- Walney – 367 MW – Commissioned in 2010
- Walney Extension – 659 MW – Commissioned in 2018
- West if Duddon Sands – 389 MW – Commissioned in 2014
- Awel y Môr – 500 MW – Planned
- Morecambe – 480 MW – Planned
- Mona – 1500 MW – Planned
- Morgan – 1500 MW – Planned
Note.
- 2509 MW has been commissioned.
- 3980 MW is being planned.
- That is a total of 6489 MW
I suspect more space in Liverpool Bay could be developed with wind farms.
Mersey Tidal Power
The Mersey Tidal Power project has a web site.
If it is built, it will probably be built by the South Korean company; K-Water and use some of the design principles of the Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station.
It will likely have an output of around 1 GW and take ten years to build.
In the 1970s, I did some project management consultancy for Frederick Snow and Partners, and they showed me their plans for a Severn Barrage.
Their futuristic vision for the Severn Estuary was never built, as the Prime Minister of the time; Harold Wilson, felt coal was the future. See Last Of The Many!
I suspect that the Mersey Tidal Power project will be another variation on a proven theme.
Morecambe Bay Bridge And Tidal Barrage Proposal
In the Wikipedia entry for Morecambe Bay, there is a proposal for a bridge and tidal barrage across the bay, where this is said.
In 2004, a proposal was made to build a bridge across the bay flanked by wind turbines and using tidal power. Proposals from Northern Tidal Power Gateways in 2019 outlined a tidal barrage with a road running along on top.
If the Mersey Tidal Power project is a success, then why wouldn’t one across Morecambe Bay, be one too?
500 MW of zero-carbon tidal power would do nicely!
Nuclear Sites At Calder Hall, Heysham And Wylfa
These three nuclear stations have supplied electricity to the North-West of England.
- Calder Hall was the original Magnox site, which the Wikipedia entry says had a nameplate capacity of 240 MW and was decommissioned in 2003, after running for 47 years.
- Heysham is a powerful site which the Wikipedia entry says has a nameplate capacity of 2452 MW and will be decommissioned in 2028.
- Wylfa is an older, smaller Magnox site which the Wikipedia entry says had a nameplate capacity of 1190MW and was decommissioned in 2015.
As the sites are cleared, I am sure that we’ll see more nuclear power stations built on the sites.
How Much Electricity Does A Data Centre Use?
I found this paragraph in an NESO document.
Regardless of this, if we were to use existing market data and modelling projections, this could point to annual data centre electricity consumptions of between 3.6 TWh in 2020 to as much as 35 TWh by 2050.
Dividing by the hours in a year, indicates that an individual data centre could use between 0.4 and 4 GW of electricity.
Using my rough figures here from wind, tidal and nuclear, I suspect that the power on the Mersey will generate enough power for at least one data centre.
Liverpool Is On The Right Side Of The Country For Cables To North America
Cables will go straight out of Liverpool Bay, pass to the North of Ireland and across the Atlantic to somewhere like Puget Sound.
Liverpool has a superb location for a Transatlantic data centre, that connects to networks on both sides of the pond.
Could Underwater Data Centres Be Developed In Liverpool Bay?
This page on the Microsoft web site is entitled Microsoft Finds Underwater Datacenters Are Reliable, Practical And Use Energy Sustainably
These three paragraphs detail the research.
Earlier this summer, marine specialists reeled up a shipping-container-size datacenter coated in algae, barnacles and sea anemones from the seafloor off Scotland’s Orkney Islands.
The retrieval launched the final phase of a years-long effort that proved the concept of underwater datacenters is feasible, as well as logistically, environmentally and economically practical.
Microsoft’s Project Natick team deployed the Northern Isles datacenter 117 feet deep to the seafloor in spring 2018. For the next two years, team members tested and monitored the performance and reliability of the datacenter’s servers.
I would assume that Microsoft have continued the research, as with something like this you can’t be too careful.
But it would appear, that data centres and their servers could be submerged under the waters of Liverpool Bay.
London And Liverpool Will Be Under Two Hours By Train Within A Year
New Class 807 trains, which will be delivered within a year, will improve the train service between the two cities.
- Train times will be brought to around or even below two hours.
- , The extra trains will allow a second hourly service to be added.
- The extra service will additionally stop at Liverpool South Parkway station, for the airport.
- High Speed Two is claiming one hour and fifty minutes, between London and Liverpool.
Liverpool already has one of the best rail terminals in the North of England, as these pictures show.
With these service improvements, it will have a service to London and the South, that will be second to no other Northern station.
Liverpool Has A Refurbished Partly-Underground Suburban Railway With New Trains
Liverpool’s Metro is one of the best in Europe for a medium-sized city.
The Metro is also expanding with new routes and stations.
These pictures show the new Headbolt Lane station, which is swerved by the UK’s first battery-electric trains.
Liverpool Has Easy Access To Two International Airports
There are two international airports close by; Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester International.
- For Liverpool Airport, it’s a bus from Liverpool South Parkway station or an express bus from Liverpool city centre.
- For Manchester Airport, it’s a train from Lime Street station.
I am fairly sure, that a hydrofoil could connect Liverpool’s Waterfront and the Tidal Barrier to the airport.
North-West England Has A Rich University Tradition
Liverpool, Manchester and the surrounding area has several world-class universities and research establishments.
Some like The Pandemic Institute would be able to find uses for all the computing power and artificial intelligence on offer at a powerful data centre.
Liverpool Is A World City
Liverpool is a World City, where there is plenty of sport, entertainment and things to do.
Conclusion
Liverpool is installing the power infrastructure for a very large data centre, that will be able to handle the world’s largest and most difficult problems.
RWE’s Welsh Offshore Wind Project Powers Ahead
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Natural Resources Wales has awarded marine licences for RWE’s Awel y Môr offshore wind project off the North Wales Coast.
These two paragraphs outline the project.
The offshore wind farm, which could power more than half of Wales’ homes, has secured all of its necessary planning approvals with the award of its marine licences from Natural Resources Wales, RWE said.
The marine licences have been awarded on behalf of Welsh Government ministers following the granting of a Development Consent Order in September.
With all the wind action in the East, we tend to forget that the Liverpool Bay area has a lot of wind.
- Awel y Môr – 500 MW – Before 2030
- Barrow – 90 MW – 2006
- Burbo Bank – 90 MW – 2007
- Burbo Bank Extension – 258 MW – 2017
- Gwynt y Môr – 576 MW – 2015
- Mona – 1500 MW – 2029
- Morecambe – 480 MW – 2028
- Morgan – 1500 MW – 2029
- North Hoyle – 60 MW – 2003
- Ormonde – 150 MW – 2012
- Rhyl Flats – 90 MW – 2009
- Walney – 367 MW – 2010
- Walney Extension – 659 MW – 2018
- West Of Duddon Sands – 389 MW – 2014
Note.
- This is a total of 6709 MW to be delivered before 2030.
- All the wind farms have fixed foundations.
- RWE have an interest in three of the Welsh wind farms.
The Times today has this article which is entitled Energy Minnow Sees Pathway To Irish Sea Gasfield Via London IPO, where these are the first three paragraphs.
An energy minnow that is seeking to develop a gasfield in the Irish Sea is planning to list on Aim, the junior London stock exchange, in an attempt to buck the downturn in initial public offerings.
EnergyPathways has announced its intention to float, seeking to raise at least £2 million.
It owns the rights to Marram, a small gasfield discovered in 1993 about 20 miles offshore from Blackpool. It is seeking permission from the government for its plan to develop the field in the Irish Sea quickly by connecting it with existing infrastructure that serves the already-producing gasfields in Morecambe Bay. It aims to be producing gas as soon as 2025.
This gasfield should produce enough gas until the large Liverpool Bay wind farms come on stream at the end of the decade.
The Anonymous Widower 