The Anonymous Widower

Germany Has Potential For 82 GW Of Offshore Wind

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Renewables Now.

These are the two introductory paragraphs.

Germany has the potential to raise its offshore wind energy capacity to 81.6 GW which is above the federal government’s target of 70 GW by 2045, a study by research institute Fraunhofer IWES shows.

To exploit all the potential for wind energy in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, Germany needs to devise a strategy for more efficient use of the available space and use new offshore wind power technologies in additional areas in a way that will not raise concerns and affect nature conservation.

This map shows the German parts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.

Note.

  1. White lines show the borders with The Netherlands, Denmark and Poland.
  2. Heligoland in the South-East corner of the North Sea. Could this island be used as a giant offshore substation?
  3. There are plenty of ports to service offshore developments.
  4. It looks like compared to the UK, a fair proportion of German offshore wind farms will be closer to the land.

Currently, Germany has 7.8 GW of offshore wind in operation, with around seventy percent of the turbines in the North Sea.

According to the Wikipedia entry called Wind Power In The UK, in 2019, the UK had installed 8.4 GW of offshore wind turbines, and there could be a potential to have a total of 120 GW in British waters.

With the Belgians, Danes, Dutch, Irish, Norwegians, Poles and Swedes joining this party, I can see the world’s largest wind power station being developed in the North and Baltic Seas.

August 19, 2022 Posted by | Energy | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

UK CfD Round 4 Offshore Wind Projects Power Forward

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.

These are the first two paragraphs.

All 99 contracts offered through the fourth Allocation Round (AR4) of the UK government’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme have now been signed and returned to Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC).

A total of 93 individual projects across Britain will now proceed to work with LCCC to meet the contractual milestones specified in the CfD, supporting projects’ development and the delivery of almost 11 GW of clean energy. The first AR4 projects are due to come online in 2023-24.

It does look like it’s a case of all systems go!

In Will We Run Out Of Power This Winter?, I estimated that these Round 4 projects would come onstream as follows.

  • 2024 – Round 4 Solar – 125.7 MW
  • 2025 – Round 4 Solar – 1958 MW
  • 2025 – Round 4 Onshore Wind – 888 MW
  • 2025 – Round 4 Energy from Waste – 30 MW
  • 2026 – Round 4 Tidal Stream – 5.62 MW
  • 2027 – Round 4 Tidal Stream – 35.2 MW
  • 2027 – Round 4 Floating Offshore Wind – 32 MW
  • 2027 – Round 4 Offshore Wind – 6994 MW

These are totals for the next four years from these contracts.

  • 2024 – 125.7 MW
  • 2025 – 2876 MW
  • 2026 – 5.62 MW
  • 2027 – 7061.2 MW

This is a total of over 10 GW.

August 4, 2022 Posted by | Energy | , , , , | 3 Comments

Renewable Power’s Effect On The Tory Leadership Election

I wouldn’t normally comment on the Tory Leadership Election, as I don’t have a vote and my preference has already been eliminated.

But after reading this article on the Telegraph, which is entitled Britain Will Soon Have A Glut Of Cheap Power, And World-Leading Batteries To Store It, I feel I have to comment both about this election and the General Election, that will follow in a few years.

These two paragraphs from the article illustrate the future growth of offshore wind power.

It is a point about the mathematical implications of the UK’s gargantuan push for renewables. Offshore wind capacity is going to increase from 11 to 50 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 under the Government’s latest fast-track plans.

RenewableUK says this country currently has a total of 86GW in the project pipeline. This the most ambitious rollout of offshore wind in the world, ahead of China at 78GW, and the US at 48GW.

If we assume that there is eight years left of this decade, that means that we should install about 4.9 GW of offshore wind every year until 2030. If we add in planned solar and onshore wind developments, we must be looking at at least 5 GW of renewable energy being added every year.

We have also got the 3.26 GW Hinckley Point C coming on stream.

I think we can say, that when it comes to electricity generation, we will not be worried, so Liz and Rishi can leave that one to the engineers.

If we have an electricity problem, it is about distribution and storage.

  • We need more interconnectors between where the wind farms are being built and where the electricity will be used.
  • National Grid and the Government have published plans for two interconnectors between Scotland and England, which I wrote about in New Electricity ‘Superhighways’ Needed To Cope With Surge In Wind Power.
  • We need energy storage to back up the wind and solar power, when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.

I think it is reasonable to assume, that we will get the interconnectors we need and the Telegraph article puts forward a very feasible and affordable solution to the energy storage problem, which is described in these two paragraphs from the article.

That is now in sight, and one of the world leaders is a British start-up. Highview Power has refined a beautifully simple technology using liquid air stored in insulated steel towers at low pressure.

This cryogenic process cools air to minus 196 degrees using the standard kit for LNG. It compresses the volume 700-fold. The liquid re-expands with a blast of force when heated and drives a turbine, providing dispatchable power with the help of a flywheel.

The article also talks of twenty energy storage systems, spread around the UK.

  • They will have a total output of 6 GW.
  • In total they will be able to store 600 GWh of electricity.

The first one for Humberside is currently being planned.

Surely, building these wind and solar farms, interconnectors and energy storage systems will cost billions of pounds.

Consider.

  • Wind and solar farms get paid for the electricity they generate.
  • , Interconnectors get paid for the electricity they transfer.
  • Energy storage systems make a profit by buying energy when it’s cheap and selling it, when the price is better.
  • In World’s Largest Wind Farm Attracts Huge Backing From Insurance Giant, I talked about how Aviva were funding the world’s largest wind farm at Hornsea.
  • National Grid has a history of funding interconnectors like the North Sea Link from large financial institutions.

I believe that the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the waters around our combined shores will become the largest zero-carbon power station in the world.

This will attract engineering companies and financial institutions from all over the world and we will see a repeat of the rush for energy that we saw for oil and gas in the last century.

If we get the financial regime right, I can see a lot of tax money flowing towards the Exchequer.

The big question will be what do we do with all this energy.

  • Some will be converted into hydrogen for transport, the making of zero-carbon steel and cement and for use as a chemical feedstock.
  • Industries that use a lot of electricity may move to the UK.
  • A large supply of electricity and hydrogen will make it easy to decarbonise housing, offices and factories.

The Telegraph article also says this.

Much can be exported to the Continent through interconnectors for a fat revenue stream, helping to plug the UK’s trade deficit, and helping to rescue Germany from the double folly of nuclear closures and the Putin pact. But there are limits since weather patterns in Britain and Northwest Europe overlap – partially.

I suspect that more energy will be exported to Germany than most economists think, as it will be needed and it will be a nice little earner for the UK.

Given the substantial amount of German investment in our wind industry, I do wonder, if Boris and Olaf did a deal to encourage more German investment, when they met in April this year.

  • BP have been backed with their wind farms by a German utility company.
  • RWE are developing the Sofia wind farm.
  • Only last week, the deal for the NeuConnect interconnector between the Isle of Grain and Wilhelmshaven was signed.
  • Siemens have a lot of investments in the UK.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see more German investments in the next few months.

The Golden Hello

Has there ever been a Prime Minister, who will receive such a golden hello, as the one Liz or Rishi will receive in September?

The Tory Leadership Election

Some of the candidates said they would reduce taxes , if they won and Liz Truss is still saying that.

I wonder why Rishi isn’t saying that he would reduce taxes, as he must know the cash flow that is coming. It may be he’s just a more cautious soul.

 

 

 

July 30, 2022 Posted by | Energy, Energy Storage | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Britain Will Soon Have A Glut Of Cheap Power, And World-Leading Batteries To Store It

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Telegraph.

This is the first four paragraphs.

Today’s electricity price shock is the last crisis of the old order. Britain will soon have far more power at times of peak production than it can absorb. The logistical headache will be abundance.

Wind and solar provided almost 60pc of the UK’s power for substantial stretches last weekend, briefly peaking at 66pc. This is not to make a propaganda point about green energy, although this home-made power is self-evidently displacing liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported right now at nosebleed prices.

It is a point about the mathematical implications of the UK’s gargantuan push for renewables. Offshore wind capacity is going to increase from 11 to 50 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 under the Government’s latest fast-track plans.

RenewableUK says this country currently has a total of 86GW in the project pipeline. This the most ambitious rollout of offshore wind in the world, ahead of China at 78GW, and the US at 48GW.

The article goes on to give a comprehensive account of where we are with renewables, where we are going and how we will handle things, when the wind doesn’t blow.

Dogger Bank

The article says this about the Dogger Bank wind farm, which is being developed by SSE.

The giant hi-tech turbines to be erected on the Dogger Bank, where wind conditions are superb, bear no resemblance to the low-tech, low-yield dwarves of yesteryear. The “capacity factor” is approaching 60pc, which entirely changes the energy equation.

A capacity factor of 60 % seems a bit high to me and is what can be expected with the latest floating turbines. But these are fixed to the sea floor.

The Wikipedia entry for the Dogger Bank wind farm, says this about the building of the the first two sections of the massive wind farm.

On 21 September 2020, it was announced that Dogger Bank A and B will use 190 GE Haliade-X 13 MW offshore wind turbines over both sites, meaning that 95 turbines will be used on each site.[19] The availability of upgraded Haliade-X turbines rated at 13 MW rather than 12 MW means that each site will be capable of generating up to 1.235 GW, for a total of 2.47 GW. Turbines will be pre-assembled at Able Seaton Port in Hartlepool, an activity that will lead to the creation of 120 skilled jobs at the port during construction. Turbine installation is expected to commence in 2023 at Dogger Bank A.[20] Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) for 15 years were signed in November 2020. Offshore cable laying started in April 2022. Installation of the turbine foundations was started in July 2022.

This GE data sheet about the Haliade-X offshore wind turbine, says this about capacity factor.

it also features a 60-64% capacity factor above industry standard. Capacity factor compares how much energy was generated against the maximum that could have been produced at continuous full power operation during a specific period of time.

A 60-64% capacity factor is exceptional.

Current plans for Dogger Bank indicate that 3.6 GW will be installed and operational by 2024/25.

Could that mean that Dogger Bank will be able to deliver 2.16 GW almost continuously, on GE’s figures? Sizewell B is only 1.25 GW.

Sofia Wind Farm

There was going to be a fourth section to Dogger Bank, but this is now the separate Sofia wind farm.

  • It is being developed by RWE.
  • The first phase of three has a capacity of 1.4 MW. Does that mean Sofia will eventually be a 4.2 GW wind farm?
  • RWE seem to be putting in a very large offshore substation. Could this support a lot more turbines?
  • The wind farm seems to be using high-specification SiemensGamesa 14MW SG 14-222 DD wind turbines, which have a Power Boost facility to deliver up to 15 MW.
  • I can’t find anything about capacity factor.

Wikipedia gives a delivery date of 2023 for the first phase of Sofia.

Storing Electricity

The article says this about storing electricity.

Much of the power will have to be stored for days or weeks at a time. Lithium batteries cannot do the job: their sweet spot is two hours, and they are expensive. You need “long duration” storage at a cost that must ultimately fall below $100 (£82) per megawatt hour (MWh), the global benchmark of commercial viability.

That is now in sight, and one of the world leaders is a British start-up. Highview Power has refined a beautifully simple technology using liquid air stored in insulated steel towers at low pressure.

I have had Highview Power on my radar for some time.

Highview Power

What is there not to like about Highview Power?

  • The original idea was developed in a shed in Bishop’s Stortford, by a lone inventor.
  • Sumitomo are one of their backers.
  • They are also backed by English Universities and the UK Government.
  • They have run a successful pilot plant in Bury.
  • They are now building their first full-size 50 MW/250 MWh commercial plant at Carrington near Manchester.
  • Much of the equipment they use to build their batteries is standard equipment from world-class companies like MAN.
  • There are no exotic and expensive materials used.

The writer of the article has obviously had a long chat with Rupert Pearce, who is Highview’s chief executive and ex-head of the satellite company Inmarsat.

Pearce happily discloses this monster.

Highview is well beyond the pilot phase and is developing its first large UK plant in Humberside, today Britain’s top hub for North Sea wind. It will offer 2.5GW for over 12 hours, or 0.5GW for over 60 hours, and so forth, and should be up and running by late 2024.

Note.

  1. The world’s largest battery is at Ouarzazate Solar Power Station in Morocco and it is 3 GWh.
  2. Highview’s Humberside battery is megahuge at 30 GWh.
  3. The world’s largest pumped storage power station is Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station in China and it is 40 GWh.
  4. My experience of doing the calculations for large reaction vessels and other structures, tells me, that Highview should be able to construct huge systems.

I suspect that it will be easier and more affordable to build the Humberside battery.

This is another pair of paragraphs.

Mr Pearce said Highview’s levelised cost of energy (LCOE) would start at $140-$150, below lithium, and then slide on a “glide path” to $100 with over time. The company has parallel projects in Spain and Australia but Britain is the showroom.

“The UK is a fantastic place to do this. It has one of the most innovative grids in the world and an open, fair, liquid, market mechanism with absolute visibility,” he said.

It looks to me, that Rupert Pearce has taken Highview Power to a different level, in his short tenure at the company.

The world will soon be very familiar with the name of Highview Power.

July 29, 2022 Posted by | Energy, Energy Storage | , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Boris Baldrick’s Cunning Plan

This written statement to Parliament on the UK Government web site, is entitled Transport Update: Transpennine Route Upgrade.

It has been published by Grant Shapps and this is the sub-title.

Additional funding has been made available for the Transpennine route upgrade.

This is the complete statement.

Today 19 July 2022, the government has made available £959 million of additional funding to continue to progress the delivery of the ambitious Transpennine route upgrade.

This funding is a significant milestone and another step towards upgrading the key east-west rail artery across the north of England, to further this government’s levelling up and decarbonisation objectives.

In addition to progressing the design of aspects of the upgrade, this funding will enable further on-the-ground delivery of electrification and journey time improvement works, mostly west of Leeds.

One of the first tangible benefits will be enabling electric trains to run between Manchester and Stalybridge by the middle of the decade. We are also developing scope that will enable the Transpennine route upgrade to become the first phase of Northern Powerhouse Rail, including plans to unlock freight flows and take thousands of lorries off our roads.

We are also more than trebling the investment in the Transpennine route upgrade from £2.9 billion to between £9.0 billion and £11.5 billion.

This additional investment will enable the roll out of digital signalling technology, electrification of the full route and the provision of additional tracks for commercial and freight services, giving rail users more reliable, more punctual, more comfortable and greener rail journeys.

I have some thoughts.

It’s Not A Wish List, But A Reality

The last paragraph reads like a wish list.

This additional investment will enable the roll out of digital signalling technology, electrification of the full route and the provision of additional tracks for commercial and freight services, giving rail users more reliable, more punctual, more comfortable and greener rail journeys.

But it’s not a wish list, it’s what is to be done.

Where Will The Government Get Between Nine and Eleven-And-A-Half Billion Pounds?

It’s not the sort of small change that you have in a sock draw.

This document on the UK government web site, is entitled PM Opening Remarks At Press Conference With German Chancellor Olaf Scholz: 8 April 2022, where this is these three paragraphs.

We will also agree on the importance of weaning ourselves off dependence on Russian gas and oil, and ensuring that our energy security cannot be threatened by a rogue state.

This is not easy for any of us, and I applaud the seismic decisions taken by Olaf’s government to move Germany away from Russian hydrocarbons.

Today we have agreed to maximise the potential of the North Sea and collaborate on energy security and on renewables, where Germany and the UK lead the way in new technology.

So did Boris and Olaf sign the world’s first Green Alliance based on zero-carbon energy?

  • They may not have signed an Alliance, but they have agreed on common actions.
  • Over the last year or so, German money and technology has started to be more visible in our offshore wind farms.
  • BP have been backed by German utility; enBW in some of their huge wind farms.
  • Siemens Gamesa are providing a lot of wind turbines.
  • Will German shipyards build the floats for floating wind farms?
  • An interconnector between the Isle of Grain and Wilhelmshaven is planned.
  • Rolls-Royce and its German subsidiary MTU are charging into battle against climate change.
  • The Germans have taken a liking to ITM Power’s electrolysers to produce hydrogen.

I can see the North Sea or the German Ocean becoming Europe’s power station, with by 2030, a large amount of the energy not needed by the UK, being exported to the Continent, either as electricity or hydrogen.

The Germans could become our magische Geldbäume.

But unlike gas and oil, wind power in the North Sea won’t run out, as it’s renewable.

In How Britannia With Help From Her Friends Can Rule The Waves And The Wind, this was my conclusion.

Boris’s vision of the UK becoming a Saudi Arabia of wind is no fantasy of a man with massive dreams.

Standard floating wind turbines, with the possibility of also harvesting wave power could be assembled in ports along the coasts, towed into position and then connected up.

Several GW of wind-power capacity could probably be added each year to what would become the largest zero-carbon power station in the world.

By harvesting the power of the winds and waves in the seas around the British Isles it is an engineering and mathematical possibility, that could have been developed by any of those great visionary Victorian engineers like Armstrong, Bazalgette, Brunel and Reynolds, if they had had access to our modern technology.

Up Yours! Putin!

This energy and the money it provides will finance our infrastructure and our tax cuts.

 

July 19, 2022 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Will We Run Out Of Power This Winter?

Someone asked me if we will run out of power, if Vlad the Mad cuts all the gas to Western Europe.

This was my reply.

It appears that this year, 3.2 GW of new offshore wind farms could start producing electricity, followed by similar amounts in both 2023 and 2024.

One of those to come on stream about now is the 1.4 GW Hornsea 2 wind farm!

The follow-up 2.9 GW Hornsea 3, signed a contract last week for delivery in 2026/27.

Moray East in Scotland and Triton Knoll off Lincolnshire, are also scheduled to come on stream this year and they’re around 900 MW each.

As someone, who used to write project management software, I hope the companies building these fields have enough resources, in terms of people, boats, cranes and money. But as the companies are all the Shells of the wind industry, I would hope they have got their sums right.

What About The Contracts for Difference Awarded In Allocation Round 4?

We are currently fighting two wars at the moment.

  • The main war in Ukraine, where we are giving that unfortunate country all the help we can.
  • The secondary war in the UK against energy prices.

Would it help our cause in both wars, if we produced more energy?

  • More renewable energy would reduce our dependence on imported gas.
  • The gas saved could go to Europe.
  • Europe would not be buying Vlad the Mad’s bloodstained gas.
  • Replacing gas with solar and wind power might reduce energy prices.

If I put myself in the position of a struggling farmer with a contract for difference to build a solar farm on a poor field, I would want that farm to be earning money as soon as possible.

  • Now that I have the contract can I start assembling that solar farm?
  • Similar arguments can probably be used for onshore wind, which must be easier to assemble, than offshore wind.
  • I don’t think that the hard-pressed energy suppliers would bother, if they received some quality cheap electricity earlier than they expected.
  • Obviously, all the cables and the substations would need to be in place.

So I think that it is reasonable to assume, that energy might ramp up quicker than expected.

It could even be more front-loaded, if all the installers got a shift on.

Every little helps!

New Renewable Energy In 2023?

These wind farms are scheduled for commissioning in 2023.

  • Neart Na Gaoithe – 450 MW
  • Sofia Offshore Wind Farm – 1400 MW
  • Seagreen Phase 1 – 1075 MW

We could see 2925 MW of offshore wind power commissioned in 2023.

New Renewable Energy In 2024?

These renewable energy sources are scheduled for commissioning in 2024.

  • Dogger Bank A – 1200 MW
  • Round 4 Solar – 125.7 MW
  • Dogger Bank B – 1200 MW
  • Dogger Bank C – 1200 MW

Note, where a windfarm is given a commissioning date of 2023/24  in Wikipedia , I will put it in 2024.

We could see  3726 MW of renewable energy commissioned in 2024.

New Renewable Energy In 2025?

These renewable energy sources are scheduled for commissioning in 2025.

  • Moray West – 1200 MW
  • Round 4 Solar – 1958 MW
  • Round 4 Onshore Wind – 888 MW
  • Round 4 Energy from Waste – 30 MW
  • Vanguard Boreas Phase 1 – 1400 GW

We could see  6476 MW of renewable energy commissioned in 2025.

New Renewable Energy In 2026?

These renewable energy sources are scheduled for commissioning in 2026.

  • East Anglia 1 North – 800 MW
  • East Anglia 2 – 900 MW
  • Round 4 Tidal Stream – 5.62 MW

We could see  1705 MW of renewable energy commissioned in 2026.

New Renewable Energy In 2027?

These renewable energy sources are scheduled for commissioning in 2027.

  • Round 4 Tidal Stream – 35.2 MW
  • Round 4 Floating Offshore Wind – 32 MW
  • Round 4 Offshore Wind – 5594 MW
  • Hornsea 3 Offshore Wind – 2852 MW
  • Hinckley Point C Nuclear – 3,260 MW

We could see  13173 MW of renewable energy commissioned in 2027.

Too Much Electricity!

Summarising the figures for new capacity gives.

  • 2022 – 3200 MW
  • 2023 – 2925 MW
  • 3024 – 3726 MW
  • 2025 – 6476 MW
  • 2026 – 1705 MW
  • 2027 – 11773 MW

This totals to 28554 MW.

One problem we may have is too much electricity and as we are not blessed with much storage in the UK, where will be able to put it?

In a strange way, Vlad the Mad may solve the problem, by cutting off Europe’s gas.

We have a few interconnectors, where we can export the electricity to allow the Belgians, Dutch, French and the Germans to have a shower.

It looks like construction may be starting soon for another interconnector. NeuConnect will have a capacity of 1.4 GW between the Isle of Grain and Wilhelmshaven.

Conclusion

If I was the German Chancellor, I’d do everything in my power to accelerate the construction of NeuConnect!

July 10, 2022 Posted by | Energy, Energy Storage | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Birth Of A Station

Thanet Parkway station is under construction and should be opened in May next year.

Work is progressing as this Google Map shows.

Note.

  1. The A299 goes across the top of the map.
  2. The Ashford – Canterbury – Ramsgate Line runs diagonally from South-West to North-East across the map.
  3. Ashford and Canterbury are to the South-West.
  4. Ramsgate is to the North-East.

The new Thanet Parkway station appears to be being built on the triangular site between the A299 and the railway.

  • There appear to be two entrances/exits to the station from the A299.
  • The pedestrian bridge over the railway is under construction.
  • The roads and walkways around the station are being laid.

This video gives more details of the station.

Parking At Thanet Parkway

According to the video, there are nearly three hundred parking spaces, with a number of disabled spaces and spaces with charging for electric cars.

Is that going to be enough spaces?

But at least, there may be fields around the station, that could be used to provide additional parking.

Richborough Energy Park

This Google Map shows the area around the station and to the South towards Richborough.

Note.

  1. The under-construction Thanet Parkway station is in the North-East corner of this map to the West of the village of Cliffsend.
  2. The dual-carriageway of the A256 runs North-South down the map to a roundabout.
  3. To the West of the roundabout is Richborough Energy Park.

This Google Map shows the are round the energy park and the roundabout in more detail.

Note.

  1. The Richborough substation in the South-West corner of the map.
  2. The Richborough Energy Park sits to the East of the substation.
  3. The solar panels to the North of the roundabout are the 4.9 MW Ebbsfleet Solar Farm, which is part of Richborough Energy Park.

Richborough Energy Park is an ongoing project.

The national grid interconnector from the original power station is still in place, and is now the grid link for the 300 MW offshore Thanet Wind Farm.

It is the terminal for the NemoLink interconnector to Belgium.

Wikipedia says this about future plans.

The current owner of the site, BFL Management Ltd, plan to bring the site back into use as a £750 million green energy park. There are additional plans to create additional recycling and green energy facilities on site, including an anaerobic digester, a waste processing plant, a biomass combined heat and power generator, a pyrolysis plant and a peak demand 30MW diesel generator. When fully operational, the park could provide up to 1,400MW of power, employing 100 full-time equivalent, with up to 500 jobs in the construction phase.

I am surprised, that there is no mention of batteries or energy storage.

This press release from Network Rail is entitled Charge While You Travel With New Electric Vehicle Charging Points At Network Rail Stations.

This the body of the press release

Rail passengers with electric vehicles will be able to charge while they travel thanks to the introduction of 450 new electric vehicle charging points at Network Rail-managed car parks at railway stations.

The charging points, powered by guaranteed renewable energy, provide enough power to fully charge a vehicle in as little as 3-4 hours.

In this phase, Network Rail has powered: 160 charging points in Reading, 111 in Manchester, 84 in Edinburgh, 56 at Leeds and 41 in Welwyn Garden City.

Electric vehicle charging points will be installed across 10% of car parking spaces (approximately 779 spaces) at car parks managed by Network Rail by March 2024.

Rail is already the leading form of green public transport and this marks another milestone in Network Rail’s commitment to a low-emission railway – making sure rail is environmentally-friendly, resilient to climate change and able to provide an excellent service for years to come.

The new Compleo charging points are marked with green parking bays and passengers can pay for what they need quickly and easily via the APCOA Connect app.

Note, that there is no mention, if these are vehicle-to grid (V2G) chargers.

In Airport Plans World’s Biggest Car Parks For 50,000 Cars, I stated my belief that car parks, with hundreds or even thousands of vehicles could be turned into giant grid batteries.

  • All electric vehicles, when they are parked would be plugged in to V2G chargers.
  • The vehicle and the grid, would know your expected return time and how much power you would need. Probably from a parking app, assisted by AI!
  • If the grid borrowed your electricity, whilst you were away, you wouldn’t know, until you received the payment for the loan.
  • If your car runs on hydrogen, the parking could also handle the battery, that all hydrogen-powered vehicles have.

Thanet Parkway station would be an ideal station for such a parking system for electric vehicles.

July 10, 2022 Posted by | Energy Storage, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Norfolk Boreas Offshore Windfarm Contract Awarded

The title of this post, is he same as that of this article on the BBC.

These are the introductory paragraphs.

A government contract has been awarded for the first phase one of the biggest offshore wind zones in the world.

The Norfolk Boreas is expected to secure renewable electricity to meet the needs of around 1.5 million homes, Swedish firm Vattenfall said.

Alongside the Norfolk Vanguard project, it is part of the Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone, which was approved in February.

Together, Norfolk Boreas and Norfolk Vanguard will probably produce over 3 GW of electricity.

July 8, 2022 Posted by | Energy | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ørsted Awarded Contract For World’s Single Biggest Offshore Wind Farm

The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Ørsted.

This is the sub-title.

The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has awarded Ørsted a contract for difference for its Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm. The project was awarded at an inflation-indexed strike price of GBP 37.35 per MWh in 2012 prices.

And this is the first paragraph, which describes the size of the farm.

With a capacity of 2,852 MW, Hornsea 3 will produce enough low-cost, clean, renewable electricity to power 3.2 million UK homes, making a significant contribution to the UK Government’s ambition of having 50 GW offshore wind in operation by 2030 as part of the British Energy Security Strategy. 

This map from Ørsted shows the location of the Hornsea wind farm and its three sections.

Note.

  1. The Hornsea Wind Farm, when fully developed, with a fourth section, is likely to have a capacity of around six GW.
  2. The Lincs, Race Bank and the Westernmost Rough wind farms are about another GW.

Looking at the map, I can see Humberside hosting the world’s largest hydrogen electrolyser to feed into the Humber Zero hydrogen network.

 

July 8, 2022 Posted by | Energy, Hydrogen | , , , , , | 5 Comments

Shell To Start Building Europe’s Largest Renewable Hydrogen Plant

The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Shell.

This is the first paragraph.

Shell Nederland B.V. and Shell Overseas Investments B.V., subsidiaries of Shell plc, have taken the final investment decision to build Holland Hydrogen I, which will be Europe’s largest renewable hydrogen plant once operational in 2025.

Theconstruction timeline for Holland Hydrogen 1 is not a long one.

The next paragraph describes the size and hydrogen production capacity.

The 200MW electrolyser will be constructed on the Tweede Maasvlakte in the port of Rotterdam and will produce up to 60,000 kilograms of renewable hydrogen per day.

200 MW is large!

The next paragraph details the source of the power.

The renewable power for the electrolyser will come from the offshore wind farm Hollandse Kust (noord), which is partly owned by Shell.

These are my thoughts.

Refhyne

Refhyne is a joint project between Shell and ITM Power, with backing from the European Commission, that has created a 10 MW electrolyser in Cologne.

The 1300 tonnes of hydrogen produced by this plant will be integrated into refinery processes.

Refhyne seems to have been very much a prototype for Holland Hydrogen 1.

World’s Largest Green Hydrogen Project – With 100MW Electrolyser – Set To Be Built In Egypt

The sub-title is the title, of this article on Recharge.

It looks like Holland Hydrogen 1, is double the current largest plant under construction.

Shell is certainly going large!

Will ITM Power Be Working Again With Shell?

Refhyne has probably given Shell a large knowledge base about ITM Power’s electrolysers.

But Refhyne is only 10 MW and Holland Hydrogen 1 is twenty times that size.

This press release from ITM Power is entitled UK Government Award £9.3 m For Gigastack Testing.

This is the first paragraph.

ITM Power (AIM: ITM), the energy storage and clean fuel company, announces that the Company has been awarded a contract by The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), under its Net Zero Innovation Portfolio Low Carbon Hydrogen Supply 2 Competition, to accelerate the commercial deployment of ITM Power’s 5 MW Gigastack platform and its manufacture. The award for the Gigatest project is for £9.3m and follows initial designs developed through previous BEIS funding competitions.

Note.

  1. The Gigastack is 2.5 times bigger, than ITM Power’s previously largest electrolyser.
  2. Forty working in parallel, in much the same way that the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids, will be needed for Holland Hydrogen 1.
  3. ITM Power have the world’s largest electrolyser factory, with a capacity of one GW. They have plans to create a second factory.

ITM Power would probably be Shell’s low-risk choice.

My company dealt with Shell a lot in the 1970s, with respect to project management software and we felt, that if Shell liked you, they kept giving you orders.

The Hollandse Kust Noord Wind Farm

This wind farm is well described on its web site, where this is the introduction on the home page.

CrossWind, a joint-venture between Shell and Eneco, develops and will operate the Hollandse Kust Noord subsidy-free offshore wind project.

Hollandse Kust Noord is located 18.5 kilometers off the west coast of the Netherlands near the town of Egmond aan Zee.

CrossWind plans to have Hollandse Kust Noord operational in 2023 with an installed capacity of 759 MW, generating at least 3.3 TWh per year.

This Google Map shows the location of Egmond aan Zee.

Note that the red arrow points to Egmond aan Zee.

Will The Electrolyser Be Operational In 2025?

If Shell choose ITM Power to deliver the electrolysers, I don’t think Shell are being that ambitious.

I would suspect that connecting up an electrolyser is not the most complicated of construction tasks.

  • Build the foundations.
  • Fix the electrolyser in place.
  • Connect power to one end.
  • Connect gas pipes to the other.
  • Switch on and test.

Note.

  1. If ITM Power deliver electrolysers that work, then the installation is the sort of task performed on chemical plants all over the world.
  2. ITM Power appear to have tapped the UK Government for money to fund thorough testing of the 5 MW Gigastack electrolyser.
  3. Enough wind power from Hollandse Kust Noord, should be generated by 2025.

I feel it is very much a low risk project.

Shell’s Offshore Electrolyser Feasibility Study

This is mentioned in this article in The Times, which describes Holland Hydrogen 1, where this is said.

Shell is also still involved in a feasibility study to deploy electrolysers offshore alongside the offshore wind farm. It has suggested this could enable more efficient use of cabling infrastructure.

I very much feel this is the way to go.

Postscript

I found this article on the Dutch Government web site, which is entitled Speech By Prime Minister Mark Rutte At An Event Announcing The Construction Of Holland Hydrogen 1.

This is an extract.

By building Holland Hydrogen 1, Shell will give the Dutch hydrogen market a real boost.
So congratulations are in order.
And this is only the beginning.
Because countless companies and knowledge institutions are working now to generate the hydrogen economy of tomorrow.
The government is supporting this process by investing in infrastructure, and by granting subsidies.
Because we want to achieve our climate goals, though the war in Ukraine won’t make it any easier.
We want to reduce our dependence on Russian gas.
We want the Netherlands to lead the way in the European energy transition.
And all these ambitions are combined in the Holland Hydrogen 1 project.

Mark Rutte seems to believe in hydrogen.

Conclusion

This is a very good example of the sort of large electrolyser, we’ll be seeing all over the world.

In fact, if this one works well, how many 200 MW electrolysers will Shell need all over the world?

Will they all be identical?

 

 

 

 

July 7, 2022 Posted by | Energy, Hydrogen | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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