The latest edition to the technologically advanced 30 0 0 Series, the Ei3030 combines individual Optical, Heat and CO sensors for the ultimate fire and CO response, while maintaining the simplicity that Installers love.
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We’ve made it to halfway through 2023 and thus far it’s been an interesting year full of both ups and downs.
For those running businesses, it’s hard to ascertain exactly how you should feel about the state of the economy. Earlier this year it appeared it would be all doom and gloom, with some of the largest companies in the world announcing thousands of layoffs and the Bank of England actively working to cool down the economy to bring down inflation.
In fact, the International Monetary Fund was pretty certain that the UK economy wouldn’t fare too well in 2023. It predicted that it would be hit by a recession and that it would have the largest contraction of any G7 country – even more so than sanction-hit Russia.
However, the tides appear to be turning. There is less doom and gloom, and there’s the potential for boom real soon. In fact, while earlier this year the IMF expected the UK economy to shrink by 0.3% throughout 2023, it now expects growth of 0.4%. This is largely thanks to resilient demand –which can even be seen on Britain’s high streets – as well as falling energy prices.
So, it’s all good news for the UK right? Well, not quite. While the UK economy may be stabilising there are many areas that the Government may want to turn its attention to sooner rather than later.
One such area is decarbonisation. Recently the BEIS Select Committee warned that the UK was on course to miss its decarbonisation goals, while a new study by the RAC has warned that the UK is currently not on track to meet a Government target of having six or more rapid or ultra-rapid EV chargers at every motorway service station in England by the end of the year.
So, how do we get back on track? Well, the UK Government clearly needs to invest more time and money into solving the issue, but it’s not just down to Westminster. The industry is also facing a lack of fresh blood to help it meet the ever-increasing demand for its services, as highlighted by a recent report by the ECA.
These are all pressing issues, and they’re all set to be discussed in-depth at Powered On Live 2023 on June 14-15. You can find out more about that event on page 12.
As always, if there is anything you would like to discuss or share with our audience at Electrical Review, you can contact me directly at jordano@sjpbusinessmedia.com.
O’Brien, EditorThroughout the developed world, companies are avoiding changing business practices, which would reduce their carbon emissions, and instead are looking to pay others to make the reductions for them. Fine – as long as the bought-in carbon offsets are real. But here is an example of an investment company that operates California Carbon Offset (CCO) projects, saying that some of its projects don’t actually change the way forests are managed, and therefore do little to help the climate.
New Hampshire-based Lyme Timber Co. sells carbon credits on about 89,000 ha, or 15% of its land, and its projects have generated over five million CCOs under California’s WCI-linked capand-trade programme, according to data from state regulator ARB. However, CEO Jim Hourdequin said that when his company began developing a string of offset projects, he was struck by how often they received large volumes of lucrative credits for creating few additional climate benefits. One deal netted Lyme about $20 million for minor changes to a forest in West Virginia.
After purchasing a huge hardwood forest there in 2017, it put together a carbon project on 19,000 ha of forbidding terrain. Some of the land is so rugged and steep, Hourdequin says, the trees can be extracted only by helicopter, which is prohibitively expensive and also decidedly carbon profligate.
Additionally, Lyme’s first carbon project in Tennessee was acquired by selling a restrictive easement to the state of Tennessee on roughly 2,000 ha, preventing the company from harvesting on it. Yet the company still met the criteria under the California forestry offset protocol to generate credits in the programme.
It is now calculated that this official state-run California programme could have erroneously issued nearly 40 million CCOs to forestry projects, enabling developers to utilise gaps in the state’s protocol to inflate emissions reductions attributed to those initiatives. A cautionary tale indeed.
Our newly crowned King Charles III would normally receive one-quarter of the Crown Estate’s profits, with the rest going to the Treasury. But he has now redirected his family’s share to go to “the wider public good.” And that share is increasingly worth having.
Why? Because the Crown Estate owns the seabed rights around the UK, stretching as far as 12 nautical miles from the seashore, and has therefore been able to make a killing selling offshore wind farm rights. This year alone option fees from as yet unbuilt projects, subsea cables and mineral extraction are expected to reach £900 million.
In 2018, these assets were worth around 10% of the total Crown Estates portfolio. When last officially valued three years ago, these renewable assets were reckoned to have grown to be worth £4.3 billion. That made the offshore rights worth around one third of the Crown Estate’s assets, even in 2021. Hence, right now it looks as though the marine portfolio of the King will soon surpass the land-based one.
So, join me in bellowing out that chorus: Rule Britannia, Britannia Rules The Waves…
Hungary is seeking to build a new nuclear power station at Paks, financed with a Russian loan and built by Russia’s state-run nuclear company, Rosatom. But the project has been seriously delayed after the German Government – hostile to nuclear power – opposed Siemens’ participation in building the plant’s electronic control unit. Now, France’s Framatome could step in to help finalise the project and deliver the missing bits.
Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, reportedly discussed this tie-up with France’s Emmanuel Macron during his visit to the Elysée last month. At the time, the Hungarian Government formally stated that Paris and Budapest would further expand HungarianFrench nuclear cooperation and further increase the role of Framatome, the French equivalent of Rosatom, in the Paks investments – all so that Germany can no longer block construction. But while Berlin may no longer be able to block construction of the new power plant, Brussels could – and almost certainly will. The changes to the original plans are so significant that Hungary and Russia are having to renegotiate their contract. A spokesperson for Orbán admitted that any new contract will have to be approved by the European Commission, and warned Brussels not to “jeopardise” Hungary’s electricity plans.
Given that the European Commission’s latest drive to penalise Russia for invading Ukraine is to seek to deliberately damage the finances of Rosatom, and given that Orbán has been deliberately breaching a series of other trade embargos with Russia, then I rather suspect that the bureaucrats in Brussels will want to undertake a meticulously thorough examination of the entire project in great detail, all of which may well take a very, very long time.
The Government will need to come up with a new justification for its fixation upon nuclear power. Its previous justification, which it shared in the 2022 British Energy Security Strategy, was that “We can only secure a big enough baseload of reliable power for our island by drawing on nuclear.” This was later reiterated in its Powering Up Britain manifesto issued just this March, “Nuclear is the critical baseload of the future energy system.”
All this reliance upon the “baseload” concept prompted the indefatigable Green MP, Brighton’s Caroline Lucas, to inquire from the Energy Minister Graham Stuart, “if he will make an estimate of the amount of baseload electricity generation that is required by the UK each day; and if he will place a copy of these calculations in the House of Commons Library.”
The response from Stuart was honest, if surprising. He admitted, “Although some power plants are referred to as baseload generators, there is no formal definition of this term. The Department also does not place requirements on generation from particular technologies. As such, it is not possible to provide this information.”
So, at last the Government is now conceding that baseload is an entirely undefined and unidentifiable electricity concept. And that means that the Government is acknowledging that this latest fig leaf justification for wasting so much money on new nukes as quoted in my first paragraph, is utterly specious. We should never hear it employed again.
The UK can now boast that its primary source of electricity comes from a renewable source, as wind beat out gas for the first time ever during the first three months of 2023.
Almost a third (32.4%) of Britain’s electricity was provided by wind power during the first quarter of 2023, eclipsing gas for the first time ever. That’s especially impressive as gas has held the crown as the UK’s largest source of electricity since 2015, with the dominant source prior to that being coal.
The new research from Imperial College London, which produced the latest instalment of the quarterly Drax Electric Insights report, suggests that the UK is well on its way to decarbonising its energy grid. That’s despite some tough quarters for consumers with skyrocketing energy bills. However, there are still challenges ahead for the sector, as revealed by a recent report by Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee.
According to the Drax Electric Insights report, the UK’s fleet of wind turbines generated 24 TWh of electricity, which is enough to charge more than 300 million Tesla Model Ys. That’s an impressive figure, but one that is likely to only grow over the next few years.
The UK has gradually built out a robust
The amount of electricity generated by wind farms across the UK was the highest on record in 2022, according to the latest Government figures.
According to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, wind farms across the UK managed to generate 80.2 TWh of electricity, which is enough to meet the needs of approximately 22.8 million homes. That’s an increase of around 24% on 2021 figures, where wind power generated 64.7 TWh.
fleet of offshore wind farms, taking advantage of its geographic position as an island. In fact, the UK is home to some of the most notable wind farms, including the world’s largest, in the form of Hornsea 2, and the world’s first floating wind farm off the coast of Peterhead, Scotland. There’s no sign that this growth will be slowing down anytime soon, with the UK Government having ambitious plans to invest in both regular offshore wind farms and floating wind farms.
While gas is still a large source of the UK’s electricity, making up 31.7% of the total during the first quarter of 2023, its output is
slowly declining. While output from wind was 3% higher during the first three months of 2023 vs the same period last year, the output of gas has declined 5%.
The good news doesn’t end there though, with renewable sources as a whole supplying 42% of the UK’s electricity during the first quarter. That includes the impressive output from wind, as well as solar, biomass, and hydro. Of course, given the shorter days, solar is unlikely to be a dominant electricity source during the first quarter, but given its growing presence across the UK, could come into its own during the summer months.
Renewable energy sources across the UK have officially generated more than one trillion kWh of electricity, according to the National Grid.
According to National Grid analytics, it has taken 50 years for the UK to generate one trillion kWh of electricity from renewable energy sources, although it won’t take that long to generate another trillion. In fact, the data suggests that it will take just five years to achieve the next trillion kWh milestone.
Records began in 1970 when renewables represented 1.9% of total generation, with hydro being the main source at the time (4.5 TWh).
The data indicates that offshore and onshore
wind and solar entered the generation mix in 2010, in line with the emergence of key pieces of legislation including the Energy Review in 2006 and the renewable energy directive in 2009.
Last month, April 2023, 46% of Britain’s electricity came from zero carbon sources, according to the National Grid ESO’s monthly electricity statistics. The month also saw a new low carbon intensity record of 33g/kWh on 10 April, with just 0.1% of generation from coal.
The good news for renewables also extends into the first three months of 2023, which saw wind overtake gas as the biggest source of electricity for the UK.
The Norwegian Government has decided to decline a licence application for a new interconnector between Norway and the UK.
Dubbed NorthConnector, the 1.4 GW interconnector was proposed by joint venture partners Lyse, Agder Energi, Hafslund E-Co and Vattenfall. The project had already been on hold for three years but had its application reopened by the Norwegian Government, who decided to reject the proposal.
According to Offshore Energy, the application was rejected for several reasons, including fears surrounding the Norwegian power grid being exposed to the power system of other countries, as well as an imbalance over grid capacity in the north and south of Norway.
The world needs $35 trillion in investment for a successful energy transition, warns the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
IRENA’s latest report, dubbed the World Energy Transitions Outlook 2023 Preview, has noted that the world is currently off-track in achieving a successful energy transition, noting that the current scale and extent of change is far short of the 1.5°C pathway needed to address the global climate crisis.
While the power sector has made progress, with renewables accounting for 40% of installed power generation globally and contributing to 83% of global power additions in 2022, deployment levels must grow from 3,000 GW to over 10,000 GW in 2030 to keep 1.5°C alive.
The UK Government has set a target of 100% smart meter coverage by 2025, but new research suggests that achieving that number will be very difficult.
While not impossible, Cornwall Insight has suggested that with the Government’s target date fast approaching, it was time to get realistic about whether or not the target will actually be achievable.
The UK is set to miss a major milestone in its quest for net zero by 2050, according to a new report from the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee.
In October 2021, the UK Government announced a new ambitious target for achieving a fully decarbonised electricity grid, with it setting the date for net zero within the power sector for 2035. It was always going to be a monumental challenge, with the UK forced to not only replace existing sources of electricity with cleaner generation, but also deal with an increase in demand for electricity.
Now, a new BEIS Committee report suggests that the UK may fail to achieve its goal after all. It noted, “At the current pace of change, the UK is set to fail to hit its target of decarbonising the power sector by 2035,” citing issues with both policy and the slow rollout of decarbonised sources of electricity.
In terms of policy issues, the report found that “policies for the power sector have
been designed in silos, without adequate consideration of how they all interrelate and fit together.” This has supposedly led to some low-carbon projects which are now facing delays of up to 15 years to connect to the electricity grid, something we have reported on at length here at Electrical Review.
The report also criticised the slow rollout of decarbonised sources of electricity, noting that “businesses which want to drive the transition forward on the ground are getting caught in red tape.” It commented on the UK Government’s long-standing opposition to onshore wind and lack of support for longduration energy storage as well as the recent windfall tax, which were all barriers to the UK successfully achieving its goal of a fully decarbonised energy grid.
So, can the UK achieve its goal of a decarbonised power grid by 2035? While the report suggests it’s unlikely at this point, putting net zero by 2050 at risk, it’s still possible with some major changes in policy.
The whole of the UK can now benefit from clean energy produced by solar, thanks to a new solar farm developed by Cero Generation and Enso Energy.
The new 49.9 MW Larks Green solar farm is the first in the UK to be directly connected to National Grid’s high voltage transmission
network, with previous solar projects having been simply connected to their local Distribution Network Operator’s system. What this means is that clean solar energy can now travel further distances, potentially plugging energy gaps in parts of the country that don’t have any locally-connected solar farms.
Megger’s SVERKER900 substation test system has received a whole host of new features as part of its 2.14 update, as the company explains.
In response to feedback from users about their evolving requirements, Megger has released a major upgrade for its popular and successful SVERKER900 substation test system. As part of the update, the system is now suitable for testing all types of protection hardware from electromechanical relays to modern self-powered relays, as well as other substation equipment.
Key features of the Version 2.14 upgrade include enhanced on-board current generator capabilities, extended functionality for the prefaultfault instrument, improvements to the virtual keyboard, faster switching between instruments and increased resolution for the current display.
With the upgrade, the SVERKER900 becomes the first relay test set on the market to provide the new standardised frequency ramp prescribed for ROCOF protection testing by the IEC 60255-181:2019 standard.
“The SVERKER900 is already a very popular and successful instrument,” said Sandy Woodley of Megger, “but it was designed from the outset to be readily upgradeable. We’ve listened carefully to our users and, as a result, we’ve incorporated a whole range of improvements in this new upgrade package. Not only does the upgrade add new
features, it also improves the overall stability and operating speed of the instrument, which means that SVERKER900 users get accurate, dependable results faster and more conveniently than ever.”
The enhancements to the current generator algorithms mean that the SVERKER900 is now unaffected by problems such as electromechanical relays that present a heavy inductive load or self-powered relays that incorporate electrically noisy switch-mode power supplies. In addition, the current generators can now accurately produce low output currents – in the range 0 to 30 mA – without the need to use a separate low current adaptor.
Additionally, improvements to the prefault-fault instrument mean that it is now capable of performing multiple timing tests and, when the standard and expert models of the SVERKER900 are used with the SVERKER viewer software package, there is now convenient access to reference IDMT curves. In addition, enhancements in real-time performance facilitate the testing of LV MCBs and MCCBs.
The Version 2.14 upgrade is currently shipping with all new SVERKER900 from Megger, while those with existing instruments can also install the update to benefit from the new features.
Following the success of Powered On Live 2022, Electrical Review is bringing back its flagship digital event with a whole new agenda and an exciting line-up of guest speakers and expert panels.
This year’s event will take an even deeper look into the pressing issues surrounding net zero, the rollout of renewables, and the growing importance of energy storage to help businesses across the country stay connected.
An incredible line-up of speakers are set to share their wealth of knowledge at Powered On Live 2023, including our two keynote speakers – Dr Dan Atzori from Cornwall Insight on day one and Andrew Eldred from the Electrical Contractors Association on day two.
Additionally, we have speakers from across all areas of the industry, from manufacturers like Enersys, Megger, Riello and myenergi, to associations including Energy UK, BEAMA, the REA and the IEEE, as well as non-profits such as Regen and Electrical Safety First, and we even have a speaker from the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles.
To say that this year’s event is bigger and better than ever is an understatement, but it’s not about the size of the event, or the diversity of the speakers on offer, but the fact that Powered On Live 2023 has more opportunities to learn than ever before.
Whether you’re interested in working out the total cost of ownership of a modern UPS system, or whether hydrogen could help
data centres decarbonise, there’s a session for everyone. In fact, one of the big highlights of this year’s event will be the four panel sessions that will take place across the two days. Those include:
• Has the windfall tax dented investment in renewable energy?
• Building out the UK’s EV charging infrastructure
• Is the UK being ambitious enough in its route to net zero?
• Could energy storage provide the grid with the resilience it needs?
So, what are you waiting for? Registrations for Powered On Live 2023 are now open at poweredonlive.co.uk, with the event set to live stream on Zoom on June 14 and 15.
09:00 • Welcome
09:05 • Keynote: What’s next for the UK’s power market in 2023?
Speaker: Dr Dan Atzori, Group Research Partner, Cornwall Insight
09:35 • Optimisation of lead-acid battery technology and effective use, control, and monitoring of energy storage assets
Speaker: Dr. Thomas Verghese, Business Development Manager, EnerSys
09:00 • Welcome back
09:05 • Keynote: Building the next generation of electrical engineers
Speaker: Andrew Eldred, Director of Employment & Skills, ECA
09:35 • Playing it safe
Speakers: David Powell, Electrical Installation Safety Engineer, Electrical Safety First; Richard Harvey, Electrical Installation Safety Engineer, Electrical Safety First
10:05
• Panel: Has the windfall tax dented investment in renewable energy?
Chair: Frank Gordon, Policy Director, REA
Panellists: Gurpreet Gujral, Managing Director, Atrato Onsite Energy; Tom Williams, Partner & Head of Energy Infrastructure, Downing LLP; Dhara Vyas, Deputy Chief Executive, Energy UK
10:50 • 15 minute break
11:05 • Electrical safety and quality of electrical energetic and industrial installations; ground integrity, grid impedances, and automatic trip-out ability
Speakers: Janez Guzelj, Application and Technical Consulting Director, Metrel; Brendan Beaver, Sales Manager, Metrel UK; Daniel Siefers, Electrician, Metrel; Tamara Bavec Zalar, Area Sales Manager, Metrel
11:35 • The total cost of ownership of modern UPS systems
Speaker: Jason Yates, Technical Services Manager, Riello UPS Ltd
12:05 • Panel: Building out the UK’s EV charging infrastructure
Panellists: Tom Callow, Head of External Affairs, myenergi; Kester Jones, Connections Strategy Manager, National Grid Electricity Distribution; Roisin Naughton, Principal Future Mobility Consultant, Arcadis; Joe Beavis, Deputy Head, Office for Zero Emission Vehicles; Jonathan Murray, Policy and Operations Director, Zemo Partnership
12:50 • End of Day One
10:05 • Panel: Is the UK being ambitious enough in its route to net zero?
Panellists: Tim Evans Founder & CEO, 3ti Energy Hubs Ltd; John Parsons, Digital and Technology Manager, BEAMA; George Day, Senior Advisor: Net Zero, Energy Systems Catapult
10:50 • 15 minute break
11:05 • V2X: How EVs could be the missing piece in grid flexibility
Speaker: Rolf Bienert, Managing & Technical Director, OpenADR Alliance
11:35 • Could hydrogen help data centres decarbonise?
Speaker: Dr Gokce Mete, Senior Manager, Hydrogen & Industry Transition, South Pole
12:05 • Panel: Could energy storage provide the grid with the resilience it needs?
Chair: Jonty Haynes, Principal Analyst, Regen.
Panellists: Francisco de Leon, Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University and Fellow, IEEE; Nikki Pillinger, Specialist Connections Manager, Roadnight Taylor; Dr. Thomas Verghese, Business Development Manager, EnerSys
V2X is a technology that has the potential to change the way our grid operates, but it’s still in its early stages. Indra, a company that recently received Government funding to develop the technology, explores its potential.
As the world transitions into the era of electrification, the demand for electricity is increasing exponentially and, in parallel, there is a global need to reduce, and eventually remove, reliance on fossil fuels.
Increasing the use of green energy, meaning power that is generated from renewable sources such as solar and wind, is critical in order to build a future sustainable ecosystem. However, one of the main challenges with renewable sources is that supply is, by its very nature, unpredictable and intermittent, and so there is a clear benefit to finding ways to harness and store this energy, so that supply can be provided constantly and consistently.
One solution currently being developed is V2X, also known as Vehicle to Everything. This technology has the potential to be a game changer, allowing for more granular control on how much electricity is being
consumed from the grid – rather than just how much electricity is being generated.
The way V2X works is by delivering bidirectional charging capability, which enables users to not only charge their electric vehicle, but to also discharge power from their vehicle back to the home, building or the grid itself.
The benefit of this is that the energy discharged back to the home can then be used to power appliances and heating. That then reduces the amount of electricity the grid is having to provide, as the home has a source of electricity stored in the driveway.
While the focus has been on home at the start, there’s also further potential as to how this technology could be used in the future. In fact, it’s possible that the energy stored in electric vehicles could one day help power workplaces, shopping centres, airports and hotels, giving the grid even more breathing room as it deals with renewable intermittency.
V2X has the potential to transform the role of the EV in the future. This technology effectively turns an EV into a mobile battery on wheels, becoming a valuable asset that can be used to help reduce energy bills and flatten peak energy demand on the grid.
A recent Indra survey revealed that nearly half of UK drivers’ vehicles
are parked for at least 50% of the time. This highlights the potential that bidirectional charging technology could unlock for the UK energy ecosystem if the UK were to include energy stored in EV batteries as part of a sustainable energy ecosystem.
By acting as mobile energy storage units, EVs equipped with V2X technology can help mitigate the intermittency of green energy sources. When renewable energy availability is high, excess energy can be stored in EV batteries, and then discharged back to the grid or used in the home when at peak energy demand periods, helping to reduce reliance on traditional, fossil fuel-based energy sources.
Consumers can also play their own part in reducing their reliance on the grid. One of the biggest trends driving the shift toward renewable energy is the growth of microgeneration. More and more homes and businesses are installing solar photovoltaic panels and heat pumps to generate and harness green energy, as well as the rapid growth of domestic EV chargers.
Home charging is the cheapest, greenest and easiest way to charge an EV. It’s possible to purchase a smart home EV charger which is solar compatible, meaning they can enable users to divert excess energy from their solar panels to their vehicles. However, there’s currently no way for that energy to be diverted back to the house at times where there’s less generation – such as night time or on a cloudy day. That means that a large battery is simply sitting there without being used – until you go out for a drive, of course.
The problem isn’t just the charger, however. Most EVs currently on sale are only compatible with unidirectional chargers – but that is likely to change at some point in the near future.
Indra is currently participating in a range of innovation projects pioneering bidirectional charging technology, from Governmentfunded projects such as project Inflexion and Next Gen Power, to its own, large-scale private Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) trial. Some of the projects also involve other companies pioneering V2X technology, from car manufacturers and energy partners to other energy technology stakeholders.
As well as delivering environmental benefits, the economic results of using V2X technology are equally impressive. Participants in Indra’s pilot V2H trial in the UK (part of the largest trial of its kind in the world) have reported savings of between £100 and £200 per month on their energy bills, with high energy users citing savings of £250 or more. These figures are even more impressive when you consider that these energy costs include charging their EVs too.
All of these trials are crucial for understanding how V2X technology can be optimised to meet the unique needs of different consumers and grid systems. The insights gained from these trials will help inform the development of future V2X products and services, as well as help shape future policies and regulations related to EV charging and grid management in the UK and beyond.
Participants in Indra’s pilot V2H trial in the UK have reported savings of between £100 and £200 per month on their energy bills
achieve a successful energy transition.
Electricity is increasingly the power source of choice for industries looking to accelerate their decarbonisation strategies. The shift to electrification puts the UK’s electricity infrastructure under pressure. The new energy demand calls for greater cohesion and collaboration among all energy stakeholders, from generators to consumers.
There is no escaping the fact that our global energy infrastructure is facing new challenges as we replace carbon-emitting, fossil-fuelled energy generation with renewable sources. This is a more complex exercise than simply replacing one form of energy production with another. To achieve net zero targets, we need to transition transportation, heating and heavy industry applications that have thus far used fossil fuels exclusively, which will inevitably increase the electricity demand.
The whole energy system will require significant investment from a generation and distribution standpoint. However, there are other options than waiting for this overhaul. New energy stakeholders will emerge. Formerly passive electricity consumers will take a more active role, self-generating electricity, reducing the impact on the grid and securing energy independence while accelerating decarbonisation.
The energy conundrum will be tackled on four fronts: renewable generation, storage, distribution, and management. Collaboration across all sectors will be critical for success. While the solutions may not be new (solar and batteries have been around for decades), the radical part is getting everyone to work together cohesively towards a common goal –net zero.
The most imminent transition driving change in the electricity sector comes from electric vehicles. Powering – or fuelling – EVs is a radical change from the status quo. With petrol and diesel vehicles, a dedicated network of refineries and refuelling stations already exists, with minimal additional demands beyond its primary beneficiaries. Access to electricity is equally as crucial to EVs. However, the electricity network – the obvious and most reliable source of electricity – is shared across all consumers, from dwellings to heavy industry.
The new energy demand from EVs will ramp up pressure on the network, particularly regional distribution. A critical bottleneck is with
the DNO. The DNO has regional responsibility for distribution. A firstcome-first-served approach from consumers exacerbates engineering work backlogs as each approaches the DNO with isolated requirements. It is difficult for the DNO to predict energy demands to future-proof the network. All these factors will bring the transition to a grinding halt.
Planning for the transition is essential, and it needs to start now. The days of tests and trials are over. The direction has been set, and mass electrification is on the agenda in the near term. If we know the end goal, and with plenty of time to spare, we can set budgets and timelines, value engineering, avoid wastage and explore all avenues. If we leave it too late, consumers will be backed into a corner with few options, or worse, no options at all. Another benefit of understanding our future energy
Giles Benbow,
and Partnership Development at Mer, looks at the challenges, solutions and dialogue required to
The new energy demand from EVs will ramp up pressure on the network, particularly regional distribution
demand is that it can send a cohesive message to the DNOs, providing visibility on what is to come and enabling them to plan infrastructure works.
In some instances, obtaining a new grid connection can be unviable. For example, the point of connection could be several kilometres away, or the backlog of engineering works (and the associated cost) could be deal breakers. These factors may cause an organisation to scale back its EV ambitions or to relocate.
Upgrading the infrastructure takes time and money, but the business needs and net zero targets must still be met. Solar and battery storage assets can ensure business continuity, reduce electricity costs, and support the grid at peak times.
Developing and pairing a solar asset with batteries means a business can generate electricity locally instead of adding demand to the grid. The argument for solar is stronger than ever in the face of high electricity prices. Solar panels have minimal ongoing maintenance and operating costs. As a result, they produce very low-cost electricity. Solar is an
attractive solution for many.
Battery storage can be used to supplement a grid connection. If the grid connection offers insufficient capacity, a battery acts like a reservoir to bridge the gap. We can optimise the recharging of the battery by harnessing the solar energy produced locally or during periods when electricity is abundant on the grid. This results in the lowest cost of electricity to the organisation. Batteries can also be used in flexibility markets – creating revenue by participating in grid services – where the battery can perform a task to balance the grid, again an essential component in the future energy network.
Meeting the challenges of the new energy demand, net zero goals and creating an energy infrastructure fit for the future requires conversations beyond technology. It is going to involve commercial and behavioural change. Everyone, from utilities and renewable energy producers to infrastructure providers, electrical engineers, project managers, consultants, and electrical contractors, is vested in the future infrastructure needed to meet the new energy demand.
Airports and ports don’t need a silver bullet to begin decarbonising – whatever the future solution, they will need greater electricity capacity.
In the UK, transport is the single biggest contributor to CO2 emissions, making up nearly 30% of the UK’s total carbon emissions. If the UK is to realise net zero, it’s widely recognised that decarbonising transport is key. This poses obvious challenges for the energy industry as a result of the increasing demand for electricity, putting pressure onto networks.
Thankfully, DNOs such as National Grid Electricity Distribution are prepared and are already working with operators to achieve this shift to low carbon transport and overcome the challenges posed by the transition.
Just 10 years ago, the decarbonisation of transport was a novelty. But consumers are now accustomed to the sight of electric vehicles (EVs) on our roads, with more drivers making the switch to EVs every month.
National Grid’s distribution business has a long track record of working to facilitate the transition to decarbonised transport. In 2019, we became the first distribution network operator to release a dedicated EV strategy which detailed our commitment to help drivers charge their vehicles at a time and place to suit them.
Additionally, we have undertaken groundbreaking innovation projects to explore how we can make EV charging easier for households and businesses while ensuring that our electricity network can cope with the increased demand. We also changed our connections process, making it easier for customers to connect their vehicle chargers to our network. Our work means that we are well prepared to cope with the predicted
three million EVs across our region by 2030.
While there is still a way to go in terms of decarbonising road transport, as a company we are starting to look at the role that we can play in decarbonising those forms of transport that are more energy intensive and harder to tackle – shipping and aviation.
Across our distribution area, we have a large number of airports and ports, ranging from large international airports such as East Midlands Airport to small regional destinations like Lands End Airport. The range in size and scale of ports within the region is even bigger. This means we have a large number of stakeholders to work with, helping us to understand the challenges facing shipping and aviation in the coming years, as operators switch to low carbon fuels, as well as decarbonising airport and port operations.
From conversations so far, it is in ‘on the ground’ operations that airport operators are making the first move towards electrification. This is no surprise as it is a ‘low regrets’ option for decarbonisation. Indeed, the Government has identified this as the first element of aviation decarbonisation while it continues to support the industry with its funding through Jet Zero for the development of low carbon flight. Although decarbonising airport heating, terminal transport and other areas of operations through electrification initially looks to be uncomplicated, it is not a straightforward challenge.
Shipping, on the other hand, is perhaps further behind. While two ports in the UK have shore power facilities, full electric shipping is some way away. Despite representing 5% of the UK’s domestic transport GHG emissions, we have not seen dedicated funding support for a ‘Jet Zero’ equivalent. Equally, industry players appear to remain undecided on
their preferred routes, leaving port operators in the dark. However, in a similar way to aviation, shipping still has the opportunity in the short term to focus on its ‘low regrets’ options, working on decarbonising its operations while other decisions are finalised. We are looking at how we can help port operators decarbonise and electrify their portside operations through providing the high levels of electrical capacity required to bring down carbon emissions from ports.
electrical demands that will arise from the manufacture, storage and fuelling of these options. For example, if hydrogen becomes a chosen solution, ports and airports may wish to produce their own hydrogen on site, which will likely require greater grid capacity for electrolysers and co-located renewable generation.
We are beginning to explore whether learnings from our innovation projects, particularly those relating to electric car charging, could assist with these challenges. Our Take Charge project is a ‘plug and play’ solution, providing motorway service stations with the electricity capacity required for the installation of large numbers of rapid EV chargers. This could provide the basis of a solution for airports and ports, ensuring they have the capacity needed for on ground operations electrification.
Airports and ports have high energy demands. Our recent analysis found that, to fully electrify a medium-sized airport or port operations, this would call for the sort of grid capacity needed to power a typical town. It’s National Grid’s role to ensure that these locations have the capacity required for large scale electrification of their on-ground operations when it is needed. But we also have one eye on the future where powering the actual aircraft and ships will be an even greater challenge.
Airlines and shipping companies are looking in more detail at their options for decarbonising the service they provide. This may be through hydrogen and electricity for planes plus ammonia for ships. Whichever route they take, we are looking at how we can accommodate the future
Reducing the carbon emissions of two of the highest carbon emitting modes of transport will not be easy, but the journey can start now. While airlines, shipping companies and manufacturers continue to explore and invest in their future energy routes and needs, the airport and port operators can still make significant progress in their decarbonisation journey. They can begin this shift by initially focusing on decarbonising their ground operations, which will need increased grid capacity. As their low carbon ambitions grow, future operators will need even more grid capacity to support zero carbon fuels.
The planning needs to start now and will ensure that the electricity grid is prepared for the inevitable increase in demand. To achieve this, National Grid is keen to speak to as many airport and port operators as possible. We are confident that collectively we can rise to this challenge and achieve a net zero future together.
While two ports in the UK have shore power facilities, full electric shipping is some way away
At the beginning of this year, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Ofgem published plans for domestic electric vehicle (EV) charging. The new Electric Vehicle Smart Charging Action Plan outlines steps to unlock the power of EV charging, essentially offering homeowners the chance to charge their vehicles and power their homes using excess electricity stored in their car.
The incentive, at a time of rising energy prices, is to save people money on their utility bills. According to the plans, this could be as much as £1,000 a year (for high mileage motorists). But it also offers a relatively easy route into a more sustainable future and, in the words of the policy,
Rolf Bienert, Managing & Technical Director, OpenADR Alliance, details the work that needs to be done to make vehicle-to-grid technology a reality.
a more “secure and efficient electricity system” even for those currently without electric vehicles.
This builds on the possibility of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) or vehicle-tohome (V2H) charging that allows energy to flow bi-directionally. In the case of V2G, power flows from the grid to a plug-in electric vehicle and then back again. With V2H, the home becomes the primary recipient of excess energy from the car battery, and whatever is left over is sold back to the grid. It’s a win-win.
This concept is not new. Ford is already working with utility operators and service providers in the US on pilot projects similar to this. Two programmes with Duke Energy will use EVs to help manage the grid; one vehicle-to-grid to shave demand for electricity at peak times, and one vehicle-to-home to increase resilience for residential consumers.
In its program in North and South Carolina, Duke Energy will invite customers who lease an eligible EV, including Ford F-150 Lightning trucks, to take part, offering them a financial incentive to allow EVs to feed energy back to the grid during peak demand. In Florida, it will help the company “better understand the future opportunities for EV batteries by analysing full functionality of V2G and bidirectional (twoway) energy flow on the grid – studying battery performance, interaction with other distributed energy resources, and the impact on the trucks’ batteries over time.”
In these pilot programmes, the EV acts as a mobile energy storage unit that uses electricity, but also supplies it when demand is high. Imagine thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of EVs working together to form a virtual power station at customers’ homes, places of work and even on the move.
Battery powered cars have a surprising amount of stored energy; a fully powered EV could support an average home for several days. Add to that, other potential energy sources that can provide additional power when needed, such as solar panels, and you have instant access to affordable electricity. The potential is huge, but in order to make this a reality the technology must be in place first to ensure stable, reliable, and secure supply.
One immediate challenge is that EV sales have moved at a ‘leisurely’ pace in the UK (and to some extent in other markets) for a number of years. This is now changing with a new Government initiative, including plans to ban all new petrol and diesel engine cars by 2030, and as a wider choice of more reliable models hit the market.
The figures are going in the right direction, with over three-quarters of a million fully electric cars and around half a million plug-in hybrids on UK roads, according to data from ZapMap. More than 265,000 batteryelectric cars were registered in 2022, up 40% on 2021.
Another challenge is that V2G technology, like many new systems, will
require investment, time and effort. Any change on this scale is not easy and it will require grid upgrades to support bi-directional charging and discharging. The cost of implementing this will need to be considered as part of the business case. Utilities, automotive manufacturers and services providers will also need to consider the management systems and software that form any energy services infrastructure for tracking, billing, and managing energy demand back and forth.
Customer buy-in is important. They are ultimately the recipients of smarter, cleaner energy that is available when they want it at a lower price. Pilot schemes like those being put in place by Duke Energy, Ford and others, will go a long way to convince customers of the benefits.
Vehicle-to-grid, vehicle-to-home and other smart energy initiatives offer huge revenue potential and opportunities. UK Government plans include £16 million in funding from the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio for technologies that harness the potential of smart charging, so we can expect to see more pilots over the next few years.
But on a final note, open standards like Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) could be critical to the success of this, ensuring the charging infrastructure for V2G and V2H use cases is fit for purpose.
Imagine thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of EVs working together to form a virtual power station
What fire protection should you have in place to help prevent a fire at an electricity substation? Joshua Slack, National Specification Manager for passive fire protection experts, Promat, shares his advice.
Substations are a vital component of the country’s national electrical grid with more than 400,000 sites operating across the UK today. Their efficient operation is crucial to ensuring a continuous and reliable power supply to both homes and businesses. A fire can cause significant damage to equipment and infrastructure which can create prolonged outages and bring about huge commercial losses for the owner/operator – as well as energy instability for local communities.
This was no more evident than the major fire that occurred at the Sellindge substation in Kent in 2021, which caused power outages in the UK and France.
Clearly, avoiding the occurrence of fire at all should be the primary concern of substation designers and operators, but this can never be 100% successful. So, it is vital that the role of passive fire protection is fully considered in helping to limit the spread of fire or smoke should the worst happen.
Substations house a wide range of electrical equipment, including transformers, switchgear, and control systems, all of which can generate a large amount of heat during normal operation. Faults or malfunctions in these systems can cause electrical arcing, which can ignite combustible materials, such as oil, gas, or insulation materials. Additionally, external factors such as lightning strikes or accidental contact with metallic objects
have historically caused fires in power facilities.
Passive fire protection provides an important complement to active systems – such as fire alarms, extinguishers and automated doors – by protecting key structural parts of a building from failure and buying valuable time before fire can reach critical assets or vessels within a plant. This generally comprises the installation of fire-resistant insulation boards that are fitted directly to the steel support structures within a facility, as well as fire walls where it has been decided that areas should be compartmentalised.
The other key component that requires consideration with substations, is blast protection. Combining passive fire protection alongside the ability to withstand impact from shrapnel, over and under pressures can be extremely difficult to achieve.
It’s important to bear in mind that no two substations are the same, so having a bespoke passive fire protection system is essential, considering how the most robust and effective protection can be achieved.
An important factor in deciding which system is most appropriate for fire protection is the likely duration of the exposure to fire. Typically, substations require passive fire protection that can last four hours – it’s hoped that the fire service would have been able to deal with the fire within that time.
So, which products should you choose? There are several types of passive fire protection solutions to choose from, including cementitious sprays and intumescent coatings through to calcium silicate and specialist impact cement boards.
Systems based on coatings are normally mixed – depending on the application – and sprayed onto the surface. These can be prone to damage when impacted and require onerous inspection and maintenance regimes,
It’s important to bear in mind that no two substations are the same, so having a bespoke passive fire protection system is essential
therefore whilst the upfront cost may be low, the cost over the life of the project may be high. The fire-resistant performance of the coatings is dependent on the thickness of the coating, and they are only used to protect structural elements and not to compartmentalise buildings.
On the other hand, calcium silicate boards can be used both for structural protection and compartmentation. These are durable, ‘fit and forget’ products which can provide high levels of fire resistance and so are often used in high value or high-risk buildings such as substations. The protective capability of the system is provided by its excellent integrity and ability to insulate against extreme temperatures.
It’s imperative that operators have detailed information from the supplier or manufacturer of the passive fire protection products and systems installed – this is vital evidence that the fire protective products used meet defined performance criteria based on standard (third party) tests that replicate the fire conditions.
Typically, there are three main criteria to classify a system by, integrity, insulation, and load-bearing capacity.
• Integrity is about maintaining the separating function and preventing the spread of flame and smoke.
• Insulation is based around the premise that the surface protected will not reach an average temperature rise of 140°C above ambient, with no-one one hot spot exceeding 180°C above ambient.
• Finally, load-bearing capacity relates to the structural element being able to support the load under fire.
The performance of some passive fire protection systems, such as reactive coatings, can deteriorate over time, while some plant operational and maintenance activities can damage or eradicate its capabilities. Additionally, the protected surface itself can corrode underneath the fire protective barrier – so it’s important to put procedures in place to ensure that both the passive fire protective system and the protected surface are regularly inspected and repaired as appropriate. Alternative technologies, such as boarded systems, tend to require less inspection and maintenance.
In the case of the Sellindge substation in Kent, it has since received a fire protection overhaul, with a detailed specification plan that offered optimum protection by using a combination of products to meet the scale of the facility – which has some halls reaching up to 16 metres in height.
The package that was installed included a highly protective composite impact board, that could be used at the heights required, with a fibre reinforced concrete core and galvanised steel out facings, designed to offer the highest level of fire resistance with exceptional robustness for constructing fire compartmentation. Additionally, this board can provide blast protection, to ensure that if the electrical equipment were to fail and cause an explosion, the passive fire protection would not be compromised, and the fire can be contained.
The project also used a non-combustible calcium silicate board to provide up to 240 minutes of fire protection for the structural steel at the plant, to maintain load bearing capacity when exposed to fire.
The combination of these two high performance products means that Sellindge can now benefit from a comprehensive fire protection system that ensures excellent protection from both the spread of fire and the risk it could pose to the structural integrity of the building.
The lighting industry is starting to embrace the concept of the circular economy and sustainable lighting. Nigel Harvey, CEO of Recolight, outlines the need for sustainable lighting and the initiatives we are now seeing.
Legislative changes and customer requirements are increasingly placing an emphasis on lighting that is truly sustainable –products that are not just energy efficient, but which are also resource efficient. These are vital steps in addressing the climate emergency.
The circular economy is about resource efficiency; minimising the use of new raw materials in products, and keeping products in service for far longer. Value engineered products that compromise longevity and are unlikely to last much beyond their warranty period should be avoided. That’s because they risk creating unnecessary waste, the requirement for early replacement, and carry a higher embodied carbon.
Choosing resource efficient products is paramount. There are many potential benefits, including the fact that many resource efficient products have a modular design, meaning they could feature replaceable light sources and control gear. This means that if one critical component
fails in use, the component can be replaced without having to replace the whole fitting.
To help identify more sustainable products, the Society of Light & Lighting and CIBSE have come up with a new rating dubbed TM66, which many manufacturers are now showcasing on their products. TM66 helps lighting producers demonstrate the extent to which they have taken circular economy principles into account in product design. Products are rated on a 0-4 scale, which is assessed based on the product’s sustainability across four key tenets:
• Product Design: covering topics such as design for long life and repair.
• Materials: covering topics like usage of recyclable materials rather than virgin.
• Manufacturing: covering topics like additive and subtractive techniques and localisation.
• Ecosystem: covering topics like repair or upgrade services to complement circular economy design and manufacturing.
By asking for, and promoting products with a TM66 rating, specifiers are able to encourage end users to fit products that will be more resource efficient. This is obviously beneficial to a project’s carbon footprint, but could also prove fruitful for the client’s bottom line.
Efforts to improve circularity within the lighting industry don’t stop at TM66, with a BSI committee currently working on a lighting version of BS8887, a standard for the remanufacture of luminaires. This standard will help companies remanufacture in a way that applies realistic approaches to product compliance and will give end users the confidence that the product is suitable for use.
reconditioned lighting to achieve both sustainability goals and cost savings. And now tenders are beginning to emerge which specify the reconditioning and re-use of luminaires in a project. The more end users include re-used or remanufactured products as an option in specifications, the more we will see producers offering these solutions.
In fact, an increasing number of lighting manufacturers also now offer to upgrade existing lighting products to LED. These upgrades can sometimes be performed in situ, without the need for the fittings to return to a factory. That means the fittings and/or their housings themselves can be kept in service. That in turn improves material efficiency, and should avoid the loss of much of the embodied carbon. This approach can also be commercially attractive – there have been great examples of remanufactured products that are more cost effective, and more energy efficient for the end user, and with better margins for the producer.
Additionally, legislative changes are expected to encourage or require manufacturers to take greater responsibility for waste products from business customers, via their WEEE compliance scheme. This may include requiring producers to finance the free of charge collection and recycling of WEEE from businesses, subject to minimum quantities. Schemes, like Recolight, already operate in this way, but there are still many schemes that do not.
Changes to legislation may also incentivise manufacturers to prioritise the repair and upgrade of older products, rather than the manufacture and supply of new products.
One of the biggest barriers to the re-use of lighting equipment is the perception that customer demand is limited. However, clients, both corporate and public sector, are now warming to the concept of
All too often we think that getting products recycled means we have ‘done our bit’ for the environment. We need to change that mentality. The waste hierarchy quite rightly puts recycling below prevention, repair, and re-use. Recycling destroys most of the embodied carbon in an electrical product, and should only be used if re-use, repair and remanufacture are not possible. To drive improved sustainability in the lighting sector, we must get much better at applying the waste hierarchy. That means prioritising repair and re-use above recycling.
Of course, re-use is not always possible, as is certainly the case for waste lamps. In this instance, they should be collected and properly recycled. That’s why WEEE compliance schemes exist – they can help to responsibly deal with these products at the end of their life. Some, like Recolight, will even offer a free of charge waste lamp collection and recycling service, subject to minimum quantities.
Furthermore, where luminaires supplied are produced by a member, the WEEE scheme may also be able to provide a free recycling service for any waste fittings that arise. But as has been previously highlighted, this should be a last resort – it’s imperative to prioritise re-use first. The relevant WEEE scheme may be able to find a company willing to receive these products for remanufacture, avoiding unnecessary recycling.
An increasing number of lighting manufacturers also now offer to upgrade existing lighting products to LED
To meet decarbonisation goals, the grid will need to be more flexible, explains David Hall, VP Power Systems at Schneider
ElectricUK & Ireland.
We are at a critical impasse in the fight against climate change. Now equipped with the knowledge that revolutionising the grid is essential to significantly reducing CO2 emissions, it’s up to distribution system operators (DNOs) to realise this vision.
The mass electrification of homes and industry means that electricity loads are expected to double by 2050, with the proliferation of EVs and heat pumps being key drivers. The National Grid is set to be loaded with 300,000 new heat pumps every year until 2050; meanwhile by 2040, there could be 36 million electric vehicles on the road. This means that the traditional one-directional energy model will no longer be able to withstand the demand.
In order to meet decarbonisation goals, the grid will need greater flexibility. This means transforming the grid to balance supply and demand more effectively, and better account for load uncertainty.
Moving to a dynamic energy system will facilitate the greater adoption of renewables, distributed energy resources (DERs) and energy storage systems required to meet the government’s ambitious targets to decarbonise the UK’s power system by 2035.
To get to this point, we need to reconsider our relationship with energy and ensure that grids of the future form a reliable, renewable base for supply. If the world is to meet its net zero commitments, utilities will need to double their flexibility by 2030. The path to an electric, digital future will be paved by adopting DERs, flexibility services and distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS).
Growing electrification, including the mass adoption of EVs and electric heat pumps, will require grid reinforcement and increased flexibility. The situation is becoming acute in the UK, with all new builds now requiring EV charging points as standard, a fast-approaching gas boiler ban, and a rapid rise in prosumers (customers, buildings, and businesses producing their own energy). This drives a need for fresh thinking and innovative solutions.
As well as accommodating the rapid growth of energy-consuming devices, the grid must adapt to an increase in unpredictable renewables and DERs, making it increasingly complex to provide stable, reliable,
optimal, and secure power. Although these new resources can cause uncertainty and variability for DNOs, when optimised, they allow them to balance supply and demand better, enhance the grid’s non-wire alternatives, and thus defer costly grid reinforcement.
For DNOs, it’s about freeing up capacity on the network to bring in DERs, changing to bi-directional power flows and ensuring that the grid can deal with drops and spikes in power. They need to ensure quality and
continuity of service to end users, but this means disrupting traditional operating models and relinquishing some control. Integrating DERs across the network is a challenge rooted in visibility and control. It relies on modernising the grid with smart and connected tools, driving more effective analytics, monitoring, control and forecasting.
To facilitate the introduction of DERs, power grid operation must now have flexibility at its core. This means balancing the grid from transmission and distribution to prosumer engagement. Flexibility services now provide the missing link between utilities and consumers, aggregating resources in specific local areas and working out how to best take advantage of them.
With pilots by DNOs showing the potential of flexibility services and platforms, the challenge now is to deliver the same success at scale. For instance, Delta-EE’s BiTraDER project with Electricity North West is trialling a bilateral trading market that overlays market optimisation on top of the centralised control of assets connected to the network. Trials like this pave the way for DNOs and energy generators to trade amongst themselves, optimising their curtailment queues and enabling greater energy security.
This flexibility must also extend to demand. Residential demand-side flexibility means enabling consumers to become prosumers, not just adding extra network capacity. It’s about encouraging active participation in energy use and production, allowing consumers to store and sell energy back to the grid as and when required. Giving this bi-directional flexibility empowers customers, encouraging them to alter their energy behaviour and providing more flex for the grid to take energy back when needed.
As the grid becomes more flexible, it becomes more complex. Grid management technologies, such as ADMS and DERMS, become essential to ensure a resilient energy supply tailored to enable efficient planning, design, and operation of a dynamic grid. With these solutions, DNOs can leverage DER flexibility at every level, achieve seamless interconnection and more effective planning, and allow alternative grid planning scenarios.
Greater grid management also opens the door to more automation. In the past, the UK’s grid relied on centralised software with decentralised comms. Moving to a more centralised, integrated approach to grid data, DNOs can access and analyse huge amounts of information autonomously in real time. With embedded monitoring and control functions in DERMS, DNOs can improve grid awareness and scale up operations, identifying where would be most advantageous to implement new DERs.
Boosting resilience and power in the grid relies on a flexible approach from DNOs. Whether through DERMS, ADMS, or flexibility services, action is needed to ensure that the UK is ready for mass electrification. The grid is the key to meeting this demand and reaching decarbonisation goals, and it’s time for DNOs to drive flexibility forward and reduce energy-related emissions for good.
The grid must adapt to an increase in unpredictable renewables and DERs
Harmonics in electrical power systems –what causes them, what do they do, and how can you deal with them?
Markus Bakker, Field Application Engineer at Fluke Corporation, has the answers.
Power quality is a good indicator of the health of an industrial three-phase electrical system. It can cause many problems, not least the risk of damaged equipment and wasted energy if energy usage is not optimised. One of the main issues needing to be addressed to ensure maximum efficiency in any company’s electrical power systems is harmonics – distortions caused by variations in the waveform of voltage or current.
There are around 40 countries that use a fundamental power frequency (FPF) of 60 Hz, with the rest running on 50 Hz power, which is the case in Europe. Whichever system is in operation, harmonics are a nuisance and can lead to overheated neutral conductors, motor windings, and transformers.
What causes harmonics in electrical power systems?
Usually, the voltages and currents in a power system have a “perfect” sinusoidal waveform with a frequency of 50 Hz (60 Hz in the USA, the Caribbean, Saudi Arabia, and some other countries). This 50 Hz is the only harmonic component that composes the waveform. As soon as this waveform is distorted, there will be more harmonics contained in the waveform of the power.
These so-called harmonics have a frequency equal to the fundamental frequency multiplied by an odd integer number. So, for example, the third harmonic has a frequency of 150 Hz and so on, up until the 50th harmonic.
The most important cause of this waveform distortion are loads connected to the power system, like variable-frequency drives, PC power adaptors, and LED lighting. These loads distort the current, and depending on the quality of the network cabling, they may also distort the voltage waveform.
Variable frequency drives are devices that find application in the industry more and more; they are used to control the speed of an electric motor that drives a pump, fan, or compressor, for example.
Total harmonic distortion (THD) is a way of expressing all the combined harmonic components that are present in an electric network as a percentage of the 50 Hz component. The greater this percentage, the greater the number of harmonics. So, this number shows how many harmonics are present at a glance. This THD can be calculated for voltage harmonics and current harmonics.
As a rule of thumb, voltage harmonic effects should never represent more than 8%. If this figure is exceeded, the percentage of each individual harmonic would need to be checked on a measuring instrument that shows the operator the harmonic spectrum, usually in the form of a graph.
There are two established ways of reducing harmonics in power systems, but they both have their downsides and can be costly. The first is the use of filters, and the second is to replace the transformer with one with a high K factor capable of handling the distortion.
Depending on what is causing the harmonic distortion, filters can offer many benefits, but it is essential to carry out harmonic surveys of whatever equipment is connected to a system to locate the specific source(s) of distortion.
The first area to be checked for the highest degree of THD would be the biggest electronic drives, looking at the kind of equipment that is responsible for drawing the highest current. These would typically include high-power variable-frequency drives.
Best practice would see as much harmonic data as possible being collected over a number of days to get a picture of how THD levels change with the processes in that industry and to highlight where and when the peaks are. Armed with this information, a filter supplier would be able to recommend the best solution.
In reality, it is usually only a couple of pieces of equipment that may be causing any concerning distortion issues, but the numbers could be significantly higher in a larger system.
The second option, replacing a transformer, would involve a greater degree of difficulty, although harmonic surveys would still be required, this time to ascertain the K factor.
The K factor relates to the heating effects of harmonics and can be calculated using a suitable measuring instrument. Today’s power quality analysers often calculate the K-factor automatically. However, because K-factor rated transformers are significantly more expensive than standard transformers, and replacing a K-factor transformer can be costly and disruptive, it is critical to minimise downtime. Nevertheless, sometimes it can be the only solution.
What the scenario above underlines is the importance of measuring, because only by having a full picture of a system’s power quality health can a user get the most out of their equipment while ensuring energy usage remains at optimal levels.
A crucial part of any routine maintenance plan should be to carry out regular power quality surveys and take reasonably regular measurements. These actions would enable users to identify whatever changes are taking place (if any) in order to flag up anything that could be a problem and get it sorted in advance of this happening.
How often these surveys take place – monthly, quarterly, halfyearly, or annually – is usually the choice of the user, but it should be remembered that the greater the requirements the user has in terms of system reliability, the more often a survey should be carried out. Clearly, by obtaining accurate data via a power quality survey, users can gain complete control over their electrical systems, ensuring that they operate efficiently and that all electrical equipment in the system has the longest possible working life.
It is important to take care when selecting where measurements will be taken and then to stick with the same location every time. This means identifying critical points on the network where equipment might be more sensitive and be expected to cause problems. The experience of those who operate the equipment can be invaluable in this regard because they often have the greatest insight into where problems might occur – they know better than anyone what is happening at their level.
Also important is the need to monitor trends and ensure that like is being compared with like in order to obtain data that is genuinely useful. At the same time, all historical data should be saved and stored, and any alterations or moves should be meticulously recorded, including updating all electrical diagrams.
Finally, take measurements and log your findings over several days, because taking a single snapshot over any given 24 hours will only show what is happening at that time. Equipment operation can remain constant over that period but then change during the following 24-hour period, so it’s wise to make any power quality survey last for a number of days.
In summary, distortions caused by variations in voltage or current can cause significant issues in an industrial three-phase electrical system, so checking on the behaviour of harmonics can help prevent many problems from occurring. Nobody wants to use more energy than is necessary or risk expensive and vital equipment being damaged, so start planning that power quality health survey now and keep those harmonics under control.
As a rule of thumb, voltage harmonic effects should never represent more than 8%
Accurate installation and connection of three-phase electrical systems is crucial for both commercial and industrial buildings. Steve
Dunning
, Managing Director of Martindale Electric, explains why it is vital that engineers test the phase rotation of their electrical systems.
Three-phase electrical supplies are commonplace in most industrial and commercial facilities for a wide variety of applications. Three-phase motors are widely used for many tasks. To guarantee the proper operation of electrical equipment, as well as the safety of workers, correct installation is essential.
Phase rotation refers to the order in which the three phases of an alternating current system are connected. So, naturally, when it comes to testing, you’re simply ensuring that everything has been connected in the right order. In the UK, the three phases are known as L1 (Brown), L2 (Black) and L3 (Grey), where the peak of each AC signal is 120 degrees apart. Getting the phase sequence wrong can have devastating consequences for plant and machinery with serious implications for machine safety. From motors running backwards through to cooling or lubricating systems underperforming, one wrong connection can lead to a major maintenance headache. It can disrupt operation, cause vast damage to equipment, with all the expense that entails, and potentially injure the user. Correctly testing the phase rotation of the electrical infrastructure is crucial.
Good quality, safe instruments that test which way the phases are rotating will inform the operator of the correct connection order for the proper motor rotation. This can help to ensure that the system is connected and functioning properly and that it is safe for use. Specific test equipment is available to help verify the phase rotation of threephase circuits.
For instance, a reliable safety solution for detecting phase sequence is the use of battery-operated non-contact phase sequence indicators. These indicators use insulated clips that work by induction, allowing for a reading through the insulation of each phase conductor. This reduces the risk of accidentally touching live parts. The clips are connected in the correct order and the instrument is turned on.
LEDs on the instruments should provide a clear indication of the phase rotation and have a high-intensity setting for working in strong ambient light. Look for instruments that display whether each line conductor has a voltage of between 75- and 1000-volts AC at 45-65 Hz. An audio indication of correct sequence is also often provided by a buzzer.
Clockwise sequence is correctly indicated by some instruments, while anticlockwise sequence is correctly indicated by others. Both types of indicators can also work on uninsulated conductors.
Another solution is a phase rotation indicator which has been specifically designed to quickly and simply prove the presence of all three live phases (or identify which are faulty) and show the sequence of phase rotation when all three phases are confirmed as present. Equipment that provides a fast, effective, battery-free method of identifying unmarked cables and ensures that three-phase outlets and machines are wired correctly are an advantage here.
For a choice between long exposed tips for reaching difficult-to-access contacts and shorter tips for increased safety, look for features such as retractable GS38 shrouds and integral fused leads, crocodile clips and high quality test probes which conform to GS38.
18th Edition multifunction testers can also be used to provide phase sequence indication in addition to their main functions. Like dedicated devices, these use three test leads to undertake the test but display the results on the LCD. Other devices that can verify the phase rotation include Two Pole Voltage and Continuity Testers.
Specific test equipment is available to help verify the phase rotation of three-phase circuits
With the electrical industry going through one of the biggest transitions in its entire history, Powered On Live will feature two days of in-depth presentations and panel discussions with industry leaders on the important topics that are on everyone’s minds.
Whether it’s the momentous work that will need to be done to achieve net zero, or dealing with modern-day threats to the continuity of power, whether due to cyberattacks or extreme weather events, there is bound to be a topic for everyone.
Those who register will be able to join in live and ask questions, but also watch all session recordings afterwards.
Platinum Sponsor
A 25 min speaking slot with Q&A on either Day 1 or Day 2 straight after the keynote
A seat on a separate panel session. 40 mins.
Logos on all our marketing material throughout the campaign – website, social media, emails
Full delegate list of all registrations for both days after the event (GDPR Compliant)
Speaker picture and bio on the website
Gold Sponsor
A 25 min speaking slot with Q&A on either Day 1 or Day 2 in the afternoon
Logos on all our marketing material throughout the campaign – website, social media, emails
Full delegate list of all registrations for both days after the event (GDPR Compliant)
Speaker picture and bio on the website
For more information, visit poweredonlive.co.uk
The utility industry is facing unprecedented challenges, especially when it comes to the threat of climate change. While utility operators act on increasing pressure from climate groups to accelerate the pace of renewable energy projects to help the world achieve net zero and decarbonise at speed, the energy grid is under constant threat from natural disasters and extreme weather conditions.
The risk is two-fold, as the industry integrates a higher share of renewables into the energy mix. First, the grid must cope with periods of peak energy demand, as heating and cooling is electrified, during periods of cold snaps or unexpected heat waves. Secondly, this becomes particularly challenging when coupled with periods of low renewable energy supply – when the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine.
However, promisingly, real-time data can help improve energy grid resilience and stability, helping to equip the industry with the tools to adapt and combat these challenges. In this context, satellite-enabled IoT solutions play a critical role – supporting remote monitoring of energy infrastructure to maintain efficient operations. To gauge the potential IoT solutions and satellite connectivity hold, it’s useful for utility operators to understand how it makes an impact.
As the industry becomes increasingly aware of the need to reduce our reliance on traditional methods of power generation to combat climate change, investment in the renewable energy transition is going from strength to strength. However, hand in hand with this is the threat posed by increasing use of power sources such as wind or hydro turbines, based in inhospitable and remote locations.
What is needed in this instance are effective and resilient connectivity solutions at the power generation source and throughout the grid that can withstand extreme climate conditions. This type of resilience can be found in satellite-enabled IoT solutions which often come in small form factor terminals that have a strong track record of deployment in very remote locations, lasting ten to 15 years with very little maintenance. This ensures remote monitoring can be carried out in a reliable way, without the fear of hardware being impacted by the elements.
IoT solutions can support dynamic weather and environmental monitoring, providing critical capabilities to identify potential threats to the power grid.
Through continuous collection and analysis of real-time data taken from remote sensors, combined with insights from local weather stations, utility industry operators can identify changing weather patterns and environmental factors such as temperature and humidity levels that may affect the grid’s infrastructure.
Last summer in the UK, we saw extreme heat create widespread power cuts as equipment overheated – reducing the efficiency of power plants by causing metal power lines to sag and bringing them into contact with surrounding obstacles such as trees. Through monitoring conditions in real-time, utility companies can anticipate and mitigate against environmental threats – including identifying where vulnerable infrastructure lies, or preparing communities for extreme weather periods where outages might happen. Ultimately, IoT-enabled monitoring of environmental conditions can support the resilience of the utility industry, improving its ability to serve its end-users.
Extreme weather events such as hurricanes, heatwaves, and droughts can significantly impact electrical utilities by causing power outages, equipment failures, and infrastructure damage. This can lead to disrupted power supply and increased demand, which can put pressure on utilities to quickly restore power and repair damaged infrastructure.
However, connectivity such as fibre optic cables or cellular networks are also at the mercy of the elements – frequently being disrupted and damaged by some of the worst climate effects. In turn, remote monitoring that relies on such connectivity can experience periods of downtime when real-time updates and communications are most vital. These connectivity services can also be disrupted by congestion and maintenance requirements.
Combined with IoT solution resilience is the ability to improve staff safety and wellbeing by reducing time spent at remote sites – reducing lone working and avoiding dangerous situations that risk livelihoods. For example, in the instance of power grids, remote sensors are able to detect faults and identify where exact issues lie that require immediate response. This not only saves time having to check the entire grid area, but also reduces the chance of major risks such as electrocution and falls. By receiving real-time data and updates, remote monitoring through IoT solutions supports employees to make informed decisions and take appropriate action where necessary.
To combat this, satellite connectivity can serve as a backup to terrestrial networks, ensuring essential communications are maintained in high-pressure situations.
IoT supporting the industry as it transitions to net zero
IoT offers a powerful instrument for the utility industry in its transition towards renewable energy and in mitigating the challenges associated with the changing operational environment.
Leveraging real-time data and remote monitoring can support the industry’s journey in protecting people and the planet, whether that be through combating natural disasters, improving operational efficiencies or enabling renewable energy generation.
optic cables or cellular networks are at the mercy of the elements
Real-time data can help improve energy grid resilience and stability
Signify UK & Ireland recently appointed Nico van der Merwe as CEO, a name many Electrical Review readers will be familiar with, having previously worked for Schneider Electric.
Electrical Review caught up with Nico to see how he’s getting on with the new job, as well as his vision for the future of Signify UK & Ireland and the wider lighting industry. Here’s just a snippet of that interview, you can read the full version on Electrical Review’s website.
Having previously worked at Schneider Electric, what motivated you to take up the position at Signify UK & Ireland, and what are your main goals for the company in the coming years?
Signify is a company with a rich heritage, a powerful product portfolio, a talented team, and a strong leadership position in sustainability. I am sure we are well positioned to further grow the business and
industry while continuing to make a positive impact on society and the environment through our innovations.
The UK and Ireland have exciting opportunities in the market for us and our customers and that is what I want to make possible for us in the new role. This objective will also ultimately help drive us closer to the Signify’s five frontier strategy for growth where we focus on being more customer centric, enable differentiated offers, growth for sustainability, drive digitalisation and be a great place to work.
You mention sustainability as being at the heart of everything that Signify does, and lighting can naturally make a huge contribution to making the world more sustainable. But could you tell us more about the work Signify is doing to decarbonise itself and is this something you’re personally passionate about?
Sustainability is in our DNA. At Signify, we believe that by changing how we create and use light, we can improve lives and positively impact the planet. So, we have identified five strategic areas where we will grow our business while furthering our contribution to a better and more sustainable world. These growth areas are defined based on the business environment and challenges facing society and are tied to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Let me take you back to 2015 when Signify committed to a goal of becoming carbon neutral and converting to the use of 100% renewable electricity in all our operations. With a global manufacturing footprint, supply chain, nearly 40,000 people, and a global presence, those commitments felt like a big step at the time. We created a bold plan, with over 200 emission reduction initiatives worldwide, and were able to become carbon neutral in our operations in 2020.
We then wanted to make our impact even bigger. So we have embarked on a new five-year journey out to 2025, focusing on doubling our positive impact on the environment and society under the Brighter Lives, Better World 2025 sustainability programme, going beyond carbon neutrality. The programme uses the SDGs as its strategic compass and we report our contribution to six SDGs: Good health and wellbeing (#3); Affordable and clean energy (#7); Decent work and economic growth (#8); Sustainable cities and communities (#11); Responsible consumption and production (#12); and Climate Action (#13).
And what about the technology that Signify offers, such as LEDs, how can that contribute to wider decarbonisation outside of your own operations? I note the recent Ultra Efficient line from Signify that promises greater energy savings than ever before.
Lighting is one of the single biggest energy expenses that businesses face. It also comes as a quick, non-capital/effort intensive fix. The drive to create more efficient lighting is also born of an urgency to respond to climate change.
LED and connected lighting offer one of the simplest – and most overlooked – paths to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Switching to connected LEDs in buildings can quickly reduce the built environment’s lighting-related energy consumption and with additional controls this can save up to 80%. These controls opportunities and IoT devices like motion sensors are essential if full energy and emissions savings are to be realised.
Then there is the sustainability of the lights themselves. By bringing lighting together with data and the IoT, you can create spaces that adapt to specific needs, making them more efficient, connected, and sustainable. This can be applied to any area-of a building, a parking lot, a sports arena or even a city. With controls one can optimise energy use, manage multiple sites, streamline citizen services and radically reduce lighting-related energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
Another important concept of sustainability in lighting is that it can have a hugely positive impact on circularity. Sold in combination with a service agreement, users can benefit from guaranteed lighting performance regarding energy, light level, and uptime. Owning the reuse, refurbishing or recycling loop can ensure any business can get maximum value from the lighting system and contribute to corporate sustainability ambitions. With circular lighting in businesses, cities, and homes, any country can achieve game-changing electricity savings.
Lastly, there is the rapid growth of 3D printing everywhere and lightning is no different. The lighting industry is accelerating the transition from a linear to a circular economy and technologies like 3D printing luminaires offer huge benefits to customers – reducing CO2 and waste.
Given the important role that lighting plays, and the fact it’s getting ever more efficient, do you think the UK Government needs to do more to encourage the uptake of efficient LEDs? I know around the time of the Green Homes Grant, many within the industry were disappointed by its lack of inclusion, and there hasn’t been any further incentives since…
Decarbonising the UK’s built environment is a significant challenge that also comes with major opportunities – accelerating the adoption of energy-efficient solutions, products, and job creation. The Government set out the Green Homes Grant – which was scrapped and also scaled down the fund for decarbonisation. Not too long ago, the Government announced the Heat and Buildings Strategy, which is a step in the right direction, it is simply not enough and is not designed for quick or big wins.
The Government needs to encourage energy-efficient retrofits in the built environment and better plan new infrastructure development with a focus on technologies that can expedite reduction of carbon emissions. LED lighting is one of the quickest renovations that dramatically cuts carbon – it does not require large capital investments and has a short payback time. It is a major counterbalance to the disadvantages of locking in carbon consequential in new developments by refreshing and repurposing existing building stock. It can also reduce electricity demand in existing buildings to the point that, for example, the renovation of Gas Boilers to Heat Pumps will not require new electricity supply infrastructure thanks to the reduced energy demand of the new lighting system.
To highlight just how big of an impact, a complete switching to low carbon smart LED lighting can remove emissions equivalent to one coal power plant, or 636,000 cars, or nearly half a million (496K) households for the UK.
You can read the rest of the interview with Nico van der Merwe on ElectricalReview.co.uk.
Ideal for use when carrying out R2 and R1+ R2 tests on electrical installations, the new MSA1363 socket adaptor from Megger allows convenient connections to be made to the live, neutral and earth conductors at any UK BS1363 socket outlet.
The adaptor simply plugs in, in the same way as a standard plug, eliminating the need to dismantle the socket or expose live terminals to gain access to the connections. Not only does this save time, it is also far safer and, as the socket does not need to be disturbed, there is no risk of damage to the surrounding decorations.
To further aid convenience and safety, the MSA1363 adaptor features colour-coded test sockets on the front, which enable the test connections to be made quickly, securely and with minimum risk of error. It is suitable for use with almost any type of installation tester that has test leads fitted with standard 4 mm plugs, and it has a safety rating of CAT IV 300 V in line with IEC 61010.
Megger • 01304 502101 Find out more: www.uk.megger.com
The compact HPAT400 HandyPAT from Martindale Electric is the perfect device for anyone who needs to check that electrical appliances are safe to use.
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require that any electrical equipment that has the potential to cause injury is maintained in a safe condition.
With its one-button test selection and backlit display, the HPAT400 is very easy to operate and perfect for those responsible for checking and testing appliances. Users can perform a 500V insulation test quickly, and the device enables you to switch between different test voltages of 250V and 500V with ease. This is particularly useful when testing appliances with surge-protected circuits, such as sensitive IT equipment that requires a 250V test. Weighing just 700g, this lightweight, battery-powered, handheld PAT tester is also ideal for use in tight and hard-to-reach spaces.
The HPAT400 comes with an extension lead adaptor, an earth bond probe with clip, 6xAA alkaline batteries, and a sturdy “test & go” carry case with a separate pocket for accessories to keep the HandyPAT protected and safe. The device complies with BS EN 61010 safety standards.
out more: martindale.tips/HPAT400
Riello UPS has announced the launch of its new Multi Power 2 modular range, which it claims raises the bar for energy efficiency and flexibility.
Multi Power2 is the evolution of Riello UPS’s modular solutions. It is designed to deliver smart, scalable, sustainable power to high-density computing environments such as data centres and similar missioncritical settings.
Manufactured with state-of-the-art technologies, including new 3U 67 kW power modules, Multi Power2 delivers best in class power density and ultra-high efficiency of up to 98.1% in online double conversion mode, minimising operating costs, energy losses, and cooling requirements whilst delivering reliable performance and outstanding flexibility.
The new range incorporates the 500 kW MP2 model and the scalable M2S, which comes in 1000-1250-1600 kW versions. It builds on the successes of the original and best-selling Multi Power, which has been protecting critical loads in data centres throughout the world for nearly a decade.
Multi Power2’s new power modules offer double the power density of previous iterations and are designed to be fully hot-swappable and mechanically segregated to avoid any single point of failure, minimising the Mean Time To Repair (MTTR). It also offers pay as you grow scalability that optimises both the initial investment and total cost of ownership.
Riello UPS • 01978 729297 Find out more: www.riello-ups.co.uk
DCR provides data centre, energy, facilities and building service managers and directors with expert information to enable them to keep data centre sites running effectively while ensuring availability.
The print publication is produced four times a year, featuring editorial covering the key topics from within the data centre sector, including:
• AI & Automation
• Big Data & IoT
• Colocation & Outsourcing • Cooling • Data Centre Design & Build • DCIM
• Edge Technology • Green IT & Sustainability • Security • Storage, Servers & Hardware
• UPS & Standby Power
• Virtualisation & Cloud Computing
If you have any content you would like to share with our editorial team, please contact Kayleigh Hutchins, Editor at kayleigh@datacentrereview.com
