Cold Snap Leaves Britain With Less Than A Week’s Worth Of Gas
The title of this post, are the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
The closure of Russian pipelines through Ukraine and recent weather conditions have left gas stores ‘concerningly low’
These are the first two paragraphs.
Britain has less than a week of gas supplies in storage, the country’s largest supplier has warned after plunging temperatures and high demand.
Centrica, the owner of British Gas, said the UK’s gas storage was “concerningly low” after coming under pressure this winter.
The two largest gas storage facilities in this country are both in the Humberside area.
- Aldbrough is in salt caverns North of Hull and is owned by SSE.
- Rough is under the North Sea and is owned by Centrica
Both are being converted to store hydrogen.
Some might thing that is a bit stupid if we’re short of storage, but we need the hydrogen storage for four reasons.
- To store hydrogen created by electrolysers on Humberside, which will enable heavy gas users in the area to decarbonise.
- The hydrogen will also be burnt in a 1 GW hydrogen-fired power station at Keadby to back up the wind turbines, with zero-carbon electricity.
- The hydrogen will also be sold to the Germans to replace Putin’s blood-stained gas. It will be sent to Germany in a pipeline called AquaVentus, which will also deliver Scottish hydrogen across the North Sea. Hopefully, the Germans will pay a good price for the hydrogen.
- The hydrogen will be used for transport.
The mistake the Government is making is not to develop smaller gas fields, so that domestic gas users can continue to use natural gas, until the technology to replace it with zero-carbon sources is fully developed.
Large Scale Hydrogen Storage Sites Could Reduce Customer Energy Costs By £1bn Per Year
The title of this post, is the same as this press release from Centrica.
These four paragraphs summarise the report.
Centrica and FTI report finds that hydrogen storage would help balance the UK’s energy system and reduce bills.
A net zero scenario including large scale hydrogen storage – specifically, a redeveloped Rough gas storage facility – would reduce energy costs by an additional £1bn per year by 2050.
Report also finds that a UK energy system focused on renewable generation risks high levels of intermittency without an established hydrogen market. By 2050, electricity generation from renewables could exceed total demand around 15% of the time.
Electricity generation from renewables could also rise or fall by as much as 100GW over the course of a single day. More than twice current levels of peak demand on winter evenings and the equivalent energy output from over 30 Hinkley Point C nuclear power stations.
Note.
- Hydrogen Central entitles their article about the Centrica press release Centrica Says Hydrogen Can Reduce Household Bills by £35 a Year. That’s almost a bottle of my favourite Adnams beer a week!
- I talked about the redevelopment of the Rough facility into hydrogen storage in Aberdeen’s Exceed Secures Centrica Rough Contract.
- Generating hydrogen from excess electricity and storing it until it is needed, must be an efficient way of storing electricity or powering industrial processes that need a lot of energy, if storing hydrogen makes £1bn per year!
- It should be noted that Centrica have a large interest in HiiROC, who are developing an efficient way to generate hydrogen from any hydrocarbon gas from chemical plant off-gas through biomethane to natural gas. In a perfect world a HiiROC system in a sewage works could capture the biomethane and split it into hydrogen and carbon black. The hydrogen could be used to refuel vehicles and the carbon black would be taken away to someone, who has need of it.
In some ways, it is surely sensible to have enough energy in a store, if the renewables fail. As Rough is already there and functioning, it is surely one of the easiest routes to redevelop Rough, so that it is in top-quality condition.
It should also be noted, that Rough is not far from the Aldbrough Gas Storage, which SSE are converting to a second massive hydrogen store.
So Humberside will have two of the largest hydrogen stores in the world, which Centrica and SSE will use to maxise energy security in the wider Humberside and East Yorkshire area, and I suspect to maximise their profits as well.
This video shows the structure of AquaVentus, which is a pipeline system, that the Germans are building to bring much-needed hydrogen to German industry from electrolysers in the North Sea and other countries like Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and the UK.
I clipped this map from the video.
Note how a branch of AquaVentus makes landfall around the Humber estuary at a UK label.
Will Centrica and SSE be trading hydrogen from Rough and Aldbrough with the Germans through AquaVentus? You bet they will, as the Germans are short of both hydrogen and hydrogen storage.
Ill Wind For Renewable Energy In US To Boost UK Projects
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
SSE boss Alistair Phillips-Davies says Trump is expected to put oil and gas ahead of renewables, easing supply chain shortages for UK wind power shortages
These are the first two paragraphs.
A likely push towards more oil and gas drilling under President Trump could help ease supply chain shortages that have hampered a faster rollout of renewables on the UK system, but weaken the availability of parts for gas-fired plants, the boss of electricity supplier SSE has said.
Donald Trump’s election win is expected to boost the American oil and gas industries and diminish the buildout of renewables, which had been accelerated by President Biden’s $369 billion stimulus package for clean power and transport.
SSE’s offshore wind farms under construction or planning in the UK, that are likely to be delivered before the end of Trump’s second term are.
- Dogger Bank A – 1235 MW – GE-Haliade X – 2025
- Dogger Bank B – 1235 MW – GE-Haliade X – 2025
- Dogger Bank C – 1218 MW – GE-Haliade X – 2025
- Dogger Bank D – 1320 MW
- Berwick Bank 4100 MW – 2028
- Seagreen Phase 1A – 500 MW
Note.
- The date is the expected commissioning date.
- GE is an American company, that are heavily into renewables and electrical gubbins to connect them to the grid.
- Trump is unlikely to have much effect on the delivery of Dogger Bank A-C.
- If Trump is stopping US wind farm projects, then if SSE has the finance, they will surely be able to take advantage of a lack of turbine orders.
- If you could handle a 4100 MW order, it would keep your company going for at least three years.
Given that SSE are investing billions in renewable energy and because of their past record, I would expect that the SSE boss has called this one right.
Aberdeen’s Exceed Secures Centrica Rough Contract
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Energy Voice.
This is the sub-heading.
Well and reservoir management firm Exceed has secured a contract with Centrica Energy Storage for the redevelopment of the Rough gas storage field.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Exceed said its role in the initial stages of the project, which is exploring converting the Rough field into a hydrogen storage facility, could create more than 30 jobs.
In Wood To Optimise Hydrogen Storage For Centrica’s Rough Field, I talked about changing Rough from a gas to a hydrogen store, so it looks like Centrica are going to create a vast hydrogen storage facility.
This all fits with my belief, that Centrica’s Rough facility and SSE’s nearby Aldbrough storage facility, will at sometime in the future be connected to the Germany hydrogen pipeline; AquaVentus to perform backup to hydrogen produced in the North Sea.
I also feel that the hydrogen trading will be of benefit to Centrica and SSE.
The last section of the Energy Voice article is entitled Rough Hydrogen Storage Concerns.
The following facts are given.
There are currently eight geological gas storage sites across Great Britain, containing approximately 3.1bcm in capacity and maximum deliverability rates of 124mcm/day.
Five of these gas storage sites are in salt caverns while the remaining three are depleted oil and gas fields, with the Centrica’s Rough field in the North Sea the only site located offshore.
The British Geological Survey estimates the UK could store up to 3,000 TWh of hydrogen.
Currently, we use the following energy in a year.
- 263 TWh of electricity
- 705 TWh of natural gas
So we use a total of 968 TWh of energy.
3,000 TWh of hydrogen would keep the UK going for three years. So we should be fine!
UK To Fund Hydro Energy Storage Projects
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
New infrastructure aims to help balance the electricity system after the rapid growth in renewables
These three paragraphs infrastructure the article.
Projects that use water to store and release energy are to be given government support, in an attempt to help manage the volatility in supply and demand as more green power enters the grid.
From next year, pumped hydro storage projects will be able to apply for government subsidies, which will be provided via a “cap and floor” mechanism. These would guarantee revenues if prices drop below a certain floor but prevent providers from charging above a ceiling when power prices are high.
Like other government support schemes, any cost will be levied on energy bills, while consumers will be paid back any money generated above the cap. It is yet to be decided precisely how the cap and floor will be set.
I feel it is reasonable to expect the system to be a success, as a similar system is used for interconnectors and this article on Offshore Energy is entitled Over $86 million To Be Split Between UK and Belgium Consumers As 1 GW Subsea Interconnector’s ‘Remarkable’ Revenues Exceed Ofgem’s Cap.
It looks like Ofgem played this right for interconnectors and the Nemo Link is making a substantial payment.
It will be interesting to see what happens when “cap and floor” contracts are assigned.
This move by Ofgem will probably have effects in two areas.
- SSE, Statera and Statkraft, who are typically developing systems at the high end with a size of about 1.5 GW/25 GWh could find money is easier to come by.
- At the lower end, companies like Highview Power, who have systems of 50 MW/300 MWh and 200 MW/2.5 GWh under development, will also benefit.
My Control Engineering thoughts are leaning towards the 200 MW/2.5 GWh systems being the popular ones. Especially as they would appear to be close to the right size to support a 1 GW wind farm for two hours.
A Highview Power Two-Hour Liquid Air Battery could fit nearly with a fleet of Two-Hour BESS.
It should be noted that CAF use a little-and-large approach to theit battery-electric trams in the West Midlands.
A large lithium-ion battery is the main storage device.
A supercapacitor handles the high-frequency response and keeps the power steady.
Pairing a Highview Power Two-Hour Liquid Air Battery and a Two-Hour BESS could achieve the same performance and possibly result in some cost savings.
‘Windiest Part Of The UK’ Could Power Nearly 500,000 Homes
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Power is flowing from the Shetland Isles to mainland Britain for the first time as the UK’s most productive onshore windfarm comes on stream.
These are the first two paragraphs.
SSE says its 103-turbine project, known as Viking, can generate 443 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough to power nearly 500,000 homes.
Shetland is the windiest part of the UK, which means it will be rare for the blades, which reach a massive 155m at their tip, not to be spinning.
Note.
- SSE has built a 160-mile long undersea cable to carry the power from Viking to Noss Head, near Wick, on the Scottish mainland.
- The company said it has invested more than £1bn in the windfarm and cable projects.
- SSE plans to plough another £20bn into renewables by the end of the decade.
Companies don’t invest billions and banks don’t lend billions, unless they know they’ll get a return, so the finance for this billion pound project must be sound.
A simple calculation, shows why they do.
- According to Google, the electricity for the average house costs £1926.24 per year.
- 500,000 houses would spend £963,120,000 per year.
Google says this about the life of a wind farm.
The average operational lifespan of a wind turbine is 20–25 years, but some turbines can last up to 30 years.
If the wind farm lasts 25 years, then it will generate something like £24 billion over its lifetime.
It looks to me, that SSE have borrowed a billion and will get almost as much as that back every year.
SSE also have the experience to keep the turbines turning and the distribution network sending electricity to the Scottish mainland.
I have some further thoughts.
What Happens If Scotland Can Get Cheaper Electricity From Its Own Wind Farms?
Shetland’s turbines can be switched off, but that is effectively throwing away electricity that can be generated.
Any spare electricity can also be diverted to an electrolyser, so that the following is produced.
- Hydrogen for transport, rocket fuel for SaxaVord Spaceport and to decarbonise houses and businesses.
- Oxygen for rocket fuel for SaxaVord Spaceport and for fish farms.
Hydrogen may also be exported to those that need it.
Project Orion
Project Orion is Shetland’s master plan to bring all the energy in and around the Shetland Islands together.
This document on the APSE web site is entitled Future Hydrogen Production In Shetland.
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, which will turn the islands into a massive hydrogen producer.
Orion And AquaVentus
This video shows the structure of AquaVentus, which is the German North Sea network to collect hydrogen for H2ercules.
I clipped this map from the video.
Note.
- There is a link to Denmark.
- There appears to be a undeveloped link to Norway.
- There appears to be a link to Peterhead in Scotland.
- There appears to be a link to just North of the Humber in England.
- Just North of the Humber are the two massive gas storage sites of Aldbrough owned by SSE and Rough owned by Centrica.
- There appear to be small ships sailing up and down the East Coast of the UK. Are these small coastal tankers distributing the hydrogen to where it is needed?
In the last century, the oil industry, built a substantial oil and gas network in the North Sea. It appears now the Germans are leading the building of a substantial hydrogen network.
This map is only the start and I feel, there would be nothing to stop the connection of the Orion and AquaVentus networks.
SaxaVord Spaceport
SaxaVord Spaceport is now a reality, in that it licensed and tests are being undertaken.
Energy In – Hydrogen And Carbon Dioxide Out
This article was inspired by this article in the Sunday Times, which is entitled ‘It’s A Slog’: Life Inside Britain’s Last Coal Power Station.
The article is about Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, which is next to East Midlands Parkway station.
This is the first paragraph of the station’s Wikipedia entry.
Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Uniper at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, England. Commissioned in 1968 by the Central Electricity Generating Board, the station has a capacity of 2,000 MW. It is the last remaining operational coal-fired power station in the UK, and is scheduled to close in September 2024.
I took these pictures of the power station in 2019.
Ratcliffe-on-Soar is the last of a number of large coal-fired power stations, that were built in the area, mainly along the River Trent.
- Rugeley – 600 MW – 1961
- Drakelow – 1630 MW – 1964
- Willington – 800 MW – 1962
- Castle Donington – 600 MW – 1958
- Ratcliffe-on-Soar – 2000 MW – 1968
- High Marnham – 1000 MW – 1959
- Cottam – 2000 MW – 1968
- West Burton – 2000 MW – 1968
Note.
- The date is the commissioning date.
- That is 10,630 MW of electricity.
- There are also a few large gas-fired power stations along the river, that are still operating.
- Both coal and gas-fired stations use the water from the River Trent for cooling.
At the mouth of the river, there is the Keadby cluster of gas-fired power stations.
- Keadby 1 – 734 MW – 1996
- Keadby 2 – 849 MW – 2023
- Keadby 3 – 910 MW – 2027
- Keadby Hydrogen – 900 MW – 2030
Note.
- The date is the commissioning date.
- That is 3,393 MW of electricity.
- Keadby 2 is the most efficient CCGT in the world.
- Keadby 3 will be fitted with carbon capture.
- Keadby 2 has been designed to be retrofitted with carbon capture.
- Keadby Hydrogen will be fuelled by zero-carbon hydrogen.
As the years progress, I can see the Keadby cluster of power stations becoming a large zero-carbon power station to back-up wind farms in the North Sea.
- Hydrogen power stations will emit no carbon dioxide.
- Carbon dioxide from all gas-fired stations will be captured.
- Some carbon dioxide will be sold on, to companies who can use it, in industries like construction, agriculture and chemical manufacture.
- The remaining carbon dioxide will be stored in depleted gas fields.
As technology improves, more carbon dioxide will be used rather than stored.
Other Power Sources In The Humberside Area
In the next few sub-sections, I will list the other major power sources in the Humberside area.
Drax Power Station
Drax power station is a shadow of its former self, when it was one of the power stations fed by the newly discovered Selby coalfield.
These days it is a 2,595 MW biomass-fired power station.
Eastern Green Link 2
Eastern Green Link 2 will be a 2 GW interconnector between Peterhead in Scotland and Drax.
It is shown in this map.
Note.
- Most of the route is underwater.
- It is funded by National Grid.
- Contracts have been signed, as I talk about in Contracts Signed For Eastern Green Link 2 Cable And Converter Stations.
- It is scheduled to be completed by 2029.
This interconnector will bring up to 2 GW of Scottish wind-generated electricity to Drax and Humberside.
Drax has the substations and other electrical gubbins to distribute the electricity efficiently to where it is needed.
2 GW could also reduce the amount of biomass used at Drax.
In the long term, if the concept of the four Eastern Green Links is successful, I could see another Eastern Green Link to Drax to replace imported biomass at Drax.
I also, don’t see why a smaller Drax can’t be run on locally-sourced biomass.
Solar Farms And Batteries Along The River Trent
As the coal-fired power stations along the River Trent are demolished, solar farm developers have moved in to develop large solar farms.
Salt End Power Station And Chemical Works
These two paragraphs from the Wikipedia entry for Salt End describes the hamlet and its power station and chemical works.
Salt End or Saltend is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in an area known as Holderness. It is situated on the north bank of the Humber Estuary just outside the Hull eastern boundary on the A1033 road. It forms part of the civil parish of Preston.
Salt End is dominated by a chemical park owned by PX group, and a gas-fired power station owned by Triton Power. Chemicals produced at Salt End include acetic acid, acetic anhydride, ammonia, bio-butanol, bio-ethanol, ethyl acetate (ETAC) and ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) with animal feed also being produced on site.
I wonder, if running the complex on hydrogen would give cost and marketing advantages.
Aldbrough Hydrogen Storage Facility
This page on the SSE Thermal web site is entitled Plans For World-Leading Hydrogen Storage Facility At Aldbrough.
This is the most significant paragraph of the page, that is definitely a must-read.
With an initial expected capacity of at least 320GWh, Aldbrough Hydrogen Storage would be significantly larger than any hydrogen storage facility in operation in the world today. The Aldbrough site is ideally located to store the low-carbon hydrogen set to be produced and used in the Humber region.
This is a hydrogen storage facility for a much wider area than Humberside.
Rough Gas Storage Facility
This is the first paragraph of the Wikipedia entry for the Rough Gas Storage Facility.
Rough is a natural gas storage facility under the North Sea off the east coast of England. It is capable of storing 100 billion cubic feet of gas, nearly double the storage capacities in operation in Great Britain in 2021.
In Wood To Optimise Hydrogen Storage For Centrica’s Rough Field, I describe Centrica’s plans to convert the Rough gas storage into a massive hydrogen storage.
The Location Of Aldbrough Gas Storage, Rough Gas Storage, Salt End And Easington Gas Terminal
This Google Map shows between Salt End and the coast.
Note.
- The river crossing the South-West corner of the map is the Humber.
- Salt End with its power station and chemical works is on the North Bank of the Humber, where the river leaves the map.
- Aldbrough Gas Storage is marked by the red arrow at the top of the map.
- Easington Gas Terminal is in the South-East corner of the map.
- According to Wikipedia, gas flows into and out of the Rough Gas Storage are managed from Easington.
Looking at the map, I feel that the following should be possible.
- The two gas storage sites could be run together.
- Salt End power station and the related chemical works could run on hydrogen.
- Salt End will always have a reliable source of hydrogen.
- This hydrogen could be green if required.
All the chemical works at Salt End, could be run on a zero-carbon basis. Would this mean premium product prices? Just like organic does?
Enter The Germans
The Germans have a huge decarbonisation problem, with all their coal-fired power stations and other industry.
Three massive projects will convert much of the country and industry to hydrogen.
- H2ercules, which is a project of OGE and RWE, will create a hydrogen network to bring hydrogen, to where it is needed.
- In Uniper To Make Wilhelmshaven German Hub For Green Hydrogen; Green Ammonia Import Terminal, I describe how Uniper are going to build a hydrogen import terminal at Wilhelmshaven.
- AquaVentus is an RWE project that will use 10.3 GW of offshore wind power in German territorial waters to create a million tonnes per year of green hydrogen.
These would appear to be three of Europe’s largest hydrogen projects, that few have ever heard of.
AquaVentus And The UK
This video shows the structure of AquaVentus.
I clipped this map from the video.
Note.
- The thick white line running North-West/South-East is the spine of AquaVentus, that delivers hydrogen to Germany.
- There is a link to Denmark.
- There appears to be an undeveloped link to Norway.
- There appears to be an undeveloped link to Peterhead in Scotland.
- There appears to be a link to just North of the Humber in England.
- Just North of the Humber are the two massive gas storage sites of Aldbrough owned by SSE and Brough owned by Centrica.
- There appear to be small ships sailing up and down the East Coast of the UK. Are these small coastal tankers, that are distributing the hydrogen to where it is needed?
In the last century, the oil industry, built a substantial oil and gas network in the North Sea.
It appears now the Germans are leading the building of a substantial hydrogen network in the North Sea.
These are my thoughts about development of the AquaVentus network.
Hydrogen Production And AquaVentus
This RWE graphic shows the layout of the wind farms feeding AquaVentus.
Note.
- There is a total of 10.3 GW.
- Is one of the 2 GW web sites on the UK-side of AquaVentus, the 3 GW Dogger Bank South wind farm, which is being developed by RWE?
- Is the 0.3 GW wind farm, RWE’s Norfolk wind farm cluster, which is also being developed by RWE?
Connecting wind farms using hydrogen pipelines to Europe, must surely mitigate the pylon opposition problem from Nimbys in the East of England.
As the AquaVentus spine pipeline could eventually connect to Peterhead, there will be other opportunities to add more hydrogen to AquaVentus.
Hydrogen Storage And AquaVentus
For AquaVentus to work efficiently and supply a large continuous flow of hydrogen to all users, there would need to be storage built into the system.
As AquaVentus is around 200 kilometres in length and natural gas pipelines can be up to 150 centimetres in diameter, don’t underestimate how much hydrogen can be stored in the pipeline system itself.
This page on the Uniper web site is entitled Green Wilhelmshaven: To New Horizons.
This is a sentence on the page.
Access to local hydrogen underground storage at the Etzel salt cavern site.
An Internet search gives the information, that Etzel gas storage could be developed to hold 1 TWh of hydrogen.
That would be enough hydrogen to supply 10 GW for a hundred hours.
Note that the UK branch of AquaVentus reaches the UK, just to the South of the massive hydrogen storage facilities at Aldbrough and Rough.
It would appear that both Germany and the UK are connected to AquaVentus through substantial storage.
I am certain, that all country connections to AquaVentus will have substantial storage at the country’s hydrogen terminal.
AquaDuctus
This would appear to be the first part of the AquaVentus network and has its own web site.
The web site is entitled Nucleus Of A Offshore Hydrogen Backbone.
These are the first two paragraphs.
The project partners are focusing on a scalable, demand-driven infrastructure: By 2030, AquaDuctus will connect the first large hydrogen wind farm site, SEN-1, with a generation capacity of approximately one gigawatt. SEN-1 is located in the German EEZ in the northwest of Helgoland. The pipeline will transport at a length of approx. 200 km green hydrogen produced from offshore wind to the German mainland and from there to European consumers via the onshore hydrogen infrastructure.
In the next project stage, AquaDuctus will be extended to the remote areas of the German exclusive economic zone towards the tip of the so-called duck’s bill. By that, additional future hydrogen wind farm sites will be connected. Along its way AquaDuctus will provide interconnection points with the opportunity for linking of adjacent national offshore hydrogen infrastructures originating from Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and United Kingdom which opens the door for Europe-wide offshore hydrogen transport by pipeline.
There is also an interactive map, that gives more details.
This paragraph explains, why the Germans have chosen to bring the energy ashore using hydrogen, rather than traditional cables.
Recent studies show that offshore hydrogen production and transport via pipelines is faster, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly than onshore electrolysis with a corresponding connection of offshore wind turbines via power cables. The German federal government has also recognized this advantage and has clearly expressed its intention to promote offshore hydrogen production in the North Sea.
I suspect, that some UK offshore wind farms will use the same techniques.
Hydrogen Production For The UK
Electrolysers will probably be built along the East Coast between Peterhead and Humberside and these will feed hydrogen into the network.
- Some electrolysers will be offshore and others onshore.
- Turning off windfarms will become a thing of the past, as all surplus electricity will be used to make hydrogen for the UK or export to Europe.
- Until needed the hydrogen will be stored in Albrough and Rough.
Backup for wind farms, will be provided using hydrogen-fired power stations like Keadby Hydrogen power station.
Financial Implications
I reported on Rishi Sunak’s Manifesto Speech, which he made on June 11th. This is an extract
This document on the Policy Mogul web site is entitled Rishi Sunak – Conservative Party Manifesto Speech – Jun 11.
These are three paragraphs from the speech.
We don’t just need military and border security. As Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has shown, we need energy security too. It is only by having reliable, home-grown sources of energy that we can deny dictators the ability to send our bills soaring. So, in our approach to energy policy we will put security and your family finances ahead of unaffordable eco zealotry.
Unlike Labour we don’t believe that we will achieve that energy security via a state-controlled energy company that doesn’t in fact produce any energy. That will only increase costs, and as Penny said on Friday there’s only one thing that GB in Starmer and Miliband’s GB Energy stands for, and that’s giant bills.
Our clear plan is to achieve energy security through new gas-powered stations, trebling our offshore wind capacity and by having new fleets of small modular reactors. These will make the UK a net exporter of electricity, giving us greater energy independence and security from the aggressive actions of dictators . Now let me just reiterate that, with our plan, we will produce enough electricity to both meet our domestic needs and export to our neighbours. Look at that. A clear, Conservative plan not only generating security, but also prosperity for our country.
I can’t remember any reports about an energy security policy, which he outlined in the last paragraph of my extract from his speech.
He also said we would have sufficient electricity to export to our neighbours. As I said earlier some of this energy will be in the form of hydrogen, which has been created by offshore electrolysers.
If we are exporting electricity and hydrogen to Europe, this is likely to have three effects.
- An improvement in Europe’s energy security.
- H2ercules will improve and decarbonise German industry, using UK hydrogen.
- The finances of UK plc will improve.
It looks like there would be winners all round.
Rishi Sunak had the cards and he played them very badly.
It is now up to Keir Starmer, Great British Energy and Jürgen Maier to play those cards to link the energy systems of the UK and Germany to ensure security and prosperity for Europe.
Welcoming GB Energy And Its Mission To Make Britain A Clean Energy Superpower
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from SSE.
This is the sub-heading.
Making Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030 is one of the new government’s five missions. The UK Government and Crown Estate have announced plans to join forces to create a new publicly owned energy firm. GB Energy will invest in homegrown, clean energy.
These are the first two paragraphs of SSE’s response to the announcement.
We welcome the focus of GB Energy on earlier stage technologies, such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), where the Government can de-risk projects and help accelerate the clean energy transition.
In areas such as offshore wind, where industry is already delivering mission-critical infrastructure, the biggest impact will be on delivering policies that speed up the build out of these essential projects.
It looks like SSE, see Great British Energy as a positive development.
3 GW Dogger Bank South Offshore Wind Farms Reach New Development Stage
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The UK Planning Inspectorate has accepted into the examination phase the Development Consent Order (DCO) application for the Dogger Bank South (DBS) Offshore Wind Farms developed by RWE and Masdar.
The first two paragraphs give a brief description of the wind Farm.
The DBS East and DBS West offshore wind farms, which could provide electricity for up to three million typical UK homes, are located in shallow waters on the Dogger Bank over 100 kilometres off the northeast coast of England. The acceptance of the DCO application moves the projects into the pre-examination phase, which will become subject to a public examination later in 2024.
Together, the projects will have up to 200 turbines with a combined estimated capacity of 3 GW. Investment by RWE and Masdar during development and construction is predicted to deliver an economic contribution (Gross Value Added) to the UK of almost GBP 1 billion, including GBP 400 million in the Humber region.
There is a detailed map in the article on offshoreWIND.biz.
The Next Steps
These are given in the article.
The next steps for the projects, following a successful Development Consent Order, would be to secure Contracts for Difference (CfD), followed by financing and construction, the developers said.
It certainly looks like the 3 GW Dogger South Bank Wind Farm is on its way.
These are my thoughts about the project.
The Turbines To Be Used
The article says this about the turbines.
Together, the projects will have up to 200 turbines with a combined estimated capacity of 3 GW.
This means that the turbines will be 15 MW.
In RWE Orders 15 MW Nordseecluster Offshore Wind Turbines At Vestas, I said this.
Does this mean that the Vestas V236-15.0 MW offshore wind turbine, is now RWE’s standard offshore turbine?
This would surely have manufacturing, installation, operation and maintenance advantages.
There would surely be advantages for all parties to use a standard turbine.
It’s A Long Way Between Yorkshire And The Dogger Bank
The article says it’s a hundred kilometres between the wind farm and the coast of Yorkshire.
Welcome To The Age Of Hydrogen
This is the title of this page of the RWE web site.
The page starts with this paragraph.
RWE is actively involved in the development of innovative hydrogen projects. The H2 molecule is considered to be an important future building block of a successful energy transition. RWE is a partner in over 30 H2 projects and is working on solutions for decarbonising the industry with associations and corporations like Shell, BASF and OGE. Hydrogen projects are comprehensively supported in the separate Hydrogen department of the subsidiary RWE Generation.
AquaVentus
I also suggest, that you read this page on the RWE web site called AquaVentus.
The page starts with this RWE graphic.
It appears that 10.3 GW of hydrogen will be created by wind farms and piped to North-West Germany.
These two paragraphs outline the AquaVentus initiative .
Hydrogen is considered the great hope of decarbonisation in all sectors that cannot be electrified, e.g. industrial manufacturing, aviation and shipping. Massive investments in the expansion of renewable energy are needed to enable carbon-neutral hydrogen production. After all, wind, solar and hydroelectric power form the basis of climate-friendly hydrogen.
In its quest for climate-friendly hydrogen production, the AquaVentus initiative has set its sights on one renewable energy generation technology: offshore wind. The initiative aims to use electricity from offshore wind farms to operate electrolysers also installed at sea on an industrial scale. Plans envisage setting up electrolysis units in the North Sea with a total capacity of 10 gigawatts, enough to produce 1 million metric tons of green hydrogen.
The page also gives these numbers.
- Total Capacity – 10 GW
- Tonnes Of Green Hydrogen – 1 million
- Members – 100 +
The web site says this about commissioning.
Commissioning is currently scheduled for early/mid 2030s.
The Germans can’t be accused of lacking ambition.
AquaVentus And The UK
This video shows the structure of AquaVentus.
I clipped this map from the video.
Note.
- There is a link to Denmark.
- There appears to be a undeveloped link to Norway.
- There appears to be a link to Peterhead in Scotland.
- There appears to be a link to just North of the Humber in England.
- Just North of the Humber are the two massive gas storage sites of Aldbrough owned by SSE and Brough owned by Centrica.
- There appear to be small ships sailing up and down the East Coast of the UK. Are these small coastal tankers distributing the hydrogen to where it is needed?
In the last century, the oil industry, built a substantial oil and gas network in the North Sea. It appears now the Germans are leading the building of a substantial hydrogen network.
AquaVentus And Aldbrough And Rough Gas Storage
Consider.
- In The Massive Hydrogen Project, That Appears To Be Under The Radar, I describe the Aldbrough Gas Storage.
- In Wood To Optimise Hydrogen Storage For Centrica’s Rough Field, I describe Centrica’s plans to turn Rough Gas Storage into the world’s largest hydrogen store.
- There is a small amount of hydrogen storage at Wilhelmshaven.
It looks like the East Riding Hydrogen Bank, will be playing a large part in ensuring the continuity and reliability of AquaVentus.
Dogger Bank South And AquaVentus
This Google Map shows the North Sea South of Sunderland and the Danish/German border.
Note.
- Sunderland is in the top-left hand corner of the map.
- A white line in the top-right corner of the map is the Danish/German border.
- Hamburg and Bremen are in the bottom-right hand corner of the map.
If you lay the AquaVentus map over this map, I believe that Dogger Bank South wind farm could be one of the three 2 GW wind farms on the South-Western side of the AquaVentus main pipeline.
- Two GW would be converted to hydrogen and fed into the AquaVentus main pipeline.
- One GW of electricity would be sent to the UK.
But this is only one of many possibilities.
Hopefully, everything will be a bit clearer, when RWE publish more details.
Conclusion
I believe, that some or all of the Dogger Bank South electricity, will be converted to hydrogen and fed into the AquaVentus main pipeline.
I also believe, that the hydrogen stores in the East Riding of Yorkshire, will form an important part of AquaVentus.
How Clean Energy Will Help Deliver UK Economic Growth
The title of this post, is the same as this press release from SSE.
This is the sub-heading.
How To Actually Deliver UK Economic Growth
This press release appears to have been written by Alistair Phillips-Davies, who is Chief Executive of SSE.
These three paragraphs introduce the press release.
Prior to the election Labour had committed to tackling the planning system head on in order to unlock economic growth and get Britain building again.
If Rachel Reeves’ first speech as Chancellor is anything to go by, winning a commanding majority has only galvanised that intent.
The challenge is for policymakers to deliver at pace across the whole of the UK, including in Scotland where reform is devolved but is also urgently needed.
Alistair Phillips-Davies seems impressed.
Why We Need Planning Reform Urgently
Under this heading, he says this.
Let me give you two examples of how planning acts as a drag on economic growth and jobs.
It currently takes around 12 years to deliver a large offshore wind farm in UK waters. But only two or three years of that is the construction phase.
And when it comes to electricity grids that span the country it only takes one local authority in Scotland to object to a project for it to go to a public inquiry, adding costs and years of delay.
No-one wants to avoid appropriate scrutiny and proper engagement with communities but allowing decision making to drag on for years suits nobody and setting a reasonable 12-month limit is surely sensible for everyone involved, as is giving ministers greater discretion where projects are clearly deemed to be in the national interest.
I very much agree with what he says.
I also suspect that what he says, applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland, just as much as Scotland.
Declaring His Ambitions
The next two section declare Alistair Phillips-Davies’s ambitions.
- Making The UK The Easiest Place In The world To Invest And Actually Build Projects
- Creating Good Jobs Here In The UK
They are certainly sections that need a full read.
We Need To Get A Move On
This is his final section, which I’ll insert in full.
Having worked in the energy industry for almost 30 years I have never been more excited about the prospects for this country.
As one of the largest investors in the UK, SSE alone has a current investment programme of more than £20bn, but we are ready to go further and many others in the industry will join us.
Britain has no shortage of opportunities. But we need to make them happen. If we can deliver on the clean energy mission, the growth will come. There’s a long way to go, but unblocking the planning gridlock is the right place to start.
I was there at the start of North Sea Oil and Gas, writing project planning software in a Suffolk attic.
Hopefully, I’ll see North Sea Energy turn full circle to renewables.
The Anonymous Widower 