Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

2nd_time_buyer

Does anyone know when Hornsea 2 will be operating? It was scheduled for June 2022 but I can't see any revised dates and it is not showing up in the Crown Estate asset map:

https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/en-gb/what-we-do/asset-map/

 

Martyn1981

Hardly important news, but made me scream "AAAAHHHHHH!". Our DNO, Western Power Distribution, is to rename 'National Grid'. So even more of a headache trying to explain the difference between the whole "the nation's grid", the transmission network run by a company called the "National Grid", and the distribution network operated by 10 DNO's of varying names, now including one called "National Grid".

From September, Western Power Distribution will be known as National Grid.

zeupater

70sbudgie said:

zeupater said:

70sbudgie said:

Appreciate it doesn't cover everything, but does this link explain it better than me?
https://www.nationalgrideso.com/electricity-explained/how-do-we-balance-grid/what-inertia

Also, this is a capacity map from one of the DNOs showing where it is still possible to connect power stations to their distribution network... (You might need to click a couple times to view the image)
https://www.westernpower.co.uk/our-network/network-capacity

Considering comments made, it's probably beneficial to next research the effect of transformers on frequency as this is the subject at hand (re:inertia)  >> hint, there isn't any, they just maintain frequency at differing voltages & add to network losses (heat/noise) and therefore act as a a background load .... however, don't just accept the ramblings of some random profile on a forum, spend some time on a trusted source & check for yourself!

HTH - Z

I'm not sure if this is aimed at me or others!

Inertia impacts on the network in more ways than just the frequency. I am not disagreeing with any of your comments, but they seem to be viewing inertia from a fairly narrow perspective. And that's kind of the point of my original comment - if inertia is viewed only as affecting one aspect of the transmission network, the repercussions of fixing that issue rather than looking at the system as a whole could be very widespread (and disastrous, though that is possibly too strong a word).

Hi

Inertia is simply resistance to change ... think of the mass of a comet travelling at a set velocity in a certain direction, that comet has momentum and a level of kinetic energy relative to it's mass & velocity and will continue to travel forever in that direction unless acted upon by a force. The force required to alter the velocity over time would need to be equivalent to the resistance to change to the kinetic energy (/momentum) over that time ... this is effectively the linear equivalent to & basis of rotational inertia in spinning mass.

In electrical terms, when total generation equals total load there is a degree of balance and the mass of the spinning generators maintain their rotational speed, which is pretty useful in an AC world because the design of the magnetic fields in the generators combined with the speed of rotation define the AC frequency ... however, adding or removing load changes the balance & acts as an accelerating force (+ or -) which either slows or increases the rate of rotation & therefore the frequency ... in simply monitoring the grid frequency you can gauge how much the total generation available needs to be altered (ie - injection of electrons!) and this is controlled/maintained by the National Grid by instructing individual suppliers ... at the moment of writing this the grid frequency is 49.881Hz, so more generation will likely be called for soon(ish) ... there you go, a few minutes later & it's now raised 49.895Hz ... 

If there is a difference between different area of the electricity infrastructure, it's not frequency related as that's effectively universal across the UK network, it's voltage drop due to the combination of distance from generation source/distribution capacity/transformer capacity/transformer setup & spot demand ... all for a given location ... a property a few miles further down the same line provided from a particular substation will have a lower voltage than one much closer but always the same frequency, however, introducing microgeneration at the further point would match & raise the local voltage to a point where supply exceeds local line demand and current (electrons!) flow back through various transformers towards the next nearest area demand operating at a lower voltage ... (current flows from high voltage to low) ... this is all within the design & provision responsibilities of the DNO.

HTH - Z   

    

zeupater

Martyn1981 said:

Hardly important news, but made me scream "AAAAHHHHHH!". Our DNO, Western Power Distribution, is to rename 'National Grid'. So even more of a headache trying to explain the difference between the whole "the nation's grid", the transmission network run by a company called the "National Grid", and the distribution network operated by 10 DNO's of varying names, now including one called "National Grid".

From September, Western Power Distribution will be known as National Grid.

Hi

Saw that there was a proposal for NG to acquire WPD some time early last year, but had almost forgotten about it ... mind though, it must be somewhere around 5/6 times the old MEB has exchanged hands or rebranded in ~25 years, so no shock (pun intended) to 'hear' the news ... 

HTH - Z

Martyn1981

Yes, frequency regulation caught my eye, because of the recent chat, but as the article points out, there is a dramatic rise in battery deployment for price arbitrage, which sounds promising to me, since 'money making' is a great way to drive an industry forward, so RE / storage that's economically viable is always good news.

[Note that deployments can serve multiple applications, so more than one potential income stream.]

Grid-Scale Battery Storage In US Tripled In 2021

During 2021, 59% of the 4.6 GW of utility-scale US battery capacity was used for price arbitrage, up from 17% in 2019. In certain markets, price arbitrage is more common than in others. For example, more than 80% of the battery capacity added in 2021 in the California Independent System Operator service territory was used for price arbitrage.

ABrass

It's worth remembering that price arbitrage is another way of describing buying electricity when there's a surplus and selling it when there's extra demand. Which brings us to the terrifying conclusion:

Grid scale batteries are being used to flatten ducks.
https://cleanenergygrid.org/california-has-too-much-solar-power-it-needs-another-grid-to-share-with/

silverwhistle

ABrass said:

It's worth remembering that price arbitrage is another way of describing buying electricity when there's a surplus and selling it when there's extra demand. Which brings us to the terrifying conclusion:

Haven't read the link yet, but isn't arbitrage also "where" there is surplus/demand?

As to inertia, is it so important in a world where we can match total generation to total load (or vice versa?) more effectively given the tools we now have at our disposal? Diversity is probably greater these days as well (fewer ad-break kettle scenarios :-) ).

I can see that certain areas may be less well connected to the grid, but it's historically been the case that major generation sources have often been some distance from the ultimate consumer. Why would more localised generation impact the generation/load matching process adversely? With the advent of V2G or calling on battery storage on a localised basis surely inertia would become even less important?

Questions, questions..

ed110220

silverwhistle said:

ABrass said:

It's worth remembering that price arbitrage is another way of describing buying electricity when there's a surplus and selling it when there's extra demand. Which brings us to the terrifying conclusion:

Haven't read the link yet, but isn't arbitrage also "where" there is surplus/demand?

As to inertia, is it so important in a world where we can match total generation to total load (or vice versa?) more effectively given the tools we now have at our disposal? Diversity is probably greater these days as well (fewer ad-break kettle scenarios :-) ).

I can see that certain areas may be less well connected to the grid, but it's historically been the case that major generation sources have often been some distance from the ultimate consumer. Why would more localised generation impact the generation/load matching process adversely? With the advent of V2G or calling on battery storage on a localised basis surely inertia would become even less important?

Questions, questions..

It's an issue, but I think it's sometimes exaggerated.

Here's South Australia's grid over the past 7 days. As you can see it's now routinely running at 95+% solar + wind with minimal gas generation for periods of the day. And the sky hasn't fallen and people's electrical appliances haven't blown up



See https://opennem.org.au/energy/sa1/?range=7d&interval=30m

70sbudgie

Martyn1981 said:

Hardly important news, but made me scream "AAAAHHHHHH!". Our DNO, Western Power Distribution, is to rename 'National Grid'. So even more of a headache trying to explain the difference between the whole "the nation's grid", the transmission network run by a company called the "National Grid", and the distribution network operated by 10 DNO's of varying names, now including one called "National Grid".

From September, Western Power Distribution will be known as National Grid.

National Grid is the name of the company that currently owns and operates the transmission network. The distribution network is split into 14 different license areas, which are owned and operated by a collection of different companies. (the DNOs)

In 2017, the UK government forced National Grid to split into two parts - the TSO (transmission system operator) and the TNO (transmission network operator).

Earlier this year it was announced that the UK government is buying the TSO off National Grid. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/06/national-grid-to-be-partially-nationalised-to-help-reach-net-zero-targets
However, I have yet to find any further information to back up this article, so am starting to wonder.

(I think also earlier this year, but I'm not sure) National Grid announced it's intention to buy the WPD license areas (I think there are four or five?). I believe it was investigated by the Monopolies Comission, but seeing as they are now proactively marketing the name change, it must have made it through.

What with the networks going through the price control review and the electricity market review by BEIS, the electricity networks in this country look set to change significantly over the next 6-12 months.

Martyn1981

Couple of bits of news from REnews.

All 93 UK CfD round 4 projects sign contracts

All 99 contracts offered through the fourth Allocation Round (AR4) of the UK government’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme have now been signed and returned to Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC).

A total of 93 individual projects across Britain will now proceed to work closely with LCCC to meet the contractual milestones specified in the CfD, supporting projects’ development and the delivery of almost 11GW of clean energy.

The variety of technologies supported through AR4 – including tidal stream and floating offshore wind for the first time, as well as established solar, onshore and offshore wind technologies – mean this round is the CfD scheme’s most diverse yet, as well as its largest, LCCC said. 

UK pension funds buy 12.5% Hornsea 1 stake

Octopus Energy Generation and GLIL Infrastructure have acquired a 12.5% stake in UK offshore wind farm Hornsea 1 from Global Infrastructure Partners.

Octopus made a £200m investment on behalf of Nest, one of the UK’s largest pension schemes representing a third of the UK workforce.

GLIL Infrastructure, a UK infrastructure investor initially set up by London Pensions Fund Authority and Greater Manchester Pension Fund in 2015, is also investing £200m.

The deal represents GLIL's first ever offshore wind investment.

The Orsted-operated 1218MW Hornsea 1 wind farm comprises 174 wind turbines and has been generating power since 2020.