SSE Goes Global To Reap The Wind
The title of this article on This Is Money is Renewable Energy Giant SSE Launches Plan To Become Britain’s First Global Windfarm Business As it Invests Up To £15bn Over Next Decade.
The title is a good summary of their plans to build wind farms in Continental Europe, Denmark, Japan and the US, in addition to the UK and Ireland.
I can also see the company developing more integrated energy clusters using the following technologies.
- Wind farms that generate hydrogen rather than electricity using integrated electrolysers and wind turbines, developed by companies like ITM Power and Ørsted.
- Reusing of worked out gasfields and redundant gas pipelines.
- Zero-carbon CCGT power stations running on Hydrogen.
- Lots of Energy storage.
I talked about this type of integration in Batteries Could Save £195m Annually By Providing Reserve Finds National Grid ESO Trial.
In the related post, I talked about the Keadby cluster of gas-fired power stations, which are in large part owned by SSE.
Conclusion
I think that SSE could be going the way of Equinor and Ørsted and becoming a global energy company.
It is also interesting the BP and Shell are investing in renewable energy to match the two Scandinavian companies.
Big Oil seems to be transforming itself into Big Wind.
All these companies seem to lack grid-scale energy storage, although hydrogen can be generated and stored in worked-out gas fields.
So I would expect that some of the up-and-coming energy storage companies like Gravitricity, Highview Power and RheEnergise could soon have connections with some of these Big Wind companies.
Aberdeen-Based Energy Storage Firm Aims To Raise £300 Million
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on insider.
I like the Carbon Neutral Energy’s concept.
- It will provide small energy storage systems with an output of between 1 MW an 5 MW
- The energy storage systems appear to be mobile.
- It will create 200 Scottish jobs.
The company has signed an agreement with Muirden Energy, who are a wind energy developer. This is Muirden’s mission statement, from their web site.
Muirden Energy is a successful renewable energy developer specialising in onshore wind energy. We deliver sensitively designed wind projects across Scotland and forge strong working relationships with local communities. We are committed to contributing to Scotland’s renewable energy needs and supporting the economic development of surrounding communities.
They have installed 60 MW of generating capacity across 30 sites in seven years.
Conclusion
This looks like a company and a concept to follow.
How many villages, factories and stations, could be powered partly by one or more wind turbines and a battery?
Crown Estate’s Auction Of Seabed For Wind Farms Attracts Sky-High Bids
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the opening paragraph.
An auction of seabed rights to build offshore wind farms around England and Wales has attracted frenzied bidding that could be worth hundreds of millions of pounds a year to the Treasury and the Queen.
I don’t find this surprising.
Bigger Seems Better Offshore
Wind turbine technology is getting better and much larger. It also seems that the new larger floating turbines are much more efficient and generate power for a greater proportion of the day.
- Hywind Scotland is the world’s first commercial wind farm using floating wind turbines.
- It is situated off Peterhead.
- It consists of five 6 MW turbines.
- Wikipedia says it has a capacity factor of over 50 %.
My project management software helped to harvest North Sea Oil and I have been told by many in the industry, that North Sea Oil really took off when platforms and the equipment like cranes used to build them got truly enormous.
I feel, we could be seeing the same size effect happening as we harvest the wind!
Hydrogen And Wind Power
The latest development is not to generate electricity, but to use it in the turbine to generate hydrogen, which is then piped to the shore.
- The UK Government is funding this technology in part with a grant to ITM Power.
- I wrote about the technology in ITM Power and Ørsted: Wind Turbine Electrolyser Integration.
- Existing gas networks can be reconfigured to bring the hydrogen to the shore.
- Piping hydrogen costs less than cabling electricity.
- Hydrogen networks are being built at several places in the UK, to fuel homes, power stations and industry like steel-making and petrochemicals.
Could all this explain Big Oil’s involvement?
Do they want to exchange fossil fuels for green hydrogen?
They certainly know how to distribute it.
Energy Storage
For my own investments, I’m looking at energy storage, where the UK has at least three promising new ideas, all of whom have had Government grants.
- Gravitricity
- Highview Power
- ReEnergise
The Government has also indirectly-backed Cornish Lithium
TechnipFMC To Build And Trial Offshore Green Hydrogen Production Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
This is the introductory paragraph.
TechnipFMC has announced that it is leading a consortium composed of some of the largest renewables players, in order to build and test a new offshore green hydrogen production system.
This is a second consortium going down the same route, after the Orsted consortium, That I wrote about in EU Backs Orsted Team On Green Hydrogen Initiative.
I obviously haven’t done the costings, but as two consortia are developing the technology to create hydrogen offshore, perhaps it is the more economic route.
North Dakota Coal Country Backlash Against Wind Energy Is Misguided, Wind Advocates Say
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Inforum.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Two counties in North Dakota coal country have passed policies aimed at banning wind power development — but federal studies show that abundant natural gas is chiefly to blame for the closure of coal-fired power plants.
It appears that the closure of 1151 MW Coal Creek power station in 2022, will cost almost a thousand jobs.
This is the downside of decarbonisation.
These two paragraphs give a flavour of the argument.
Coal country officials have said they’re not against wind power, but said the economic benefits of wind can’t begin to compare to the contributions, in jobs and tax revenues, to coal-fired power plants and the mines that supply them. Most jobs involving a wind farm come during construction.
“There will be a limited number of permanent jobs after the tower is up, if and when that happens,” said Buster Langowski, the Mercer County economic development director. Wind farms need only four or five employees to operate. “That’s not a lot of folks.”
It appears that the changeover needs to be better managed.
EU Backs Orsted Team On Green Hydrogen Initiative
The title of this post, is the same as that as that of this article on renews.biz.
This is the sub-title of the article.
European Commission Funding For The Oyster Project That Also Includes Siemens Gamesa, Element Energy and ITM Power
There is a press release on ITM Power’s web site.
This paragraph sums up the project.
ITM Power, Ørsted, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, and Element Energy have been awarded EUR 5 million in funding from The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH2-JU) under the European Commission to demonstrate and investigate a combined wind turbine and electrolyser system designed for operation in marine environments.
This is said about the design of the electrolyser.
The electrolyser system will be designed to be compact, to allow it to be integrated with a single offshore wind turbine, and to follow the turbine’s production profile. Furthermore, the electrolyser system will integrate desalination and water treatment processes, making it possible to use seawater as a feedstock for the electrolysis process.
It looks like it will be a standalone turbine, that instead of producing electricity it will produce hydrogen.
This paragraph gives the objective of the project.
The OYSTER project partners share a vision of hydrogen being produced from offshore wind at a cost that is competitive with natural gas (with a realistic carbon tax), thus unlocking bulk markets for green hydrogen making a meaningful impact on CO2 emissions, and facilitating the transition to a fully renewable energy system in Europe.
The project will run from 2021 to 2024.
When I first heard about creating hydrogen offshore with a combined wind-turbine and electrolyser, I thought this could be the way to go.
It’s certainly a way to produce large quantities of green hydrogen.
But I also feel, the process has a serious rival in Shell’s Blue Hydrogen Process, which uses a catalyst to split methane into hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
Shell will need uses for the carbon dioxide or worked-out gas fields to store it.
Hydrogen Fuel ‘In Time For COP26’ For Glasgow
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Brinkwire.
This is the introductory paragraph.
The companies behind the plans for a new £ 45 million hydrogen production facility in central Scotland have announced the site of the facility, which is planned to be partially operational prior to the delayed COP26 conference in Glasgow next year.
The article gives a lot of useful information including.
- The plant is at Lesmahagow as I reported in Plans For £45m Scottish Green Hydrogen Production Plant Revealed.
- It will initially have a 9 MW electrolyser, which could be upgraded to 20 MW.
- When fully-developed is could create a thousand tonnes of hydrogen per year.The hydrogen will be used to power buses in Aberdeen and Glasgow.
Construction could start this year.
EDF Determined To Play ‘Major Role’ In UK Flexibility As It Signs 50MW Battery Optimisation Deal
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Energy Storage News.
This is the opening two paragraphs.
EDF is set to optimise Gresham House Energy Storage Fund’s 50MW Wickham Market lithium-ion battery site.
The French energy giant will use its Powershift platform to optimise the asset to deliver optimal value and minimise battery degradation at the site in Suffolk, England.
This is a paragraph from the article.
Recently, EDF has signed a number of agreements with battery storage owners, including to optimise SWGT‘s 30MW utility-scale battery earlier in December. The company is also working to build up its own battery portfolio, investing in cleantech startup PowerUp to support its 10GW of storage by 2035 ambition.
Note.
- I suspect in this section of the article, whoever wrote it, doesn’t know a MW from a MWh or a GW from a GWh. Storage or capacity should be measured in GWh not GW.
- SWGT would appear to be Still Waters Green Technology, who are building the 30 MW battery near Swindon.
- EDF purchased Pivot Power in June 2020.
It seems to me that EDF Energy are moving fast into both building and optimising energy storage.
Conclusion
Brexit seems to making little difference to EDF’s plans to invest in the UK.
But then we have the potential for the generation of Gigawatts of offshore wind, that is less of a resource for France.
Gore Street Energy’s £60mln Fundraise Significantly Oversubscribed
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Proactive Investors.
Surprise! Surprise!
Well not to me! Or I suspect Which!
This article on Which is entitled Solar Panel Battery Popularity Is Booming: Should You Buy One?
I have read the article and it leaves, the overall impression, that the UK population are thinking seriously about adding batteries to their solar panels.
So if the UK population is thinking seriously about personal energy storage, it would be very surprising if professional fund managers weren’t thinking the same.
After all, I did write World’s Largest Wind Farm Attracts Huge Backing From Insurance Giant, over two years ago.
So if we’re operating and commissioning offshore wind farms like these.
- Dogger Bank – 4.8 MW
- Gwynt y Mor – 576 MW
- East Anglia Array – 7.2 GW
- Hornsea – 6 GW
- London Array – 630 MW
- Walney – 1.7 GW
- Whitelee – 539 MW
We’re going to need some humungous batteries to tide us through calm periods.
As I write this post on a Monday afternoon, the UK is generating 11.5 GW of electricity by wind, which is more than we’re generating by biomass, coal and nuclear combined.
This is a quote from Alex O’Cinneide, who is Gore Street Capital’s chief executive, in the Proactive Investors article.
We are looking forward to deploying this capital against our significant global pipeline of 1.3GW and towards the capital expenditure requirements in the company’s existing 440MW portfolio.
Gore Street certainly seem to be expanding, their portfolio of batteries.
Conclusion
The City of London has discovered renewable energy and found a way to fund it, to the benefit of all investors, from the guy with a pension managed by a reputable company to global insurance companies, funds and other companies, who have billions of pounds, dollars or euros, that needs a profitable home.
The next big development will come, when a company like Gore Street goes Giga and decide to fund Gigawatt batteries being developed by the next generation of energy storage companies, like Gravitricity, Highview Power, Siemens Ganesa and Zinc8.
Work Begins On New Substation For World’s Longest Electricity Cable Between Denmark and Lincolnshire
The title of this post, is the same as that, of this article on Lincolnshire Live.
This is the sub-title.
Britain and Denmark will be able to share enough clean energy to power 1.5 million homes.
The Viking Link is a 1400 MW at 525 KV electricity interconnector between Bicker Fen in Lincolnshire and Revsing in Jutland, Denmark.
This Google Map, shows the location of Bicker Fen, about halfway between Boston and Sleaford.
This second map shows an enlarged view of the Bicker Fen area.
Note.
- The village of Bicker in the South-East corner of the map.
- In the North-West corner of the map is Bicker Fen Wind Farm.
This third map shows the wind farm.
Note the thirteen wind turbines between the two sub-stations full of wo electrical gubbins.
This sentence from the Wikipedia entry for Bicker, gives more details of the wind farm and the future plans for the area.
North of the main line of 400 kV pylons is the Bicker Fen windfarm consisting of 13 turbines producing 26 MW (2 MW each), enough for 14,000 homes. The construction of the windfarm met some local objection. The windmills sit north from Poplartree Farm and were built in June 2008 by Wind Prospect for EdF. They are of the type REpower MM82, made in Hamburg. Bicker Fen substation is also the proposed landing site for a 1,400 MW power cable from Denmark called Viking Link, as well as the proposed offshore wind farm Triton Knoll.
Triton Knoll is a big wind farm, with a planned capacity of 857 MW and should start producing electricity in the next couple of years.
Conclusion
The Viking Link and Triton Knoll are obviously a good fit, as the UK will be able to exchange energy as required.
But it would appear that there’s one thing missing from this setup – energy storage.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a large battery built at Bicker Fen. Something, like one of Highview Power‘s CRYOBatteries might be ideal.
The Anonymous Widower 