Siemens Gamesa, Ørsted Link Up With UK Universities To Boost Wind Turbine Efficiency
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
A major collaboration between universities and energy companies has made “vital” improvements to offshore wind turbines, which could help them generate more renewable energy and reduce the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels.
This paragraph outlines the research.
The GBP 7.7 million partnership between the Universities of Sheffield, Durham, Hull, and two global energy companies, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Ørsted, could help offshore wind turbines run for longer periods of time – boosting the amount of energy each wind farm generates.
We may not manufacture a large proportion of wind turbines, but companies do turn to UK universities, when they need important research to be done.
Ørsted Joins Global Offshore Wind Alliance
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Ørsted has become the first energy company to join the Global Offshore Wind Alliance (GOWA) to support a faster deployment of offshore wind and create a global community of action.
These two paragraphs outline GOWA.
GOWA is a new global organisation that brings together governments, the private sector, international organisations, and other stakeholders to accelerate the deployment of offshore wind power.
The alliance was launched last year at COP27 by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), and the Danish government.
For more information look at the GOWA web-site.
Kittiwake Compensation
The title of this post, is the same as that of this page of Ørsted’s Hornsea Three web site.
The first section of the page gives the background.
Hornsea 3 Offshore Wind Farm received planning permission in December 2020. As part of our Development Consent Order, a requirement was included for ecological compensation measures for a vulnerable seabird species whose populations could be affected by wind farms – the Black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla).
Our compensation plan focusses on providing artificial nesting structures for kittiwake along the east coast of England. This project is the first of its kind and we are working on new and innovative designs for the artificial nesting structures. Each structure will be purpose-built, bespoke and specific to the landscape characteristics of each location. The structures also present an educational opportunity, allowing researchers to better understand kittiwake.
Developing effective environmental compensation measures is essential to ensure the UK Government’s targets for offshore wind can be realised, to deliver a net zero-carbon future.
So kittiwakes are not being paid compensation, as I don’t suspect many have bank accounts.
But they are being built a few new nesting structures.
Wikipedia has an entry on kittiwakes.
It notes that all European kittiwakes are of the black-legged variety and this is a picture, I took of some on the Baltic in Newcastle.
I’ve seen several pictures of kittiwakes lined up like these.
The document goes on to describe the work being done for the kittiwakes and this is said about work in East Suffolk.
Lowestoft and Sizewell are the only locations between Kent and Humberside with thriving kittiwake colonies. Kittiwake normally nest on steep cliffs with narrow ledges. East Anglia doesn’t have these natural nesting spaces, so kittiwake have reverted to colonising urban areas, for example on windowsills and ledges of buildings. Kittiwake breeding for the first time are most likely to find artificial structures that are situated close to these urban areas. They are less likely to find structures in places where there are not already kittiwake. Lowestoft and Sizewell are therefore two of the few places in East Anglia where artificial structures could be colonised quickly. These purpose-built nesting sites would improve breeding conditions for kittiwake, whilst successfully achieving our compensation requirements to unlock the world’s biggest offshore wind farm.
I took this picture of kittiwakes at Sizewell.
It doesn’t seem too unlike the structure on the Hornsea 3 web site.
ERM To Lead EIA For Salamander Floating Project Offshore Scotland
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
A joint venture (JV) between Simply Blue Group, Ørsted, and Subsea7 has selected ERM Group company MarineSpace to lead the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for its Salamander floating offshore wind project in Scotland.
Note.
- The Salamander floating offshore wind farm is going to be a 100 MW wind farm 35 km. North of Peterhead.
- It is likely to be a pathfinder, in the development of new facilities to build wind farm structures and components in the North of Scotland.
- I talked about the floaters in Ocergy Floaters Selected For 100 MW Project Off Scotland.
- I suspect that it could be an INTOG project.
Salamander seems to be progressing at a decent pace.
Ocergy Floaters Selected For 100 MW Project Off Scotland
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Splash247.com.
These two paragraphs outline Ocergy’s OCG-Wind foundation technology.
The Salamander floating offshore wind project, a joint venture between Simply Blue Group, Ørsted and Subsea 7, has awarded the pre-FEED (front-end engineering design) deal to Ocergy for its OCG-Wind foundation technology.
The US-based Ocergy has developed a novel semisub floater called OCG-Wind, to support turbines larger than 10 MW, designed for the development of large-scale wind farms. It is targeting a levelised cost of energy (LCOE) that can start to drive reductions in floating offshore wind farms to eventually be competitive with fixed offshore wind farms.
Note.
- There is a picture showing two turbines on OCG-Wind floats.
- Salamander is intended to be an INTOG project of 100 MW.
- The floaters are expected to be fabricated at Global Energy Group’s Port of Nigg.
- ERM’s Dolphyn electrolysis, desalination and hydrogen production concept is also planned for the project.
The Salamander project is certainly going for a lot of innovation.
The Salamander Project
The Salamander project may be a strange name for a proposed Scottish offshore wind farm, but that is what it is.
It is being developed by Ørsted and the Simply Blue Group.
There is a web site, which has this bold mission statement.
Helping To Unlock Scotland’s Floating Offshore Wind.
These paragraphs outline the project.
The Salamander project will utilise innovative and cutting-edge floating offshore wind technologies to produce zero-carbon electricity. The development aims to be a stepping stone to help Scotland and the UK to progress towards a net-zero future.
With a proposed 100 MW pre-commercial size project, the Salamander project which is located off Peterhead in the East coast of Scotland, is in an advanced planning stage. Salamander has a strong focus on supply chain development and will provide an opportunity for the local supply chain to gear up for commercial scale opportunities in Scotland, as well as de-risking floating wind technologies for the future commercial projects in Scotland and beyond. This will allow Scotland to maximise the financial benefit of its strong offshore wind resource and generate long term jobs for its local communities.
The project will contribute to the Scottish government’s target of 11 GW of installed offshore wind by 2030, as well as the UK government’s target of 5 GW of operational floating offshore wind by the same date.
There is also a video, which is very much a must-watch.
Floating offshore wind is a relatively new technology and will become the major generator of the world’s electricity within the next decade.
Note this phrase in the first paragraph.
The development aims to be a stepping stone to help Scotland and the UK to progress towards a net-zero future.
This philosophy is shared with other projects.
In DP Energy And Offshore Wind Farms In Ireland, I said this.
They are also developing the Gwynt Glas offshore wind farm in the UK sector of the Celtic Sea.
- In January 2022, EDF Renewables and DP Energy announced a Joint Venture partnership to combine their knowledge and
expertise, in order to participate in the leasing round to secure seabed rights to develop up to 1GW of FLOW in the Celtic Sea. - The wind farm is located between Pembroke and Cornwall.
The addition of Gwynt Glas will increase the total of floating offshore wind in the UK section of the Celtic Sea.
- Blue Gem Wind – Erebus – 100 MW Demonstration project – 27 miles offshore
- Blue Gem Wind – Valorus – 300 MW Early-Commercial project – 31 miles offshore
- Falck Renewables and BlueFloat Energy – Petroc – 300 MW project – 37 miles offshore
- Falck Renewables and BlueFloat Energy – Llywelyn – 300 MW project – 40 miles offshore
- Llŷr Wind – 100 MW Project – 25 miles offshore
- Llŷr Wind – 100 MW Project – 25 miles offshore
- Gwynt Glas – 1000 MW Project – 50 miles offshore
This makes a total of 2.2 GW, with investors from several countries.
It does seem that the Celtic Sea is becoming the next area of offshore wind around the British Isles to be developed.
These Celtic Sea wind farms include Erebus, which like Salamander is a 100 MW demonstration project.
Salamander And Erebus Compared
Consider.
- Both are 100 MW floating wind demonstration projects.
- Salamander and Erebus are 27 and 21 miles offshore respectively.
- Salamander and Erebus are close to the deepwater ports of Peterhead and Milford Haven.
- Both are described as stepping-stone projects.
- Both projects talk about developing supply chains.
- The developers of Salamander and Erebus include Ørsted and EDF Renewables respectively, who are both big beasts of the offshore wind industry.
Both wind farms are in areas, where the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments want to develop massive offshore wind farms, that will eventually total over 50 GW. I believe that Salamander and Erebus will indicate any problems, that will be likely to occur in the building of these massive offshore floating wind farms.
It is a very sensible plan and could lead to an energy rich future for the UK.
How Long Will It Take To Assemble A Floating Wind Turbine?
Each floating wind turbine requires these major components.
- A wind turbine, which in the Kincardine Wind Farm have a capacity of 9.5 MW, is obviously needed. Some proposed floating offshore wind farm are talking of turbines between 14 and 16 MW. These turbines will be very similar to onshore turbines.
- A float, usually made out of steel or possibly concrete. Various designs have been built or proposed. The Wikipedia entry for floating wind turbine gives several examples.
- The anchoring system to keep the float with its turbine in the desired position.
- The electrical system to connect the wind turbine to the offshore substation, which could also be floating.
Note that the designs for the float, anchoring and electrical systems will rely heavily on technology proven in the offshore oil and gas industry.
Principle Power are the designer of the WindFloat, which is one of the first floats to be used in floating offshore wind.
Their home page has a continuous full-screen video, that shows a WindFloat being assembled and towed out.
The video shows.
- The completed float being floated alongside a dock, which obviously has an appropriate water depth.
- The dock has a large crane.
- The turbine tower and then the blades being lifted into position and securely fixed.
- Finally, a tug tows the completed turbine/float assembly to its position in the wind farm.
This would appear to be an assembly operation, that could flow just like the production in any world-class vehicle factory.
- There would need to be just-in-time delivery of all components.
- The weather would need to be cooperative.
- Lighting might be needed to work in poorer light levels.
- This method of assembly would be turbine and float agnostic.
- Multiple shift working could be employed.
My project management involvement tells me, that it would not be unreasonable to assemble, at least one complete turbine and its float and accessories in a working day.
I can do a small calculation.
The average size of turbine is 15 MW.
One turbine is assembled per day.
There are 300 working days possible in a year with multiple shift working, ignoring Bank Holidays and bad weather.
Just one site could produce 4.5 GW of floating wind turbines per year.
How Many Production Sites Could There Be?
These are surely the best possibilities.
- Barrow
- Belfast
- Clyde
- Devon/Cornwall
- Forth Estuary
- Great Yarmouth
- Haven Ports
- Holyhead
- Humber
- Liverpool
- Milford Haven
- Peterhead
- Southampton Water
- South Wales
- Teesside
- Thames Estuary
I have named sixteen areas, that could be suitable for the assembly of floating wind turbines.
So let’s assume that eight will be developed. That could mean as much as 36 GW of capacity per year.
The Energy Density Of Floating Wind Farms
In ScotWind Offshore Wind Leasing Delivers Major Boost To Scotland’s Net Zero Aspirations, I summarised the latest round of Scotwind offshore wind leases.
- Six new fixed foundation wind farms will give a capacity of 9.7 GW in 3042 km² or about 3.2 MW per km².
- Ten new floating wind farms will give a capacity of 14.6 GW in 4193 km² or about 3.5 MW per km².
Returning to the earlier calculation, which says we could have the ability to create 36 GW of wind turbines per year, with 15 MW turbines, this means with a generating density of 3.5 MW per km², the 36 GW would take up around a hundred kilometre square of sea.
Conclusion
We will become Europe’s powerhouse.
The First Of The Cavalry Arrive To Rescue Kwasi Kwarteng
Most commentators think Kwasi Kwarteng is in trouble, but I feel that he has the strength of the mathematics around him.
This press release from BP was released on Wednesday and is entitled UK Offshore Wind: Laying The Groundwork Today.
These two paragraphs outline the work BP are doing to develop wind power in the Irish Sea.
Plans are critical, but it’s putting them into action that counts. As part of our strategy to get wind turbines turning, specialist vessels and crew are out on the Irish Sea undertaking massive seabed survey work. It’s an early but important step on the road to building some of the UK’s biggest offshore wind farms.
Once up and running, our Morgan and Mona projects could deliver enough capacity to power 3.4 million homes with clean electricity and help the UK to meet its climate goals. Their near-shore location – around 30 kilometres off the coast of northwest England and north Wales – will allow for lower-cost, more reliable transmission infrastructure, making them a core part of our plans for more secure and lower carbon energy for the UK.
This EnBW-BP infographic describes the project.
Note.
- BP’s partner is EnBW, who are a publicly-traded German energy company.
- There is a project web site.
- The press release and the graphic are showing the same numbers.
- Morgan and Mona will use proven fixed-foundation wind turbine technology.
- The combined site is around 800 km² or a square of under thirty kilometers, so it is only quite small in the context of the Irish Sea.
- First operation is given on the web site as 2028.
As BP and enBW have massive financial, engineering and project management resources, I believe they will look to bring the 2028 operation date as far forward as is possible.
If you do the cash flow for a project like this, especially when you have the financial and engineering resources of BP and enBW, the mathematics show that if you can accelerate the installation of the turbines, you will start to have a cashflow earlier and this will finance the debt needed to install the wind farms.
Consider.
- I believe the 2028 date, is one that BP know they can keep, to satisfy the Stock Market and investors.
- BP have large cash flows from their profitable oil and gas businesses.
- BP have probably reserved places in the manufacturing queues for wind turbines, foundations and all the electrical gubbins to connect the turbines to shore.
- BP want to prove to themselves and sceptics, that they can handle the building of wind farms.
- The are already lots of wind farms along the North Wales Coast, so I suspect that the problems of building wind farms in the Irish Sea are well known.
I will not speculate on the date that Mona and Morgan are complete, but I very much doubt it will be in 2028.
These are some more thoughts from the BP press release.
What’s Happening And Why?
The purpose of these deep geotechnical investigations, carried out by specialist Geo-data company Fugro, up to 100 metres below the seabed is to determine soil characteristics for foundation design (find out how it’s done in the short film, above). Collecting this data will enable bp and EnBW to build efficient offshore wind farms with the least environmental impact. It is crucial for securing government consents for the projects and defining the structure and location of the individual turbines.
Even thirty kilometres off shore, there needs to be detailed planning permission.
Our Other Offshore Wind Projects
We aim to become a leader in offshore wind and, over the past three years, we’ve built up a pipeline of projects with partners in both the US and UK that have the potential to power more than 5 million homes.
And earlier this year, we agreed to form a partnership with Marubeni to explore an offshore wind development in Japan.
It’s all part of our aim to have 20GW of developed renewable generating capacity by 2025 and 50GW by 2030 – that’s broadly enough to power the needs of 36 million people.
Note.
- Their ambitions are high, but then so much of the experience of offshore oil and gas can be applied to offshore wind.
- BP has the cashflow from oil and gas to reinvent itself.
- Assuming a strike price of £40/MWh and an average capacity factor of 30 %, that is an income of around five billion pounds for starters.
- If they added energy storage to the wind farms, there’s even more money to be generated.
As Equinor, Ørsted and SSE have shown, you have to be big in this business and BP aim to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest.
Conclusion
Wind farms like Mona and Morgan, and there are several under development, will create the electricity and revenue, that will come to the rescue of the Chancellor.
As I update this after a busy day, it looks like Jeremy Hunt has inherited KK’s excellent groundwork and mathematics.
Ørsted Signs Two ‘Industry First’ Monopile Contracts For Hornsea 3 Foundations
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Ørsted.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Ørsted, the world’s most sustainable energy company, has signed two ‘industry first’ contracts for the fabrication of XXL monopile foundations for the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm.
I have a few thoughts about the press release.
XXL Monopile Foundations
These four paragraphs describe Hornsea 3’s XXL monopile foundations.
Subject to Ørsted taking a Final Investment Decision on Hornsea 3, the contracts have been finalised with Haizea Wind Group, through its subsidiary Haizea Bilbao, and SeAH Wind Limited, a UK-based subsidiary of SeAH Steel Holdings (SeAH).
Ørsted will be the first major customer at SeAH Wind’s new monopile facility in Teesside, and the agreement with Haizea marks the company’s first XXL monopile contract with Ørsted.
The deal with SeAH represents the single largest offshore wind foundations contract secured by any UK company. Haizea’s agreement is the largest single contract ever secured by Haizea Wind Group.
Each of the huge foundation structures for Hornsea 3 will weigh between 1,300 and 2,400 tonnes and measure in at between 83 and 111 metres in length. Monopile production is expected to start in 2024.
Note
- These are huge steel structures.
- But then the water depth appears to be between 36 and 73 metres.
- It looks like the orders are shared between Spanish and Korean companies
This article on offshoreWIND.biz, is entitled Beyond XXL – Slim Monopiles For Deep-Water Wind Farms.
These are some points from the article.
- XXL-Monopiles have been successfully used for water depths of up to 40 metres. Now wind farm developers need monopiles “beyond XXL”.
- The extension of the range is needed, mainly to enable the use of larger turbines, deeper water, and harsher environmental situations.
- These monopiles will allow turbines of up to 15 megawatts with rotor diameters of up to 230 metres.
- This monopile design automatically induces the idea of design and fabrication optimisation to ensure that monopiles continue to lead the ranking of most economical foundation systems.
In the 1970s, I was involved with a Cambridge University spin-out company called Balaena Structures, who were using similar much larger structures to support oil and gas production platforms.
I was just doing calculations, but I do wonder if these XXL monopile foundations, owe things in their design to work done by structural engineers, like those I met at Cambridge fifty years ago.
Ørsted Completes 50% Stake Sale In Hornsea 2 To French Team
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Renewables Now.
This sale was outlined in this press release from Ørsted in March, where this is the first paragraph.
Ørsted has signed an agreement to divest a 50 % ownership stake in its 1.3 GW Hornsea 2 Offshore Wind Farm in the UK to a consortium comprising AXA IM Alts, acting on behalf of clients, and Crédit Agricole Assurances.
Insurance companies must like wind power, as Aviva backed Hornsea 1 wind farm. I wrote about this in World’s Largest Wind Farm Attracts Huge Backing From Insurance Giant.
It looks like the French feel the same way as Aviva about Ørsted’s Hornsea wind farms.
There is no safer mattress in which to stash your cash.
Energy Dome To Partner With Ørsted For Energy Storage
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on CleanTechnica.
This paragraph from the long article, gives details of the partnership.
I got a press release from Energy Dome this past week telling me that its technology has attracted interest from Ørsted, the Danish company that is a global leader in wind turbine technology. The two companies have signed a memorandum of understand that will allow them to explore the feasibility of deploying of a 20 MW/200 MWh Energy Dome facility at one or more Ørsted sites.
Is this the first deal between a major wind farm developer and a third-party non-lithium battery developer?
The article on CleanTechnica is very much a must-read and it goes into detail about the technology behind Energy Dome’s unique CO2 battery.
These are my thoughts.
Energy Dome Has A UK Office
Is this significant?
- The UK has a large need for energy storage than any other country in Europe, as we have lots of renewable energy generation, that could benefit.
- Most Italians speak good English.
- The UK government is prepared to develop innovative payment schemes for renewable energy.
- Their is a long history of Italians in the United Kingdom.
- Italians are distributed all over the UK.
- Some of the best Italian chefs are resident in the UK.
- The UK market is not biased against foreign customers.
I wouldn’t be surprised, if Energy Dome targeted the UK market.
Ørsted
Some facts about Ørsted.
- Ørsted are the largest energy company in Denmark.
- As of January 2022, the company is the world’s largest developer of offshore wind power by amount of built offshore wind farms.
- Ørsted own or have shares in fifteen offshore wind farms in the UK, which have a total capacity of 8731 MW.
- Ørsted have no interests in onshore wind in the UK.
- Ørsted divested itself of its last onshore wind farm in 2014.
The fact that Ørsted has partnered with Energy Dome is highly significant, as in my experience large powerful companies don’t partner with smaller start-ups without a lot of technical due diligence.
Use Of A 20 MW/200 MWh Energy Dome
I suspect that Ørsted will deploy their first 20 MW/200 MWh Energy Dome facility with onshore wind.
When you compare the 20 MW/200 MWh Energy Dome with the 1.5 GW/30 GWh Coire Glas pumped storage hydroelectric power station, it is only a fairly small storage system, in both terms of output and storage.
As an Electrical and Control Engineer, I suspect that will mainly be used with smaller offshore wind farms to smooth the output, rather than as serious stand-by power for a large GW-sized wind farm.
In the UK, Ørsted has three smaller wind farms, that could be suitable.
- Barrow – 90 MW
- Burbo Bank – 90 MW
- Gunfleet Sands 3 – 12W
Note.
- All are a few miles offshore.
- Gunfleet Sands 3 was built to test two l6 MW turbines.
- All the three wind farms are over twelve years old.
I think it is unlikely, that any of these three wind farms will be fitted with the Energy Dome.
I do believe though, that a 20 MW/200 MWh Energy Dome facility could work well with the Barrow wind farm, as it is a simple farm not connected to any others.
The Anonymous Widower 