UK Confirms £205 Million Budget To Power More Of Britain From Britain
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from the Department of Energy Security And NetZero.
This is the sub title.
UK government confirms budget for this year’s Contracts for Difference scheme as it enters its first annual auction, boosting energy security.
These are the three bullet points.
- Government announces significant financial backing for first annual flagship renewables auction, boosting Britain’s energy security
- £170 million pledged for established technologies to ensure Britain remains a front runner in renewables and £10 million ring-fenced budget for tidal
- Scheme will bolster investment into the sector every year, delivering clean, homegrown energy as well as green growth and jobs
These are my thoughts.
First And Annual
The scheme is flagged as both first and annual!
Does this mean, that each Budget will bring forward a pot of money for renewables every year?
My father, who being a letterpress printer and a Cockney poet would say it did and I’ll follow his lead.
Two Pots
In Contracts for Difference Round 4, there were three pots.
- Pot 1 – Onshore Wind and Solar
- Pot 2 – Floating Offshore Wind, Remote Island Wind and Tidal Stream
- Pot 3 – Fixed Foundation Offshore Wind
This document on the government web site lists all the results.
For Contracts for Difference Round 5, there will be two pots, which is described in this paragraph of the press release.
Arranged across 2 ‘pots’, this year’s fifth Allocation Round (AR5) includes an allocation of £170 million to Pot 1 for established technologies, which for the first time includes offshore wind and remote island wind – and confirms an allocation of £35 million for Pot 2 which covers emerging technologies such as geothermal and floating offshore wind, as well as a £10 million ring-fenced budget available for tidal stream technologies.
It could be described as a two-pot structure with a smaller ring-fenced pot for tidal stream technologies.
Contract for Difference
There is a Wikipedia entry for Contract for Difference and I’m putting in an extract, which describes how they work with renewable electricity generation.
To support new low carbon electricity generation in the United Kingdom, both nuclear and renewable, contracts for difference were introduced by the Energy Act 2013, progressively replacing the previous Renewables Obligation scheme. A House of Commons Library report explained the scheme as:
Contracts for Difference (CfD) are a system of reverse auctions intended to give investors the confidence and certainty they need to invest in low carbon electricity generation. CfDs have also been agreed on a bilateral basis, such as the agreement struck for the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant.
CfDs work by fixing the prices received by low carbon generation, reducing the risks they face, and ensuring that eligible technology receives a price for generated power that supports investment. CfDs also reduce costs by fixing the price consumers pay for low carbon electricity. This requires generators to pay money back when wholesale electricity prices are higher than the strike price, and provides financial support when the wholesale electricity prices are lower.
The costs of the CfD scheme are funded by a statutory levy on all UK-based licensed electricity suppliers (known as the ‘Supplier Obligation’), which is passed on to consumers.
In some countries, such as Turkey, the price may be fixed by the government rather than an auction.
Note.
- I would trust the House of Commons Library to write up CfDs properly.
- As a Control Engineer, I find a CfD an interesting idea.
- If a generator has more electricity than expected, they will make more money than they expected. So this should drop the wholesale price, so they would get less. Get the parameters right and the generator and the electricity distributor would probably end up in a stable equilibrium. This should be fairly close to the strike price.
I would expect in Turkey with Erdogan as President, there are also other factors involved.
Renewable Generation With Energy Storage
I do wonder, if wind, solar or tidal energy, is paired with energy storage, this would allow optimisation of the system around the Contract for Difference.
If it did, it would probably mean that the generator settled into a state of equilibrium, where it supplied a constant amount of electricity.
Remote Island Wind
Remote Island Wind was introduced in Round 4 and I wrote about it in The Concept Of Remote Island Wind.
This was my conclusion in that post.
I must admit that I like the concept. Especially, when like some of the schemes, when it is linked to community involvement and improvement.
Only time will tell, if the concept of Remote Island Wind works well.
There are possibilities, although England and Wales compared to Scotland and Ireland, would appear to be short of islands.
This map shows the islands of the Thames Estuary.
Note.
- In Kent, there is the Isle of Sheppey and the Isle of Grain.
- Between the two islands is a large gas terminal , a gas-fired power station and an electricity sub-station connecting to Germany.
- In Essex, there is Canvey, Foulness and Potton Islands.
- There is also the site at Bradwell, where there used to be a nuclear power station.
If we assume that each island could support 200 MW, there could be a GW of onshore wind for London and perhaps a couple of SMRs to add another GW.
This map shows the islands around Portsmouth.
Note.
- Hayling Island is to the East of Portsmouth.
- Further East is Thorney Island with an airfield.
The Isle of Wight could be the sort of island, that wouldn’t welcome wind farms, although they do make the blades for turbines. Perhaps they should have a wind farm to make the blades even more green.
But going round England and Wales there doesn’t seem to be many suitable places for Remote Island Wind.
I do think though, that Scotland could make up the difference.
Geothermal Energy
This is directly mentioned as going into the emerging technologies pot, which is numbered 2.
I think we could see a surprise here, as how many commentators predicted that geothermal heat from the London Underground could be used to heat buildings in Islington, as I wrote about in ‘World-First’ As Bunhill 2 Launches Using Tube Heat To Warm 1,350 Homes.
Perhaps, Charlotte Adams and her team at Durham University, will capitalise on some of their work with a abandoned coal mine, that I wrote about in Exciting Renewable Energy Project for Spennymoor.
Timescale
This paragraph gives the timescale.
The publication of these notices mean that AR5 is set to open to applications on 30 March with results to be announced in late summer/early autumn 2023, with the goal of building upon the already paramount success of the scheme.
It does look like the Government intends this round to progress at a fast pace.
Conclusion
If this is going to be an annual auction, this could turn out to be a big spur to the development of renewable energy.
Supposing you have a really off-beat idea to generate electricity and the idea place in the world is off the coast of Anglesey.
You will certainly be able to make a bid and know like Eurovision, one auction will come along each year.
Through The Blackwall Tunnel In A 108 Bus
Around lunchtime today, I took a 108 bus from North Greenwich station on the Jubilee Line to Bow Church station on the DLR. It’s rather a roundabout way to get home from Bow Church station, so I walked to Bow Road station to get a train to Moorgate for a bus home.
I took these pictures of the journey.
Note.
- The first picture shows the Radisson Red hotel on Tunnel Avenue.
- The Northbound bus travelled through the old tunnel, which was built in 1897.
- It looks in good condition for its age in my pictures.
- Even at lunchtime on Christmas Eve, there are queues of traffic waiting to go through the tunnel from both directions.
- The dog in the last picture is better and less-threatening street art, than you get in some parts of the UK
Taking good pictures from inside a dirty single-deck bus is not the easiest task.
This paragraph from the Wikipedia entry for the Blackwall Tunnel, gives a snapshot of the tunnel’s development.
The tunnel was originally opened as a single bore in 1897 by the Prince of Wales, as a major transport project to improve commerce and trade in London’s East End, and supported a mix of foot, cycle, horse-drawn and vehicular traffic. By the 1930s, capacity was becoming inadequate, and consequently a second bore opened in 1967, handling southbound traffic while the earlier 19th century tunnel handles northbound.
Note.
- Both tunnels are not open to pedestrians, cyclists or non-motorised traffic.
- There is a four metre height limit on the Northbound tunnel, which also has sharp bends.
- The Southbound tunnel is straight and has a height limit of 4.72 metres.
- London’s iconic Routemaster and New Routemaster buses are 4.38 and 4.39 metres high respectively.
- The tunnel will be tolled, when the Silvertown Tunnel opens in a few years time.
- It looks like both Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels will have the same charge as the Dartford Crossing, which is currently two pounds if you pre-pay for a car.
The pictures and words give clues to why the Mayor has decided to build the Silvertown Tunnel.
It is very rare to get through the tunnel without being delayed in a queue of traffic.
Double deck buses can’t go through the Northbound Tunnel.
As a non-driver, who doesn’t need to use the Blackwall Tunnel, I don’t listen to traffic reports, but perhaps once a week whilst waiting for the news on Radio 5, I hear of problems at the tunnel. Sometimes, these are caused by over-height or over-long vehicles, which have got stuck in the Northbound tunnel.
Incidentally, my earliest memory of the tunnel is probably from about 1953, when my family was stuck in the tunnel for several hours in my father’s Y-type MG.
, My father’s car had the registration BNH 368.
I doubt I’ve driven through the tunnel this century, as I have rarely driven to South and South-East London since the 1970s, as I’ve generally taken the train across London. I can remember one trip in about 2008 though, when I took the Woolwich Ferry for the Southbound crossing.
As I was living near the top of the M11 in Suffolk, I may have gone home via the Blackwall Tunnel.
Quiet Battery-Powered River Ferries To Serve Battersea Power Station Pier
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Nine Elms.
These two paragraphs give the story and explain the operation of the new boats.
Passengers using Battersea Power Station pier will soon be boarding the UK’s first hybrid high speed passenger ferries using battery power.
Uber Boat by Thames Clippers are building two new vessels which will operate solely on battery power when travelling between Tower and Battersea Power Station piers – and recharge while using biofuelled power when sailing further east and west outside their central London route.
They will join the fleet in the Autumn.
There is also this environmental statement from Thames Clipper.
Uber Boat by Thames Clippers is committed to achieving net zero with all new builds by 2025 and for its wider fleet, infrastructure and environmental footprint by 2040.
That sounds very good to me.
Conclusion
I suspect that this policy will lead to increasing use on London’s river transport system.
I’d also like to see Thames Clipper better integrated with the Overground, Underground and the buses. Some of the walking routes could be improved and have better signage.
I also think, that the Thames Clipper would benefit, if the Freedom Pass could be linked to a credit card, so that Freedom Pass holders would only need to use one card to use all of London’s transport systems.
From Battersea Power Station Station To The River
I took these pictures as I walked from Battersea Power Station station to Battersea Power Station pier to get a Thames Clipper back to London Bridge.
Note.
- There appears to be fake smoke coming out of the chimney in the third picture.
- I think the second entrance to the station will be close to where I walked.
- To my taste there appeared to be a lot of car parking.
The walk took me under ten minutes.
Can We Innovate Our Way Out Of Our Troubles?
One Of London’s biggest problems at the moment is the bridges across the Thames.
This article on the BBC is entitled London’s Bridges ‘Are The Capital’s Embarrassment’ and is typical of many.
Hammersmith Bridge is causing particular trouble and has been closed to all traffic for some time.
But then I saw this innovative solution to the Hammersmith Bridge problem.
Note.
- Hammersmith Bridge is still closed.
- A floating bridge has been added alongside for pedestrians and cyclists.
- The floating bridge uses parts of the old Blackfriars pier.
- There is an innovative floating pontoon, which is activated by the current, that is used in the middle of the river to transfer passengers across.
- New Civil Engineer thinks, the temporary bridge could become a tourist attraction.
The design made me smile.
Walking Between Blackfriars And Hungerford Railway Bridges
These pictures were taken as I walked between Blackfriars and Hungerford railway bridges.
I was walking along the South Bank of the Thames.