3GW Green Hydrogen Project To Power Heavy Industry With Surplus Scottish Wind Energy
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Institute of Mechanical Engineers web site.
I have covered the Kintore Electrolyser before, but this is a professional description of the project from a respected institution, who should know what they are talking about.
I can see several other giant electrolysers being built, in places like Humberside, Merseyside, Teesside, where there are large amounts of wind power and heavy energy users in the cement, chemicals and steel industries.
There could also be one in Norfolk or Suffolk to use the masses of offshore wind power being developed.
Vestas 15 MW Prototype Now At Full Throttle
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Last week, three months after it was installed at the National Test Center for large wind turbines in Østerild, Denmark, Vestas’s V236-15.0 MW prototype wind turbine reached its nominal power rating of 15 MW.
On the 30th December 2022, I wrote Vestas 15 MW Prototype Turbine Produces First Power.
It appears to me, that going from startup to full power in a few days over three months indicates that testing has gone well.
I suspect too, that this apparently successful first test indicates that 15 MW will quickly become a standard size for wind turbines.
Full certification is expected from the third quarter of this year.
Mercedes-Benz, Amazon, Frankfurt Airport, Lidl & Kaufland, Vodafone – Giants In Germany Lining Up To Buy Offshore Wind Power
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
With the latest news about Lidl and Kaufland entering a long-term offshore wind power offtake contract, and Mercedes-Benz announcing the same shortly prior to that, the list of big names signing up to buy offshore wind-generated electricity in Germany keeps growing. What lies behind this are both the companies’ ambitious decarbonisation strategies and the country’s approach to tendering.
Rhe whole article can be read after signing up for a free trial.
SSE Renewables Unveils Plans For Wind Farm Offshore Ireland’s Atlantic Coast
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
SSE Renewables is seeking an investigative foreshore licence to facilitate survey work for a possible new offshore wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Tarbert, Co. Kerry, Ireland.
This Google Map shows the approximate location of Tarbert.
These two paragraphs outline the project.
SSE Renewables has recently submitted an application for an investigative foreshore licence to Ireland’s Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and is seeking approval for investigative surveys of the seabed for an offshore wind project which could generate up to 1 GW of energy.
These geophysical, geotechnical, and environmental surveys are required to inform the renewable energy developer’s understanding of the prevailing environmental and met-ocean conditions at the foreshore investigative array area, which is a minimum of 13 kilometres offshore.
This is SSE Renewables’ first licence application for an offshore wind project off the west coast of Ireland.
In SSE Thermal Secures 10-year Contracts For Two New Low-Carbon Power Stations In Ireland, I talked about two biomass power stations at Tarbert in Co. Kerry and Platin in Co. Meath.
It looks like the Tarbert wind farm and power station will work as a team and back each other up.
We Mustn’t Forget Platin!
This Google Map shows Dublin and its position relative to the North Wales coast.
Note.
- Platin is marked by the red arrows to the North of Dublin.
- Platin also appears to be the head office and a manufacturing site of Irish Cement, who probably are a large user of energy.
- The sea between Blackpool, Liverpool, Anglesey and the Isle of Man is full of wind turbines.
These wind farms are located in this area of UK waters.
- Barrow – 30 MW
- Burbo Bank – 90 MW
- Burbo Bank Extension – 258 MW
- Gwynt y Môr – 576 MW
- Ormonde – 150 MW
- Rhyl Flats – 90 MW
- Walney – 367 MW
- Walney Extension – 650 MW
- West Of Duddon Sands – 389 MW
- Mona – 1500 MW – Being Planned
- Morecambe – 480 MW – Being Planned
- Morgan – 1500 MW – Being Planned
- Awel y Môr – 500 MW – Being Planned
Note.
- 2600 MW has been commissioned.
- 3980 MW is being planned.
I would not be surprised to see SSE or one of their friends, build a GW-scale wind farm between Anglesey, Dublin and Dundalk.
Is Ireland apparently lagging behind the UK, because the waters near the Irish coast are deeper and would need still-developing floating wind technology?
Conclusion
It looks like the Irish government and SSE are planning a low-carbon electricity system for Ireland.
Highview Power And Ørsted Collaborate To Unlock Greater Value From The Next Generation Of Wind Farms
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Ørsted.
This is the sub-heading.
Highview Power and Ørsted have signed a Memorandum of Understanding aiming to prove the feasibility and economic value of co-locating long duration energy storage with offshore wind.
This first paragraph indicates how the two companies will work together.
The two companies will carry out detailed technical analysis and an economic assessment during 2023 that will investigate how combining Ørsted’s wind technology with Highview Power’s liquid air energy storage can deliver a stronger investment case for future offshore wind projects by reducing wind curtailment, increasing productivity, and helping the move to a more flexible, resilient zero carbon grid.
This all good stuff and as a Control Engineer, I know, there is a very good chance, it will bring forward worthwhile benefits.
Are These Turbines An Alternative To Solar Panels?
I took this picture yesterday of the Ventum Dynamics turbine on Skegness Pier.
On the Ventum Dynamics web site, there are several pictures of buildings with flat roofs, that have several turbines on each.
I have some thoughts.
Connecting The Turbines
The Skegness turbine has been installed to light up the pier, but it doesn’t seem to have masses of cabling!
So can one of these turbines or a whole fleet of them be connected up by a qualified electrician, who is familiar with connecting up solar panels?
It would certainly, be a positive feature if they could, as these turbines could be another string to the bow of a solar power company.
I would design them to be electrically interchangeable with solar panels, so that roofs could be covered by a mixture of both solar and wind power.
Will We See more Hybrid Systems?
Cleve Hill Solar Park in Kent is being built as a solar park with a battery close to the London Array offshore wind farm.
I can see batteries and Ventum’s turbines being added to solar farms.
Conclusion
Ventum’s turbines are both an alternative and a partner to solar panels.
Irish Floating Wind Tech Developer Unveils Pilot Project In Portugal
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Dublin-based floating wind technology company Gazelle Wind Power (Gazelle) has partnered with the Portuguese renewable energy developer WAM Horizon to accelerate the development of a pilot project in Aguçadoura, Portugal, which will use Gazelle’s floating wind platform.
And this is the first paragraph.
Within the partnership, WAM will provide Gazelle with strategic advisory to implement the pilot project.
There is also a picture, which does not look like any other float for a wind turbine, that I’ve seen.
Gazelle Wind Power’s home page, has a series of pictures and an explanation of how it works.
The web site claims the technology is Light, Agile and Fast and gives a few details in this paragraph.
Introducing Gazelle’s hybrid attenuated mooring platform, an evolutionary step-change in the design of floating platforms. Lighter, smaller and more agile than current designs, the Gazelle delivers unmatched stability and capacity. Moreover, our design benefits from modularisation, time-tested manufacturing processes, and can easily be assembled at port facilities worldwide.
From my experience of modelling floating structures in the 1970s, I believe that there a lot more permutations and combinations of components, that will work as floats for wind turbines.
Gazelle Wind Power’s design, is one of the first of a new generation of designs.
If anybody comes up with an unusual design and needs someone to criticise or model its floating behaviour, I’d be happy to help.
Skegness Pier With Wind Turbines
These pictures were taken today from Skegness pier.
Note.
- The wind turbines on the horizon in the first seven pictures are the 270 MW of the Lincs wind farm and the 194 MW Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farm.
- All wind turbines are just a few miles offshore.
- All turbine in these wind farms has a capacity of 3.6 MW.
The small cylindrical object actually on the pier in the last five pictures is also a wind turbine.
It is a vertical-axis turbine from Ventum Dynamics of Norway.
In Skegness Wind Turbine Trial To Light Up Pier In UK First, I wondered if it is noisy! It is not!
Largest Offshore Wind Project In UK Reaches Development Milestone
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
An application to build the up to 4.1 GW Berwick Bank, the UK’s largest offshore wind farm, capable of providing enough electricity to power more than five million homes, has commenced determination, SSE Renewables said.
These two paragraphs outline the current status of the project.
Located roughly 38 kilometers off the East Lothian coast of Scotland, Berwick Bank is the largest offshore wind farm planning application to be submitted in the UK to date and one of the largest globally.
The consent process for the onshore elements of the project has now opened, which is being considered by East Lothian Council.
This process runs alongside the offshore consent process, which kicked off in December 2022 and is being considered by the Scottish Government. A final decision by authorities is expected later in 2023.
SSE Renewables hope to deliver first power by 2027.
Further Thoughts On BP’s Successful INTOG Bid
I have been searching the web and I feel BP’s successful INTOG bid may be different.
In 13 Offshore Wind Projects Selected In World’s First Innovation And Targeted Oil & Gas Leasing Round, I decided that BP’s bid, which only was for 50 MW of offshore wind would generate hydrogen and send it to shore through the Forties Pipeline System, which is owned by INEOS.
My reasons for feeling that it would generate hydrogen were as follows.
- In the wider picture of wind in the North Sea, BP’s proposed 50 MW wind farm is a miniscule one. SSE Renewables’s Dogger Bank wind farm is over a hundred times as large.
- A cable to the shore and substation for just one 50 MW wind farm would surely be expensive.
- BP Alternative Energy Investments are also developing a 2.9 GW wind farm some sixty miles to the South.
- It would probably be bad financial planning to put large and small wind farms so close together.
I still believe for these and other reasons, that there is no reason to believe that the proposed 50 MW wind farm is a traditional wind farm and most likely it will be paired with an appropriately-sized electrolyser producing around twenty tonnes of hydrogen per day.
But instead of being sent ashore by using the Forties Pipeline System, could this hydrogen be sent directly to the coast near Aberdeen, in its own personal hydrogen pipeline?
- Using a variety of maps, I have estimated the distance at only around twenty miles.
- With all the experience from BP and their suppliers, there must be a solution for a relatively short hydrogen pipeline.
I also found this scientific paper on ScienceDirect, which is entitled Dedicated Large-Scale Floating Offshore Wind To Hydrogen: Assessing Design Variables In Proposed Typologies, which talks about three different layouts.
- Centralised Onshore Electrolysis
- Decentralised Offshore Electrolysis
- Centralised Offshore Electrolysis
All would appear to be feasible.
There is a lot of information in the scientific paper and it leads me to the conclusion, that hydrogen could be generated offshore and transferred by pipeline to storage on the shore.
The paper shows a design for a submarine hydrogen pipeline and schematics of how to design a system.
I believe that BP’s proposed system could deliver around twenty tonnes of hydrogen per day to the shore.
The system could be as simple as this.
- A few large floating wind turbines would be positioned offshore, perhaps twenty miles from shore.
- Perhaps 5 x 10 MW, 4 x 12 MW turbines or 3 x 16 MW could be used. Deciding would be one of those calculations, that combines accountancy, data, engineering and finance, which are great fun.
- The offshore distance would be carefully chosen, so that complaints about seeing them from the shore would be minimised.
- The generated electricity would be collected at a floating electrolyser, where hydrogen would be created.
- The hydrogen would be pumped to the shore.
- The floating electrolyser could also contain hydrogen storage.
I think there is large scope for innovation.
- I can imagine drones and helicopters delivering equipment and personnel to service the electrolyser.
- Underwater hydrogen storage could be developed.
- A standard system could be developed for rolling out anywhere.
- It could be placed in the sea, by a steelworks or other large hydrogen user.
In its own right the concept would develop new markets, which is one of the wind farm’s aims.
Could This Be The Route To Create Affordable Hydrogen For All?
BP would be failing their customers, employees and shareholders, if they weren’t developing a zero-carbon alternative to diesel and petrol.
Offshore hydrogen electrolysers strategically placed along the coastline, could provide a reliable hydrogen supply to a that sizeable proportion of the world’s population, who live near to the coast.
Could The Technology Be Adapted To Motorway And Large Service Stations?
This document on the UK Government web site, gives the mileage statistics of lorries (HGVs) and has this sub-heading.
In 2019 lorries travelled 17.4 billion vehicle miles, remaining broadly stable (increasing slightly by 0.3%) compared with 2018.
It breaks this figure down, by the class of road.
- Motorways – 8.0 – 46 %
- A Roads – 6.3 – 36 %
- Rural Minor Roads – 0.9 – 5 %
- Urban A Roads – 1.5 – 9 %
- Urban Minor Roads – 0.7 – 4 %
Note that 82 % of HGV mileage is on Motorways or A roads. Anybody, who has ever driven a truck bigger than a Ford Transit over a distance of upwards of fifty miles, knows that trucks and vans regularly need to be fuelled up on the road. And that applies to the drivers too, who also by law must take a break, away from the cab.
Charging an electric truck could be a lengthy business and would require service stations to be connected directly to the nation grid and be fitted with a substantial number of heavy duty chargers.
One thing, that would be difficult with an electric truck, would be a Splash-and-Dash, if a truck was nearing the destination and needed a small amount of charging to meet delivery schedules.
Because of the distances involved, the driving rules, the often tight schedules and the fast filling, I am convinced that there will be a large proportion of hydrogen-powered trucks and vans on the road and these will need a network of service stations where hydrogen is available.
Look at these overhead view of South Mimms Services, where the M25 and the A1(M) cross to the North of London.
I would envisage that at least four 10 MW wind turbines, which have a rotor diameter of around 160-190 metres could be dotted around and inside the site including inside the roundabout.
- The electrolyser would be slightly smaller than that which would be used at Aberdeen.
- Perhaps fifteen tons per day of hydrogen could be generated.
- No hydrogen needed on the site would ever be brought in by truck.
- Wind-generated electricity could also power the hotels, restaurants and the service station.
- As the percentage of vehicles running on fossil fuels decreased, the air quality in the area of the service station, should increase.
- How many people, who lived locally would switch to a hydrogen-powered runabout and fill it up perhaps once a week, when they passed?
Much of the technology needed to add a hydrogen option to a typical large service station has already been developed and some would also be needed to build BP’s 50 MW offshore wind farm with an electrolyser.
The Anonymous Widower 