Work Starts On World’s Largest Floating Solar Project, Part of RWE’s OranjeWind
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The Nautical SUNRISE consortium partners have commenced the project whose goal is to facilitate research and development of offshore floating solar systems and its components. The project aims to integrate a 5 MW offshore floating solar system within RWE’s OranjeWind, a wind farm to be built 53 kilometres off the Dutch coast.
These three paragraphs outline the project.
Research and development on the offshore floating solar (OFS) systems and its components of the EUR 8.4 million project, supported by EUR 6.8 million of the Horizon Europe programme, kicked off in December 2023.
The project will enable the large-scale deployment and commercialisation of offshore floating solar systems in the future, both as standalone systems and integrated into offshore wind farms.
The project aims to design, build, and showcase a 5 MW OFS system using the modular solution of the Dutch floating company SolarDuck.
Note.
- It’s only the fourth of March and this is the second floating solar project of the month.
- The first was SolarDuck, Green Arrow Capital And New Developments S.R.L. Sign Collaboration Agreement For A Grid-Scale Offshore Hybrid Wind-Solar Project In Italy.
- I can understand Italy, but surely a solar farm in the Dutch waters of the North Sea, is being at least slightly optimistic.
But the home page of the Oranjewind web site, does have a mission statement of Blueprint For The New Generation Of Offshore Wind Farms.
Under a heading of The Perfect Match, this is said.
RWE’s OranjeWind offshore wind farm will be located 53 kilometers from the Dutch coast. To tackle the challenges of fluctuating power generation from wind and flexible energy demand, RWE has developed a blueprint for the integration of offshore wind farms in the Dutch energy system.
A combination of smart innovations and investments will be used to realise this perfect match between supply and demand.
Under Innovations At OranjeWind, this is said.
In order to realise system integration and accelerate the energy transition, RWE is working together with a number of innovators on new developments in offshore wind farms. The company is realising and testing these innovations in the OranjeWind wind farm.These innovations include offshore floating solar, a subsea lithium-ion battery, LiDAR power forecasting system and a subsea hydro storage power plant off-site.
These technologies have their own sections, which give more information.
- Subsea Pumped Hydro Storage Power Plant (Ocean Grazer)
- Floating Solar (SolarDuck)
- Intelligent Subsea Energy Storage (Verlume)
- LiDAR-based Power Forecasting (ForWind, University of Oldenburg)
The web site also says this about knowledge from OranjeWind.
There is a lot to learn in an innovative project such as OranjeWind. While developing the wind farm, RWE started the OranjeWind Knowledge programme. This programme aims to generate and share knowledge to accelerate the energy transition.
In strong partnerships with TNO and Dutch universities, research is carried out in parallel to the development and operation of OranjeWind. By sharing research results, lessons learned, and relevant in-house expertise, RWE aims to close knowledge gaps and provide valuable insights in key focus areas for system integration. The generated knowledge will become openly available to educational and research institutes, governments and the market.
To ensure the dissemination of knowledge, RWE will actively partner with educational institutions of all levels across the Netherlands. These partnerships allow RWE to share its expertise and provide the future workforce with the knowledge and skills needed to enable the energy transition.
It certainly appears that RWE intends to get as much out of this project as they can.
I don’t think that they can be criticised for that objective.
RWE To Start Building Battery Storage That Will Support Dutch Offshore Wind Farm
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
RWE has finalised its investment decision for a battery storage project in the Netherlands that will optimise the OranjeWind offshore wind farm’s integration into the Dutch energy system. The company plans to invest approximately EUR 24 million into the project.
This paragraph outlines the system.
The system, which will have an installed power capacity of 35 MW and a storage capacity of 41 MWh, will consist of a total of 110 lithium-ion battery racks that will be installed at RWE’s biomass plant in Eemshaven and will be virtually coupled with RWE’s power plants in the Netherlands.
There is also an explanatory infographic.
Note.
I visited Eemshaven in The Train Station At The Northern End Of The Netherlands.
- The wind farm has a capacity of 760 MW.
- Solar panels will float between the wind turbines.
- Surplus energy will be turned into hydrogen.
The OranjeWind wind farm has a web site, with a video that explains RWE’s philosophy.
The web site has a section, which is entitled Innovations At OranjeWind, where this is said.
In order to realise system integration and accelerate the energy transition, RWE is working together with a number of innovators on new developments in offshore wind farms. The company is realising and testing these innovations in the OranjeWind wind farm.
These innovations include offshore floating solar, a subsea lithium-ion battery, LiDAR power forecasting system and a subsea hydro storage power plant off-site.
Three innovations are discussed in a bit more detail, with links to more information.
- Subsea pumped hydro storage power plant – Ocean Grazer – More…
- Floating solar – SolarDuck – More…
- Intelligent Subsea Energy Storage – Verlume – More…
Big companies should always support innovation.
Diversifying A US$200 billion Market: The Alternatives To Li-ion Batteries For Grid-Scale Energy Storage
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Energy Storage News.
This is the introductory paragraph.
The global need for grid-scale energy storage will rise rapidly in the coming years as the transition away from fossil fuels accelerates. Energy storage can help meet the need for reliability and resilience on the grid, but lithium-ion is not the only option, writes Oliver Warren of climate and ESG-focused investment bank and advisory group DAI Magister.
Oliver starts by saying we need to ramp up capacity.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), to decarbonise electricity globally the world’s energy storage capacity must increase by a factor of 40x+ by 2030, reaching a total of 700 GW, or around 25% of global electricity usage (23,000TWh per annum). For comparison, this would be like swelling the size of the UK’s land to that of the USA.
Similar to how “nobody ever gets fired for buying IBM”, lithium-ion holds a similar place in grid scale electrical storage today.
And just as IBM did in the last decades of the last century, the builders of lithium-ion will fight back.
He then lists the problems of grid-scale lithium-ion batteries.
- Shortage of cobalt.
- Toxic and polluting extraction of some much needed metals and rare earths from unstable countries.
- Lack of capacity to load follow.
- Limited lifespan.
He does suggest vehicle-to-grid can provide 7TWh of storage by 2030, but it has similar problems to lithium-ion grid scale batteries.
Finally, he covers these what he considers several viable methods of energy storage in detail.
He introduces them with this paragraph.
No single killer application or technology exists to get the job done. Diversification is key with success dependent on the wide-scale adoption of multiple grid-scale energy storage solutions.
- Energy Dome – Italy – Stylish Use of CO2
- Augwind Energy – Israel – Stores Energy As Compressed Air Underground
- Cheesecake Energy – UK – Stores Energy As Heat And Compressed Air
- Highview Power – UK – Stores Energy As Liquefied Air
- Ocean Grazer – Netherlands – Ocean Battery
- RheEnergise – UK – High Density Hydro
- Lumenion – Germany/Japan – Stores Energy As Heat
- Energy Vault – Switzerland – Raising And Lowering Of Weights
Note.
- All systems are environmentally-friendly and use readily-available materials like air, water, sea-water, steel and concrete for their systems.
- The most exotic materials used are probably in the control computers.
- Some systems use readily-available proven turbo-machinery.
- Most systems appear to be scalable.
- All systems would appear to have a working life measured in decades.
- I would expect that most well-educated teenagers could understand how these systems worked.
Only Augwind Energy and Lumenion are new to me.
He finally sums up the economics and the market potential.
Our ability to expand energy storage capacity is one of the most pressing issues that will determine whether this defining ‘transitional’ decade is a success. But we’ll need to invest wisely into the right technologies that get the greatest bang for the buck (in terms of GWh capacity and return on capital) given the limited lifespan of Li-Ion and the decarbonisation of the grid.
At a current capital cost of US$2,000 per kW quoted by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for 6-hour Li-ion battery storage, the 700GW of capacity needed by 2030 equates to around a US$1.5 trillion market over the coming decade, making it worth nearly US$200 billion a year.
The Energy Storage News article is a comprehensive must read for anyone, who is considering purchasing or investing in energy storage.
I have some further thoughts.
From My Experience Would I Add Any Other Systems?
I would add the following.
- Form Energy, because its iron-air battery is well-backed financially.
- Gravitricity, because it can use disused mine shafts to store energy and the world has lots of those.
- STORE Consortium, because its 3D-printed concrete hemispheres, that store energy using pressurised sea-water can be placed within a wind farm.
I also suspect that someone will come up with an energy storage system based on tidal range.
Finance
When we started Metier Management Systems, finance to breakout from the first initial sales was a problem. We solved the problem with good financial planning and an innovative bank manager who believed us all the way.
David, was a rogue, but he was a rogue on the side of the angels. Long after Metier, he even came to my fiftieth birthday party.
David would have found a way to fund any of these systems, as they tick all the boxes of demonstrated, environmentally-friendly, safe and understandable. They are also likely to be bought by companies, governments and organisations with a high net value, a very respectable reputation and/or large amounts of money.
I also think, that just as we did with the original Artemis project management system, some of these systems can be leased to the operators.
Second-Use Of Systems
Several of these systems could be moved on to a new location, if say they were supporting an industry that failed.
That would surely help the financing of systems.
How To Store Excess Wind Power Underwater
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
The article talks why batteries are needed and then describes the Ocean Battery.
But one firm, which won a 2022 Best of Innovation award at the CES technology show earlier this year, believes it has the solution.
Dutch startup, Ocean Grazer, has developed the Ocean Battery, which stores energy below the wind farm.
When there is excess electricity the system pumps water from an underground reservoir into tough, flexible bladders that sit on the sea bed. You could think of them like big bicycle inner tubes.
The water in those tubes is under pressure, so when it is released the water flows quickly and is directed through turbines, also on the sea bed, generating electricity when needed.
“The Ocean Battery, is effectively based on the same technology as hydro storage, where water is pumped back through a dam in a river, though we have transformed it into something you can deploy on the sea bed,” says chief executive Frits Bliek.
There is a visualisation of the system and a picture of their prototype.
The Anonymous Widower 