Energy Global Spring 2022

ENERGY GL BAL SPRING 2022

Sustainable Steam Turbine Solutions

VISIT WEBSITE

ENERGY GLOBAL

CONTENTS 03. Guest comment

SPRING 2022

26. Enabling the energy transition Richard Thwaites, Penso Power, UK.

04. Leading the way

30. The key to progress

Pavan Vyakaranam, GlobalData, India.

John C. Dulude, J.S. Held, USA.

36. Energy storage under the sea Robert Heron and Roy MacLean, Verlume, UK. Pavan Vyakaranam, GlobalData, India, discusses Asia’s success in the global renewable power market, and how the region proposes to extend its lead as renewable energy takes off around the world.

40. Software: an anchor amidst change

A

sia is at the forefront in the adoption of renewable sources for power generation and is one of the fastest growing regions in the world. It is the largest regional renewable power market, and the region accounted for 51.1% of the global cumulative renewable capacity in 2020. Of the total renewable capacity additions in 2020, the region had over a 60% share, and in terms of generation from renewables it had a share of 43.6%.

In 2021, Asia is estimated to account for 52.1% of global renewable installed capacity, a 58% share in annual renewable capacity additions, and a 45.5% share in electricity from renewables. It is expected that the region will continue to lead the global renewable power market during the forecast period until 2030.

Jeff Damron, Wärtsilä’s Energy Storage and Optimisation Business, USA.

44. A new dawn for energy

Market status Power consumption across the world declined in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries imposed lockdown measures to control the spread of COVID-19.

These lockdown measures resulted in the closure of industries and commercial establishments for long periods of time. This resulted in a steep decline in power consumption. Several Asian countries including India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand, reported steep declines in their power consumption in 2020. However, overall the Asian region witnessed an increase in power consumption in 2020,

4

ENERGY GLOBAL

SPRING 2022

John Prendergast, Senior Commercial Manager at RES, UK and Ireland.

5

04

10. The Sun rises on solar

Dr Isao Takasu, Toshiba Corporation, Japan.

14. The best of both worlds Francesc Filiberto, BNZ, Spain.

18. Take a leap

48. Heading offshore

Matthieu Guesné, Lhyfe, France.

54. Make an impact

Kathrin Röck, Voith Hydro, Germany.

58. The power of trees

John Halkett, Sweetman Renewables Ltd, Australia.

62. Global news

Gary Bills, K2 Management, Director of Projects EMEA, UK.

22. Think outside the box Herbert Williams, Keuka Energy, USA.

Reader enquiries [enquiries@energyglobal.com]

ON THIS ISSUE'S COVER

ENERGY GL BAL SPRING 2022

With more than 60 years of experience, Seal For Life Industries offers the most diversified coating solutions on the market for superior infrastructure protection. In the rapidly growing renewable energy sector, Seal For Life is primed to provide the vital protection the industry infrastructure needs with a wide range of brands and products.

The company's goal: to make renewable energy truly sustainable.

To learn more, visit: www.sealforlife.com

Copyright © Palladian Publications Ltd 2022. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. All views expressed in this journal are those of the respective contributors and are not necessarily the opinions of the publisher, neither do the publishers endorse any of the claims made in the articles or the advertisements.

OFC_EG_Spring__2022.indd 1

10/03/2022 14:02

Advance your operations with

4G/5G private networks With an increase in size and number of turbines at more geographically remote locations, wind farm maintenance costs are greater. The larger the operation, the bigger the impact that system downtime has on revenue.

Commercial mobile services are not always available in these remote areas, and traditional communication solutions such as VHF radio, Tetra and satellite come with performance limitations. This makes it difficult to deploy promising use cases requiring ultra-low latency, or to cost-effectively keep pace with the greater data transfer requirements of connecting onsite workers, large vessels, and operations centers.

Nokia’s 4.9G/LTE and 5G Industrial-grade Private Wireless solutions can help you address these challenges, increase worker safety, and optimize your operations.

They enable you to accelerate your Industry 4.0 strategy with digitalization and automation options that span from construction, to control, to maintenance of your operation.

A private 4G/LTE solution ensures that wind farm operators can keep workers, vessels, sensors, and operation centers reliably connected. This broadband wireless network provides workers with voice, video, and data capabilities to boost safety and productivity while eliminating the need to invest in a separate VHF mobile radio system. The LTE coverage provides off-duty crew members with broadband access during long periods at sea.

Real-time communications and operation monitoring enables greater situational awareness, improves overall maintenance operations, and optimizes the value of your generation assets.

With the pervasive connectivity, low-latency and bandwidth needed to implement more automated controls, Industrial-grade Private Wireless makes sure your operation runs as efficiently and smoothly as possible.

Empower your workers, wind farm and digitalization with 4G/5G.

Download the Belgian North Sea Wind farms connected case study to learn more.

To learn more about these solutions please visit our website

https://www.nokia.com/networks/industries/renewable-energy CID:210472

COMMENT Giles Dickson CEO of WindEurope MANAGING EDITOR James Little james.little@palladianpublications.com SENIOR EDITOR Callum O’Reilly callum.oreilly@palladianpublications.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Sarah Smith sarah.smith@palladianpublications.com EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Abi Larkin abigail.larkin@palladianpublications.com SALES DIRECTOR Rod Hardy rod.hardy@palladianpublications.com SALES MANAGER Will Pownall will.pownall@palladianpublications.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Calli Fabian calli.fabian@palladianpublications.com DIGITAL EVENTS MANAGER Louise Cameron louise.cameron@palladianpublications.com ADMIN MANAGER Laura White laura.white@palladianpublications.com DIGITAL ADMINISTRATOR Lauren Fox lauren.fox@palladianpublications.com VIDEO CONTENT ASSISTANT Molly Bryant molly.bryant@palladianpublications.com

Editorial/Advertisement Offices: Palladian Publications Ltd 15 South Street, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 7QU, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1252 718 999 Website: www.energyglobal.com

ENERGY GL BAL

W

ind energy is set to become Europe’s biggest source of electricity before 2040. The EU wants wind to generate 50% of Europe’s electricity by 2050. To that end, they want 1000 GW of onshore wind and 300 GW of offshore wind by 2050 in the EU alone. This is up from 165 GW and 15 GW respectively in 2020. Wind can deliver this, provided certain key challenges are overcome. More on the challenges below. First why we need more wind…

Wind has proven resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic. The production of electricity from wind continued when other forms of energy struggled. In 2020, wind was 16% of all electricity produced in Europe. Wind is cheap and scalable.

It is perfectly positioned to lead the economic recovery after COVID-19. Every new turbine installed in Europe generates roughly €10 million in economic activity – creating jobs and directly benefiting communities near wind farms.

In addition, COVID-19 and the gas crisis have shown the downsides of Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels. The European Commission is very clear: renewables are not responsible for the surge in electricity prices. They are a solution to it. Increasing the domestic production of renewable electricity will make Europe’s energy system less dependent on fossil imports and fluctuations on the international energy markets.

Whenever Europe builds a new wind turbine under a Contract-for-Difference scheme today, it knows the price of the electricity this turbine will produce over the next 15 - 20 years – an investment security fossil fuels just cannot offer.

Furthermore, wind technology keeps improving and wind energy is one of the cheapest forms of electricity production in Europe today. More powerful turbines and higher capacity factors indicate a more reliable generation of electricity from wind. 2022 will be a particularly big year for floating offshore wind. The Scotwind tender alone could add up to 15 GW of floating wind capacity by the mid-2030s. The optimisation of electricity grids and improvements in storage technology

make the integration of ever more wind in the electricity system possible. For several hours in 2022, wind provided 86% of Ireland’s electricity demand and 79% of Germany’s electricity demand – and the electricity grids remained stable.

However, to deliver the huge expansion in wind energy the EU wants, several key challenges have to be overcome.

One such challenge is that the post-COVID-19 recovery puts stress on European OEMs. The European wind industry is a globalised one. We rely on functioning international trade flows for raw materials and wind turbine components.

Cost pressures along the supply chain have increased. Raw materials, shipping, components – everything is getting more expensive. Wind energy manufacturers and suppliers have been working on tight margins for years already. Companies such as Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, GE Renewables, and Vestas Wind Systems have warned of turbulent times ahead. Only one in five European manufacturers is making a profit today.

Another challenge is permitting, which remains the biggest hurdle for new wind. The market for wind energy is only half as big as it should be. The EU wants to build 30 GW of new wind capacity each year until 2030. Currently the region is only building 15 GW. That is mostly because permitting procedures are too long and cumbersome. Solving the permitting issue will lead to more installations and reduce the current pressure on European OEMs and suppliers.

Governments must urgently fix permitting and guarantee a healthy European market for wind energy. Germany and others have understood, and the European Commission is preparing a Guidance Document for Member States on how to improve permitting.

Governments should also start recognising the wider societal value that wind energy brings.

They should look beyond the pure financial cost of wind farms and consider also how sustainable they are and what they are contributing to their local economy.

Pavan Vyakaranam, GlobalData, India, discusses Asia’s success in the global renewable power market, and how the region proposes to extend its lead as renewable energy takes off around the world.

A

sia is at the forefront in the adoption of renewable sources for power generation and is one of the fastest growing regions in the world. It is the largest regional renewable power market, and the region accounted for 51.1% of the global cumulative renewable capacity in 2020. Of the total renewable capacity additions in 2020, the region had over a 60% share, and in terms of generation from renewables it had a share of 43.6%.

In 2021, Asia is estimated to account for 52.1% of global renewable installed capacity, a 58% share in annual renewable capacity additions, and a 45.5% share in electricity from renewables. It is expected that the region will continue to lead the global renewable power market during the forecast period until 2030.

Market status Power consumption across the world declined in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries imposed lockdown measures to control the spread of COVID-19.

These lockdown measures resulted in the closure of industries and commercial establishments for long periods of time. This resulted in a steep decline in power consumption. Several Asian countries including India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand, reported steep declines in their power consumption in 2020. However, overall the Asian

4

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

5

region witnessed an increase in power consumption in 2020, increasing by 1.5% compared to 2019. This was driven by an increase in power consumption in countries such as China, Pakistan, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

There was no negative impact of COVID-19 in terms of capacity additions in 2020 - 2021 in the region. However, there were some minor supply disruptions and an increase in raw material prices which resulted in an increase in cost trajectory for the first time in a decade. In terms of capacity augmentation, 2020 was the best year for renewable installations with a 56.5% increase in annual additions for

renewables in Asia. It is estimated that 2021 will surpass 2020 annual renewable additions with a y/y increase of 7%.

The cumulative installed renewable capacity in Asia stood at 1076.8 GW in 2021, holding a significant share of 52% globally. The cumulative installed renewable capacity in the region has witnessed significant growth in the last decade and increased from 163.6 GW in 2010 to the present level.

Figure 2 illustrates cumulative installed renewable power capacity by source in Asia during 2010 - 2021.

Solar photovoltaics (PV) leads the renewable power capacity in the region with a share of 45% in 2020 and 46.8% in 2021. Solar PV was followed by wind, small hydro, biopower, and other renewables (such as solar thermal and geothermal) which accounted for 37.1%, 9.2%, 6.4%, and 0.5% respectively in 2021.

Figure 3 illustrates the technology-wise split of the cumulative installed renewable power capacity in Asia in 2021.

Major countries China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam are the top five renewable markets both in terms of cumulative installed capacity and annual capacity additions in 2020. The top five countries accounted for 95.9% of the region’s total renewable capacity in 2020 and 2021. These countries held a 97.4% and 96.3% share of the annual renewable capacity addition in Asia in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

Governments across Southeast Asia have accelerated their investments in the renewable power sector to revive their economies which were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the second phase of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plan of Action for Energy Co-operation 2021 - 2025, the governments across ASEAN, which includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, have set a target of increasing the share of renewables in the installed power capacity to 35% in the region by 2025.

China is the largest renewable power market not only in Asia but also across the world. It is currently the world’s largest producer of renewable electricity, the world’s largest investor in renewable energy, and the world’s largest manufacturer of solar PV modules and wind turbines.

China alone accounted for a 71.2% share of the cumulative renewable installed capacity in 2020 and it holds a share of 75.1% in annual renewable capacity additions in 2020.

China’s renewable installed capacity additions can be attributed to targets assigned in its five year plans (FYPs)

Figure 1. Renewable power market, share by region (%), 2021.

Source: GlobalData Power Database.

Figure 2. Renewable power market, Asia, cumulative installed capacity, 2010 - 2021. Source: GlobalData Power Database.

Table 1. Renewable power market in Asia: Cumulative installed capacity (GW) by country, 2020 - 2021. Source: GlobalData Power Database 2020

6

2021

2020 vs 2021

2020

2021

Country

Wind

Solar PV

Others

Total renewables

Total renewables

% Growth

% Share

% Share

China

289.0

253.7

113.0

655.7

774.1

18.1

71.2

71.9

India

39.3

41.2

15.7

96.2

108.5

12.8

10.4

10.1

Japan

4.4

71.5

9.5

85.4

93.3

9.2

9.3

8.7

Vietnam

0.6

16.8

3.4

20.9

28.5

36.4

2.3

2.6

South Korea

1.6

15.8

7.2

24.6

28.6

16.3

2.7

2.7

Rest of Asia

5.0

15.8

17.2

38.0

43.8

15.1

4.1

4.1

Asia Total

340.0

414.8

166.0

920.8

1076.8

16.9

100.0

100.0

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

and political will. In 2016, the government introduced the 13th FYP for the period 2016 - 2020. Key objectives of the 13th FYP included increasing the share of non-fossil energy in total primary energy consumption to 15% by 2020, increasing installed renewable power capacity to 680 GW by 2020, promoting offshore wind and ocean power development, leading renewable energy technology innovation, resolving renewable power curtailment issues, and reducing reliance on foreign companies. China could achieve most of the objectives outlined in its 13th FYP and overachieved wind and solar targets for 2020.

India possesses immense renewable energy potential. It is one of the five leading countries in the world in terms of total renewable energy installed capacity. This means that the country is capable of powering its growing economy with secure and affordable energy supply. Wind power installations in India during the historic period are mainly driven by accelerated depreciation, excise duty exemption for manufacturers, concessional import duties on certain components of wind electric generators, an auction mechanism, and a 10 year tax holiday on income generated from wind power projects. Solar in India is mainly driven by specific targets, solar carve-outs in renewable purchase obligations, an auction mechanism for large scale solar, net metering for rooftop solar, and safeguard duty to promote domestic manufacturing. India is the second largest renewable market in Asia with a 10.4% share in total capacity in 2020. It is expected that India’s share in annual renewable capacity additions in the region is 7.9% in 2021.

Japan is currently the third largest renewable power market in Asia. The country emerged as the leading renewable power market, mainly for solar, after the implementation of a feed-in tariff (FIT) mechanism in 2012.

Currently, Japan provides FIT for PV installations up to 250 kW and installations greater than 250 kW are allotted through an auction mechanism. Japan also offers FIT for other renewable sources such as wind, biomass, small hydro, and geothermal.

Cumulative installed capacity for renewable power in Japan was 85.4 GW in 2020 and 93.3 GW in 2021. Japan had a 6.2% share of annual capacity additions in Asia in 2020.

Vietnam has found a place among the top five countries in the Asia region as the country increased its renewable power capacity by a massive 118.2% in 2020 as compared to 2019. This growth was mainly driven by the generous FITs offered by the Vietnamese government for solar PV installations. Vietnam had a share of 7.8% of annual capacity additions in 2020 and its share in cumulative renewable capacity was 2.3% in 2020 and 2.6% in 2021.

South Korea is the fifth largest renewable power market in Asia and accounted for a 2.7% share in the region’s total renewable capacity in 2021. Renewable portfolio standard (RPS) is one of the key drivers for the increase in renewable capacity in the last decade. South Korea has raised its RPS for 2022 to 12.5% from 10%. The country, to attain its climate objectives, has set long-term renewable targets with specific capacity targets for wind (mainly offshore wind) and solar.

Table 1 shows the cumulative capacity of renewable power in the top five Asian countries in 2020 and 2021.

Figure 3. Renewable capacity mix in Asia (%), 2021. Source: GlobalData Power Database.

Figure 4. Renewable power market, Asia, cumulative installed capacity, 2022 - 2030. Source: GlobalData Power Database.

Outlook Renewable installations in Asia are mainly driven by the increase in electricity demand, decarbonisation goals, renewable targets, renewable auctions, FIT, and other incentives. Electricity consumption in Asia is expected to increase from 11 008 TWh in 2020 to reach 16 460 TWh in 2030 at a CAGR of approximately 4.1%.

All major Asian countries have set ambitious targets for renewables and reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which will continue to spur the addition of renewable power capacity in the region. Countries including China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Kazakhstan, South Korea, and Thailand, among others in the region, are party to the Paris Climate Agreement and have submitted their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) to the United Nations (UN) aimed towards reducing their GHG emissions.

China’s 14th FYP set for 2021 - 2025 has even more aggressive goals. The plan aims at 20% energy from renewable sources, extensive expansion of solar PV and wind power, construction of several clean energy complexes (hybrid), and focuses on increasing energy storage facilities, especially for solar PV. Based on these plans, China’s solar PV capacity will likely exceed 550 GW by 2025. The Indian government set a renewable power installed capacity target of 450 GW by 2030 comprising of

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

7

300 GW for solar PV, 140 GW for wind, and 10 GW for biopower.

The target is further revised to 500 GW by 2030 in line with its NDC. Table 2 provides carbon neutral target years and renewable targets of select countries in Asia.

Governments across Asia have framed favourable policies for the development of the renewables sector in their respective countries to attain their climate goals or targets. Strong policy support from governments has enabled rapid renewable capacity additions across the region, particularly for solar PV and wind power in the historic period and will continue to do so in the future. FITs were the most preferred form of incentive for renewables. However, FITs paved way for a more competitive auction mechanism for large scale installations, mainly in the case of wind and solar. FITs remain a preferred Table 2. Renewable energy and carbon neutral targets of select Asian countries. Source: UNFCCC, Country Regulatory Agencies, GlobalData Country

Carbon neutral target year

Renewable target To achieve 25% non-fossil in its primary energy in 2030.

China

2060 To build over 1200 GW of solar and wind power by 2030.

The achieve renewable power capacity of 500 GW by 2030.

India

2070

Japan

2050

To achieve a target of 50% share of energy from non-fossil fuels by 2030.

Renewable power generation to achieve 22 - 24% share in total power generation by 2030.

Aims to increase the share of renewable electricity to 20% by 2030 and to 42% by 2034.

South Korea

2050

Vietnam

2050

Cumulative installed capacity for wind power to reach 17.7 GW (12 GW for offshore), and solar PV to reach 36.4 GW by 2030.

Plans to increase solar capacity to 18.6 GW and wind capacity to 18.0 GW by 2030.

Target of 27 GW of installed renewable power capacity by 2025.

Taiwan

2050 To increase the share of renewable power generation to 20% by 2025

8

Kazakhstan

2060

To increase the share of renewable energy in domestic electricity generation to 6% by 2025, 10% by 2030, and 50% by 2050.

Malaysia

2050

To achieve 31% of its power generation from renewables by 2025 and 40% in 2035.

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

mechanism to promote small scale renewable installations such as rooftop solar, small hydro, bioenergy, and geothermal.

Auctions or competitive bidding have gained popularity among Asian countries. The auction mechanism promoted large scale renewable installations, mainly wind and solar. Auctions also helped in price discovery and lowering the costs of wind and solar projects. India and Japan have been successfully implementing tenders and auctions for large scale wind and solar. Many others, such as China and Vietnam, are in transition from FIT to a competitive auction mechanism. China stopped providing FITs for renewable projects from 2021 and shifted to a reverse bidding mechanism.

In January 2022, the Philippines opened a tender for 2 GW of renewable capacity on the islands of Luzon (1.4 GW), Visayas (400 MW), and Mindanao (400 MW). Solar accounts for 1260 MW, wind 380 MW, biomass 230 MW, and hydro 130 MW of capacity offered under the tender. The first-round tender under the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP) is part of the Philippine government’s aim of achieving a 35% renewables share by 2030 and 50% by 2040. The Philippine utility Meralco launched a 850 MW renewables tender, of which 600 MW is expected to commission in February 2026 and another 250 MW in February 2027.

In October 2021, Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) declared winners for the supply of 2.5 GW round the clock (RTC) power from grid connected renewable projects bundled with thermal power. SECI is likely to retender a 2.25 GW capacity this year as the winners failed to match the lowest tariff to secure the letter of award (LOA). According to the RTC tender document, the bidders should match the lowest bid of INR3.01 (US$0.04)/kWh won by Hindustan Thermal for a 250 MW project.

In Japan’s first fixed-bottom offshore wind auction results declared in December 2021, the Mitsubishi-led consortium was selected for the 819 MW Yurihonjo offshore wind farm, the 478.8 MW Noshiro Mitane Oga project, and the 390.6 MW Choshi project. The Choshi project is expected to be commissioned in September 2028, the Noshiro Mitane Oga project is expected to commission in December 2028, and the Yurihonjo project will commission in December 2030.

China auctioned 12 GW of wind capacity in 2H20, and the country auctioned 22.8 GW solar PV capacity in 2019 and 25.9 GW in 2020. The auctioned capacity is expected to commission from 2022.

To attain renewable targets and climate goals, an auction mechanism will be the predominant driver to promote large scale renewable installations in Asia. By 2030, the cumulative installed renewable power capacity in the region is expected to reach 2644.6 GW, at a CAGR of 10.5% during the 2021 - 2030 period. Asia will continue to lead the global renewables market with a steady share of approximately 52% of the total global renewable capacity during 2022 - 2030. Solar (both PV and solar thermal) will continue to be a leading renewable source and its share in cumulative renewable capacity in Asia will increase from 47% in 2021 to approximately a 54% share in 2030. Wind power is expected to add approximately 572.5 GW during 2022 - 2030. China, India, Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea will remain key renewable countries in the region during 2022 - 2030.

Dr Isao Takasu, Toshiba Corporation, Japan, discusses the growing global solar market and the developments in photovoltaic technology that are helping the industry to flourish.

A

cross the world, countries and organisations are striving to reduce their carbon emissions and meet ambitious sustainability goals. The recent United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, placed a magnifying glass on the current situation, and it is vitally important in the coming months and years that sustainability efforts continue to intensify both at a geopolitical, enterprise, and societal level.

As carbon emissions are reduced, the emphasis must be placed on transitioning to renewable energy sources to replace them. Steady progress is being made here – according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), renewables made up 29% of global electricity generation in 2020.1 While hydropower is currently responsible for much of this, both wind and solar power are also growing in usage and are expected to contribute to two-thirds of total growth in renewables. The concern is that, with over 70% of energy still being generated by non-renewable sources, the rate at which the transition to sustainable power generation is achieved needs to exponentially increase.

The rise of solar Solar itself offers significant potential, but is one such renewable energy source yet to be maximised. There are several ways in which solar energy can be generated, including concentrated solar energy (CSP) and thermal, but currently photovoltaic (PV) modules are the primary source. Global electricity generation by this method is rapidly growing – it is expected to have increased by almost 18% in 2021.

Yet even with this significant forward step, greater progress is required. As the IEA states, while “policy deadlines led to a PV deployment boom in 2020 […] more effort is needed to reach 2030 net zero levels.”2 Put simply, increasing usage of PV power generation will be essential to achieving carbon neutrality.

Maximising the potential of PV modules Today’s most widely used PV modules are made with crystalline silicon – a heavy and rigid composition which limits where they can be installed. For example, as of today mega-solar power plants have generally been installed on vacant sites or in mountains, but there are fewer places where conventional silicon mega-solar power plants can be installed. Yet given the need for more rapid acceleration towards solar, there is a growing need for large scale electricity generation in urban areas. Local production for local consumption will be the key in the future.

It is for this reason that the polymer film-based perovskite PV module offers an attractive next-generation alternative, boasting a number of benefits over the widely-used crystalline silicon PV modules. Thinner, lighter, and more flexible perovskite PV modules can be installed in locations where it is too difficult to use silicon PV modules, such as low load-bearing roofs and office windows. Within urban environments where space is at a premium, this offers a game-changing solution for solar power generation – significantly expanding the number of existing locations where PV modules can be installed.

One need only imagine the financial or business district of any major city, filled with glass-fronted buildings, to realise the opportunity for such technology.

While polymer film-based perovskite PV modules have the potential to drive solar power generation to the levels needed to meet carbon net zero targets, the current issue with them when compared to

10

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

11

the silicon modules is their comparably inefficient power conversion efficiency (PCE) rates. That is to say, they cannot yet generate as much energy from a set amount of sunlight as their counterparts.

Innovation paving the way to change ‘Yet’ is the crucial word in the previous sentence – the potential for perovskite PV modules to deliver similar PCE rates to silicon versions is very much real, and Toshiba has made significant steps in achieving this through its new one-step meniscus coating method. The coating method for perovskite PV modules has been a stumbling block until now, as a previous two-step method led to a low-coating rate which often resulted in unreacted sections in the perovskite layer – and subsequently a lower PCE. The breakthrough one-step coating method boosts PCE to 15.1% for a 703 cm2 sized module – the world’s highest for any large, polymer film-based perovskite PV module (based on a Toshiba survey of 100 cm2 or larger film-based perovskite solar modules with a plastic substrate, as of 10 September 2021). This is because Toshiba uses improved ink, as well as enhanced film drying processes and production equipment, to form a uniform perovskite layer over the entire area. A further benefit is the speed at which the coating is applied, with it now being 25 times faster than Toshiba’s previous two-step process. This results in the wider process being 50 times faster, given there is a need for just one layer of coating, and subsequently means the solution now achieves a rate that meets the requirements for mass production. In turn, this both simplifies and reduces the costs of production, making the technology a commercially viable option for the future.

While these latest advancements are significant, there are further challenges ahead within the research and development phase before such technologies are ready to be commercialised, with Toshiba aiming to bring its modules to market in 2025.

Within the next three years, there is a need to achieve even greater levels of conversion efficiency, as well as higher durability levels. It is also important to bring down the manufacturing costs of the panels through the use of more cost-effective materials.

Applications from urban to rural environments Coupled with the aforementioned benefits of perovskite, Toshiba’s innovation paves the way for potential wide scale implementation of next-generation solar panel technology. It is estimated that the new technology could generate enough power to cover two-thirds of the annual power consumption of homes in Tokyo, Japan, if installed on a roof area of 164.9 km2 – that being roughly equal to the roof surface area of all buildings in Tokyo, Toshiba estimates.3 However, application examples are not just limited to metropolitan areas, with the technology potentially being beneficial across industries such as manufacturing and agriculture too.

Take the latter of these as an example. As the transparency of perovskite solar cells can be controlled by how thin the layer of perovskite is made, they can be used to cover greenhouses, enabling farmers to let in the correct amount of light as is required for the crops, while also generating the energy needed to power the farming process. When considering that agriculture was directly responsible for 8.5% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2019, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),4 it is clear that such technologies can have a major impact in helping some of the worst performing sectors work towards carbon net-neutrality and subsequently contribute towards a circular economy. The same applies to the buildings and building construction sectors, which, the IEA reports, combine to be “responsible for over one-third of global final energy consumption and nearly 40% of total direct and indirect CO2 emissions.”5 Beyond perovskite PV technology which can revolutionise the use of solar across almost all types of buildings, complementary technologies such as tandem-type solar cells are also consistently evolving to themselves also offer better PCE. Solutions such as Toshiba’s Cu2O-Si tandem cell boast an estimated PCE of 27.4% based on the company’s estimates and, developed using low-cost and naturally abundant materials, have the capacity to carry an EV 35 km without any need to be recharged. This kind of solar technology has the potential to transform mobility-based applications.

A global effort towards net zero As society looks to navigate the numerous and varied environmental problems it now faces, including climate change and the depletion of energy resources, the role of solar energy alongside other renewables is vitally important in building a sustainable future. Toshiba shares this vision, aiming to reduce GHG emissions by 70% across its value chain by 2030 and closely aligning itself and its solutions to the United Nation’s sustainable development goals (SDGs). As a result, a commitment to developing technologies such as polymer film-based perovskite PV modules which help contribute to a circular economy is of paramount importance, and it will be interesting to see how the technology evolves as more countries and organisations look towards a solar future.

Figure 1. An overview of the types of locations that could benefit from the lighter and more flexible perovskite photovoltaic (PV) modules, enabling the more widespread generation of solar energy.

12 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

References 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

IEA, ‘Global Energy Review 2021’, (2021).

IEA, ‘Solar PV’, (2021).

Journal of Architecture, Architectural Institute of Japan, ‘Estimation of rooftop area and potential area for rooftop greening in Tokyo metropolitan area’, No. 581, pp. 83 - 88, (2004).

IPCC, ‘Climate change and land’, (2021).

IEA, ‘Buildings: A source of enormous untapped efficiency potential’.

Perfect weld seam preparation

20 - 24 June 2022 Hall 1, 1A49-1 Booth

LONGITUDINAL AND CIRCULAR WELD SEAM MILLING ■ ■ ■ ■

Milling tools with I-, X-, V-, or Y- profile, modular for short setup time and quick profile change Cutting inserts for precise cuts, high durability and all tube diameters Perfect scarfing performance even with small form tolerance, efficient through high durability Precisely manufactured cutting edges made for reliability and performance

Boehlerit GmbH & Co.KG, Werk VI-Straße 100, 8605 Kapfenberg, phone +43 3862 300-0, info@boehlerit.com, www.boehlerit.com

14 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

Francesc Filiberto, BNZ, Spain, outlines why solar-wind hybridisation is the next step for renewable energy in Southern Europe.

M

ore than 2700 years ago, the great wise man, Homer, said: “Not vain the weakest, if their force unite.” Although it is assumed that his phrase has nothing to do with the world of energy, and even less with that of renewables, this quote can still be linked to the sector. So-called ‘green’ energy sources are incredibly beneficial for the planet, but humans are only at the initial stage of the development of renewable projects; there are still many forces that need to be joined in order to achieve better power with fewer resources. In short, it is a question of efficiency and, above all, hybridisation.

This word, which is increasingly used in the world of energy, makes perfect sense when it is explained that its goal is to try to generate electricity from several renewable energy sources, mainly solar and wind, at a common connection point. This makes it possible, first of all, to optimise the connection points to the grid. Storage systems could even be included that further help to adapt production to demand

and take part in adjustment services. However, this approach raises hundreds of technical questions about how to achieve perfect hybridisation.

Hybrid energy The US Department of Energy (DOE) highlights innovative opportunities to spur joint research on hybrid energy systems in its last statement ‘Hybrid Energy Systems: Opportunities for Co-ordinated Research’.1 The report, a collaborative effort among DOE and nine US laboratories, says hybrid energy systems that integrate multiple generation, storage, and energy conversion processes can play a major role in decarbonising the US economy. These systems can produce high-value commodities such as hydrogen, power industrial processes, and provide more grid flexibility to increase the deployment of renewable energy technologies.

What are the benefits? Is everything as simple as it seems? It is clear that the biggest advantage is the

15

improvement of the load factor at the connection points, since the energy injected through the same node is increased. In addition, from the point of view of consumption, the quality and stability of the supply are improved and more stability is provided to the grid, since solar and wind energy production are relatively complementary. Observing the production curves of these two energy sources, it is clear that the peaks of each of the energies are in different bands, so this complementarity allows the connection to the grid to be optimised.

According to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), hybrid technologies also have other benefits such as reducing the risk for investors and ensuring immediate reliability and affordability.2 They can also support a smoother transition to more renewable energy generation in the future. For example, in Australia, the King Island Renewable Integration project is a world-leading power system that will supply over 65% of King Island’s energy needs using renewable energy (wind and solar), reducing the island’s carbon dioxide emissions by more than 95%. It is necessary to highlight that King Island is not connected to a mainland electricity supply.3

The main objective of hybridisation has to be to unite different renewable energies in a single node so that they can cover a large part of the baseload and eventually replace other technologies, such as nuclear energy. This could therefore reduce the complexity of the grid and help make daily energy management simpler. In addition, hybridisation allows for savings on CAPEX and OPEX of between 10% and 15% on new renewable projects, according to the Renewable Energy Sources Producers Association (APPA).4

Impact on the land However, it must be taken into account that renewable energies have an obvious impact on the land due to the large amount of space required, so a project must be carefully planned and carried out in order to minimise its impact on its surroundings. The facilities must be made as environmentally integrated as possible; they cannot be designed without taking into account landscape and environmental criteria just because they produce green energy. It is a matter of studying the territory well, always considering a positive impact for all the plants that are designed.

Location

Figure 1. Wind-solar hybridisation is currently the most advanced.

Figure 2. A solar park in Southern Europe, one of the best regions in the world for renewables.

16 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

And herein lies the greatest complexity of hybridisation: location. Wind farms are located in areas with sufficient wind resources, sometimes mountainous, while for solar plants a flatter terrain is preferable. BNZ is studying projects of this type in the north of Portugal, although there are important difficulties in developing a solar plant due to the topography of the territory, which will result in a reduction of the generation capacity of this kind of energy. In any case, it is clear that both forms of production can co-exist, and it is the designer’s job to strike a balance between both technologies.

In some developing countries and regions such as India, hybridisation has been a major initiative to provide full power supply to a community without access to electricity. But in these cases, the landscape and the environment take a back seat with the aim of prioritising access to electricity in the community. Also relevant is the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH) project, which plans to install approximately 7.5 GW of hybrid wind energy with 3.5 GW of photovoltaic (PV) energy in Australia in 2023, with the aim of exporting 40 TWh of clean energy to Indonesia and Singapore. In Europe, however, the development of hybridisation lags behind.

Even so, there are already some pilot projects in the south of Spain where, in addition to having a large land area to develop solar energy, there are also great options to obtain wind energy. In Cadiz, for example, the southernmost province of mainland Spain, projects were already initiated in 2018 by Vestas and EDPR. The latter company also announced the construction of the first fully commercial hybrid wind and PV plants in Spain last year. The idea was to use the solar capacity that was awarded at the time in the renewable auction to expand the capacity of four wind farms, taking advantage of the existing energy evacuation infrastructure and increasing the production and profitability of the entire facility.

Regulation is becoming increasingly favourable to these type of hybrid projects in Southern Europe. In Spain, Royal Decree 1183/2020 recognises hybrid installations as the combination of two renewable technology generation modules.

In Portugal, on the other hand, legislation on this aspect will soon be introduced, and is expected to be even easier to develop. Meanwhile, in Italy, the geographical conditions of regions such as Puglia or Sicily mean that solar and wind energy, today, already co-exist on the same land.

Hybridisation with storage systems Spanish legislation does not yet regulate hybridisation with storage systems, although with Figure 3. The main challenge for hybridisation is the impact of installations on the territory. respect to previous legislation, it is true that the legal vagueness that existed with regard to storage in Law 24/2013 on the Another emerging form of storage is the production electricity sector has been eliminated. There are other of green hydrogen, which is produced by electrolysis countries, such as the UK, that are studying a reduction in the from renewable energy. In general, the hybridisation of load of the connection to the transport network for storage, renewables and storage translates into a reduction in seeking to boost their integration and favour investment in this installation costs that, in the case of PV, is estimated at essential technology. Also, the DOE report mentioned earlier between 7 - 8%, according to APPA Renewables. outlines that in response to recent and dramatic changes But the business model is a bit more complicated to the US electric grid, the topic of hybridisation is growing because of the cost of storage systems. There are already in popularity within discussions related to the evolution of some pilot projects at the international level, but with low the US energy sector. Customer-sited systems that combine profitability. The reason is the large investment in CAPEX for solar PV and battery technologies are being deployed for the storage system, which means that the cost, also known techno-economic and resilience benefits.1 as levelised cost of storage (LCOS) of the stored energy So why is it so important to move forward on this point? exceeds €100/MWh. Energy hybridisation is interesting because it allows the It is therefore necessary to optimise the production costs connection point to be optimised, while the investment is the of storage systems to reduce their CAPEX. This is perhaps an same in each solar and wind plant. But there is a problem, achievable goal, shown by the extraordinary cost reduction since with hybridisation it must be assumed that when the of renewable energy production technologies in recent combined production exceeds the maximum capacity of the years. connection point, the surplus energy must be discarded. On the other hand, if when hybridising one or more renewable Conclusion technologies, a storage technology was to be available, its Given this scenario with the need to lower the cost of efficiency would also be increased, its generation profile storage systems, one of the tools that can help in this would be flattened, and the use of the natural resource would transition phase is the Next Generation EU Fund. In Spain, be maximised, with it being possible to shift the generation for example, the government proposes allocating part of surpluses from times of maximum resource availability and the fund to the massive installation of renewable generation low demand to times of peak demand and low resource parks and the advancement of new storage technologies availability. such as hydrogen. As a result, the hope is that this union Some of the currently existing storage technologies between these energy sources with great potential will are: hydraulic pumping (PHS), Li-ion batteries, lead-based increasingly become a reality. batteries, REDOX flow batteries, sulfur-sulfide batteries, References flywheels, compressed air systems (CAES), zinc-air, 1.

U.S. Department of Energy, ‘Hybrid Energy systems: Opportunities for Coordinated Research’, (April 2021).

2.

ARENA, https://arena.gov.au/renewable-energy/hybrid 3.

Hydro Tasmania, https://www.hydro.com.au/clean-energy/hybrid-energy-solutions/success-stories/king-island. supercapacitors, and hydrogen generation, among others.

4.

APPA, ‘Hibridación en la generación renovable: Análisis sobre el panorama actual y futuro en España’, (April 2021).

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

17

Gary Bills, K2 Management, Director of Projects EMEA, UK, debates the necessity of transition pieces, discussing the risks and rewards associated with removing this structure from wind turbine installation operations.

18

E

arlier this year, Bloomberg reported that commodities prices surged to a 10-year high. It noted aluminium and steel’s continuous price climb alongside the recent jump in European gas.

Hot on the heels of this, the World Energy Outlook by the International Energy Agency predicted that clean energy investment costs could increase by between €354 billion and €620 billion by 2030. The cause of this dramatic increase? Commodity price volatility.

Rising commodity prices, a substantial obstacle to developers in getting new projects online, will not be going away any time soon. If anything, it is likely to worsen, and is a significant hurdle to overcome if renewable energy and net zero targets are going to be hit.

The offshore wind industry feels this acutely – and is at the mercy of commodity prices as much as any other industrial sector. But it perhaps benefits in the fact that it is evolving rapidly; technology is still developing and opening up novel cost- and material-saving opportunities.

According to the Global Wind Energy Council’s Global Offshore Wind Report 2021, 235 GW of new

offshore wind capacity will be installed over the next 10 years. With development growing at this rapid pace, introspection is required. How can existing designs be innovated, improved, altered, and lead to greater cost effectiveness? The answer is not simple. But as a first step, perhaps incremental gains could cut costs and bring projects online a little faster, at a slightly reduced cost, without compromising on quality.

One area of turbine installation where an incremental gain could be achieved is through a re-think around transition pieces. Are they really needed? Could building without them reduce the amount of steel that a wind turbine requires? Are they an additional yet unnecessary cost? Do these costs increase the lead time to the project – and could projects be built quicker and to a higher quality if transition pieces were not used?

Why are transition pieces so important to turbine design?

The main use of a transition piece, the 250-t steel component which links the turbine to the monopile, is to levelise horizontal inaccuracies arising during the installation of the foundation.

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

19

The structure also carries secondary steel elements, such as boat landings, ladders, and platforms.

Building with a transition piece has been conventional for decades now; it is tried, tested, and has been proven to work, which in turn instils greater investor confidence.

The transition piece was used out of necessity, ensuring that the tower is vertically aligned to withstand its own weight, as well as to withstand the pressure of its surroundings.

Furthermore, the transition piece has become an integral part of the operations and maintenance practices for wind farms, allowing safe and easy access for workers to make sure that the turbines continue to run at their best.

It goes without saying, transition pieces have been the predominant technology – and they remain so. But with new technology comes greater scrutiny, and in the spirit of industrial innovation, all turbine components should be held under constant review.

Each project is assessed individually, considering its site geography carefully, before a decision can be made on whether it can be built without a transition piece. It is also worth noting that, since building without a transition piece is still new to the industry, it has minimal track record. On this basis, it might be more difficult to secure financing. However, it is now a proven technique and the developer will be able to satisfy technical requirements to the lender, with the right information.

To construct turbines without a transition piece means using a longer monopile. The increased weight on this part of the turbine is something that must be carefully considered at every stage of the installation process, be it transporting the monopile to site, loading it onto the installation vessels, or installing it into the ground. The equipment used must be ready to balance this extra weight and to work with the same efficiency if the gains that make this step worth taking are to be seen.

Could turbine towers be built without transition pieces?

It is clear that transition pieces serve a purpose, but can turbines be installed without them and if so, what are the alternatives?

In recent years, installation technology has improved to such an extent that monopiles are being installed incredibly accurately. Not only that, but they can be positioned in deeper waters and built to withstand tougher weather conditions.

The advancement of this technology brings up the question of whether the transition piece is even necessary at all.

K2 Management has advised on multiple projects where a transition piece was not necessary. It is difficult to ascertain how much time and raw materials was saved by doing so, but in either case, it has allowed the exploration of this technique.

Cutting the transition piece out of offshore wind turbine design The potential benefits of building a turbine without a transition piece are manifold.

A key one is that the large diameter flanges used to secure the monopile to the transition piece and then the transition piece to the turbine have substantial manufacturing lead

20 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

times, sometimes among the longest of the turbine parts. By taking away the transition piece, there is no need for these additional parts, which theoretically can be an effective way to make efficiencies in build time.

Does removing the transition piece from turbine design mean less steel is required?

It is difficult to be certain. It is not the case that the steel used for the transition piece can be cut out altogether. The monopile will naturally need to compensate for the absence of a transition piece, with this part of the turbine tower requiring more steel to compensate for this. However, materials will be saved on the bolts and substances used to connect the transition piece to the monopile.

Furthermore, the pieces of the turbine can be shipped more efficiently to save time and money on transportation. A standard large vessel will be needed to transport the monopile.

But after this step, a large vessel is no longer necessary.

This represents cheaper service costs in the form of fuel and ship models used.

It is also worth noting the time and money that could be saved beyond installation. Less time is needed for maintenance inspections if there are fewer parts (and bolts attaching those parts) that need to be maintained. The lifetime cost of the asset can in this way be improved, supporting the industry not just in the development stage but throughout operations.

Ultimately, the discussion on to have or not to have a transition piece is one about incremental savings in terms of the materials used and the time saved on manufacturing, shipping, and construction. Although excluding the transition piece from design might only achieve small cost savings, across a 2 GW wind farm with hundreds of turbines these gains could, in sum total, be significant. Given the pressures that developers are going to be under in terms of cost and time, these incremental gains will perhaps be welcome.

As the offshore wind industry grows, it is vital that a close eye is kept on costs and every project is maximised in the best way possible. According to research from the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, from just three years ago, the cost reduction of offshore wind energy may be able to reach a notable 75% in some cases for installations commissioned by 2024. This figure bodes well for the industry and shows how much potential there is for current models to save costs, if companies are open to the new technologies enabling this. With turbines now over four times as large as in 2000 – and with growth showing no signs of slowing – incremental money-saving gains will continue to be key to reaching targets.

There is not necessarily a right or wrong answer in the debate around transition pieces. There is, potentially, an element of assessing risk and reward – taking out a trusted structural component of a wind turbine carries some risk, of course. But there is improved technology at hand to exploit – such as that which is enabling monopiles to be drilled more accurately now.

It is a discussion that K2 Management is having with its clients regularly, but the outcome is always linked to project specific requirements. If proceeding without a transition piece can save just a little time and money, in today’s tricky development environment, then it is worth considering.

Why paint when you can patch Easy coatin -Qote is a g appl as a pa ied simply t minim ch with um su prepar rface a require tion ments .

Easy as 1, 2, 3. It’s just that simple.

• • • • • •

Self adhesive coating repair Minimum surface preparation Surface chloride resistant VOC free Harmless to applicators and environment 30 year lifetime protection

For more information visit easyqote.com

Self Adhering Coating Solutions

Herbert Williams, Keuka Energy, USA, discusses how offshore wind can be stored as energy via liquid air and hydrogen, and looks at the opportunity this technology presents to help decarbonise the shipping industry.

22 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

W

ind, solar, geothermal, and water are all known energy sources. They are renewable, environmentally clean, free, and each of them can produce electricity that can be used and stored. Keuka Energy focuses on far-offshore wind because it is stronger than wind on land, with no ‘not in my backyard’ issues, no bird or bat kills, has global potential, and there is limited space for wind projects on land. But most importantly, wind energy can be stored to be used as needed at a cost that is below that of natural gas or coal to produce electricity.

Producing and storing enough energy at the cost utilities need to start phasing in clean energy can only happen when clean energy can produce electricity at a lower cost than natural gas or coal. Until another option arises that costs less than fossil fuel, coal and natural gas companies will have to keep the lights turned on, and customers will always choose the cheapest electricity available.

Can a new global player in offshore wind produce and store liquid air and/or hydrogen at a lower cost than natural gas? Keuka Energy’s RimDriveTM wind machine plans to do just that. The technology, which takes power from the tip of propeller blades instead of their central shafts, can play a big role in reducing the cost of stored energy and provides hope for cutting the planet’s dependency on fossil fuels.

Storing wind power Stepping out of the ‘wind can only make electricity’ box, wind is also capable of storing its energy as liquid air and/or hydrogen on a global scale. When liquid air or hydrogen is produced and used as stored energy, it is dispatchable (can be switched on or off). Being dispatchable, it can be used as baseload or

23

spinning reserve to deal with wind and solar intermittency.

This in turn makes wind and solar more valuable if they are selling to the same utility that is using liquid air or hydrogen storage. Wind and solar farms would be highly valuable if they could sell electricity as firm capacity (baseload) instead of as available (when the wind is blowing, or the Sun is shining). This stored energy can be used by ships offshore to clean up their fuel or by coastal utilities to produce electricity when they have a need for it.

For example, a utility could have a tanker load 12.5 GW of renewable stored liquid air energy at their beck and call to deal with wind and solar intermittency at a cost less than natural gas. This could bring relief to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) by producing hydrogen near shipping lanes to enhance bunker-c fuel for two ships at a time. Since the RimDrive hybrid machines liquify air and/or hydrogen, the plan is to locate some of the wind farms near shipping lanes to allow ships to birth in the calm water

Figure 1. A 375KW (588 horsepower) prototype of RimDriveTM.

24 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

of the V-shaped platform and offload their bunker-c and replace it with bunker-c enhanced with hydrogen. The V shape of the flotation platform produces the calm water needed for berthing LNG-class tankers for loading liquid air or modified tankers for hydrogen. The floating platform can accommodate two tankers at a time, making it a ship service station.

The project will be the first to produce renewable utility scale stored energy while offsetting 4200 tpd of CO2 being released into the atmosphere. The Hybrid RimDrive will also be the first offshore project to produce liquid air and hydrogen instead of electricity.

Design and application The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and Bureau Veritas (BV) has reviewed the concept design process of both the Keuka Energy’s V-shaped liquid air/hydrogen storage wind platform which will be anchored well offshore, and its 300-t Tara Allen service vessel. The project has implications beyond advancing Keuka Energy’s core technology. The company is excited to be working on what may well be the first project with the potential to start reversing climate change on a global scale while being the answer to wind and solar intermittency. Even though the project sacrifices approximately 50% of its shaft horsepower to produce liquid air and approximately 65% for hydrogen, the low capital cost of the RimDrive system combined with mechanical liquefaction (without electricity) puts it at a lower levelised cost of energy (LCoE) than natural gas.

The 235 000 horsepower (175 MW) wind farm and a near shore re-gas facility will mechanically produce 624 MW/d of liquid air using one support platform that doubles as cryogenic storage for a cost of less than US$1 milion/MW and has an LCoE of US$0.04/kWh. The LCoE of natural gas is approximately US$0.048/kWh. Since wind is free, the capital cost and O&M are the only significant cost in the wind farm’s future.

Either liquid air or hydrogen can be used by utilities to make natural gas 30% more efficient at producing electricity. Liquid air can be used to increase mass flow to a utility’s gas turbines, allowing them not to need to use approximately 30% of the gas coming to the plant for compressing air but use 100% of the gas to turn the generator sections to produce electricity.

The challenge faced by all gas turbines is that as ambient temperature or elevation rises, the density of the air naturally decreases, reducing the mass flow into the gas turbine. This reduced mass flow results

in reducing the fuel flow proportionately to hold turbine inlet temperatures constant. This results in lower output. Liquid air restores the mass flow that is naturally missing by injecting cold air into the compressor intake and adding turbine waste heat to the liquid air re-gas system to warm the incoming air, producing more energy for the generator section.

The gas turbine control system reacts naturally and adds a proportionate amount of fuel to account Figure 2. RimDrive prototype in St. Johns River, Palatka, Florida, US. for the increased air mass flow, resulting in constant combustion and turbine inlet temperatures. The increased This lends to less stress being placed on the tower and a mass flow through the turbine section increases the much lower O&M cost. Additional cost is avoided by not mechanical torque to the generator for producing electricity needing large cranes to install or service the machines since while allowing the compressor to act as spinning reserve the blades of the rim-driven machines lower on their own when needed. power when needed. Much higher speeds are achieved at Fortunately, cryogenic liquid production, its distribution the outer rim, and the machines can have numerous shafts infrastructure, and equipment supply chain are already being driven simultaneously so that a combination of work mature. LNG is the largest user of cryogenic systems and can be achieved at the same time, such as compressors, the only end-to-end system proven on a large scale. There turboexpanders, etc. The blades are made of marine grade are over 650 LNG tankers, most with a storage capacity aluminium, are totally recyclable, have over 100-year service exceeding 125 000 m3 plying the world’s oceans at any given life expectancy, and cost less than 10% of today’s composite hour. In addition, liquid air having no fuel combustion or blades. National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) tests show high-pressure risks would make shipping and handling cost the RimDrive to be more powerful per square m of blade 5 - 15% less than that of shipping and handling LNG. Since a swept area than existing three bladed machines. The outer typical LNG tanker holds approximately 125 000 m3 of liquid rim gives a flywheel effect that eliminates most wind gusting and 10 m3 of liquid air produces approximately 1 MWh of and turbulence problems and improves their scalability electricity, imagine the comfort level a utility would have if to multi-megawatt size. The semi-open centre produces it had 12 500 MWh of renewable stored energy at its beck less downstream turbulence and lends to placing more and call. That would be 17.3 MW/h for one month (732 h) that units per given area. Production costs are minimised with it could use as needed. All renewable and all wind. Each numerous turbines stationed on each V-shaped platform.

35 000 horsepower wind farm should produce approximately The turbines have no need for costly yaw mechanisms since 46 120 m3 per month of liquid air. Typically, the single largest the entire support structure weathervanes into the wind as cost of producing liquid air is the electricity used to power it is anchored to the sea floor using a single anchor line. It is the electric motors doing the work. When wind machines dry-docked at sea eliminating the need to be brought back to mechanically drive the liquefaction equipment, most of the land for maintenance and the support structure will stock all costs of producing liquid air are eliminated. The only time parts needed to maintain the wind machines. electricity plays any role in the process is when the outer rim supplies the mechanical horsepower to drive the DC Conclusion generators needed to produce hydrogen.

Liquid air or hydrogen can only be a global player when it uses ocean transport or it is produced on location, and Minimising costs producing either on location will seldom be done. The The RimDrive wind machines take power from the outer tremendously large volumes needed to start changing the rim and not the central shaft, thus requiring no gearbox. world’s course on climate change will be moved by ocean The US Department of Energy (US DOE) finds that the transport out of necessity. The wind machine design of the gearbox is 25% of the 30-year cost of conventional wind future will be the one that held the course long enough to machines. Taking energy from the rim’s lowest point also allow the burning of fossil fuels to be replaced by a carbon keeps a considerable amount of the weight down low. free system that produces electricity.

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

25

26 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

T

Richard Thwaites, Penso Power, UK, argues the case for swift energy storage deployment in the UK, with the aim of ensuring network resilience as the nation switches over to renewable energy.

he UK’s electricity system has undergone an impressive transformation in recent years as the nation works towards its net zero goals. Coal, which accounted for 60% of the UK’s electricity generated 30 years ago, barely registers in the nation’s generation mix most days and will be phased out completely by 2024. Wind has gone from less than 3% of the UK’s electricity supply only 10 years ago to providing almost one-quarter of electricity generated in 2020. While the nation has already seen very substantial change, there is a lot more to come. The future zero-carbon energy system forecast in the National Grid ESO (NGESO) Future Energy Scenarios includes a target of 40 GW of offshore wind by 2030 and more than 100 GW in some scenarios

27

by 2050 (the UK had 24.5 GW of operational wind assets in 2021). The nation also expects to see sizeable increases in generation from other renewable sources and substantial declines in gas-fired generation.

Adoption of electric vehicles, encouraged by the phasing out of the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030, and the electrification of heating are expected to drive increases in electricity demand, although smart charging and the integration of thermal storage with electric heat will mitigate the impact on peak demand.

To keep pace with these changes, the way the electricity system is managed is also undergoing significant transformation. The evolution from centralised thermal generation that can be dispatched to match energy demand to a low-carbon system based on distributed, variable, and intermittent renewable generation creates some challenges. Energy storage, as a replacement for the flexibility previously provided by thermal generation to balance the electricity system, has become a critical enabler of the energy transition. The opportunity to deploy batteries on a large scale to support the energy transition in the UK was the motivation to launch and build the Penso Power business.

Preparing for the future electricity network The forecast future electricity system includes green hydrogen, other forms of electricity storage, more interconnectors with neighbouring countries, and more intelligent energy use via demand-side response services.

Batteries are expected to play a key role, providing a scalable solution to grid balancing requirements that

is relatively unique in its ability to respond rapidly and proportionately to grid stress. NGESO forecasts an estimated need of 13 GW of energy storage by 2030 and up to 30 GW by 2050.

As the UK becomes more reliant on renewable generation, batteries can reduce renewable curtailment (the reduction of generation output to below what could have been produced) by storing energy during periods of excess generation. Batteries can also be used to firm supply by discharging to fill generation shortfalls. By doing this, batteries can substantially improve the capacity factor (average power output divided by rated peak power) of renewable generation assets, which means that more low-carbon renewable generation will be used within the electricity system. Batteries can also mitigate rapid output changes due to, for example, variable wind speeds to ensure stable power output.

Inertia in traditional power systems refers to the kinetic energy stored in large rotating generators that gives them the tendency to keep rotating. If a power plant fails, this stored energy can temporarily make up for power lost from a failed generator, perhaps only for a few seconds but sufficient time for mechanical systems to respond to a failure. Historically, inertia from conventional thermal generation was abundant and taken for granted in the planning and operation of the UK’s electricity system.

The replacement of coal and gas-fired turbines with invertor-based generation sources such as solar and wind that do not synchronise with the grid in a way that provides inertia means that there is a need to find new ways to provide system stability.

Figure 1. The 100 MW Minety battery storage scheme near Swindon, Wiltshire, UK. Penso Power originated and developed Minety, which was Europe’s largest operational battery storage scheme when it entered commercial operation in 2021.

28 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

The provision of fast-response artificial inertia is a core function of batteries from a system operator’s point of view, and an electricity system that incorporates batteries to provide a range of grid services has less need for system inertia from other sources. The ability to respond within milliseconds means batteries can replace spinning reserve services, removing the need for fossil fuel-based generators to be running constantly to provide resilience. Removing the need for generators to maintain the extra headroom of spinning reserve means that, while they remain, they can be used more efficiently, lowering fuel costs and emissions.

Finding a balance Short-term electricity trading takes place on two coupled power exchanges in Great Britain, EPEX and N2EX, offering intraday and day-ahead markets. The balancing mechanism (BM) is the system that NGESO uses to balance electricity supply and demand in near real-time in each half-hour trading period every day.

These markets in combination offer the deepest and most liquid revenue opportunities available to battery owners such as Penso Power. Batteries participating in these markets generate revenues by arbitraging electricity price differences between different trading periods. In practice this means that batteries will charge during periods of least demand when the electricity price is low and discharge during periods of peak demand when prices are highest.

As well as having a benefit of lowering peak electricity costs, this also means more (zero marginal cost) renewable generation will be stored for later use during the periods of highest demand removing the need to use as much expensive and polluting thermal generation.

As the UK system operator, NGESO has a licence obligation to maintain system frequency at 50 Hz plus or minus 1%. System frequency falls if electricity demand is greater than generation and rises if generation is greater than demand. Batteries provide a very fast-response solution to frequency regulation, helping to correct an imbalance in either direction and avoiding the need to dispatch thermal generation. Batteries currently provide these services via the Firm Frequency Response (FFR) and Dynamic Containment products and batteries will also participate in the Dynamic Moderation and Dynamic Regulation Frequency products (delivering energy for 30 min. and 60 min. respectively) when they are launched in March and April. The 100 MW (136 MWh) Minety Battery Storage site that Penso developed in Wiltshire, England is currently the largest participant in Dynamic Containment.

The UK’s distribution network operators (DNOs) are required to keep voltages on their networks within prescribed limits, set out in their licence conditions. Historically, the method DNOs use to manage voltages is tap changing, reducing, or increasing the number of windings in a transformer to change the voltage level either side of the transformer. This practice can cause problems at a transmission network level, often just passing up the most prevalent issue of ‘high volts’. A reactive power market, co-ordinated across NGESO and DNO networks, is being

developed as a solution to these issues. Batteries will participate in this market to absorb and generate reactive power when needed to help alleviate capacity challenges associated with increased reliance on distributed generation.

Footroom typically means the ability to turn a generator down to balance the grid when there is a decrease in demand. Charging or discharging a battery to remove or add electricity from or into the system reduces the need for footroom from generators, helping NGESO to balance the grid at the lowest possible cost. Optional Downward Flexibility Management (ODFM) was introduced as a curtailment/footroom product in 2020 to help manage the impact of the unprecedented drop in demand caused by the first UK COVID-19 lockdown. In supporting the ODFM product, batteries demonstrated the value of fast-response, flexible assets in helping electricity systems adapt to changing and unexpected demands.

Supporting system resilience Black Start, the mechanism to restore power to the transmission network in the unlikely event of a blackout, has historically depended on bilateral contracts with fossil fuel-based generators. Distributed Restart is a replacement for Black Start that uses distributed energy resources (DERs) such as wind, solar, hydro, and energy storage to provide this security. The growth of DERs has provided an opportunity to develop a different approach to system restoration that benefits from greater diversity of providers, improving resilience and increasing competition, leading to lower costs and lower carbon emissions. Distributed Restart works by forming distribution restoration zones (DRZs) comprised of multiple DERs performing the roles of anchor generator and top-up service providers. Batteries can perform multiple roles to support Distributed Restart.

A system operator uses constraint management when an electricity transmission network is unable to transmit power to the location of demand due to congestion at one or more parts of the network. NGESO’s Future Energy Scenarios predicts that changes in the volume and location of generation will lead to significant constraint costs if nothing is done.

Constraints do not happen all the time, so it is usually cheaper to put contracts in place with batteries rather than upgrade the system. One of the reasons Penso Power is working with its partners at Luminous Energy to develop the 350 MW Hams Hall project in North Warwickshire, UK, is because it is located in a constraint management zone previously identified by NGESO.

Conclusion In a nutshell, the deployment of large scale, fast-response energy storage will facilitate the transition to a low-carbon energy system. Batteries will play a key role in ensuring resilience of the UK’s electricity networks. They will enable system operators to balance the grid, and they can help defer or avoid the cost of expensive network upgrades. The use of energy storage will help allow more renewable generation in the UK’s electricity system, lowering emissions and reducing prices during periods of peak demand. The case for battery storage really could not be much stronger.

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

29

John C. Dulude, J.S. Held, USA, looks at what lessons can be learned from the winter storm that hit Texas in 2021, and why the success of the energy transition hinges on tackling the challenges faced by energy storage.

30 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

T

his article looks at the energy system reliability challenges experienced during the February 2021 extreme cold weather event that affected the land area comprising the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid system.

Winter Storm Uri significantly impacted the existing

electrical grid, especially in Texas, US, serving as an important data point for assessing grid resilience and reliability. This discussion considers how the ongoing energy transition process may affect overall system reliability and how energy storage in its various forms may affect not only system resilience and reliability but

31

costs to consumers, owners, shareholders, and those who manage risks, including insurers and risk managers.

Electrical system grid resilience is the ability of a system to withstand adverse events and its ability to adapt to such events without suffering operational compromise.

Simply put, resilience for an electrical system is its ability to withstand adverse events without sustained interruptions of service to customers. Resilience is largely about what does not happen to the grid or electric consumers. Reliability, on the other hand, is a measure of behaviour once resilience is broken. The start of a sustained interruption is the transition point from the domain of resilience to the domain of reliability.1 Some may argue with these definitions, and, in fact, some of the arguments may be valid, but for the sake of this article these definitions for resilience and reliability will be considered as appropriate.

This article looks at how energy storage at the grid scale level may impact resilience and reliability, and how the current transition from a carbon-based to a non-carbon (or reduced carbon) system of generation within a grid may influence business risks. The following information may inform risk managers, insurance adjusters, and their legal support staff on the changing risks associated with energy storage during and after energy transition.

Objectives of energy transition Before energy storage, its impacts on resilience and reliability, and how those impacts affect business risks and associated decision making can be considered, the energy transition must be understood. Energy transition is the process by which all forms of energy take measures to achieve decarbonisation, and one of the more important

Figure 1. Characteristics/positionings of energy storage technologies.3

32 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

considerations while planning for decarbonisation is determining the end goal. What is the measure? Is decarbonisation achieved by carbon neutrality (balancing out the total amount of carbon emissions using offsets) or zero net carbon emissions (meaning net zero carbon emissions into the atmosphere where a particular activity requires no offset)? Unfortunately, conversations regarding decarbonisation goals and objectives tend to mix these terms. It is generally agreed that energy transition is a process and not a result, but rather a means to an end.

Transition is “a change or shift from one state, subject, place, etc. to another” or “a period or phase in which such a change or shift is happening.”2 In addition to addressing the overall objective of energy transition, it must be defined – within reason – how long the transition period will be, when it will be considered complete, how and where it will happen, and how to know when it has been achieved. The world is currently participating in a ‘phase’ of transition, but countries may not have fully recognised where that change will take their electrical energy delivery system. It is essential to keep in mind that energy transition is not just a change for the electrical grid but for all forms of energy. The scope of energy transition is an important concept to remember because different forms of energy are interrelated. For example, changes in the oil and gas sector will most definitely affect the electrical energy market. The effect on energy transition is already being seen through the market-based commodity system.

Energy storage Alternating current (AC) electricity is the operational format for electrical energy delivery in the US from resources, such as the prime mover like a turbine attached to a generator, to the load (customers). The electrical system in the US operates at a frequency of 60 Hz, which means that the alternating current switches polarity 60 times/sec.

The reversal of polarity (positive and negative) with each cycle allows AC voltage to be more easily increased/decreased, which provides for more efficient transmission and distribution of energy from resources to the electrical load over long distances.

Thus, the electrical system throughout most of the world is based on AC, and with such a system, supply and demand must be continually balanced in near real-time. The ERCOT system almost collapsed in its entirety because of a system imbalance related to electrical frequency.

Because grid scale electrical systems operate based on AC,

Figure 2. Capital cost and system power ratings of various energy storage technologies, highlighting the potential for m-PSH innovation.11

energy storage has typically been achieved by storing fuel prior to its transformation from mechanical energy to electrical energy by a prime mover, i.e., a turbine or drive system connected to a generator. Examples of those stored fuels include water behind a dam, coal in a pile, natural gas in a pipeline, or fissionable material in a reactor. In today’s vernacular, energy storage has been more closely associated with grid scale batteries of various types, which allow storage of energy from a fuel class (i.e., wind and solar) for future use in a form that can be quickly injected into the system as the need arises.

Note that battery storage systems utilise direct current (DC) and are interfaced with the AC grid through electronic inverter systems. DC electricity delivered by a battery maintains continuous polarity and does not alternate, as a battery has two poles or electrodes – a negative and a positive – and the current flows in a constant direction. A battery does not store electricity directly, but rather stores chemical energy produced by electricity, which it releases in the form of electricity by way of a reaction between the two electrodes of different chemical compositions.

In 2020, the US had over 24 GW of energy storage capacity compared to 1124 GW of total installed generation capacity.3 Stored energy capacity represents just 2% of the total capacity in the US system. Of that 2%, 96% exists in the form of hydroelectric pumped storage. Based on that figure alone, grid scale batteries and all other forms of energy storage represent less than 0.1% of the US generating capacity.

In 2019, Texas had a total summer capacity of 125 117 MW through all of its power plants4 of which 20 - 25% of its current generation mix is in wind and solar. The capacity factor for wind, which is defined as the resource availability both in terms of quantity and quality over a period of

application, is approximately 30 - 40% on average.5 Capacity factor measures the overall utilisation of a power-generation facility or fleet of generators.6 From this relatively low capacity factor, it becomes apparent that anything short of hydroelectric pumped storage would not provide similar operational support over time for the carbon-based generation that it is either replacing or displacing.

This is not to say that intermittent renewables were at fault for the ERCOT system-wide failure during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021. Available data indicate that much of the lost generation in ERCOT was across all fuel types.7 The consensus of many in-depth reviews of the extreme weather event in Texas indicates that market pricing inefficiencies and failure by regulators and owners to enact appropriate weather protection measures for fuel delivery contributed substantially to the breakdown.8,9 Electrical energy is stored either chemically (lithium-ion, sodium-ion, lead-acid batteries, etc.), electrically (capacitors, etc.), or mechanically (flywheels, pumped hydro, compressed air, etc.). Battery technology has seen a significant growth in deployment in recent years.

According to some, the rationale is “renewables combined with battery storage are already an economically viable alternative to building new simple cycle gas turbine ‘peaker’ plants.” 10 Those holding to this rationale go on to explain that “pairing electricity generation with storage works especially well with solar energy, which generally follows a predictable daily pattern. In the US, costs have also been helped by the federal investment tax credit, with as high as a 30% tax rebate for new solar installations.

Pricing and cost of battery storage has certainly come down and should continue to come down as technology improves.”10

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

33

Proponents of grid scale battery storage assert that “the mass deployment of storage could overcome one of the biggest obstacles to renewable energy – its cycling between oversupply when the Sun shines or the wind blows and shortage when the Sun sets or the wind drops.”10 Figure 1 compares many of the different energy storage technologies in terms of range of capacity (X-axis) and discharge time from least to most (Y-axis). Figure 2 compares various storage technologies and aligns them in terms of their range of capacity (X-axis) and installed capital cost (Y-axis).

Despite the existence/contribution of net zero and/or carbon neutral sources to available generating capacity, the current global electrical energy production is still 60% carbon-based, primarily comprised of coal, natural gas, and some oil. This ratio is similar throughout much of the US, even after 40 years of energy transition. In some parts of the world, carbon-based electrical generation exceeds 90% of the fuel mix. Professor Vaclav Smil of the Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources at the University of Manitoba and a renowned expert on energy transition, stated, “Even a greatly accelerated shift toward renewables would not be able to relegate fossil fuels to minority contributors to the global energy supply anytime soon, certainly not by 2050.” The important takeaway from Professor Smil’s comment is that he considers the dependence on much of the products used today, which are completely dependent on carbon-based fuels, as having more to do with a delay in energy transition rather than in the direct fuel application associated with electrical generation. His point is that even with significant inroads for converting the current carbon-based electrical generation system to one that is non-carbon-based, there are notable challenges associated with the manufacture of everyday goods that also depend on carbon-based fuels that will need to be addressed

Figure 3. ERCOT battery additions by month (as of 31 October 2021).12

34 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

to achieve effective carbon neutrality or zero-carbon emissions.

Policy makers and regulators generally, and certainly more recently, have mandated non-carbon-based fuel requirements with the expectation that this will hasten new developments in technology with an accompanying reduction in costs for renewable energy delivery systems. To a point, this has been the case; however, it has not fully avoided negative impacts to the reliability and resilience of the energy delivery systems. The challenge of transition continues to be the development of the correct mix of non-carbon-based generation that will have both the capacity as well as the duration to meet load requirements throughout various demand scenarios. Energy storage is the key to successful energy transition; however, it currently remains the weakest link in the energy transition process. Capacity challenges have in part been overcome more recently by reductions in cost per unit of energy delivered. The duration for which stored energy is available continues to be a major hurdle for energy storage. Except for hydro pumped storage, most forms of energy storage cannot economically achieve the duration requirements to support system reliability and resilience requirements. Until the increase in the duration component of energy storage can be better achieved at a reasonable cost, system reliability could be degraded during transition. Electrical service providers are finding themselves caught between mandates to reduce CO2 emissions and regulated operational requirements to meet specific delivery and service standards. Overcoming the energy storage dilemma will likely be key to unlocking the final phases of the energy transition process.

System reliability and resilience Impacts to electrical system reliability and resilience may adversely affect both business continuity and economic risks. Change in risk means a change in risk management costs for businesses and for those who support the businesses, including customers, shareholders, and those that insure or underwrite business operations. In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri significantly impacted the existing electrical grid, especially in Texas, serving as an important data point for assessing grid resilience and reliability. Because it is such a significant and recent event, this article will consider how energy storage may or may not have affected system performance.

Significant impacts associated with Winter Storm Uri were realised on business operations primarily associated with business interruptions.

In the case of Winter Storm Uri, available data appear to indicate

that the interruptions to consumers were part of a larger system emergency to meet electrical load demand which resulted in forced outages of electrical service throughout much of the state of Texas and beyond. It should be noted that there is no specific evidence that energy storage, or the lack thereof, played a crucial part in this shortfall or that it could have completely prevented the outcome. It is worth noting that generation reserve margins prior to the storm were significantly overestimated and the lack of available reserve, whether in the form of standby reserve generation or energy storage resources, could have significantly reduced the eventual impact of that storm.

A preliminary finding from a joint report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) “highlighted the rapid need for more battery storage to support the state’s grid. Preliminary findings of a joint investigation by the FERC and NERC blamed an increasing frequency of extreme cold weather events, as well as the devastation caused by the failure of natural gas-fired plants.”12 While the lack of energy storage may not have been a primary factor in Winter Storm Uri’s impact, it should not diminish the fact that Texas currently has 35% intermittent resources in its entire generation mix (i.e., wind and solar, to achieve low variable costs and zero emissions), which cannot be dispatched precisely when needed.14 An 11 June 2021 article by the American Bar Association (ABA) stated, “All generating resources are not equal in function or value from a system reliability standpoint.

Dispatchable resources are the most valuable from a system integrity and operational efficiency perspective as dispatchable resources are available when demanded, and electricity must be generated at the moment it is consumed.”13 In that same article, the ABA stated, “Texas adopted an energy-only market structure years ago during deregulation of the electric markets. While theoretically viable, an energy-only market conceals flaws induced by regulatory/political externalities and technology advancements, which are usually only exposed through extreme circumstances.”13 In March 2021, electricity generated in Texas was 40% from natural gas, 14.5% from coal, 10% from nuclear, 0.5% from hydropower, and 35% from non-hydro renewables, mainly wind and solar power. Texas has more wind capacity than any other state but still retains more than 54% carbon-based generation. The pressure from regulators and investors continues to direct future electrical generation growth and replacement needs with non-carbon-based, intermittent resources; as such, the trend would appear to be an expansion of investment in wind and solar generation capacity.

Though carbon-free, both wind and solar are primarily intermittent, non-dispatchable forms of electricity generation with capacity factors at a half to two-thirds less than current dispatchable carbon-based resources. Figure 3 reports current and future energy storage – primarily in the form of batteries – planned for Texas to attempt to offset the intermittency of the growing generation resource mix.

Though energy storage may somewhat offset some of the issues related to non-dispatchable generation resources, duration of discharge – especially for battery resources – is somewhat limited both in terms of economics and technology. As of October 2021, approximately 1100 MW of grid connected battery storage in service has been placed in service, with an additional 4000 MW planned by March 2023.13

Conclusion: quality vs quantity, and effects on business decisions The debate continues as to the reasons for the significant impacts and business interruptions associated with events such as Winter Storm Uri. What has become apparent in the aftermath of that storm is that many have yet to fully understand or appreciate the significant changes occurring in the US bulk electrical energy market. The example used in this article, though rather unique due to the energy-only market configuration of Texas, is a bellwether for the country. Regardless of the causes of weather events challenging electricity grids, a steady transition in the US from carbon-based energy resources to one that is either less or completely carbon-free, and the difference in quality and quantity of available energy associated with that conversion, will persist. While there is some disagreement as to whether the challenges encountered during natural extreme weather events such as Winter Storm Uri have been amplified by the current energy transition process, it is apparent that energy storage is a key component of the transition process and, ultimately, achieving carbon neutrality or net zero carbon emissions.

Perhaps the greatest challenge of energy transition is ensuring new and/or developing forms of energy storage can support and maintain the current system reliability requirements to which the US population has become accustomed, at an affordable price. Any negative impacts related to pricing of energy will ultimately be carried by the consumer, but intermediate cost risks for the businesses associated with project capital as well as insurance, underwriting, and other risk management related issues may also be negatively affected. Will an event such as Winter Storm Uri impact the US market again? Absolutely. Could it produce similar results in terms of human calamity and business impacts? Most likely. Risk managers should carefully consider the potential challenges to electrical service reliability and increased potential for business interruptions as the world advances through this period of energy transition.

References 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

TAFT, J.D., PhD, Electric Grid Resilience and Reliability for Grid Architecture (November 2017).

Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. ‘transition’, accessed 23 December 2021.

Center for Sustainable Systems, University of Michigan, ‘U.S. Energy Storage Factsheet’, No. CSS15-17 (2021).

US Energy Information and Administration, Electricity Data Browser, Net generation for all sectors, Texas, Fuel Type-Check all, Annual, 2001 - 2020.

US Energy Information and Administration, Texas State Profile and Energy Estimates, (April 2021).

HUGHES, N., AGNOLUCCI, P., ‘4.03 - Hydrogen Economics and Policy’ in Comprehensive Renewable Energy, Vol.4 (2021), p.65 - 95.

MAGNESS, B., ‘Review of February 2021 Extreme Cold Weather Event – ERCOT Presentation’, (February 2021).

BUSBY, J.W., et al., ‘Cascading risks: Understanding the 2021 winter blackout in Texas’ in Energy Research & Social Science, Vol. 77, (July 2021).

‘FERC, NERC, and Regional Entities, ‘The February 2021 Cold Weather Outages in Texas and the South Central United States’, (November 2021).

KATZ, C., ‘In a boost for renewables, grid-scale battery storage is on the rise’, (December 2020).

WITT, A., CHALISE, D.R., HADJERIOUA, B., BISHOP, N., MANWARING, M., ‘Development and Implications of a Predictive Cost Methodology for Modular Pumped Storage Hydropower (m-PSH) Projects in the United States’, (October 2016). Image as adapted from the State Utility Forecasting Group, Welch, 2016.

ENGEL, J. ‘Texas adds battery storage to support grid ahead of winter’ November 2021).

ALLEN, T.L., ‘Power failure by design: the Texas energy market’ (June 2021).

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

35

Robert Heron and Roy MacLean, Verlume, UK, discuss the first steps taken to integrate battery energy storage into the energy mix, particularly in offshore environments.

36 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

W

ith an ever-increasing focus and scrutiny around the carbon intensity of the world’s energy mix, battery energy storage has emerged as a key element of a successful transition to cleaner energy. As the use of phrases such as decarbonisation and electrification rise across all areas of energy production, what action is being taken now to integrate this enabling technology within the energy transition?

In the offshore environment, battery energy storage can use its advantages in efficiency and reliability of power supply to enable electrification, having been identified as a valuable way of decreasing the carbon footprint associated with renewable offshore energy applications and operations in line with the Paris and Glasgow agreements.

37

Battery energy storage can overcome the challenges associated with renewable energy intermittency, as well as increasing safety by enabling more remote and autonomous operations. With the use of battery energy storage in an offshore environment, a local power enabler is readily available through the combination of battery energy storage, an intelligent energy management system, and renewable energy producing assets.

Land-based market growth Being heralded as the missing link between the varying, intermittent renewable sources of power, and the reliability of 24-h consistent supply, the many advantages of battery energy storage are being recognised on a worldwide scale. However, over recent years, much of the rapid advancements within the battery energy storage market have been within land-based applications, including through capacity improvements and investment at pace.

The increase in investment in the sector has been vast, with battery firms raising US$17 billion in corporate funding in 2021.¹ The scale of battery energy storage projects is also intensifying. The world’s largest energy storage facility,

operated by Vistra, is set to become even bigger with plans announced to add further capacity of 1400 MWh. This would be in addition to today’s 1600 MWh of energy storage capacity at the company’s Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility.

In these land-based applications, battery energy storage technology can also decrease dependence on the grid which could be particularly useful during periods of extreme weather related to climate change. An example of this in action is Australia’s largest microgrid in Kalbarri which has received an AUS$15 million investment. Power from a 1 MW residential rooftop solar arrangement and a wind farm of 1.6 MW capacity is supported by a 5 MW battery energy storage system. The microgrid configurement, with integrated battery energy storage, means that the energy system can operate independently and act as an alternative to long-range power lines and feeders which are vulnerable to weather-related damage.

It is clear that the value of battery energy storage is being more widely understood and accepted as a crucial element of the energy transition. As mentioned, the advantages and opportunities for the use of battery energy storage within the offshore environment have not been widely capitalised on, not least at the same scale as the onshore applications noted above.

A world-first project in Hawaii

Figure 1. Project configuration for the offshore sea trial in Hawaii.

Image courtesy of C-Power.

Verlume is working at the forefront of the integration of battery energy storage and accompanying intelligent energy management systems within offshore renewable energy developments. A key element which will further support the roll-out of battery energy storage technology at scale in this environment will be efficient intelligent energy management systems which can effectively control reliable and resilient power delivery.

To enable reliable, local, renewable power generation as well as more environmentally and economically viable operations, Verlume’s Halo subsea battery energy storage device is currently part of a world-first autonomous offshore power project. The sea trial will take place in 1Q22 at the US Navy Wave Energy test site, off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

Verlume is working with project owner Columbia Power Technologies Inc (C-Power), a US wave energy developer, with the support of the US Department of Energy, as well as Saab, BioSonics, and Franatech. Three key elements will be explored through the project: FFPower generation.

FFEnergy storage and management.

FFPower delivery.

Figure 2. Verlume’s Halo subsea energy storage unit in Aberdeen, Scotland.

38 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

Verlume’s Halo device will provide seabed energy storage and management, and power delivery. Halo will ensure continuous energy availability for remote subsea operations, by providing the power, data, and communication interfaces for multiple underwater payloads. It will also act as the seafloor base unit and anchor for the wave energy converter,

as well as providing the communications gateway to the underwater payloads.

After its arrival to the test site in Hawaii, Halo will be integrated with C-Power’s wave energy convertor umbilical and the communications network to form an autonomous offshore power system (AOPS). The AOPS offshore sea trial is designed to provide power to support unmanned and autonomous offshore activities, including the use of underwater vehicles, sensor packages, and operating equipment with no tether to shore or fixed offshore installation.

Taking the plunge with battery energy storage There are a number of factors to consider when adapting battery energy storage technology for use in the offshore and underwater environments. Halo was designed with these factors in mind, drawing heavily on the team’s background and expertise in subsea technology and the impacts of the harsh marine environment.

The Halo frame has removable panels with consideration to the sizing of the holes in the sides and the top of the unit, to conform to marine licensing requirements and to prevent any undue harm to marine life that come into contact with the device. There are three environmental housings which are secured to a base frame, two of which are battery enclosures and the third of which houses the intelligent energy management system (IEMS). The IEMS provides energy security by autonomously maximising the different states of charge in real-time, providing an efficient, resilient, and dependable system.

Within this project, there is a single input from the wave energy converter to Halo, through a dynamic umbilical connection. The Halo then distributes power to up to seven outputs, comprising both AC and DC at various voltage levels. The overall energy capacity of Halo is 51 kWh with the total output power at any given time being limited to 3 kW in order to control the battery’s discharge and prolong its life. The capacity for Halo in this project is dependent on the number and type of batteries used; however, Halo devices can be scaled to much larger capacities without affecting the core system architecture.

In terms of operations, Halo is designed with a footprint small enough to be transported by road and fits into a standard 20 ft shipping container. During deployment, Halo does not require any large scale construction vessels. Due to it being designed to be small and relatively lightweight, Halo can be deployed from a small commercial workboat, or similar.

The energy storage system is lithium-ion based but the configuration is flexible so that it can be adaptable for other battery types. Battery technology is constantly improving, so horizon scanning is an ongoing process at Verlume.

Primary communications are provided via a fibre optic link to the wave energy converter, which provides the surface gateway for communications to shore using a satellite, cellular, or radio link. An integrated acoustic modem provides a backup wireless communications link through the water column to the surface. There is also an isolator switch which

Figure 3. Wet pit testing being conducted on the Halo unit.

can be switched on at the surface, or underwater using a remotely operated vehicle.

Simulating project parameters For the factory acceptance testing, in the absence of the actual wave energy convertor, a sophisticated programmable power supply was used to accurately replicate the power characteristics of the wave device. The performance of the system was assessed using different simulated sea states from glassy calm to rough seas. The Halo was tuned to maximise the efficient use of this power during the weeks of testing.

Alongside this, custom-built load simulators were used to accurately replicate the power and communications requirements of the various subsea loads, such as autonomous underwater vehicles and sensors.

System testing was conducted in a water filled test pit. In order to imitate the tropical waters off the coast of Hawaii, the water temperature was raised to 25˚C. Halo’s autonomous operation was verified following successful completion of the testing in December 2021.

On arrival in Hawaii, Halo will be tested as part of a site receipt test and stored ready for deployment. Once deployed, Halo’s performance will be monitored from the Verlume facility in Aberdeen, Scotland.

The future of battery energy storage The learnings that come from this project will be significant for further advancing and proving the use case for offshore battery energy storage, providing a real-world example to de-risk the technology. The world-leading element within this project is that the sea trial will be the first-ever demonstration of the integration of a selection of novel subsea technologies.

It is evident that further demonstration projects and trials such as these will be required to scale the systems to the same extent as land-based battery energy storage projects, taking world-first steps towards decarbonising and electrifying operations, as well as reducing the overall carbon intensity of the energy mix in the offshore environment.

References 1.

Energy Storage News, ‘Mercom: Battery storage firms raised US$17bn corporate funding in 2021’, (January 2021).

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

39

Jeff Damron, Wärtsilä’s Energy Storage and Optimisation Business, USA, describes how energy management software can help the changing energy storage landscape as the industry develops at a rapid pace.

40

E

nergy storage plays a vital role as more intermittent renewables are added to the grid, providing important grid services for reliability and stability. It has also been proven to provide excellent returns on investments and new revenue streams that power producers have come to rely on. In light of supply chain constraints that are likely to impact the cost structure of new energy storage projects, software optimisation is the most important decarbonisation and monetisation tool in the arsenal of power producers.

Supply and demand imbalance creates new challenges for energy storage The energy storage industry has enjoyed steady cost declines since 2010, driving utility scale, commercial, and residential deployments across the globe. But at the end of 2021, the price of lithium-ion batteries increased for the first time in a decade. The recent increases in battery prices have been triggered by skyrocketing demand and a host of supply chain constraints.

The price of raw materials is up across the board in response to demand from stationary energy storage and electric vehicles (EV).

According to IHS Markit, the price of lithium carbonate has risen nearly 400% between

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

41

4Q20 and 4Q21. The total material costs of a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery has risen by 35%, forcing battery manufacturers to increase prices.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, lithium supply is forecast to jump to 636 000 t in 2022, up from an estimated 497 000 t in 2021. But demand will jump even higher to 641 000 t, from an estimated 504 000 t. Battery recycling and recovery efforts currently being explored are compelling, but will not scale in time to provide any immediate relief for the near-term supply shortage.

Previously, the energy storage industry had enjoyed ample supply of LFP batteries, but as more automakers announce EV models utilising LFP technology for its lower cost, this is no longer the case. Compared to large established automotive original equipment manufacturers, energy storage system integrators buy batteries in relatively small volumes for just-in-time delivery.

Naturally, manufacturers are prioritising large, long-term EV supply agreements at this time.

Energy transition continuity hinges on energy management software According to the Energy Information Agency, utility scale energy storage in the US is expected to grow 84% this year, for a total of 5.1 GW of additional capacity. Despite a slew of challenges, industry analysts remain cautiously optimistic about y/y growth in 2022, although at lower levels than previously anticipated.

Energy storage is not the only cleantech sector feeling the pinch. Supply chain constraints have caused industry analysts to lower their 2022 forecasts for solar by as much as 25%.

Rystad Energy has predicted that the rising costs of solar panels could prompt the delay or cancellation of as much as 56% of the solar generation capacity currently planned worldwide in 2022.

This is significant when you consider that over 60% of planned storage capacity in the US is collocated with solar installations, demonstrating the interconnected nature of the country’s industries.

The magnitude and rate of cost increase is making it difficult to manage costs throughout the energy storage project development cycle. At the same time, 46.1 GW of new utility scale electric generating capacity is expected to come online in the US in 2022. Meanwhile, energy demand is projected to grow by 1% this year as the economy continues to recover from the pandemic. There has never been a more important time for power producers to ensure that their portfolio of existing assets is prepared to respond to market fluctuations and generate expected levels of return. The most cost-effective and immediate way to do this is to effectively utilise energy management software.

Software optimisation Today’s energy infrastructure is a complicated amalgamation of power sources in need of synchronisation. Fortunately, there is the technology to orchestrate the various instruments at play.

Energy producers rely on sophisticated energy management platforms when integrating renewable energy and energy storage into their existing power systems.

With energy management software, power producers can maximise the productivity and profitability of existing assets

Figure 1. Energy management software is advancing the energy storage industry at a rapid pace.

42 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

while remaining flexible enough to introduce new assets without interruption. Energy management systems use algorithms and machine learning to automate decision making for power producers, ensuring the energy system’s performance is always optimised. Software uses machine learning to analyse data, forecast future loads, and intelligently dispatch assets in the most efficient way while also reducing maintenance costs.

By leveraging machine learning, energy assets can be maintained at their most optimal point to generate, store, and release electricity for years to come. This makes the grid more reliable, maintains equipment capacity, and improves the producer’s return on investment.

When weather conditions change and renewable energy is not producing enough power, energy management software can automatically balance the output with secondary resources such as batteries to make up the difference. Software can react to match asset output to demand in msec. – faster than any human operator.

A case study: frequency regulation in Northern Germany As the energy landscape transitions to more distributed and intermittent resources, providers need the ability to provide ancillary services that maintain the reliability of the grid. In Northern Germany, for example, where large amounts of wind energy are being introduced to the grid, energy storage has been deployed to enable reliability, flexibility, and stability in and across energy networks and assets. But an intelligent and unifying platform is necessary to integrate and maximise all generation assets onto the German grid to ensure reliable and safe energy delivery to the end customer.

In Cremzow, Germany, a 22 MW/35 MWh energy storage facility balances the grid by providing frequency regulation services to the country’s Primärregelleistung (PRL) market. The Cremzow project is based on a partnership between Enel Green Power Germany, ENERTRAG AG, and Leclanché. Wärtsilä’s GEMS Digital Energy Platform intelligently integrates and manages the power plant across multiple applications, delivering frequency control, energy arbitrage, and reactive power services.

Cremzow is one of the latest projects to utilise the multiple application capabilities of GEMS with primary control reserve and reactive power applications. When the grid frequency decreases due to high power demand, the battery is able to begin delivering its stored energy within 300 msec., while charging with surplus energy during periods of low demand.

The software efficiently manages the state of charge of the system by actively participating in the German wholesale electricity market. GEMS specifically ensures system integration and optimisation of storage, renewable, and power generation assets through changes in market conditions and structures, using real-time forecasting and artificial intelligence – effectively future-proofing energy storage investments for both power developers and utilities.

Software monetisation Software provides the needed flexibility and reliability to support renewables while also maximising the economic contribution of individual assets. Market-based strategies

are critical to revenue and energy value maximisation, which is a key feature of energy storage’s value as a flexible asset. Building industry awareness of battery monetisation opportunities and strategies is essential for maximising the value of renewable energy projects.

Energy management software can also help power producers access lucrative new energy markets that have been previously unavailable to them due to the nature of a grid built for fossil fuel resources.

Renewables are now the cheapest source of energy, but currently only account for approximately 12% of energy consumption in the US. This is partly due to a lack of tools for integrating renewables into the current wholesale energy market-bidding structure. It was previously thought that renewable energy would not be able to compete in market-driven procurements. However, first-mover auctions surprised utilities with energy storage offers too good to refuse. Energy storage has enabled improved integration of renewables onto the grid by guaranteeing that reliable renewable power is available to meet the demand of energy markets just as any flexible fossil fuel power plant guarantees fossil fuel electricity.

Power producers compete in a complex market selling power into the grid. With variable power demands being supplied by a broad spectrum of independent producers grappling to maintain profits, staying atop market fluctuations becomes increasingly difficult. Bidding in energy markets with power from energy storage assets requires a sophisticated approach that anticipates fluctuations and can recalibrate and react in fractions of a second. This type of instantaneous calculation requires traders to work with an algorithmic software to manage the bidding process.

Automated bidding software maximises revenue from assets while also developing new strategies for future growth and return on investment.

Wärtsilä recently commissioned a 40 MW/80 MWh solar-plus-storage facility in Georgia, US, that is one of the world’s first examples of using artificial intelligence and energy storage technology to competitively bid into wholesale markets. Wärtsilä’s GEMS controls the entire hybrid plant while its new cloud-based IntelliBidder software can bid firm energy into the day-ahead markets. IntelliBidder leverages machine learning based on automated and forecasted data and real-time trading for elevated value-based asset management and portfolio optimisation.

With a greater focus on the value of flexible energy and the rise of new energy markets and market signals, renewable energy developers are leveraging the intelligence of modern energy storage systems for advanced value-based asset management and portfolio optimisation. Energy storage is critical to achieving 100% renewable energy, and it is imperative that the industry continues to support energy providers as they deploy storage at unprecedented speed.

Energy management software is always an integral part of any power system, but will play an outsized role in helping power producers weather changing market conditions by streamlining operations, improving revenues, and clearing a more efficient path to a renewable energy future.

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

43

G

reen hydrogen produced by electrolysis, a process discovered in England in 1800, can help complete the reset of the world’s energy and industrial systems by 2050.

On the path to reaching net zero by 2050, hydrogen can play a major role, complementing that of renewable electricity.

It will be a solution in decarbonising several of the ‘hard to abate’ challenges in energy and industrial systems. Driven by robust standards, the roll-out of new hydrogen production capacity needs to be as close to zero carbon as possible. And to create switching incentives for end users, it must be as low cost as possible. Green hydrogen, produced by electrolysis of water using renewable electricity, can deliver on both carbon and cost. The roll-out must be kick-started now. Reaching scale early will deliver rewards in carbon reduction and economic growth.

Net zero changed everything Cheap renewable electricity has provided the means to deliver deep decarbonisation of the world’s energy systems. And the success in driving renewables down the cost curve also gave people the belief to do more. In 2019, the UK became the first major economy to set a target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions into law, and much of the world is following. Electricity alone will not get the world to net zero. Other technologies are needed to decarbonise industry, heavy transport, and aspects

44

of heating, and to enable the further deployment of wind and solar. Hydrogen, already a major industrial commodity and currently largely produced from fossil fuels, can play a large role.

Today, production of hydrogen is responsible for circa 830 million tpy of CO2, equivalent to approximately 2% of global carbon emissions. Current usage can be decarbonised most effectively by switching production to green hydrogen. And the hydrogen economy can be grown to provide a solution for several other hard to abate challenges. For example, heavy transport currently dependent on fossil fuels is likely to be an early switcher to hydrogen. In addition to environmental, social, and governance reasons, end users see breaking their dependency on volatile fossil fuel prices and on rising carbon prices as the principal reasons to switch early.

A standard path to 2050 is needed In a world counting externalities, not all hydrogen molecules are equal. A wide range of hydrogen production paths are possible, with a wide range of carbon footprints and a rainbow of labels to describe them. These include: steam methane reformation (SMR), a process producing hydrogen with a high carbon footprint (labelled grey hydrogen); SMR with carbon capture and storage (CCS), a process which can produce hydrogen with a lower carbon footprint than SMR (labelled blue hydrogen); electrolysis of water using renewable electricity, either generated onsite or sourced through a grid power purchase agreement

John Prendergast, Senior Commercial Manager at RES, UK and Ireland, discusses the role that hydrogen can play in reaching a net zero world, and why the roll-out must be kick-started now.

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

45

(labelled green hydrogen); electrolysis of water using nuclear energy (labelled pink hydrogen). Both green and pink can also be labelled zero carbon. RES expects end users to predominantly demand zero carbon hydrogen. To supply this, the company expects green hydrogen to play the dominant role as its electricity cost, the key driver of the levelised cost of hydrogen, is a fraction of the cost of nuclear energy.

In supporting the roll-out of technology, governments need to know their investments are actually on the path to net zero, and end users need to be sure their supply chains are what they claim to be. Therefore, a robust system of standards is needed.

Figure 1. Building confidence in forecasts of further green hydrogen roll-out, and hence forecast demand for renewable electricity, will have the added benefit of creating a pull-through for new wind and solar projects, all helping reach net zero. Image courtesy of Lighthouse.

Figure 2. Renewable-based electrification using wind and solar is the fastest way to decarbonise. Image courtesy of Keith Arkins.

In addition to simple standards that may be used to determine eligibility for government support mechanisms, RES expects that end users will require a sophisticated standards/certification system giving assurance of the lowest carbon footprint, and of the production path. It is imperative that standards are underpinned by detailed work to accurately assess the total emissions of different production paths as major uncertainties still exist in these calculations.

Accelerate now and reap the benefits The EU has set a target of 40 GW of green hydrogen projects by 2030 and the UK has set a target of 5 GW of low-carbon hydrogen projects by 2030. Such long-term targets are important, but near-term work by governments to help early projects reach investment decisions and enter construction is even more so. Achieving scale will set green hydrogen production technology down the path of cost reduction already seen for other modular renewable technologies. In addition, building confidence in forecasts of further green hydrogen roll-out, and hence forecast demand for renewable electricity, will have the added benefit of creating a pull-through for new wind and solar projects, all helping reach net zero.

Countries that create the conditions for early roll-out of green hydrogen projects will reap far more than the benefits of decarbonisation. These projects will also be part of a green-led economic recovery, creating skilled jobs distributed nationally in project development, technology manufacturing, construction, and operations. Many of these jobs will be in industrial heartlands near to end users of hydrogen. In addition, green hydrogen innovation will create opportunities for global export as deployment becomes more widespread.

Several countries see this opportunity clearly. Germany is taking a very strong lead in developing a broad green hydrogen economy. It has announced a €9 billion national hydrogen strategy, principally focused on domestic growth and with €2 billion included to support international projects. Sweden has an interesting focus on green steel, with several projects in trials or development which will use green hydrogen in the steel production process. The UK has announced plans to support low-carbon hydrogen which includes blue and green hydrogen projects. RES’ view is that this work helps the UK move towards a net zero pathway, but to actually get onto a net zero pathway, the long-term UK focus will need to be green hydrogen.

The company believes in a world where everyone has access to affordable zero carbon energy. Green hydrogen is necessary to reach that world and the company wants to accelerate its deployment. RES is very excited to be working on a new partnership with Octopus Energy which aims to invest £3 billion in green hydrogen projects by 2030.

Coming full circle

Figure 3. RES and Octopus Energy have entered a partnership to invest £3 billion in building green hydrogen plants across the UK by 2030.

46 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

So, it turns out that electrolysis, a technology created in the Industrial Revolution, can be one of the final pieces in the solution to climate change, a problem created in the Industrial Revolution. That tale has a nice symmetry. But now developers, investors, government, technology suppliers, and end users must collaborate to take it from the storybook and make it real. Net zero needs green hydrogen at scale, fast.

www.OceanIQ.co.uk

Understanding Where Submarine Cable Faults Take Place

Analysis of over 4,300 historical global fibre optic submarine cable faults Identify areas of high historical fault rates Plan new cables in the lowest fault rate areas View the fault density by cause e.g. fishing, anchoring and seismic activity Make informed decisions to maintenance requirements based on historical trends GIS data layers based on the number of expected faults per km of cable per year

Matthieu Guesné, Lhyfe, France, looks at the development of offshore green hydrogen, and the role it will play in the decarbonisation of the mobility and industrial sectors.

P

articipants at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, pledged to put the planet on a 2.4˚C global warming trajectory, even though the 2015 Paris Agreement aimed to limit warming to 2˚C or even 1.5˚C above pre-industrial levels.

For their part, CO2 concentrations have increased by 47% since 1850. This is the highest level in 2 million years.

There is a need to be more ambitious and to act immediately. Hydrogen is one of the many solutions that can help to achieve these climate goals. But under which conditions?

Hydrogen is a source of energy which offers all the advantages of petroleum and gas without their disadvantages: it is highly concentrated, it can be transported and stored, and it provides energy without emitting greenhouse gases (GHGs). Containing three times more energy per kg than petrol/gas, hydrogen is now a genuine alternative to fossil fuels for certain uses.

The use of hydrogen is particularly relevant:

F For mobility, to fuel buses, refuse collection vehicles, trucks, trains, boats, SUV cars, among others, which then give off no pollutants, just a few drops of pure water.

48

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

49

FFIn many industries as a raw material or a carrier gas (in the electronics, chemicals, glass metals industries, among others).

Currently, 95% of all hydrogen is manufactured using hydrocarbons (petroleum, natural gas, or coal). This process produces large quantities of CO2 (for every kg of hydrogen produced, up to 10 kg of CO2 is emitted). Manufacturing hydrogen with fossil energy sources simply shifts the problem elsewhere. Indeed, in 2018, global consumption of this form of hydrogen stood at 74 million t (mainly in industry).

Another hydrogen is now possible The green alternative chosen by Lhyfe uses the water electrolysis technique and connects its electrolysis plants directly to sources of natural, renewable resources of all kinds: wind, photovoltaic (PV) solar, hydropower, solid biomass, biogas, geothermal, etc. which means there is no CO2 in either production or use. This renewable hydrogen can reduce GHG emissions from industry and transportation by up to 30%.

By 2050, renewable energies such as wind and solar will have to fill the massive world energy needs and contribute to the GHG emissions reduction of heavy industrial sectors either through electrification or hydrogen.

Figure 1. Lhyfe’s first production site, in Bouin, Vendée, France, the world’s first plant to produce renewable hydrogen from wind power on an industrial scale. Image courtesy of OHE, William Jezequel.

The EU wants to build 40 GW of green hydrogen electrolysers by 2030 and estimates that 80 - 120 GW of solar and wind will be needed to power them. That is a new headache for Europe’s grid operators. Decarbonisation is expected to double the demand for electricity as transport and heat are also electrified.

Taking hydrogen production off the power grid could be a win-win solution to these problems. That is the idea behind plans for what is termed ‘islanded’ hydrogen, which would pair electrolysers with offshore wind farms and send hydrogen molecules, rather than electrons, back to shore. Industrial applications will be a big source of demand for hydrogen, even more so in the early days of this transition.

So, this process not only allows Lhyfe to offer totally clean hydrogen, but also allows the company to compete with fossil fuels. It can produce clean energy less and less expensively – compared with fossil energy that will become increasingly costly.

Deploying renewable hydrogen production sites Lhyfe’s first renewable hydrogen production plant, located in Bouin in Vendée, France, has been operational since 2021, after a year of work, installation, and testing. This plant, which is the complete opposite of a conventional gas plant, produces up to 1 tpd of clean hydrogen and supplies the mobility and industrial uses of the Pays de la Loire region in France.

To produce the hydrogen, the company connects directly to three wind turbines (2.5 MW each). The electricity from the wind turbines allows the company to power its production process, composed of equipment selected on criteria specifically linked to Lhyfe’s technology and adapted for it. This process includes an electrolyser that uses seawater (pumped at a rate of only a few m3/d, in the immediate vicinity of the production site) to separate the water molecule to extract hydrogen. The hydrogen is then purified, compressed, and finally distributed to customers.

The impact is immediately positive. The hydrogen instantly decarbonises: FFTransport, especially heavy transport, which is particularly polluting and difficult to decarbonise using battery technology.

FFIndustries using hydrogen called ‘grey hydrogen’ in their industrial process, i.e. a hydrogen produced from fossil energies which can, in its upstream manufacture, generate up to 20 kg of CO2/kg of hydrogen produced (whereas the green hydrogen produced by Lhyfe emits 8 kg of oxygen per kg of hydrogen produced).

This first-of-its kind production unit precedes the deployment of several tens of such units across the territory.

Specificities of the plants Figure 2. First delivery of Lhyfe’s renewable hydrogen to La Roche-sur-Yon’s multi-energy station, France. Image courtesy of OHE, William Jezequel.

50 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

The plants are designed to perfectly handle the native intermittency constraint of renewable energies through a control system developed by the company’s experts to ensure reliable delivery to customers despite fluctuant energy input.

The production process is also ideally optimised thanks to an accurate process modelling that guarantees the hydrogen availability at the most competitive cost.

Each deployed plant generates an immediate positive impact on the environment together with add-value for the hosting territory. The short distribution channel deployed (producing hydrogen from locally available energy and supplying local needs) allows Lhyfe to address and generate impact on local employment and resilient development of territories.

Figure 3. Location of the SEM-REV sea trial site. Image courtesy of SEM-REV/Centrale Nantes.

Going offshore Lhyfe’s first industrial site has not been selected randomly. This first plant hosts, on top of the hydrogen production part, an R&D platform dedicated to the offshore solutions deployment.

Geographic localisation (near shore) allows considering harsh marine environment testing of the devices subject to saline and a corrosive atmosphere expected in offshore production processes. The deployment plan entails a first demonstration as soon as 2022 and a first commercial production plant by 2025.

Why target offshore production?

Offshore production significantly increases the impact. It allows massive production quantities from a more powerful, more available, and less fluctuating energy, leading to more competitive production costs.

Today, the most competitive electricity production cost is obtained using PV panels in sunny regions of the world.

However, this type of renewable energy implies a very low load factor. Thus, despite solar being a low-cost energy, the load factor prevents sustainable business plans from tackling 100% green hydrogen production in Europe.

On the contrary, offshore wind energy cost has heavily dropped in the last years to reach €40 - €45/MWh on average.

On top of this, the load factor of offshore wind is significantly higher than PV or onshore wind, achieving 60% targets.

Lhyfe’s currently developed concepts are thus sized to produce more than 9000 tpy of hydrogen. Only one of these platforms avoids more than 200 000 tpy of CO2. Considering the average lifetime of the plants (35 years), each platform could reduce CO2 emissions by 7 million t of CO2. With only 140 offshore platforms around the world (the North Sea already has over 1000 existing platforms), 1 billion t of CO2 will be avoided.

Offshore wind deployment potential exceeds the electricity demand by more than 18 folds. Coupling this renewable energy with hydrogen production makes it feasible to envision offshore wind farms further from coasts enabling valuation of currently hard to reach areas considering the electricity networks constraints.

On top of the ability for renewable wind energy to supply electricity demand by 2050, according to IAE, the renewable energy will significantly participate in the decarbonisation of activities releasing huge amounts of GHGs such as transportation, chemicals, or heavy industries.

These sectors are specifically harder to decarbonise by electrification alone.

Figure 4. The SEM-REV site offshore Le Croisic in Brittany, France.

Image courtesy of SEM-REV.

Far shore wind farms are also way more socially acceptable. Moreover, gas transportation allows the transfer of 15 times more energy than electricity through cables for a three times decreased CAPEX. Significant synergies can be found between these two sectors to take advantage of the energy potential, still limiting usage conflicts.

Reuse of oil and gas platforms The current decline in offshore oil and gas production is a clear opportunity to deploy modular hydrogen production units at sea linked to offshore renewable electricity.

According to the net zero roadmap of IAE, oil consumption could fall by 70% between 2020 (approximately 90 million bpd) and 2050 (24 million bpd) when the gas consumption could drop by 55% and coal by 90%. From 2021, there could be no more demand for new oil and gas fields except those already started.

On the other hand, as an example, there currently are hundreds of existing platforms in the North Sea that will have to be decommissioned in the coming decade.

Reusing existing offshore assets to produce hydrogen then seems possible and even represents a clear opportunity for stakeholders to extend asset lifetime by investing in the sustainable sector of green hydrogen production.

Such a process can require heavy investments from asset owners. During the next 10 years, there could be €65 billion invested for decommissioning processes of offshore assets.

According to DNV, 52% of oil and gas actors foresee hydrogen as a great part of the energy mix by 2030 and 21% admit to already having entered the hydrogen market.

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

51

The costs of transporting hydrogen from ocean platforms via pipeline may appear at first glance to be much greater than the costs of laying undersea transmission to carry electricity to shore. But that does not take into account the cost of offshore substations to collect wind farm power, or the severely congested state of the onshore power grid. A massive co-ordinated effort will be needed to whip those grids into shape to absorb the rapidly growing amount of offshore wind power being planned.

In light of these challenges, piping hydrogen back to demand centres may make sense, particularly for a North Sea region that already hosts an extensive undersea pipeline infrastructure and deep industry experience in building it. So far, the initial wave of islanded hydrogen projects is starting.

Finally, offshore wind appears to be an adequate energy source for hydrogen production thanks to the low cost of electricity (<40 MWh) coupled to a wide load factor (>50%).

Thus, renewable offshore hydrogen establishes itself as a unique opportunity towards a 100% renewable energy world.

Validating the technology To support the development of offshore hydrogen facilities, Lhyfe has decided to put an electrolyser on a floating barge.

This is the first time in the world such production facilities will be put at sea to study and unlock the challenges linked to offshore floating hydrogen production. The SEM-REV site offshore Le Croisic in Brittany, France, has been chosen for this purpose. It is a unique site where renewable marine

technologies can be tested, offering the possibility to study, measure, and collect data for offshore pilot tests.

The SEM-REV site is equipped with all offshore measurement tools. It is composed of a secured and reserved area of 1 km2 delimited by four buoys 20 km from Le Croisic and equipped with oceanographic and weather sensors (wind, wave, and water streams).

This site is an optimum place for testing offshore floating hydrogen as: FFIt hosts a 2 MW floating wind turbine which can and will be directly connected to the electrolyser. The site is also connected to the onshore grid allowing for electrical supply at any time.

FFPermitting is already in place for technology experimentation.

FFThe site is located in the vicinity of Lhyfe’s head offices in France as well as close to Bouin’s hydrogen onshore plant equipped with a 1 MW electrolyser.

The barge is planned to be installed onsite in September 2022, directly connected to an already existing floating wind turbine. The electrolyser’s capacity is 1 MW and the test will be carried out during one year.

The experimentation will help to crack the following key technological challenges: FFMarinisation of the electrolysis unit, such as understanding the impacts of the accelerations generated by the swell on the production of the electrolyser, and the protection of the equipment against a highly corrosive environment.

FFRemote operations, including operation management

Figure 5. Offshore wind technical potential and electricity demand in 2018. Source: Offshore Wind Outlook 2019, IEA.

and monitoring systems respecting the required safety rules and regulations using a SCADA system interfaced with all Lhyfe sites. Also, the centralised operations from a remote operation room located in Bouin. Furthermore, the experiment will help with the development of a numerical twin allowing for an optimised hydrogen production to manage the production intermittency of the Floatgen wind turbine electrical production.

FFOptimisation of utilities, as the harsh environment of the SEM REV site does not allow access to the site on many occasions during the year, especially in autumn/winter seasons. Hence, the technology deployed on the barge will be carefully chosen and tested for operation without presence of personnel over several months.

Figure 6. Well decommissioning activity in the North Sea, 2020 - 2029.

Source: OGUK/OGA/Nextstep.

52 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

In parallel, Lhyfe has initiated the development of several offshore concepts to prepare for the emerging and yet promising opening of the market to come. Through this conception phase, the company evaluates the suitability and effectiveness of different infrastructure types able to accommodate with its hydrogen production process (a modular topside dedicated to hydrogen production, a wind turbine floater, and a jack-up rig retrofit).

Your annual by the industry for the industry wind energy event

Find out more at: windeurope.org/annual2022

EVENT AMBASSADORS

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

To become an exhibitor or sponsor please contact: sales@windeurope.org

Figure 1. A cost-optimised generating station to keep concrete and earthwork costs down, Manitoba Hydro asked bidders to optimise the dimensions of the generating station using a 3D model during the bidding phase.

54

Kathrin Röck, Voith Hydro, Germany, details how the hydropower projects currently being built in Canada will help to make green power more readily available across the country.

C

anada is not only expanding hydropower to generate even more sustainable electricity. Major new projects are also giving the energy industry additional options in the North American market and providing important employment opportunities for people in the provinces. Voith is helping to lay the foundations for this by supplying the complete electromechanical equipment for two power plants.

The Keeyask Project The future is not only built in major metropolitan areas. Often the things that advance the

socioeconomic development of a society are developed far away – particularly in the field of energy supply and especially in Canada. More than 700 km north of the provincial capital Winnipeg, the Keeyask hydroelectric power station is being built on the Nelson River that will not only produce electricity but also further increase the share of renewable energy in Canada’s electricity mix. At the same time, it is also a new source of value creation, jobs, and prospects for the future.

The development of the Keeyask Project is a partnership between Manitoba Hydro and four Manitoba First Nations – Tataskweyak Cree Nation, War Lake First Nation, York Factory First Nation,

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

55

and Fox Lake Cree Nation – working together as the Keeyask Hydropower Limited Partnership (KHLP).

On behalf of Manitoba Hydro, Voith will be responsible for designing, supplying, and installing seven propeller turbine generator units. With a total capacity of 695 MW, they are expected to generate approximately 4400 GWh/y of green power once the station comes onstream – and make the future more secure. This is because the province is growing and with it, the demand for energy, the company states. The Keeyask Project will be able to supply power to an additional 400 000 households.

Since the summer of 2014, hundreds of workers have been working on this site day in and day out to make this vision a reality, the majority of them from Manitoba, including many Indigenous people from the region. A project labour agreement was utilised to create consistent terms and conditions of employment, and included a centralised recruitment service. As well, training and vocational programmes were established. The Keeyask

Figure 2. Dykes 23 km long border the north and south sides of the Keeyask reservoir.

Project provides important employment opportunities for the four First Nations involved – Indigenous people from the region make up a large portion of the construction workforce, accounting for 39% of total hires on the project.

Engineering challenges The engineering requirements are high, but can be easily met with Voith Hydro’s expertise and range of products. “As with any large hydropower project, it is a matter of finding a customised solution that fits the specific circumstances,” said Project Director David Latour. Due to the low head, some of the seven units’ main components were designed quite large, resulting in the runners reaching a dia. of 8.35 m and the generator rotors measuring 13.67 m each. A new, highly efficient turbine design ensures that the units operate particularly cost-effectively.

The real challenges lie in completely different areas.

On the one hand, the necessary parts are sourced from suppliers all over the world. This requires excellent co-ordination, logistics, and special technical attention to ensure that a missing bolt does not slow down construction progress as a result of Keeyak’s isolated location. “Voith has the knowledge, experience, and capacity to plan and manage such megaprojects, including co-ordinating procurement and installation processes,” Latour affirmed.

On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic has reached Keeyask and delayed work there. The job site had a temporary reduction in workforce for eight weeks.

Because many workers nevertheless decided to remain onsite and continue working without physical contact with the outside world for safety reasons, construction activities did not come to a standstill. “Extensive measures were taken to protect them,” added the Voith Manager.

“Even though the work was a little slower, it was still progressing.”

And milestones were also successfully reached, as the first unit was handed over by Voith to Manitoba Hydro for commissioning in April 2020, six months ahead of schedule.

In the meantime, five more units have been handed over to Manitoba Hydro. The last one is scheduled to follow in December 2021. At that point, Keeyask will no longer be just a dot on the Canadian map, but a major producer of sustainable energy on North America’s power grid.

The Site C Clean Energy Project

Figure 3. The Site C project: 12 875 km is the distance that two turbine runners produced by Voith in São Paulo, Brazil, had to travel by sea to the Port of Prince Rupert in British Columbia. 81 m is the length of the heavy-duty truck that was used to transport the runners to the job site. In the process, one truck pulled the cargo while two others pushed at the rear.

56 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

Approximately 2000 km by car to the west, the objective is the same. In the province of British Columbia near Fort St. John, one of Canada’s largest infrastructure projects is currently under construction: the Site C Clean Energy Project. As the third power plant along the Peace River, it will generate approximately 5100 GWh/y of electricity with a capacity of 1100 MW, thus creating carbon-neutral supply security over the long-term. Because of its track record in similarly complex projects, Voith was contracted by the operator BC Hydro to design, manufacture, and install six Francis turbines together with the generators

and electromechanical equipment. “Site C will help reduce expected to benefit, as are existing companies that switch British Columbia’s carbon emissions and provide enough from fossil fuels to electricity. sustainably produced power for 450 000 homes annually,” concluded Lawson Crichton, Business Development Equipping hydropower plants Manager at Voith Hydro in Canada.

Voith Hydro is part of the Voith Group and a full-line Work on Site C began all the way back in July 2015. supplier as well as partner for equipping hydropower Voith built a temporary production facility directly onsite plants. Voith develops customised, long-term solutions to manufacture the steel structures needed for the turbines and services for large and small hydro plants all over and generators. At the same time, the earthworks were the world. Its portfolio of products and services covers underway. Because Voith optimised the space requirements the entire lifecycle and all major components for large of the turbine-generator solution, BC Hydro was able to and small hydro plants, from generators, turbines, reduce the dimensions of the generating station and thus its pumps, and automation systems, right through to spare construction costs. parts, maintenance and training services, and digital The turbines for units one and two were delivered in solutions for intelligent hydropower. More than 30% of the March 2021. While the Voith team is now busy assembling hydropower technology installed across Canada is from their components in parallel in the new generating station, Voith, and more than 60% of the country’s electricity is the remaining equipment is being completed and held in generated by hydropower. a storage area until it can also be installed according to the project schedule.

Similar to Keeyask, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused uncertainty and delays at Site C, but it has not brought manufacturing and construction to a standstill. “With up to 4500 workers onsite for the main construction activities, the generating station, and turbine and generator construction, COVID-19 caused a few minor disruptions but had little impact on Voith’s overall schedule,” Crichton clarified.

Today, the workforce already includes many members of the Indigenous population of the surrounding area, including many in training. After the hydroelectric generating station comes onstream, they will continue to be involved in the project through ongoing employment opportunities in fields such as Figure 4. Heavy transport in the dead of winter. A partially rehabilitated private road was operations or maintenance – the results of used to transport the runners to the Site C project. The two-week drive had to take place in which will then benefit the entire province.

January 2021 in order for the frozen roads to even be able to support the load.

Site C is one of Canada’s largest infrastructure projects and is helping to make green power available on particularly favourable terms.

Jump-starting the energy transition Lower electricity prices for companies that go green – this is the concept the Canadian government, the government of British Columbia, and the utility company BC Hydro are using to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and entice companies to relocate to this province. New clean industries – such as those producing hydrogen or biofuels – are

Figure 5. Generating station under construction. For the Site C project, Voith is supplying and installing six vertically arranged Francis turbines and generators as well as the electromechanical equipment.

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

57

John Halkett, Sweetman Renewables Ltd, Australia, explains how sustainably-sourced

58 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

biomass has the potential to be at the heart of the renewable energy push in Australia.

T

here is plenty of talk about future technology and innovation being the answer to a net zero carbon future. However, there is still some distance to travel regarding issues such as the practical implementation of carbon capture technology and green hydrogen manufacturing. There is also a large amount of political speak (at least in Australia), media interest, and speculative investment, but the following article contains practical examples of renewable energy related technologies and their implementation.

A focus on renewables

With a clear focus on sustainability and renewability, Australian company Sweetman Renewables Ltd (SRL) is a strong proponent in the development of renewable energy related projects.

SRL acquired sawmilling and timber production assets, buildings, land and forest from the Sweetman family, and completed a modest pre-IPO capital raising towards the end of 2021.

The company has ambitious ideas in the renewable energy space and has plans to embark on an IPO capital raising. Funding will be directed at a number of projects that

59

will concentrate on the use of sustainably harvested wood, sawmill residues, forest waste, and post-consumer industrial and residential wood waste to develop renewable energy and climate change abatement focused outcomes.

SRL has initiatives underway directed at renewable fuel projects, including hydrogen. A planned IPO raising will assist in the future development of sawmilling and timber product activities, biomass-based development, including the early production of biochar and steam, well proven torrifaction technology, and green hydrogen production possibilities.

There has been wide condemnation of Australia’s climate change abatement position – that as a developed, affluent country, Australia is simply not making an adequate contribution to global efforts to slow the adverse impacts of climate change and the global push to a net zero carbon position by 2050. SRL is determined to do something constructive to address this criticism.

As the world inches towards a net zero carbon emissions target by 2050 following the climate change summit in Glasgow, Scotland, clearly there is significant work to do. This will necessitate a radical move away from a dependency on fossil fuel energy. Obviously, bioenergy could become a large part of the solution to Australia’s net zero carbon emissions position and there will need to be a much greater focus on plants, particularly on trees.

The role of sustainable forestry World authorities, including the United Nations, environmental ambassadors such as Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, and

Figure 1. Sweetman Renewables Ltd Chairman John Halkett in company-owned forest.

Figure 2. An early emphasis on biomass-based development, including the production of biochar.

60 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

Sir David Attenborough point to the necessity of placing trees and forests at the centre of a move to sustainable renewable energy and a net zero carbon future.

In a Harvard Project on Climate Change paper, Rene Castro concludes that agriculture, forestry, and land-use activities: “[...] have the greatest potential for carbon sequestration and offer abatement opportunities that are cheaper than can be found in the energy or transport sectors.”

He writes that when wood cannot be reused, it can be deployed to produce energy through combustion. The energy produced from such combustion is effectively stored energy from the Sun. “As the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from the combustion process is no more than the amount previously stored, burning wood is carbon neutral. I think that makes sense.” 1 Prince William recently announced a new climate change documentary series featuring Sir David Attenborough as part of his continuing climate change mission to encourage people to help save the planet as part of his Earthshot Prize.

“The Prize will incentivise change and help to repair our planet over the next 10 years – a critical decade for the Earth. This is the moment for hope, not fear. A better, sustainable future is within reach, we just have to grasp it,” he stated.

In his 2020 book, A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future, David Attenborough details his deep concerns about climate change and the lack of meaningful action, he stated that humanity’s impact on the climate is now truly global.

“Our blind assault on the planet is changing the very fundamentals of the living world. This is now the status of our planet in the year 2020 […] We have replaced the wild with the tame. We regard the Earth as our planet run by humankind for humankind.

There is little left for the rest of the living world. The truly wild world – that nonhuman world – has gone. We have overrun the Earth […] that will bring about nothing less than the collapse of the living world, the very thing that our civilisation relies on.”2 In a conciliary note in support of sustainable forestry practices, Sir David writes: “Sustainable logging in which select trees are felled and carefully removed at rates that mimic the natural turnover of a forest, would be permitted, for this has been shown to preserve biodiversity.”3 Fossil fuel-based energy in the form of coal and oil has been dug up or pumped out of the ground and burnt for decades. At a basic level, both these types of energy have been stored deep underground for millions of years. Burning them means their stored carbon is pumped back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

It does not take a climate scientist to tell you that all this carbon has gone up into the atmosphere and its ‘blanket effect’ is the primary reason why the planet is warming alarmingly.

If the planet is going to get anywhere near a net zero carbon emissions position by 2050, the burning of ancient fossil fuels must be stopped, as they release their stored carbon back into the atmosphere from whence it came all those millions of years ago.

Instead, energy sources that are renewable and sustainable and have an overall net zero carbon impact for future energy needs must be used. Really the practical solution is to recruit the services of plants, but particularly of trees.

Plants, particularly trees, will be central to achieving anything near net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Figure 3. Future funding will be directed at projects that will concentrate on the use of sustainably harvested wood, sawmill residues, forest waste, and post-consumer industrial and residential wood waste to develop renewable energy and climate change abatement focused outcomes.

However, utilising biomass and wood waste for renewable energy production is not a lay down misère by any means.

International experience around logistics and transport for high bulk, low value biomass means transport costs can be up to half on the delivered cost.

In addition, ‘green’ biomass sourced from sawmill waste and forest residues can have a moisture content in the region of 25%.

Heat pre-treatment can reduce moisture content to below 10%, significantly improve calorific values, and reduce the delivered volume by up to one-third.

Post-consumer industrial and residential wood waste usually contains contaminants such as glues and coatings that can cause emissions difficulties at power plants. This problem can be offset by pre-treatment to remove such contaminants.

Where biomass has been obtained from the harvesting of natural forests, it is essential that such operations obtain third-party certification to attest that sustainable forest management practices are followed. In an Australian context, the removal of non-sawlog forest residues for bioenergy can have substantial benefits in terms of fuel load reduction and mitigating bush fire intensities.

A real plus for biomass sourced from natural hardwood forests in Australia is that the tree species utilised have a wood density in the region of 700 - 950 kg/m3. This is close to twice that of softwood species. This has measurable advantages in terms of calorific values that impact directly on renewable energy production efficiency and costs.

“There must therefore be a stronger, renewed focus on more efficient management of trees and forests. This must include the sustainable utilisation of natural forest communities, and the

establishment of extensive tree plantations. The future must also include placing a value and a price on carbon as a key element of a renewable energy future.

There is little doubt that renewable energy systems, whether that is bioenergy or green hydrogen, will require a great emphasis on better management of trees and forests.

Australia’s road to net zero Australia should be taking advantage of the fact that it is in a fortunate position in relation to the prospect of a new bioenergy focused future with large expanses of land suitable for tree establishment, plus having large tracts of existing natural forest.

Collectively, this provides the potential to move the country beyond the dependency on fossil fuel-focused energy systems.

Without such an emphasis on trees, forests, and associated bioenergy projects, it is difficult to see how Australia can make a commitment to even approaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Certainly, an over-dependency on the vagaries of solar and wind renewable energy will not provide the certainty of dependable baseload power required to support both industrial and residential needs.

Australia must elevate the importance given to forestry science, sustainable forest management, and biomass-based renewable energy systems, and at the same time to improve sustainable management of natural forest systems to provide building and construction product needs and contribute towards net zero renewable energy targets.

References 1.

2.

3.

CASTRO, R., Harvard Project on Climate Change, ‘Eco-Competitiveness and Eco-Efficiency: Carbon Neutrality in Latin America’, (2015).

ATTENBOROUGH, D., A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future, (2020), pp.95, 100, 121.

Ibid. p179.

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

61

SOLAR

SOLAR

GLOBAL NEWS

Mytilineos completes South Korean solar project construction

ACWA Power secures Saudi Arabian solar project

Mytilineos has announced that the construction of a 1.55 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Yangpyung-gun, South Korea has been completed by its Renewables and Storage Development (RSD) Business Unit.

This is the company’s first project in South Korea and in the broader East Asia region.

The project has secured a tariff of KRW 119000/MWh (approximately US$100/MWh) through the competitive bidding that took place in February 2021. Once completed, it is expected to generate approximately 2000 units of renewable energy certificates (RECs) each year. The RECs generated will be sold to Korea District Heating Corporation under a 20-year offtake agreement (PPA).

The RSD Business Unit is further establishing its position in the country by also developing a 36 MW PV project in Gonam-Myeon, Taean County. The project has already received a power generation license and has applied for a development permit. In the next two years, the RSD Business Unit aims to undertake greenfield development of large scale solar PV projects sizing up to 300 MW by acquiring small scale solar PV projects with a maximum capacity of 50 MW. Nikos Papapetrou, General Manager of the RSD Business Unit, stated: “South Korea is a strategic market in Mytilineos’ expansion in the Asia Pacific and a great opportunity for the RSD Business Unit to verify its global presence. We are happy to be one of the few international companies to enter this competitive market and to aid South Korea’s green goals.”

ACWA Power and the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), the principle buyer, have signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) to develop a 700 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) independent power plant (IPP) in Ar Rass, Saudi Arabia’s Al Qassim province. The agreement was signed in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia.

Under the terms of the agreement, ACWA Power will sell energy produced by the project to SPPC for a period of 25 years. Valued at US$450 million (SAR 1.7 billion), Ar Rass is one of the largest PV projects that has been tendered as part of Saudi Arabia’s National Renewable Energy Programme (NREP) to date, for which ACWA Power has been earmarked to deliver 70% of the total 58.7 GW target.

ACWA Power will hold a 40.1% stake in the facility, along with 20% by the Water and Electricity Holding Company (Badeel), a wholly owned PIF Portfolio Company, and 39.9% will be owned by the State Power Investment Corporation from China. When fully functional, the project will produce energy to power approximately 132 000 homes in central Saudi Arabia.

During the signing ceremony, the Minister of Energy announced that the energy sector aims to launch several renewable energy projects to produce approximately 15 000 MW of clean energy between the years 2022 and 2023.

The Ar Rass IPP is expected to reach financial close in 4Q22.

Ingeteam solar inverters used in North Macedonia Macedonia’s first large scale photovoltaic (PV) plant is already under construction, and is about to be completed. The Oslomej solar project, financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), has been built in Kichevo and is equipped with eight Ingeteam solar inverters of 1400 kW each.

This PV plant is the first phase of a larger project that includes the construction of hundreds of megawatts of PV power plants, which are planned to be announced in the upcoming months.

This first phase of 11.7 MW of installed power has been built by Europower Solar, belonging to the Turkish group Girisim Elektrik AS.

62 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

Executives from the EBRD and the national public utility ESM recently visited the facility to check the progress of the project, which is already well advanced.

Future PV plants to be developed to complete the project pipeline on this location will be built on a former coal mine.

The Oslomej project is an important milestone for North Macedonia, since it marks the firm commitment of the country’s government to the energy transition towards a cleaner generation model, as reflected in the energy law approved by the government in December 2020.

WIND

GLOBAL NEWS Shell Australia and WestWind form strategic partnership

TotalEnergies begins development of offshore wind farm

Shell Energy Operations Pty Ltd has signed an agreement to acquire 49% of Australian wind farm developer, WestWind Energy Development Pty Ltd, which has a 3 GW project pipeline across Victoria, New South Wales (NSW), and Queensland, Australia.

Shell Australia Country Chair, Tony Nunan, said: “Meeting our customers’ energy needs today and into the future by developing renewable energy is core to Shell’s strategy.”

“WestWind has an impressive pipeline of Australian wind projects and proven capability in the development of onshore wind here and, via its parent company, overseas. Our first wind investment in Australia is a significant step in our goal to build a low-carbon integrated power business in Australia in line with our customers’ evolving energy needs.

“This strategic partnership with WestWind complements Shell’s investments over recent years across larger scale solar, carbon trading and power retailing, generation, and trading.

It demonstrates our commitment to delivering a broad range of low-carbon products and services to residential and commercial customers,” Nunan said.

WestWind Energy Managing Director, Tobias Geiger, said: “This is an exciting day for WestWind Energy and, more importantly, for Australia’s transition to a clean energy economy.”

“In partnership with Shell, we can accelerate our development of wind energy projects in Victoria and expand into NSW and Queensland. We will be able to grow our team to undertake a larger number of projects, and progress them much faster,” Geiger said.

TotalEnergies has successfully been named a winner of maritime lease area OCS-A 0538 by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in the New York Bight auction. This bid for the development of an offshore wind farm off the US east coast was won for a consideration of US$795 million (100%) by both TotalEnergies and EnBW. Located up to 47 nautical miles (87 km) from the coast, the lease covers a 132 square mile (341 square km) area that could accommodate a generation capacity of at least 3 GW, enough to provide power to approximately 1 million homes. The project is expected to come online by 2028.

In addition, EnBW informed TotalEnergies of its strategic decision to refocus its activity on Europe. In this context, TotalEnergies and EnBW have agreed that TotalEnergies will acquire EnBW’s interest in this New York Bight concession and will welcome within its own staff the EnBW North America team who has forged strong relationships with local communities in the past few years and will therefore continue to develop this project.

Patrick Pouyanné, TotalEnergies Chairman and CEO: “This grand entrance into offshore wind in the US is a major step toward our goal of reaching 100 GW of renewable electricity generation capacity worldwide by 2030. This development adds another dimension to our renewable business in the US, currently representing 4 GW of solar farms under development.

This is the largest renewable energy project TotalEnergies has ever undertaken and we now have a portfolio of over 10 GW of offshore wind projects, a technology in which we aim to be a world leader by leveraging our offshore expertise.”

Marco Polo Marine and F-drones to co-develop delivery drones Marco Polo Marine and F-drones have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to co-develop large scale, electric aerial delivery drones for offshore wind farms.

The partnership will see both companies co-develop drones customised for deployment in Asia-Pacific, to send supplies and critical items to offshore wind installations.

F-drones, which has been developing drones to deliver cargoes of up to 100 kg over 100 km, will offer its advanced drone technology expertise, whilst Marco Polo Marine will provide strong technical operating and commercial

capabilities in the offshore wind sector.

As the offshore maritime industry transitions to a lower carbon footprint, using drones has an added environmental benefit – a significant reduction in fuel consumption can be achieved when conducting remote delivery of packages of up to 100 kg and emergency deliveries to vessels. Utilising drones will result in sharply lower carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions – which includes CO2 and other greenhouse gases – of up to 99%, as compared to sending a supply boat or crew transfer vessel (CTV) for 100 kg loads over 100 km to offshore wind farms.

ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

63

BIOPOWER

GLOBAL NEWS Global biogas market forecast 2022 to 2027 ResearchAndMarkets has released a new report on the global biogas market for the years 2022 to 2027, mapping out its strength as a renewable energy source.

The company expects the biogas market to register a more than 4.5% CAGR during the forecast period 2022 - 2027. The outbreak of COVID-19 in 1Q20 has harmed the global biogas market. For instance, much of the groundwork was stopped for the Mount Everest Biogas Project in Nepal.

Further, due to COVID-19, India is likely to miss its 15 million biogas production goal by 2023. The biogas market is primarily driven by rising electricity demand and the growing focus on alternative fuels to achieve an imperishable form of energy and security. However, a lack of awareness and understanding about biogas as a source of energy in the general public is likely to hinder the market growth, ResearchAndMarkets states.

WELTEC BIOPOWER expands biogas presence in Greece WELTEC BIOPOWER has registered keen interest in its plant technology in Greece. In the past year, the company built four further projects and expanded three existing plants in the country.

Due to the great potential of organic residues to produce biogas and biomethane, especially in the north of the country, the climate-friendly energy source is playing an increasingly important role in the Greek energy transition.

The company has so far been significantly involved in 17 out of a total of 30 Greek agricultural and waste biogas plants. One of these AD plants was in Megara, 30 km west of Athens, which WELTEC expanded and since March 2021 the plant is in operation with a doubled output of 1 MW. Konstantinos Nikakis, Board Member of the Greek biogas operator association HABIO, emphasised the importance of such projects: “Waste-to-energy plants are urgently required in the new energy age in order to minimise harmful carbon emissions and to achieve climate neutrality. In any case, the supply situation with substrates of animal and vegetable origin is very good; the potential in Greece is enormous. In addition, there is also vegetable and other recyclable waste. In view of this amount of raw materials, agriculture has very good prerequisites to make its contribution so that Greece can achieve its climate goals.”

64 ENERGY GLOBAL SPRING 2022

ExxonMobil acquires stake in Biojet AS ExxonMobil is expanding its interests in biofuels that can help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transportation sector, acquiring a 49.9% stake in Biojet AS, a Norwegian biofuels company that plans to convert forestry and wood-based construction waste into lower-emissions biofuels and biofuel components.

Biojet AS plans to develop up to five facilities to produce the biofuels and biofuel components. The company anticipates commercial production to begin in 2025 at a manufacturing plant to be built in Follum, Norway. The agreement enables ExxonMobil to purchase as much as 3 million bbl/y of the products, based on the potential capacity of five facilities.

“The agreement with Biojet AS advances ExxonMobil’s efforts to provide lower-emissions products for the transportation sector,” said Ian Carr, President of ExxonMobil Fuels and Lubricants Company. “Using our access at the Slagen terminal, we can efficiently distribute biofuels in Norway and to countries throughout northwest Europe.”

Biofuels and biofuel components can meet the requirements for advanced fuels under Norwegian, EU, and UK regulations. According to the European Union Renewable Energy Directive, biofuels produced from wood waste can help reduce lifecycle GHG emissions by 85% compared to petroleum-based diesel.

The investment in Biojet AS builds on ExxonMobil’s continuing efforts to develop and deploy lower-emission energy solutions.

THE RENEWABLES REWIND > Subsea 7 and FLASC awarded grant for offshore energy storage project >>Rystad Energy: Hydropower growth set to continue >>TerraSond supports Vineyard Wind 1 project Follow our website and social media pages for more updates, industry news, and technical articles.

www.energyglobal.com

HYDROGEN

GLOBAL NEWS

DNV launches green hydrogen JIP Together with 18 industry partners, DNV is launching a new Joint Industry Project to enhance the standardisation for reliable, safe, and cost-efficient hydrogen production systems that use renewable energy-powered electrolysis to produce green hydrogen.

Kim Sandgaard-Mørk, Executive Vice President for Renewables Certification at DNV, said: “DNV predicts that hydrogen will move from approximately 1.9% of the mix of energy carriers in 2040 to 5% in 2050, a trend that DNV anticipates will continue into the second half of the century. Especially decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors such as aviation, maritime, or long-haul trucking requires far greater scaling of green hydrogen.”

“To grow confidence in the market, electrolysers need further standardisation to reduce uncertainties and risks in industrialising large hydrogen projects,” added Axel Dombrowski, Director of Innovation & Digitalisation for Renewables Certification at DNV. Partners currently joining the JIP are BP, Clean Power Hydrogen, EDP, Elogen, Equinor, Frauenhofer-Gesellschaft, Green Hydrogen Systems, Industrie De Nora, ITM Linde Electrolysis, McPhy, NextChem, Nordex, Schaeffler Technologies, Shell, Siemens Gamesa, Siemens Energy, Sunfire, and thyssenkrupp nucera.

Octopus Hydrogen and BayWa r.e. team up for green hydrogen projects Octopus Hydrogen and BayWa r.e. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on green hydrogen production facilities at renewable project sites across the UK. The strategic partnership will see Octopus Hydrogen install electrolysers, and compression and mobile hydrogen storage alongside selected BayWa r.e. solar and wind projects.

Initial projects which have been identified within the growing BayWa r.e. project pipeline in the UK will have the potential to produce up to 6500 kg/d of green hydrogen, with the first deliveries expected next year. Octopus Hydrogen will produce green hydrogen to be stored and then distributed to customer sites, offering an end-to-end hydrogen supply solution, and supporting the decarbonisation of local sectors such as commercial transport.

Will Rowe, Founder and CEO of Octopus Hydrogen, commented: “We want to develop and establish a decentralised model for green hydrogen production. Our partnership with BayWa r.e. plays an important role by providing excellent renewable sites and the opportunity to share expertise.

Collaboration helps to unlock the potential of the green hydrogen market in the UK and beyond.”

ADVERTISERS’ DIRECTORY Advertiser

Page

Advertiser

Page

Boehlerit GmbH & Co. KG

13

Seal For Life Industries

OFC, 21

Global Marine Group

47

Triveni Turbines

IFC

Nokia

02

WindEurope

53

SCAIP

09

WWW.ENERGYGLOBAL.COM

We hope you enjoyed the Spring issue of Energy Global magazine.

For more information on advertising and editorial opportunities: will.pownall@energyglobal.com / sarah.smith@energyglobal.com

Register for free: www.energyglobal.com/magazine

ENERGY GL BAL