‘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.
The Concept Of Remote Island Wind
This document from the Department of Business, Industry and Industrial Strategy lists all the Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 4 results for the supply of zero-carbon electricity that were announced yesterday.
The contracts have also introduced a concept that is new to me, called Remote Island Wind. All have got the same strike price of £46.39 per MWh.
Two of the projects on Orkney are community projects of around 30 MW, run by local trusts. This is surely, a model that will work in many places.
There is more on Orkney’s Community Wind Farm Project on this page of the Orkney Islands Council web site.
It could even have an electrolyser to provide hydrogen for zero-carbon fuel, when there is more electricity than is needed. Companies like ITM Power and others already build filling stations with an electrolyser, that can be powered by wind-generated electricity.
The other Remote Island Wind projects are larger with two wind farms of over 200 MW.
It does look to me, that the Department of BEIS is nudging wind farm developers in remote places to a model, that all stakeholders will embrace.
The Viking Wind Farm
I wrote about this wind farm in Shetland’s Viking Wind Farm.
There are more details in this press release from SSE enewables, which is entitled CfD Contract Secured For Viking Energy Wind Farm.
These introductory paragraphs, give a good explanation of the finances of this farm.
SSE Renewables has been successful in the UK’s fourth Contract for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round, announced today, and has secured a low-carbon power contract for 220MW for its wholly-owned Viking Energy Wind Farm (Viking) project, currently being constructed in Shetland.
Viking’s success in securing a contract follows a competitive auction process in Allocation Round 4 (AR4) where it competed within Pot 2 of the allocation round set aside for ‘less established’ technologies including Remote Island Wind.
The 443MW Viking project, which SSE Renewables is currently building in the Shetland Islands, has secured a CfD for 220MW (50% of its total capacity) at a strike price of £46.39/MWh for the 2026/27 delivery year.
The successful project will receive its guaranteed strike price, set on 2012 prices but annually indexed for CPI inflation, for the contracted low carbon electricity it will generate for a 15-year period. Securing a CfD for Viking stabilises the revenue from the project whilst also delivering price security for bill payers.
It’s very professional and open to explain the capacity, the contract and the finances in detail.
The press release also has this paragraph, which details progress.
Viking is progressing through construction with over 50 per cent of turbine foundation bases poured. When complete in 2024, Viking Energy Wind Farm will be the UK’s most productive onshore wind farm in terms of annual electricity output, with the project also contributing to Shetland’s security of supply by underpinning the HVDC transmission link that will connect the islands to the mainland for the first time.
SSE also released this press release, which is entitled Major Milestone Reached As First Subsea Cable Installation Begins On Shetland HVDC Link, where this is the first paragraph.
The first phase of cable laying as part of the SSEN Transmission Shetland High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Link began this week off the coast of Caithness, marking a major milestone in the £660M project.
SSE seem to be advancing on all fronts on the two projects!
The Stornoway Wind Farm
This press release from EDF Renewables is entitled EDF Renewables UK Welcomes Contract for Difference Success, where these are the first two paragraphs.
Two EDF Renewables UK projects bid into the Contract for Difference (CfD) auction round held by the UK Government’s BEIS department have been successful.
The projects are the Stornoway wind farm on the Isle of Lewis and Stranoch wind farm in Dumfries and Galloway. Together these onshore wind farms will provide 300 MW of low carbon electricity which is an important contribution to reaching net zero.
The press release also gives this information about the contract and completion of the Stornoway wind farm.
Stornoway Wind Farm on the Isle of Lewis is a joint venture with Wood. The project has won a CfD for 200 MW capacity, the strike price was £46.39, the target commissioning date is 31 March 2027.
This page on the Lewis Wind Power web site, gives these details of the Stornoway Wind Farm.
The Stornoway Wind Farm would be located to the west of the town of Stornoway in an area close to the three existing wind farm sites.
The project has planning consent for up to 36 turbines and is sited on land owned by the Stornoway Trust, a publicly elected body which manages the Stornoway Trust Estate on behalf of the local community.
The local community stands to benefit as follows:
- Community benefit payments currently estimated at £900,000 per annum, which would go to an independent trust to distribute to local projects and organisations
- Annual rental payments to local crofters and the Stornoway Trust – which we estimate could total more than £1.3m, depending on the CfD Strike Price secured and the wind farm’s energy output
- Stornoway Wind Farm is the largest of the three consented wind farm projects with a grid connection in place and is therefore key to the needs case for a new grid connection with the mainland. Indeed, the UK energy regulator Ofgem has stated that it will support the delivery of a new 450MW cable if the Stornoway and Uisenis projects are successful in this year’s Contract for Difference allocation round.
Note the last point, where only the Stornoway wind farm was successful.
The Uisenis Wind Farm
This press release from EDF Energy is entitled Lewis Wind Power Buys Uisenis Wind Farm, gives these details of the sale.
Lewis Wind Power (LWP), a joint venture between Amec Foster Wheeler and EDF Energy Renewables has bought the Uisenis Wind Farm project on the Isle of Lewis. The wind farm has planning consent for the development of 45 turbines with a maximum capacity of 162 MW. This would be enough to power 124,000 homes and would be the biggest renewable energy development on the Western Isles.
LWP owns the Stornoway Wind Farm project located around 20km to the north of Uisenis which has planning consent to develop 36 turbines to a maximum capacity of 180 MW – enough to power 135,000 homes.
This would bring Stornoway and Uisenis wind farms under the similar ownership structures.
This is a significant paragraph in the press release.
On behalf of Eishken Limited, the owner of the site where the Uisenis Wind Farm will be located, Nick Oppenheim said: “I am delighted that LWP are taking forward the wind farm. The resources available on the Eishken estate, and the Western Isles in general, means that it is an excellent location for renewable energy projects and, as such, the company is also developing a 300MW pumped storage hydro project immediately adjacent to the Uisenis wind farm. With such potential for renewables and the positive effect they will have on the local community, economy, and the UK as a whole I am are looking forward to positive news on both support for remote island projects and the interconnector.”
Note the mention of pumped storage.
This article on the BBC is entitled Pumped Storage Hydro Scheme Planned For Lewis, where this paragraph introduces the scheme.
A pumped storage hydro scheme using sea water rather than the usual method of drawing on freshwater from inland lochs has been proposed for Lewis.
The only other information is that it will provide 300 MW of power, but nothing is said about the storage capacity.
It looks like Lewis will have a world-class power system.
Mossy Hill And Beaw Field Wind Farms
Mossy Hill near Lerwick and Beaw Field in Yell are two Shetland wind farms being developed by Peel L & P.
This press release from Peel L & P is entitled Government Support For Two Shetland Wind Farms, where these are the first two paragraphs.
Plans for two onshore wind farms on the Shetland Islands which would help meet Scotland’s targets for renewable energy production are a step closer to being delivered after receiving long-term Government support.
Clean energy specialists Peel NRE has been successful in two bids in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme; one for its Mossy Hill wind farm near Lerwick and the other for Beaw Field wind farm in Yell.
It looks like the two wind farms will power 130,000 houses and are planned to be operational in 2027.
Conclusion
I must admit that I like the concept. Especially, when like some of the schemes, it is linked to community involvement and improvement.
Only time will tell, if the concept of Remote Island Wind works well.
The Anonymous Widower 