Irish ESB Joins Northland Power On Two Scottish Offshore Wind Projects
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
ESB will acquire a 24.5 per cent interest in Northland Power’s ScotWind projects, the fixed-bottom offshore wind farm Spiorad na Mara and the floating wind project Havbredey. Northland will retain 75.5 per cent in each project and continue to lead their development, construction, and operation
This is the first paragraph.
The companies have signed definitive agreements on ESB’s purchase of project stakes, with all commitments made prior to the agreements to remain in place.
Last month, I wrote ESB Invests In Floating Offshore Wind Mooring Tech. so are they in acquisitive mode?
This map from Cross Estate Scotland shows all the ScotWind contracts.
ESB now lrasr the following stakes in ScotWind.
Their details are as follows.
- 14 – Havbredey – Floating – 1500 MW – 25 %
- 16 – Spiorad na Mara – Fixed – 840 MW – 25 %
- 20 – Unnamed – Floating – 500 MW – 100 %
These figures mean they lease about a GW.
I have my thoughts.
Will There Be A Multi-Purpose Interconnector between Ireland And Scotland?
Nothing has been mentioned yet, but could new wind farms om the future to the West of the Hebrides be connected to both the North of Scotland and the North of Ireland by a multi-purpose interconnector?
BP And EnBW Hire Kent For 2.9 GW Scottish Offshore Wind Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Engineering and design service provider Kent has been awarded a contract by EnBW and BP to carry out pre-Front End Engineering Design (FEED) studies for the 2.9 GW Morven offshore wind project in Scotland.
Morven offshore wind farm would appear to be on its way.
According to Wikipedia’s list of UK offshore wind farms, the water depth in the Morven wind farm is between 65-75 metres.
- Total power is given as 2907 MW, which indicates that 14 MW turbines could be used.
- Siemens Gamesa 14 MW turbines have a blade length of 108 metres and their 10 MW have a blade length of 94 metres.
- This would seem to indicate that the wind turbine will be as much as 160 to 185 metres above the sea-bed.
A radical design of fixed foundation will be needed.
In Entrion Wind Wins ScotWind Feasibility Deal For Its 100-Metre Depth Foundation Tech, I look at technology that might work.
I also say this about work I did in Cambridge in the early 1970s.
The structures, I mathematically-modelled were for a company called Balaena Structures, that had been started by two Cambridge University engineering professors. The structures were about a hundred metres high and perhaps thirty metres in diameter.
They would have been built horizontally in the sort of dock, where you would build a supertanker and would have been floated into position horizontally. Water would then be let in to the cylinder and they would turn to the vertical. From that position, they would be lowered to the sea-bed by adjusting the water in the cylinder. They had a method of holding the Balaena to the seabed, which relied mainly on the weight of the structure and what they called the gum-boot principle.
Sadly, they never sold any platforms and the company folded.
Until recently, you could find the expired patents on the Internet.
I believe that a development of the Balaena design could be the solution to deep water fixed foundations.
UK Launches GBP 160 Million Floating Wind Funding Round, Industry Not Satisfied With Investment
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The UK Government has announced that up to GBP 160 million in grant funding will be made available for certain investments for the floating offshore wind sector
These three paragraphs outline the scheme,
The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has established the Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme (FLOWMIS) to distribute GBP 160 million in funding to support critical port infrastructure that could enable the delivery of floating offshore wind.
Through this scheme, the government hopes to enable the delivery of the country’s 5 GW 2030 deployment ambition by securing additional suitable port capacity necessary to scale up and accelerate floating offshore wind deployment in the UK, as well as to increase capability in the UK floating wind supply chain, drive cost reduction, and the commercialisation of floating offshore wind technology.
In addition, the government hopes that this scheme will deliver industrial growth and associated regional economic and social benefits (for example, quality jobs and increased GVA).
Note.
- The scheme is called FLOWMIS.
- It seems to be geared to improve port infrastructure.
- It looks like some of these projects will be needed to support ScotWind and INTOG.
- This page on the Government web site, gives the latest state of FLOWMIS.
FLOWMIS could bring forward some interesting projects.
Thistle Wind Partners Rename 2 GW ScotWind Offshore Wind Projects
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Thistle Wind Partners (TWP), a consortium founded by DEME Concession, Qair, and Aspiravi, has announced the final names for its two ScotWind offshore wind projects
This is the first paragraph.
TWP won the seabed leasing rights for two offshore wind projects in the ScotWind auction last year, in which 25 GW of capacity was awarded.
These paragraphs give details of the new names and an update on the sizes of the turbines.
The consortium plans to build the 1 GW Bowdun offshore wind project, originally named Cluaran Deas Ear, located off the coast of Stonehaven and lying 44 kilometres out from the landmark of Bowdun Head.
The site covers an area of 187 square kilometres (in the E3 leasing zone). The project is planned to feature between 50 and 60 wind turbines with an individual capacity of 18-25 MW each, depending upon the final design choice.
The second wind farm, located 33 kilometres from the East Mainland of Orkney in the NE2 leasing zone, is named the Ayre Offshore Wind Farm, originally called Clearan Ear-Thuath. This will be a 1 GW floating wind project following a similar base case for turbine numbers and capacity as Bowdun.
Note.
- They appear to be using 18-25 MW turbines.
- These are the first wind farms, that have talked about using such large turbines.
- 18 MW turbines would need 55 turbines for a GW.
- 25 MW turbines would need 40 turbines for a GW.
- Ayre wind farm has a web page, which says that it will have 56 x 18 MW turbines.
- Bowden wind farm has a web page, which says that it will have 56 x 18 MW turbines.
- The web site does say that the size and number of turbines is provisional.
Construction of both farms should start in 2029, with commissioning in 2033.
A Worthwhile Tailpiece
The article has a good tailpiece in the last paragraph.
TWP is one of the founders of a new initiative from the University of Highlands & Islands to deliver a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) outreach programme for primary schools in Scotland, providing materials and teacher training.
TWP obviously intend to catch the next generation of technologists young.
Conclusion
Thistle Wind Partners have gone for the bold option.
Entrion Wind Wins ScotWind Feasibility Deal For Its 100-Metre Depth Foundation Tech
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Entrion Wind has been awarded a project to evaluate the feasibility of its patent-pending fully restrained platform (FRP) offshore wind foundation technology by a Scotwind developer.
Having worked on similar structures for reusable oil platforms in the 1970s, I reckon these FRP monopoles can be made to work.
The structures, I mathematically-modelled were for a company called Balaena Structures, that had been started by two Cambridge University engineering professors. The structures were about a hundred metres high and perhaps thirty metres in diameter.
They would have been built horizontally in the sort of dock, where you would build a supertanker and would have been floated into position horizontally. Water would then be let in to the cylinder and they would turn to the vertical. From that position, they would be lowered to the sea-bed by adjusting the water in the cylinder. They had a method of holding the Balaena to the seabed, which relied mainly on the weight of the structure and what they called the gum-boot principle.
Sadly, they never sold any platforms and the company folded.
Until recently, you could find the expired patents on the Internet.
There’s more on Entrion Wind’s technology on this page on their web site.
Floating Offshore Wind Could Reach Full Commercialisation By 2035, Research Says
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Floating offshore wind could reach full commercialisation by 2035, said 60 per cent of respondents in the latest research that was done by DNV, with 25 per cent believing it will be as early as 2030.
I’ll go along with that, but as a serial disruptive innovator, I believe full commercialisation could be earlier than 2027.
It will be for these reasons.
Capacity Factor
There is reason to believe from the figures from existing floating wind turbines, that the capacity factor is very good and could be higher than those of turbines with fixed foundations.
Wikipedia says this about the world’s first commercial floating offshore windfarm; Hywind Scotland.
In its first 5 years of operation it averaged a capacity factor of 54%, sometimes in 10 meter waves.
If other floating technologies show as good capacities as this, then the technology may well find it easier to attract finance.
Design
We have only seen a couple of designs deployed; Hywind and WindFloat.
There will be plenty more to come.
This visualisation shows five D-Floaters being transported on a ship.
Note.
- D-Floaters are being developed by Bassoe Technology.
- As many floats will be manufactured, a long way from their final mooring, why not make them easy to transport.
- Other companies are developing floats that can be bolted or welded together from standard components.
I wouldn’t be surprised if one design came to dominate the market.
This might be a good thing, as it would surely speed up deployment of floating wind farms.
Construction And Installation
This video shows the construction and installation if Principle Power‘s, Windfloat prototype.
Note.
- All the construction and assembly is done in a dock with a suitable crane.
- This is much easier than doing it the assembly out at sea, as has to be done with turbines with fixed foundations.
- I suspect that with the best design of float and turbine, high rates of turbine assembly can be achieved.
- Health and Safety will prefer this type of assembly.
I suspect other floating wind turbines will be similarly assembled.
Suppose you were assembling 15 MW floating turbines at a rate of one per day, that would be a production rate of over 5 GW of turbines per year from just one dock.
Early Delivery Of Power
I suspect that to build a floating wind farm, one of the first things to be towed out would be the substation to which all the turbines will be connected.
- This could even be floating.
- I’ve seen floating sub station designs, that incorporate energy storage and hydrogen production.
Once the substation is fully-installed and tested, floating turbines could be towed out, anchored, connected to the substation and immediately start to produce electricity.
I have built a lot of cash-flow models in my time and I believe that one for say a 2 GW floating wind farm would be very friendly to proposers, investors and operators.
There’s A Lot Of Sea Out There!
And after nearly sixty years of offshore semi-submersible platforms in UK water, we now how to work in the conditions.
In ScotWind Offshore Wind Leasing Delivers Major Boost To Scotland’s Net Zero Aspirations, I said this, about the total capacity, that will be developed under the ScotWind leasing round.
- Adding up these fixed foundation wind farms gives a capacity of 9.7 GW in 3042 km² or about 3.2 MW per km².
- Adding up the floating wind farms gives a capacity of 14.6 GW in 4193 km² or about 3.5 MW per km².
Note.
- You appear to get ten percent more capacity in a given area of sea with floating wind farms.
- The energy density of floating wind farms is 3.5 MW per km².
I suspect investors will prefer the floating wind farms.
Lower Visibility
Floating wind farms will generally be further out to sea and less likely to be objected to, than installations nearer to land.
Maintenance And Updating
Floating wind farms can be towed into port for servicing and updating, which must ease the process.
Project Management
I believe that floating wind farms, are projects, that would benefit highly from good project management.
Sometimes, I wish I was still writing project management software and I am always open to offers to give my opinion and test anybody’s software in that area!
Finance
I can see that floating wind farms could offer better cash flows to investors and this will make them invest in floating wind farms at the expense of those with fixed foundations.
Conclusion
For all these reasons, but with my instinct telling me that floating wind farms could offer a better return to investors, I wouldn’t be surprised if floating wind farms came to dominate the market.
Metocean, Wind Measurement Campaigns Starting At Two More ScotWind Sites
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
100 MW Scottish Floating Wind Project To Deliver Lifetime Expenditure Of GBP 419 Million
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub heading, that gives more details on lifetime expenditure and full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs created.
The 100 MW Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm in Scotland is estimated to deliver lifetime expenditure of GBP 419 million in the UK and to support the creation of up to 1,385 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs.
It does seem these figures have been compiled using the rules that will apply to all ScotWind leases and have used methods laid down by Crown Estate Scotland. So they should be representative!
Does it mean that a 1 GW floating wind farm would have a lifetime expenditure of £4.19 billion and create 13, 850 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs?
This article from Reuters is entitled UK Grid Reforms Critical To Hitting Offshore Wind Targets and contains this paragraph.
The government aims to increase offshore wind capacity from 11 GW in 2021 to 50 GW by 2030, requiring huge investment in onshore and offshore infrastructure in England, Wales and Scotland.
If I assume that of the extra 39 GW, half has fixed foundations and half will float, that means that there will be 19.5 GW of new floating wind.
Will that mean £81.7 billion of lifetime expenditure and 270,075 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs?
Conclusion
It does seem to me, that building floating offshore wind farms is a good way to bring in investment and create full time jobs.
The Caledonia Wind Farm
Another of the ScotWind wind farms, that I described in ScotWind Offshore Wind Leasing Delivers Major Boost To Scotland’s Net Zero Aspirations, has been given a name and a web site.
This map shows the various ScotWind leases.
Note, that the numbers are Scotwind’s lease number in their documents.
9 is now Caledonia.
- It has grown from a 1,000 MW fixed foundation wind farm and is now 2,000 MW.
- A completion date of 2030 is now given.
The wind farm will be the fourth development in the area, after the 598 MW Beatrice, the 950 MW Moray East and the 882 MW Moray West wind farms. That is a total of nearly 4,500 MW.
Caledonia’s Unique Advantages
On the About Caledonia page on the Caledonia Wind Farm web site, there is a section called Caledonia’s Unique Advantages, which has four sections.
Water Depths
Caledonia’s water depths are 40 to 100 m. Three-quarters of the site is at depths that allow for fixed (rather than floating) foundations.
This means the majority of the site can be built using the same type of jacket foundations which Ocean Winds optimised at Moray East, seeing Caledonia implement a proven, low-risk, low-cost engineering solution.
Wind
The wind resource at Caledonia is proven through the experience of previous projects and is of a magnitude more usually associated with deeper waters, further from shore. This means Caledonia will benefit from an excellent wind resource, yielding a higher output at lower costs.
Distance from Shore
Caledonia is around 40km from shore and 70km from the nearest National Grid connection point. Beyond distances of approx 120km, DC technology becomes a necessity for subsea transmission. This means the additional costs associated with installing AC-DC convertors offshore and DC-AC convertors onshore can be avoided and the onshore substation will be smaller so will require less land and have a lesser impact on the surrounding environment.
Environment
The Moray Firth is the home of commercial-scale offshore wind generation in Scotland. Caledonia neighbours the Moray East, Moray West, and Beatrice sites, and Ocean Winds have had a presence here from the beginning of the area’s offshore wind development.
Conclusion
It does appear that if you do your planning well on projects like these, there are benefits to be reaped in terms of size, construction, capacity and financial returns.
How Is The XLinks Project Progressing?
The Wikipedia entry for the XLinks project has this introductory paragraph.
The Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project is a proposal to create 10.5 GW of renewable generation, 20 GWh of battery storage and a 3.6 GW high-voltage direct current interconnector to carry solar and wind-generated electricity from Morocco to the United Kingdom. Morocco has far more consistent weather, and so should provide consistent solar power even in midwinter.
I ask the question in the title of this post, as there are two articles about the XLinks project in The Times today.
This article is optimistic and is entitled Xlinks Morocco Project Could Throw Britain A Renewable Energy Lifeline.
On the other hand this article is more pessimistic and is entitled Britain ‘Risks Losing Out’ On Green Energy From The Sahara.
This is the first paragraph of the second article.
Sir Dave Lewis has complained of “frustratingly slow” talks with the government over an £18 billion plan to generate power in the Sahara and cable it to Britain. The former Tesco chief executive has warned that the energy could be routed elsewhere unless ministers commit to the scheme.
It appears there have been little agreement on the price.
I have some thoughts.
Will XLinks Get Funding?
Xlinks is going to be privately funded, but I have doubts about whether the funding will be made available.
As an engineer, who was involved in many of the major offshore projects of the last forty years of the last century, I believe that the XLinks project is feasible, but it is only 3.6 GW.
These wind farm projects are also likely to be privately funded.
- SSE’s Berwick Bank project opposite Berwick is 4.1 GW
- Aker’s Northern Horizon off Shetland is 10 GW.
- The Scotwind Leasing Round is 25 GW.
- There is talk of 10 GW being possible off East Anglia.
- 50 GW may be being possible in the Celtic Sea.
- BP is planning 3 GW in Morecambe Bay.
Many of these enormous wind power projects are looking for completion on or before 2030, which is the date given for the Morocco cable.
I do wonder, if those financing these energy projects will find these and other projects better value than a link to Morocco.
Is the Project Bold Enough?
Consider.
- Spain has high levels of solar, wind and hydro power.
- France is developing wind to go with their nuclear.
- Both countries and Portugal, also have mountains for sensibly-sized pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations.
- France, Spain, Portugal and Ireland also have the Atlantic for wind, tidal and wave power.
Perhaps, the solution, is an Atlantic interconnector linking the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar to West Africa.
Any excess power would be stored in the pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations and withdrawn as required.
In the UK, the National Grid are already using the huge 7800 GWh Ulla-Førre pumped-storage hydroelectric power station to store excess wind-generated energy using the North Sea Link from Blyth.
To my mind XLinks is just a UK-Morocco project.
BP’s Project In Mauretania
In bp And Mauritania To Explore Green Hydrogen At Scale, I discussed BP’s deal to create green hydrogen in Mauretania.
Is this a better plan, as hydrogen can be taken by tanker to where it is needed And for the best price.
Conclusion
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the XLinks project change direction.
The Anonymous Widower 