Dogger Bank C In UK Offshore Wind First To Provide Reactive Power Capability
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from the Dogger Bank wind farm.
This paragraph gives an explanation.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm has secured a UK power first by becoming the first offshore wind farm project to win a tender from National Grid ESO to provide reactive power capability. The sector-first contract will help deliver a greener grid, maintain a stable voltage power supply, and help drive down UK consumer costs by millions of pounds.
Note that the three Dogger Bank wind farms; A, B and C will each have a capacity of 1.2 GW and that Hartlepool nuclear power station has a capacity of 1.32 GW. The latter is due to be decommissioned in 2024.
So the wind farms will effectively replace the nuclear power station.
This paragraph describes the contract.
Under new £22.5m Pennines Voltage Pathfinder contracts announced today, National Grid ESO has awarded a 10-year power contract to Dogger Bank C that will see its onshore converter station at Lazenby in the North-East of England provide 200 MVAr* of reactive power capability between 2024 and 2034. This marks the first time that an offshore wind transmission asset has been awarded a contract through a reactive power tender by National Grid ESO.
I suspect that there will need to be some form of energy storage added to the system somewhere, either at Lazenby or could we see a system like one of Highview Power’s CRYOBattery installed offshore?
It should be noted that CRYOBatteries are no more complicated, than some of the equipment installed on offshore gas and oil platforms.
The Lackenby Substation
It does seem that there has been a mix-up between the two nearby villages of Lazenby and Lackenby.
I can’t find a Lazenby substation, but I can find one at Lackenby.
This Google Map shows that the location of the Lackenby substation.
This second map shows the substation in more detail.
Note.
- There are a lot of large chemical works on both banks of the Tees.
- I can find nothing on the route of the cable from Dogger Bank C to Lackenby substation.
- Perhaps, it’s planned to go up the River Tees or it could come ashore South of the mouth of the River Tees.
Plans must be published soon, so that the substation can be updated before the wind farm is commissioned.
Amp Wins Consent For 800MW Scots Battery Complex
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on renews.biz.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Canadian storage player Amp Energy has revealed that its 800MW battery portfolio in Scotland has secured planning consent.
The portfolio is due to be operational in April 2024 and will comprise two 400MW battery facilities, each providing 800 megawatt-hours of energy storage capacity.
Some other points from the article.
- The two facilities will be located at Hunterston and Kincardine.
- They will be the two largest grid-connected battery storage facilities in Europe.
- The two batteries will be optimised by Amp Energy‘s proprietary software.
This Google Map shows the Hunterston area.
Note.
- The Hunterston A and Hunterston B nuclear power stations, which are both being decommissioned.
- Hunterston B only shut down on the 7th of January, this year.
- There is also a large brownfield site in the North-East corner of the map.
This second Google Map shows the South-East corner of the nuclear power station site.
It’s certainly got a good grid connection.
But then it had to support.
- The Hunterston A nuclear power station rated at 360 MW.
- The Hunterston B nuclear power station rated at 1.2 GW.
- The Western HVDC Link, which is an interconnector to Connah’s Quay in North Wales, that is rated at 2.2 GW.
I’m sure that National Grid has a suitable socket for a 400 MW battery.
This Google Map shows the Kincardine area.
Note.
- The Clackmannanshire Bridge down the Western side of the map.
- The Kincardine Substation to the East of the bridge close to the shore of the River Forth.
- The 760 MW Kincardine power station used to be by the substation, but was demolished by 2001.
As at Hunterston, I’m sure that National Grid could find a suitable socket for a 400 MW battery.
Amp Energy’s Philosophy
As a trained Control Engineer I like it.
- Find a well-connected site, that can handle upwards of 400 MW in and out.
- Put in a 800 MWh battery, that can handle 400 MW in and out.
- Optimise the battery, so that it stores and supplies electricity as appropriate.
- Throw in a bit of artificial intelligence.
Old power station sites would seem an ideal place to site a battery. Especially, as many demolished coal, gas and nuclear stations are around 400-600 MW.
It should be noted that Highview Power are building a 50 MW/400 MWh CRYOBattery on an old coal-fired power station site in Vermont.
The Western HVDC Link
I mentioned earlier that the Northern end of the Western HVDC Link, is at Hunterston.
The Wikipedia entry for the Western HVDC Link, says this about the link.
The Western HVDC Link is a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) undersea electrical link in the United Kingdom, between Hunterston in Western Scotland and Flintshire Bridge (Connah’s Quay) in North Wales, routed to the west of the Isle of Man.[2] It has a transmission capacity of 2,250 MW and became fully operational in 2019.
The link is 262 miles long.
This Google Map shows the Connah’s Quay area in North Wales.
Note.
- The red arrow indicates the Flintshire Bridge HVDC converter station, which is the Southern end of the Western HVDC Link.
- The Borderlands Line between Liverpool and Chester, runs North-South to the East of the convertor station.
- To the East of the railway are two solar farms. The Northern one is Shotwick Solar Park, which at 72 MW is the largest solar farm in the UK.
- To the West of the converter station, just to the East of the A 548 road, is the 498 MW Deeside power station.
- Follow the A548 road to the West and over the River Dee, the road passes South of the 1420 MW Connah’s Quay Power station.
- The two power stations burn gas from Liverpool Bay.
- There are a lot of wind turbines along the North Wales Coast and Liverpool Bay.
The map also shows a lot of high electricity users like Tata Steel.
I can certainly see why the Western HVDC Link was built to connect Scotland and North Wales.
- There is a lot of renewable energy generation at both ends.
- There are heavy electricity users at both ends.
- The Scottish Central Belt is at the North.
- Greater Merseyside is at the South.
The Western HVDC Link is an electricity by-pass, that must have avoided expensive and controversial construction on land.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see another 400 MW/800 MWh battery at the Southern end.
Conclusion
The Canadians seem to have bagged two of the best battery sites in Europe.
- Both sites would appear to be able to handle 400 MW, based on past capabilities.
- There is lots of space and extra and/or bigger batteries can probably be connected.
- Scotland is developing several GW of wind power.
I can see Amp Energy building a series of these 400 MW sites in the UK and around Europe.
This is the big news of the day!
Why Use A Hydrogen Pipeline Rather Than A Electricity Cable To Bring Electricity Ashore From A Windfarm?
A comment to the post entitled Siemens Gamesa Partners On Offshore Wind-to-Hydrogen, was as follows.
Trying to get my head around this concept. Build an electrolysis plant in the North Sea and run a hydrogen pipeline to shore, rather than generating electricity and transferring the power by undersea cable to a shore based electrolysis plant. Can it really be better technically and economically? Someone convince me.
The reasons probably all come down to saving money and hassle.
Reusing Existing Infrastructure
Supposing, you have an offshore gas field, which is on the point of being worked out.
- It has a well-maintained platform on top.
- It has a pipe to an onshore terminal that handles the natural gas and distributes it to end-users.
Supposing the following are possible.
- Building a large wind farm in the vicinity of the platform.
- Using the gas field for hydrogen storage.
- Converting the gas terminal from natural gas to hydrogen.
- The end-users can convert to hydrogen.
In some cases the end-users might even prefer hydrogen to natural gas, to help their own decarbonisation.
I would suspect that there will be a sound economic case to use hydrogen, where wind farms are developed, in the same areas as worked-out gas fields.
- Platform demolition costs are deferred.
- No HVDC link is needed, with an expensive converter station at the shore end.
- The new system comes with energy storage.
The only extra cost might be that an offshore electrolyser is more expensive than an onshore one.
Engineering Resources
The engineering resources needed for a gas pipeline are different to those needed for an electrical system.
But because gas pipelines are a declining industry, they will be readily available.
Less Planning Hassle
There have been some objections to the development of wind farm terminals by Nimbies.
If a terminal is converted from natural gas to hydrogen, I suspect there will be fewer objections.
Better Control Of Wind Farms
There have been stories of wind farms having to be switched off because there is no-one to buy the electricity.
If some form of offshore hydrogen storage is possible, then the electricity can be used to generate hydrogen, which can be piped ashore, when it is needed.
It Won’t Be One Type Fits All
I suspect we’ll see some hybrid systems and other innovative engineering.
Conclusion
I believe that in a drive to cut costs, we’ll see a lot of energy brought ashore as hydrogen gas.
I
Future Offshore Wind Power Capacity In The UK
I am building this table, so that I can get a feel for the electricity needs of the UK.
According to Wikipedia, on February 2020, there were thirty six offshore wind farms consisting of 2180 turbines with a combined capacity of 8113 megawatts or 8.113 gigawatts.
Currently, these offshore wind farms are under construction, proposed or are in an exploratory phase.
- Triton Knoll – 857 MW – 2021 – Under Construction
- Hornsea Two – 1386 MW – 2022 – Under Construction
- Moray East – 960 MW – 2022 – Under Construction
- Neart Na Gaoithe – 450 MW – 2023 – Under Construction
- Seagreen Phase 1 – 1075 MW – 2023 – Under Construction
- Dogger Bank A – 1200 MW – 2023/24 – Proposed
- Dogger Bank B – 1200 MW – 2024/25 – Proposed
- Dogger Bank C – 1200 MW – 2024/25 – Proposed
- Moray West – 1200 MW – 2024/25 – Exploratory
- Hornsea Three – 2400 MW – 2025 – Proposed
- East Anglia One North 800 MW – 2026 – Exploratory
- East Anglia Two – 900 MW – 2026 – Exploratory
- East Anglia Three – 1400 MW – 2026 – Exploratory
- Sofia Offshore Wind Farm Phase 1 – 1400 MW – 2023/2026 – Under Construction
- Hornsea Four – 1000 MW (?) – 2027 – Exploratory
- Rampion Two Extension – 1200 MW – Exploratory
- Norfolk Vanguard – 1800 MW – Exploratory
- Norfolk Boreas – 1800 MW – Exploratory
Note.
- The date is the possible final commissioning date.
- I have no commissioning dates for the last three wind farms.
- Wikipedia says that the Hornsea Four capacity is unknown by Ørsted due to the ever increasing size of available wind turbines for the project.
I can total up these wind farms by commissioning date.
- 2021 – 857 MW
- 2022 – 2346 MW
- 2023 – 1525 MW
- 2024 – 1200 MW
- 2025 – 6000 MW
- 2026 – 4500 MW
- Others – 5800 MW
I can draw these conclusions.
- Total wind farm capacity commissioned each year is increasing.
- It looks like there will be a capacity to install up to 5000 or 6000 MW every year from about 2025.
- If we add my figures for 2021-2026 to the 8113 MW currently installed we get 24541 MW.
- Adding in 6000 MW for each of the four years from 2027-2030 gives a total of 48541 MW or 48.5 GW.
As I write this on a Sunday afternoon, wind power (onshore and offshore) is supplying 13 GW or forty-four percent of our electricity needs.
I have further thoughts.
Parallels With North Sea Oil And Gas
I was very much involved in the development of North Sea oil and gas, as my software was used on a large number of the projects. I had many discussions with those managing these projects and what was crucial in shortening project times was the increasing availability of bigger rigs, platforms and equipment.
Big certainly was better.
I believe that as we get more experienced, we’ll see bigger and better equipment speeding the building of offshore wind farms.
Reuse of Redundant North Sea Oil And Gas Platforms
Don’t underestimate the ability of engineers to repurpose redundant oil and gas platforms for use with windfarms.
Electrolysers on the platforms can convert the electricity into hydrogen and use redundant gas pipes to bring it ashore.
Some processes like steelmaking could use a lot of hydrogen.
Platforms can be used as sub-stations to collect electricity from windfarms and distribute it to the various countries around the North Sea.
Hydrogen
Some processes like steelmaking could use a lot of hydrogen. And I don’t think steelmakers would be happy, if the supply was intermittent.
So why not produce it with giant electrolysers on redundant oil and gas platforms and store it in redundant gas fields under the sea?
A large store of hydrogen under the sea could have the following uses.
- Steelmaking.
- Feedstock for chemical manufacture.
- Transport
- Power generation in a gas-fired power station, that can run on hydrogen.
It would just need a large enough hydrogen store.
Energy Storage
This large amount of wind power will need a large amount of energy storage to cover for when the wind doesn’t blow.
Some of this storage may even be provided by using hydrogen, as I indicated previously.
But ideas for energy storage are coming thick and fast.
The North Sea Link To Norway
The North Sea Link is much more important than an interconnector between Blyth in Northumberland and Norway.
- At the Norwegian end the link is connected to a vast pumped storage energy system in the mountains of Norway.
- This pumped storage system is filled in two ways; Norwegian rain and snow and UK wind power through the interconnector.
- In times of need, we can draw electricity through the interconnector from Norway.
- It has a capacity of 1.4 GW.
- It was delivered on time for a cost of around €2 billion.
It can almost be thought of as an international bank of electricity and is probably one of the most significant pieces of European infrastructure built in recent years.
There are also plans to build NorthConnect, that would connect Peterhead in Scotland to Norway.
Conclusion
It looks like we’ll be able to reap the wind. And possibly 50 GW of it!
Singapore-Based Enterprize To Build $10bn Wind Farm Off Irish Coast
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Irish Times.
This is the first paragraph.
A Singapore-based offshore wind developer has signed an agreement to build a huge $10 billion (€8.88 billion) wind farm off the coast of Ireland to power a green hydrogen facility.
This is certainly a large investment.
- The windfarm will have a capacity of 4 GW.
- Hydrogen will be produced for the Irish market and some will be converted to ammonia for export.
- The hydrogen will be produced at the Green Marlin hydrogen facility at Bantry Bay.
- I’ve not heard of Enterprize before, but the company is also developing a 3.4 gigawatt offshore wind farm in Vietnam and is looking at Brazil.
Enterprize Energy are obviously very ambitious.
This article on Fuel Cell Works, which is entitled Zenith Energy And EI-H2 Announce Joint Venture For Green Facility At Bantry Bay, gives more details of the Green Marlin project.
Conclusion
There are some big companies investing billions of pounds, dollars and euros in hydrogen.
Shetland Blasts Off Into Space Race As Britain’s First Rocket Launch Pad Skyrora
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This second paragraph, explains what Skyrora are doing.
Skyrora, a technology company with its headquarters in Edinburgh, has agreed a deal for scores of rocket launches over the next decade from a site on Unst, the most northerly of the Shetland islands.
This Google Map shows the most Northerly part of Unst.
There’s not really much there, except birds, trees and the most northerly house in Britain.
Enlarging to the West of the house, gives this second Google Map.
Note the Remote Radar Head Saxa Vord, which has a Wikipedia entry as RAF Saxa Voe.
- It is now a fully-operational radar station again, after closure in 2006.
- It is at the same latitude as St. Petersburg and Anchorage.
- In 1992, it measured a wind speed of 197 mph, before the equipment blew away.
The Wikipedia entry is worth a read, as it gives a deep insight into radar and its tracking of Russian intruders in the Cold War.
This third Google Map shows a 3D closeup of the radar.
No staff are based at Saxa Vord, although maintenance staff do visit.
According to The Times, the space port will be at Lamba Ness, which is to the East of the most northerly house in Britain.
The peninsular in the South-East is marked Lamba Ness.
It may seem a very bleak place, but it could have one thing, that rocketry will need – rocket fuel!
In Do BP And The Germans Have A Cunning Plan For European Energy Domination?, I introduced Project Orion, which is an electrification and hydrogen hub and clean energy project in the Shetland Islands.
The project’s scope is described in this graphic.
Note
- Project Orion now has its own web site.
- A Space Centre is shown on the Island of Unst.
- There is an oxygen pipeline shown dotted in blue from the proposed Sullom Voe H2 Plant to the Fish Farm and on to the Space Centre.
- I suspect if required, there could be a hydrogen pipeline.
The Space Centre on Unst could be fuelled by renewable energy.
Who Are Skyrora?
They have a web site, which displays this mission statement.
Represents a new breed of private rocket companies developing the next generation of launch vehicles for the burgeoning small satellite market.
The Times also has this paragraph.
At the end of last year, the company also completed trials of the third stage of its Skyrora XL rocket, including its orbital transfer vehicle which, once in orbit, can refire its engines 15 times to carry out tasks such as acting as a space tug, completing maintenance or removing defunct satellites.
The company seems to have big ambitions driven by innovation and a large range of ideas.
Conclusion
I shall be following this company.
Dublin Energy Start-up Targets $2 trillion Offshore Wind Sector
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Irish Times.
The article gives a few clues, as to what Gazelle Wind Power are about.
This is the sub-title.
Gazelle Wind Power raises $4m to develop its hybrid floating offshore wind platform
What is a hybrid floating offshore wind platform?
I have form in the subject of large floating structures, as I did the calculations for a Cambridge-based company called Balaena Structures, that was proposing floating oil production platforms.
The company failed and I got paid, but their ideas returned to obscurity.
However, from that brief interlude in my life, I believe that there are innovative floating designs that could benefit the wind power industry.
This paragraph sums up the platform.
Overall the company estimates its solution costs half the price of other platforms to manufacture and 60 per cent less in terms of installation fees, while providing savings well above €1 million per megawatt.
I’ll go along with that, as the Balaena was very affordable and very stable.
The company has also recruited some powerful advisors, as this paragraph shows.
Gazelle recently named an elite group of energy industry veterans to its board of directors that includes Dr Javier Cavada, chief executive of Highview Power, Pierpaolo Mazza, a former general sales manager at GE Power, and Connie Hedegaard, former minister of environment to Denmark.
I have a feeling Gazelle Wind Power could be on to something.
Does the presence of the chief executive of Highview Power mean they are developing a floating platform with energy storage?
I remember that Balaena’s platform was very stable and as it was for oil and gas production, it had plenty of processing equipment on top.
Certainly, a wind turbine in the megawatt range with power storage would be a useful system.
Do BP And The Germans Have A Cunning Plan For European Energy Domination?
The headline of this post may be slightly tongue in cheek, but I believe that a plan is being hatched.
Preamble
I’ll start with a preamble, where I’ll outline some of the factors behind what may be happening.
Decarbonisation
It is generally accepted by most people that there is a need to decarbonise everything we do.
And large oil companies like Shell, BP and others are starting to move in the same direction.
Hydrogen
Using hydrogen instead of fossil fuels is becoming one of the major routes to decarbonisation.
Hydrogen can be used for the following.
- Provide power for cars, buses, trucks, trains, locomotives and ships.
- Hydrogen can be used in steelmaking instead of coking coal.
- As a chemical feedstock to make ammonia, fertiliser and a large range of petrochemicals.
- I believe that hydrogen could be a viable fuel to power aircraft over thousands of miles.
Hydrogen will become the most common zero-carbon fuel.
Hydrogen And Natural Gas
In many applications hydrogen can replace natural gas, so for large users of natural gas, hydrogen offers a route to decarbonisation.
But hydrogen can also be mixed up to a level of around twenty percent in natural gas for partial decarbonisation of applications like space heating. Most industrial uses, boilers and appliances can be made to work very successfully with this mixture.
I grew up in the 1950s with coal gas, which according to Wikipedia had this composition.
- hydrogen 50%
- methane 35%
- carbon monoxide 10%
- ethylene 5%
- When we changed over in the 1970s, all my appliances were converted.
This is the UK government description of natural gas.
It contains primarily methane, along with small amounts of ethane, butane, pentane, and propane. Natural gas does not contain carbon monoxide. The by-products of burning natural gas are primarily carbon dioxide and water vapour. Natural gas is colourless, tasteless and odourless.
As with the conversion from coal-gas to natural gas, conversion from Natural gas to a hydrogen/natural gas mixture and eventually to hydrogen, will be a relatively painless process.
Note that carbon monoxide is a nasty poison and is not contained in either natural gas or hydrogen.
Green Hydrogen And Electrolysis Of Water
Green hydrogen is hydrogen produced exclusively from renewable energy sources.
Typically green hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water using electricity produced by hydro, solar, tidal or wind.
The largest factory building electrolysers is owned by ITM Power.
- It is located in Rotherham.
- The factory has the capacity to build 1 GW of electrolysers in a year.
- Typical electrolysers have a capacity of several MW.
Ryze Hydrogen are building an electrolyser at Herne Bay, that will consume 23 MW of solar and wind power and produce ten tonnes of hydrogen per day.
Blue Hydrogen
‘Blue hydrogen is produced through a production process where carbon dioxide is also produced then subsequently captured via carbon capture and storage. In many cases the carbon dioxide is stored in depleted gas fields, of which we have plenty in the North Sea. Over the last few years, research has been ongoing into using the carbon dioxide. Applications in horticulture and agriculture, carbon structures and sustainable aviation fuel are being developed.
Shell have also developed the Shell Blue Hydrogen Process, where the carbon is extracted from methane as carbon dioxide and then stored or used.
CO2 In Greenhouse Horticulture
This paper from The Netherlands is called CO2 In Greenhouse Horticulture.
Read it and you might believe me, when I say, we’ll eat a lot of carbon in the form of tomatoes, salads and soft fruit. We’ll also buy flowers grown in a carbon-dioxide rich atmosphere.
Hydrogen As An Energy Transfer Medium
Every kilogram of natural gas when it burns releases energy, as it does in your boiler or gas hob. So it transfers energy in the form of gas from the gas well or storage tank to your house.
Electricity can also be transferred from the power station to your house using wires instead of pipes.
Hydrogen is being put forward as a means of transferring energy over hundreds of miles.
- Electricity is converted to hydrogen, probably using an electrolyser, which would be powered by zero-carbon electricity.
- The hydrogen is transferred using a steel pipe.
- At the destination, the hydrogen is either distributed to end-users, stored or used in a gas-fired power station, that has been modified to run on hydrogen, to generate electricity.
It sounds inefficient, but it has advantages.
- Long underwater cables have energy losses.
- Electrical connections use a lot of expensive copper.
- Re-use of existing gas pipes is possible.
- Oil and gas companies like BP and their contractors have been laying gas pipes on land and under water for decades.
If hydrogen has a problem as an energy transfer medium, it is that it us difficult to liquify, as this statement from Air Liquide illustrates.
Hydrogen turns into a liquid when it is cooled to a temperature below -252,87 °C. At -252.87°C and 1.013 bar, liquid hydrogen has a density of close to 71 kg/m3. At this pressure, 5 kg of hydrogen can be stored in a 75-liter tank.
To transport, larger quantities of hydrogen by ship, it is probably better to convert the hydrogen into ammonia, which is much easier to handle.
The Germans and others are experimenting with using liquid ammonia to power large ships.
Hydrogen As An Energy Storage Medium
The UK has a comprehensive National Transmission System for natural gas with large amounts of different types of storage.
This section of the Wikipedia entry is entitled Natural Gas Storage and lists ten large storage facilities in salt caverns and depleted onshore gas fields. In addition, several depleted offshore gas fields have been proposed for the storage of natural gas. Rough was used successfully for some years.
I can certainly see a network of hydrogen storage sites being developed both onshore and offshore around the UK.
Iceland
With its large amount of hydro-electric and geothermal energy, Iceland can generate much more electricity, than it needs and has been looking to export it.
The UK is probably the only country close enough to be connected to Iceland to buy some of the country’s surplus electricity.
There has been a proposal called Icelink, that would build an electrical interconnector with a capacity of around a GW between Iceland at the UK.
But the project seems to have stalled since I first heard about it on my trip to Iceland in 2014.
Could the engineering problems just be too difficult?
The Waters Around The Northern Parts Of Great Britain
Look at a map of the UK and particularly Great Britain and there is a massive area of water, which is not short of wind.
Between Norway, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, the East Coast of England, the Northern Coasts of Scotland and Iceland, there are only a few islands.
- Faroes
- Orkney
- Shetlands
To be complete we probably must include hundreds of oil and gas rigs and platforms and the Dogger Bank.
- Oil and gas companies probably know most there is to know about these waters.
- Gas pipelines connect the production platforms to terminals at Sullom Voe and along the East Coast from St. Fergus near Aberdeen to Bacton in Norfolk.
- Many of the oil and gas fields are coming to the end of their working lives.
I believe that all this infrastructure could be repurposed to support the offshore wind industry.
The Dutch Are Invading The Dogger Bank
The Dogger Bank sits in the middle of the North Sea.
- It is roughly equidistant from Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK.
- The Western part is in UK territorial waters.
- The Eastern part is mainly in Dutch territorial waters.
On the UK part, the Dogger Bank Wind Farm is being developed.
- The turbines will be between 78 and 180 miles from the shore.
- It could have a capacity of up to 5 GW.
- It would be connected to East Yorkshire or Teesside.
On their side of the Dogger Bank, the Dutch are proposing the North Sea Wind Power Hub.
- It is a collaboration between the Dutch, Germans, and Danes.
- There have been reports, that up to 110 GW of turbines could be installed.
- It will be connected to the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, as well as The Netherlands.
It is also planned that the connections to the Dogger Bank will create another interconnector between the UK and the Continent.
The Shetland Islands
The Shetland Islands are the only natural islands with a large oil and gas infrastructure in the waters to the North of Great Britain.
They have a large gas and oil terminal at Sullom Voe.
- Oil is transported to the terminal by pipelines and tanker.
- Oil is exported by tanker.
- Gas is imported from oil and gas fields to the West of the islands through the West of Shetland Pipeline.
- The gas-fired Sullom Voe power station provide about 80 MW of power to the islands.
This document on the APSE web site is entitled Future Hydrogen Production In Shetland.
It describes how the Shetland Islands can decarbonise and reposition themselves in the energy industry to be a major producer of hydrogen.
It gives these two facts about carbon emissions in the Shetlands Islands and Scotland.
- Annual per capita CO2 emissions in the Shetland Islands are 17 tonnes.
- In Scotland they are just 5.3 tonnes.
By comparison, the UK average is 5.55 and Qatar is 37.29.
Currently, the annual local market for road, marine and domestic fuel calculated
at around £50 million.
These are the objectives of the Shetland’s plan for future hydrogen production.
- Supply 32TWh of low carbon hydrogen annually, 12% of the expected UK total requirement, by 2050
- Provide more than 3GW of wind generated electrical power to Shetland, the UK grid, generating green hydrogen and electrification of the offshore oil and gas sector
- Enable all West of Shetland hydrocarbon assets to be net zero by 2030 and abate 8Mt/year CO2 by 2050
- Generate £5bn in annual revenue by 2050 and contribute significantly to the UK Exchequer.
They also envisage removing the topsides of platforms, during decommissioning of mature East of Shetland
oil fields and repurposing them for hydrogen production using offshore wind.
That is certainly a powerful set of ambitions.
This diagram from the report shows the flow of electricity and hydrogen around the islands, terminals and platforms.
Note these points about what the Shetlanders call the Orion Project.
- Offshore installations are electrified.
- There are wind turbines on the islands
- Hydrogen is provided for local energy uses like transport and shipping.
- Oxygen is provided for the fish farms and a future space centre.
- There is tidal power between the islands.
- There are armadas of floating wind turbines to the East of the islands.
- Repurposed oil platforms are used to generate hydrogen.
- Hydrogen can be exported by pipeline to St. Fergus near Aberdeen, which is a distance of about 200 miles.
- Hydrogen can be exported by pipeline to Rotterdam, which is a distance of about 600 miles.
- Hydrogen can be exported by tanker to Rotterdam and other parts of Europe.
It looks a very comprehensive plan!
The German Problem
Germany has an energy problem.
- It is a large energy user.
- It has the largest production of steel in Europe.
- It prematurely shut some nuclear power stations.
- About a quarter of electricity in Germany comes from coal. In the UK it’s just 1.2 %.
- It is very reliant on Russian natural gas.
- The country also has a strong Green Party.
- Germany needs a lot more energy to replace coal and the remaining nuclear.
- It also needs a lot of hydrogen to decarbonise the steel and other industries.
Over the last few months, I’ve written these articles.
- Sale To Linde Of World’s Largest PEM Electrolyser
- Uniper To Make Wilhelmshaven German Hub For Green Hydrogen; Green Ammonia Import Terminal
- WindH2 Hydrogen Project Commissioned In Germany
- Morocco Could Produce Up To 4% Of World’s Green Hydrogen By 2030
- Get H2 Partners Propose Green Hydrogen Pipeline In Europe
- Alstom Hydrogen Trains Complete Trials
Germany seems to have these main objectives.
- Increase their supply of energy.
- Ensure a plentiful supply of hydrogen.
They appear to be going about them with a degree of enthusiasm.
BP’s Ambition To Be Net Zero By 2050
This press release from BP is entitled BP Sets Ambition For Net Zero By 2050, Fundamentally Changing Organisation To Deliver.
This is the introductory paragraph.
BP today set a new ambition to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner, and to help the world get to net zero. The ambition is supported by ten aims
The ten aims are divided into two groups.
Five Aims To Get BP To Net Zero
These are.
- Net zero across BP’s operations on an absolute basis by 2050 or sooner.
- Net zero on carbon in BP’s oil and gas production on an absolute basis by 2050 or sooner.
- 50% cut in the carbon intensity of products BP sells by 2050 or sooner.
- Install methane measurement at all BP’s major oil and gas processing sites by 2023 and reduce methane intensity of operations by 50%.
- Increase the proportion of investment into non-oil and gas businesses over time.
I would assume that by gas, they mean natural gas.
Five Aims To Help The World Get To Net Zero
These are.
- More active advocacy for policies that support net zero, including carbon pricing.
- Further incentivise BP’s workforce to deliver aims and mobilise them to advocate for net zero.
- Set new expectations for relationships with trade associations.
- Aim to be recognised as a leader for transparency of reporting, including supporting the recommendations of the TCFD.
- Launch a new team to help countries, cities and large companies decarbonise.
This all does sound like a very sensible policy.
BP’s Partnership With EnBW
BP seemed to have formed a partnership with EnBW to develop offshore wind farms in the UK
Their first investment is described in this press release from BP, which is entitled BP Advances Offshore Wind Growth Strategy; Enters World-Class UK Sector With 3GW Of Advantaged Leases In Irish Sea.
This is the first five paragraphs.
bp and partner EnBW selected as preferred bidder for two highly-advantaged 60-year leases in UK’s first offshore wind leasing round in a decade.
Advantaged leases due to distance from shore, lower grid cost, synergies from scale, and faster cycle time.
Projects expected to meet bp’s 8-10% returns aim, delivering attractive and stable returns and integrating with trading, mobility, and other opportunities.
Annual payments expected for four years before final investment decisions and assets planned to be operational in seven years.
In the past six months bp has entered offshore wind in the UK – the world’s largest market – and the US – the world’s fastest-growing market.
Note.
- EnBW are Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG, who, according to Wikipedia, are the third largest utilities company in Germany.
- It also appears, that EnBW have developed wind farms.
BP have issued this infographic with the press release.
Note.
- The lease areas don’t appear to be far from the Morecambe Bay gas field.
- The Morecambe Bay gas field is coming to the end of its life.
- The Morecambe Bay gas field is connected to the Rampside gas terminal at Barrow-in-Furness.
- At peak production 15 % of the UK’s natural gas came from Morecambe Bay.
I just wonder, if there is a cunning plan.
Could the platforms be repurposed to act as electrical hubs for the wind turbines?
- 3GW of electricity would produce 55 tonnes of hydrogen per day.
- The hydrogen would be exported to the Rampside gas terminal using the existing pipelines.
- There may be savings to be made, as HVDC links are expensive.
- BP either has the engineering to convert the platforms or they know someone who does.
- Would the industrial complex at Barrow-in-Furnace and the nearby Sellafield complex have a use for all that hydrogen?
- Or would the hydrogen be used to fuel Lancashire’s buses and trucks on the M6.
It certainly looks to me, that it could be a possibility, to bring the energy ashore as hydrogen.
BP Seeking Second Wind Off Scotland
The title of this section, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
These are the first two paragraphs.
BP is preparing to bid for the rights to build wind farms off Scotland as it signals no let-up in expansion after a £900 million splurge on leases in the Irish Sea.
The London-based oil giant caused waves in February by offering record prices to enter the UK offshore wind market through a Crown Estate auction of seabed leases off England and Wales.
As I said earlier.
- The Shetland Islands are developing themselves as a giant hydrogen factory.
- There are pipelines connecting platforms to the Sullom Voe Terminal.
- There are plans to convert some of the redundant platforms into hydrogen production platforms.
- The islands will be developing ways to export the hydrogen to the South and Europe.
BP also operates the Schiehallion oil and gas field to the West of the Shetlands, which is connected to the Sullom Voe Terminal by the West of Shetland pipeline.
Could BP and EnBW be coming to the party?
They certainly won’t be arriving empty-handed.
Does BP Have Access To Storage Technology?
I ask this question because both the Morecambe Bay and Shetland leases could be built with co-located depleted gas fields and offshore electrolysers.
So could hydrogen gas be stored in the gas fields?
I think it could be a possibility and would mean that hydrogen would always be available.
Could Iceland Be Connected To Schiehallion Via A Gas Pipeline?
I estimate that Iceland and Schiehallion would be about six hundred miles.
This wouldn’t be the longest undersea gas pipeline in the world as these two are longer.
- Langeled – 725 miles
- Nord Stream – 759 miles
The Langeled pipeline cost £1.7 billion.
Conclusion
I think there’s more to the link-up between BP and EnBW.
I am fairly certain, that BP are thinking about converting some redundant gas platforms into hubs for wind turbines, which use the electricity to create hydrogen, which is then exported to the shore using existing gas pipelines and onshore terminals.
Could it be said, that BP will be recycling oil and gas platforms?
I feel that the answer is yes! Or at least maybe!
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind!
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.
Orsted In Gigawatt-Scale Offshore Wind To Green Hydrogen Plan With Steel Giant ArcelorMittal
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Recharge.
The title says a lot and at the heart of the plan is a 1 GW electrolyser.
Now that is enormous.
Will it be made in Rotherham by ITM Power?
The article is a must read.
The Anonymous Widower 