Acting as co-mandated lead arrangers and co-lenders, EDC and NatWest together provided £130 million to support the construction of the Limekiln wind farm, owned by Quebec-based energy producer Boralex.

With the capacity to produce enough low carbon power to meet 40,200 homes’ needs, at a saving of 65,000 tonnes of emissions, the project is Boralex’s largest scheme in Europe and its first project financing in Britain.

Advising the two lenders on the deal, Burges Salmon provided banking, finance, energy, real estate, planning and construction expertise. The team was led by partners Stuart McMillan, Lloyd James, Alex Whiter and Euan Bremner, supported by directors Alistair Rattray and Laura Sharples, senior associates Alison Logan and Owen Watkins, associates Amy McPherson and Kirsten Ogg, solicitors Thomas Papke and Chris Glendinning and trainee solicitors Gemma Hines and Carys Cox.

Stuart McMillan, pictured, commented: “It has been a pleasure working with NatWest and EDC to unlock this significant capital for Boralex’s flagship project in the UK, one that will greatly benefit local communities, providing zero-carbon electricity and delivering an array of social, economic, and environmental benefits. In what was a complex deal, our experience advising on these types of financing transactions in the renewables sector meant we were able to work together with all parties, and across multiple jurisdictions, to bring this landmark project to fruition.”

Kristofer Gibson, a NatWest director for infrastructure project finance, said: “We’re delighted to have had the opportunity to support Boralex with its maiden financing and development in the UK market. The debt facility is another example of NatWest’s commitment to actively help building a greener economy and future by providing £100 billion Climate and Sustainable Funding and Financing to our customers by the end of 2025.”

Combining sector knowledge with banking and finance expertise, Burges Salmon provides tailored advice from a range of perspectives to support lenders and borrowers on complex financing transactions in the UK and internationally. Working across sectors, the firm acts for some of the world’s largest banks, building societies and over 50 financial institutions, alongside numerous PLCs and large corporate clients globally.

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Under brighter conditions, in contrast, the nation’s mams & grans comment idiomatically that the ‘sun is splitting the skies.’ Or the trees. Or the staines/stones.  Seeking a tan, Glaswegians are known to partially disrobe, or “get their tapps aff”.

While not excluding the first condition, British Gas now favours the second, and for the first time from the glens to Scotland’s lowlands and cities.

The powerco is partnering with Angus-headquartered installation company Forster Energy to achieve greater penetration of BG’s home PV offering beyond Hadrian’s Wall and furthe into the Highlands. The distribution franchise also covers Wales and – whisper it quietly  – England.

The energy provider claims installing PV systems and batteries can in theory save households between 75% and 90% off their electricity bills. That range assumes a south-facing typical 4kWp array plus battery provide 35% of the home’s electricity needs. It also assumes excess daytime energy is sold back to the grid at 15p per kWh via BG’s Export & Earn Plus tariff.

The partnership is the latest step in British Gas and Hive’s commitment to helping customers decarbonise their homes and save money on their energy bills.

Last year British Gas launched its Effective Home solar deal in England and Wales. For the first time, the deal with Forster Group will enable its offering to install home solar power & battery technology to any eligible customer in Scotland, England and Wales.

Latest figures from installations quality regulator the Microgeneration Certification Scheme reveal that more than 183,000 solar installations, overwhelmingly on homes, were carried out across all three nations in 2023.

“Ne’er cast a cloot (*), till May is oot” – Scots wisdom

Forster Group says it provides solar services to one in five of all new homes in Scotland. Tapping into the Brechin-based firm’s workforce will boost by 55% the number of accredited solar PV technicians available to British Gas.

Customers can benefit from a free consultation for solar panel installation tailored to their energy usage and home layout. Without commitment, a free survey will give estimated costs, savings and installation options.

Research in the British Gas Homes Index revealed that more than two fifths (42%) of people said they were considering installing solar panels in the next two years to tackle climate change and save on bills.

“We’re seeing our customers get more engaged with the benefits of solar energy”, said British Gas’ director of low carbon homes Susan Wells.

“We are committed to delivering the right products and solutions to help people cut carbon in their homes and save money on their bills in a way that works for them through British Gas and Hive.

Installation company boss John Forster, pictured said: “We are seeing solar power and battery technology playing an essential role in Scotland’s transition to Net Zero. With consumer appetite growing, more people now have the ability to take control of their own energy usage and make huge savings generating their own power”.

At the start of the Feed-in Tariff subsidy in 2010, British Gas bought a Hampshire-based PV installation company, as it sought to cash in on the government-approved deal, offering 20 years of guaranteed, generous income to homes installing PV.  Inept Whitehall administration of the FiT, fought by installers through England’s courts, confused consumers however, leading to disappointing uptake of home PV.

Footnote: A ‘cloot’ in Scots is a patch or a piece of cloth. Alternative meanings include a slap or punch, or part of a cloven hoof, sometimes associated with the devil.  It’s anyone’s guess as to why June is the best time to be ‘casting’/throwing/hurling discarding any of these.

The post BG braves dreich Scots skies, extends solar PV offering. Sassenach hames, and aw! appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Scottish Power Energy Networks‘ Eastern Green Link 1 (EGL1) high voltage subsea design will port up to 2GW of homegrown wind generated electricity between East Lothian and County Durham. Commissioning is set for 2027.

EGL1 is the first of 26 critical energy projects, together priced at a ballpark £20 billion, to be fast tracked under Ofgem’s new Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) framework.

Developed by Ofgem, the NG-ESO and DNOs, ASTI is designed to speed up the delivery of strategic energy projects to feed in more electricity generated by offshore wind into the nation’s grid.

Ofgem claims ASTI can shorten project funding by up to two years, by targeting projects critical to delivering the government’s target of 50GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. Ofgem and its partner network operators intend ASTI as replacing the previous framework, which approved projects piecemeal, one at a time.

Delivery of projects such as EGL1 will provide millions of consumers with access to homegrown wind energy.  By boosting grid capacity, the venture will cut down on curtailment wasteful, axing much of the millions paid to generators currently asked to turn off production, when the Grid and transmission nets are full.

EGL1 is being developed by National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) and SP Transmission, part of SP Energy Networks. Most of its 196 kilometre cable will be under the North Sea. Only 20 kilometres will be buried onshore, connection converter stations in Torness, East Lothian and Hawthorn Pit, County Durham.

That proposed budget of £2 billion is now subject to further consultation.  Without affecting project delivery, Ofgem has already trimmed £43 million from the developers’ submissions, thus reducing the burden falling on consumers.

The project assumes planning consent, in a process overseen by the Planning Inspectorate.

Ofgem’s director of major projects Rebecca Barnett said: “To meet future energy demand and Net Zero targets, we need to accelerate the pace at which we build the high voltage energy network, which transport homegrown electricity to where it’s needed.

“Our new fast track ASTI process is designed to unlock investment, speed up major power projects and boost Britain’s energy security.”

ASTI preserves full due diligence on EGL’s technical & financial processes. Barnett added: “We’ve carried out rigorous checks to ensure consumers are shielded from unnecessary costs and made cost adjustments, where we don’t see maximum efficiency and consumer benefit.”

View the Eastern Green Link 1 (EGL1) – Project Assessment Consultation.   Feedback on the proposed budget can be sent to: RIIOElectricityTransmission@ofgem.gov.uk  before the 17 April closing date. Ofgem will publish a decision on next steps at ofgem.gov.uk/consultations.

The post Ofgem greenlights first faster Grid upgrade with up to £2 billion appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Re-opening old mine shafts across the globe and extending the lives of those approaching closure are the focus of GraviStore, the Edinburgh firm’s proposal for rapidly dispatchable clean power, including potentially at grid scale.

Today’s deal commits the multinational giant to assist Gravitricity in developing its alternative to pumped hydro storage and to battery chemistries relying on lithium and other rare metals.

Employing ABB’s knowledge of hoist engineering in deep shafts worldwide holds out potential, the parties believe, to give purposeful second life to scores of thousands of existing, often declining facilities.

Unlike batteries relying on chemical storage, Gravitricity says its proprietary technology can assist power storage at various scales over many decades, and without any decline in performance.

The firm says it has already proven Gravitricity technically, thanks to a scale demonstrator in Leith. Now it is exploring the potential to deploy its groundbreaking technology in decommissioned mines worldwide.

ABB contributes unique depth of experience, says the Scots firm, thanks to its record of installing over 1,000 hoist and winches in deep shafts worldwide, including the example pictured.

Under the new deal, ABB will collaborate by providing research and development, product development and engineering teams specialising in the design, engineering and operations of mine hoists and mechanical, electrical and control technologies for hoisting.

Mine operators in Europe, India and Australia are already showing interest in Gravitricity’s offering, according to the firm’s co-founder Martin Wright.

“As the world generates more electricity from intermittent renewable energy sources, there is a growing need for technologies which can capture and store energy during periods of low demand and release it rapidly when required,” Wright noted.

“Our GraviStore underground gravity energy storage uses the force of gravity to offer some of the best characteristics of lithium-ion batteries and pumped hydro storage – at low cost, and without the need for any rare earth metals.

The Swiss-Swedish multinational sees its co-development with the Edinburgh start up as another route in working with companies providing adjacent and value-adding technologies.

“ABB has 130 years of history with mine hoists, since we first electrified one in Sweden in the 1890s”, said Charles Bennett, global service manager in ABB’s process industries division.

“Collaborating with Gravitricity shows how we can continue to diversify and adapt our technologies,” “We are eager to progress….as we become part of the next generation of renewable energy storage systems and to make use of mine shafts that are no longer in service.”

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The projects will both be located at greenfield sites, with one situated south of Glasgow at Cathkin, and the second at Broxburn, west of Edinburgh.

Construction is scheduled to begin before March, with both sites expected to be fully operational by April. Grid connection will be through SP Energy Network’s 33kV distribution network.

Both projects will help ENGIE towards its 10GW target of battery storage globally.

Aidan Connolly, head of battery storage UK at ENGIE, stated the utilities company was looking forward to working with Canadian Solar on the construction of the project, having signed two energy performance certificate (EPC) contracts for both 50MW/100MWh sites.

Canadian Solar’s e-Storage – previously CSI storage – is a subsidiary of the company’s manufacturing division. It launched its utility-scale energy storage product, SolBank in September 2022.

Renewable energy investor Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), recently confirmed that SolBank will be the technology used for its 500MW/1,000MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Scotland.

The post ENGIE & Canadian Solar bring two 2-hour grid batteries to Scotland appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Together rated at 18.8MWp, onshore turbines at Kirk Hill when completed next year will make up the largest consumer-owned wind farm in the UK.  

Members across the four nations who’ve signed up through co-operative developers Ripple Energy have been told they can save hundreds of pounds on their energy bills when power starts to flow.  The average predicted first year bill savings for the co-op’s 5,600 members is £269.

Conveniently sited within three-mile sight of turbine-hating Donald Trump’s golf franchise at the Turnberry resort, consumer-owned Kirk Hill will have the potential to power a nominal 20,000 households and businesses.

Its thousands of members from households and businesses across the UK part-own the assets, representing a new model of popular, non-corporate ownership of clean power set – or so Ripple’s founder Sarah Merrick believes –  to transform Britain’s transition to clean energy.

Co-op members control their individual investments on a one-person per vote basis via arms-length co-ordinators such as Ripple, and not according to the value of equity they inject.

Funded by £13.2 million of such small investments, Kirk Hill is the latest of the enterprise’s three schemes to come to market.

Its first, a single turbine at Graig Fatha in south Wales – pictured – became the UK’s first consumer owned wind farm when generation began in March 2022.  Its members are expected to save £977 on average off their energy bills this year.

Britain’s first solar park in shared community ownership, Derill Water Solar Park in Devon is the brand’s biggest project to date.  Costing over £20 million, the highest ever single share flotation raise in the history of UK co-operatives, Derill Water will pump its first current late next summer.

 A fourth project has opened for investor registration.

A recent study commissioned by Ripple found 67% of Scots voicing support for renewable projects in their area.  Over half – or 58% – say they are more likely to support a new local wind turbine or solar park if they had the opportunity to own part of it and lower their energy bills.

Ripple commissioned the research as part of its Generation YES initiative. This encourages Brits to say yes to renewable energy projects being developed in their locality and to support more clean power.

Merrick, Ripple Energy’s founder and CEO said: “Owned by 5,600 proud individuals who will benefit from the clean, low-cost energy generated by its turbines, Kirk Hill represents the future of green energy.

“There’s a sense of history being made here on the west coast of Scotland as construction gets underway, ” Merrick added.  “From the moment they left the factories and made their journey across the Mediterranean and into the Port of Ayr, our members have been avidly following their journey.

“The future is consumer-owned renewable energy, and thousands of people in the UK have already joined the movement.”

Interest declared: the author invests in several UK energy co-operatives.

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Next year’s calendar for the UK’s Emissions Trading Scheme will limit the number of carbon allowances for companies to buy to 69 million, or 12.4 per cent fewer than in 2023, and their lowest-ever level.

By 2027, the allocation will fall further to around 44 million, a 45 per cent reduction on 2023. A floor of around 24 million is projected for by 2030.

This afternoon’s figures put plans announced earlier this year into action – to reduce the cap on carbon emissions under the Emissions Trading Scheme in line with the UK’s ambitious Net Zero strategy.

The UK ETS came into operation in January 2021, following the UK’s departure from the European Union.  It follows a cap and trade mechanism, with the cap reduced periodically to reflect progress towards the UK’s 2050 Net Zero commitments.

Through the scheme’s auctions process, companies in industries including manufacturing, power generation and aviation are required to buy allowances for every unit of carbon they emit. With fewer permits available to buy, these sectors will need to take further steps to cut their emissions.

The auction calendar published today by ICE Futures Europe, on behalf of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme Authority, gives businesses certainty over the next 12 months and sets the scheme on a clear path for decarbonisation for the six years after that.

In a joint statement, UK Emissions Trading Scheme Authority ministers, including Lord Callanan, Julie James MS, Màiri McAllan MSP and Exchequer eecretary Gareth Davies MP said:

“We want to give our industries the confidence to decarbonise, by investing in efficiency measures and moving away from fossil fuels to cleaner, more secure energy.

“The UK Trading Emissions Scheme will cut supply of allowances auctioned, with a 45 per cent reduction by 2027, to help us on our path to Net Zero””, the ministers went on.

“The auction calendar for 2024 and introduction of the new Net Zero-consistent cap will help provide certainty for businesses, while spurring investment and helping to grow the economy.”

Easing the scheme’s transition to a Net Zero cap, a proportion of allowances that went unused between in the past two years is today allocated to auctions due to be held between 2024 and 2027.

The number of allowances auctioned will still fall significantly each year over this period. There are also programmes in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland providing millions of pounds to help businesses make the changes needed.

As part of wider changes to the scheme, the UK Emissions Trading Scheme Authority has also committed to exploring measures for the future of the carbon allowances market, including examining the merits of a supply adjustment mechanism.

Such a change would provide a means of altering the supply of carbon allowances more flexibly in response to market conditions.

A copy of the 2024 UK Emissions Trading Scheme auction calendar can be found on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) website. ICE runs ETS auctions and secondary markets on behalf of the government.

The UK Emissions Trading Scheme Authority is the joint body comprising the UK Government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland that runs the scheme.

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Offshore consent documents for the West of Orkney marine park 30 kilometres off the island are now with officials.   The project’s 2GW boilerplate output is presented as meeting the power needs of around two million homes.

West of Orkney is backed by a consortium led by Total Energies. Composed of up to 125 turbines on fixed foundations, the French firm with partners, Macquarie-linked Corio Generation and Renewable Infrastructure Development Group (RIDG) has earmarked 2029 for the park to deliver its first power.

The submission includes applications under the Electricity Act 1989 and marine licence applications under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010. Accompanying them is an extensive suite of assessments based on survey data collected over two and a half years.

The West of Orkney project lies wholly within the “N1” Plan Option, one of 15 areas around Scotland which the Scottish Government considered suitable for the development of commercial scale offshore windfarms.

The Scottish Government published its Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy in October 2020 following over two years of extensive analysis, consideration and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders.

A grid connection agreement with National Grid in Caithness underpins the plan. The partners are also exploring options to power the Flotta Hydrogen Hub, under development at Orkney’s oil terminal.

Development manager Jack Farnham said: “Any project which intends to power around two million homes cannot be undertaken in isolation from the communities in which it will operate.

“Over the last two years we’ve organised 33 public events, reaching over 2,400 residents across Caithness, Sutherland and Orkney. These events have been a platform for the community to engage with the project’s design, ensuring that we develop an environmentally responsible and socially beneficial project that resonates with local needs and aspirations.

“This application outlines our commitment to safeguard marine habitats, protect wildlife, and minimise any potential disturbances to the local ecosystem.

• Meanwhile, at Britain’s biggest onshore windfarm now operating, the 0.6GW Whitelee venture ten miles south of Glasgow, developers ScottishPower Renewables are starting a bug hunt, designed to measure the genetic diversity of flying insects.

Ecologists working for the clean generator will collect insects from Whitelee and send them to be analysed as part of the Wellcome Sanger Institute’s BIOSCAN project.

Data from the project will allow the ecology team to detect what impact ScottishPower Renewables’ peatland restoration work has on the insect communities at Whitelee.

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In its 2023 UK update, the French-controlled transnational says the spend, part of a planned £50 billion commitment, maintains its status as Britain’s biggest generator of zero carbon electricity.

That title was enhanced earlier in 2023 when, EDF says, the carbon intensity of all its power at point of generation reached 0g CO2/MWh.

Best presented, that means EDF in the UK now only generates zero carbon electricity.

But the claim neglects the high carbon cost of capital inputs such as cement & materials used in constructing Hinkley C and renovating other plants.

In its report EDF Energy says it helped UK customers avoid 0.5MtCo2 in 2022, by installing smart meters, EV chargers, heat pumps and solar panels.  The company also funded more than 15,500 efficiency interventions under the ECO4 scheme, the latest phase of the venerable Energy Company Obligation.

This year’s 0.5MrO2 saving across its customer base is a 67% advance on 2021’s figure.

Three  new solar farms each of 50MW, in Porth Wen, Sutton Bridge and Burwell are slated for completion this year.

EDF’s 450MW Neart na Gaoithe wind farm 30 km off the Firth of Forth has potential to supply around 375,000 Scottish homes by 2024.

The company finished building the 30MW West Benhar wind farm in Lanark this year.  The 57 turbines of EDF Renewables’ 177MW farm in Dorenell, Moray,  its biggest onshore farm in Europe, has provided power for around 106,000 homes since 2019.

The energy provider will continue its investment in nuclear by building a 3.2GW European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) at Hinkley Point C in Somerset. Europe’s most expensive power plant, now over £23 billion will not generate until June 2026 at the earliest.

Confirmed in November, EDF’s similar-sized 3.2GW EPR venture at Sizewell C on the Suffolk coast needs £ 679 million of government guarantees.

EDF says its decision to extend the life of the Heysham 1 (1.06GW) and Hartlepool (1.18GW) nuclear plants to 2026 will boost Britain’s energy security and Net Zero goals.

The report details how the energy provider has reduced its total carbon emissions by 17% compared to 12 months previously, driven by a 91% decrease in Scope 1 emissions, those under its direct control or ownership.

Scope 3 emissions, those in its value chain and for which EDF is indirectly responsible, represent 99% of total emissions.

Simone Rossi, EDF Energy CEO, pictured said: “Much has happened since we set out our purpose to help Britain to achieve Net Zero three years ago.

“Two years of energy crisis have been a stark reminder that progress to Net Zero must also deliver secure and affordable energy for homes and businesses.

“Action at scale and pace is needed”, Rossi went on. “At EDF we are unwavering in our commitment because we are clear what’s good for Net Zero is good for Britain’s energy security and protects customers from volatile energy prices.

“A just transition also creates massive economic opportunity for businesses and communities up and down the country”.

Read EDF’s 2023 progress update here.

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The large-scale wave energy device – named Blue Horizon 250 – will be manufactured in Scotland and will be deployed in a grid-connected berth at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney as early as 2025.

It’s hoped the project could then pave the way to a small wave farm delivering up to 2 MW of low carbon electricity by 2030.

The Edinburgh firm has been awarded the Euros equivalent of £3.2 million in Phase 3 of EuropeWave, a pre-commercial procurement programme, funded through the EU and managed in collaboration with Wave Energy Scotland, the Basque Energy Agency and Ocean Energy Europe.

Mocean is one of three wave companies to have been awarded funds in Phase 3, each of which has successfully passed through two earlier competitive stages of the programme.

The other successful companies are Spain’s IDOM Consulting and CETO Wave Energy Ireland, who will install their devices at the Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP) in northern Spain.

“This is a major milestone for Mocean Energy,” states company co-founder and managing director Cameron McNatt, pictured.

“We have already demonstrated our technology successfully at small scale and this programme will allow us to build a significantly larger machine based on our proven hinged raft design, and incorporate our novel direct drive generator.

“Our goal is to deliver a small array in UK waters this decade, and I am confident that with appropriate innovation funding in place we can realise our ambition to build commercial wave energy arrays and generate home-grown green energy from our seas, both in the UK and around the world,” McNatt says.

The two technologies are currently in the seas off Orkney where they are delivering low carbon power and communication to infrastructure including Baker Hughes’ subsea controls equipment and a resident underwater autonomous vehicle (AUV) provided by Transmark Subsea. The programme has been supported by industry partners alongside the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC).

Blue Horizon 250 will be a significant scale up from Blue X and is designed for commercial applications on islands and remote communities, while also including early grid projects and off-grid applications, such as oil and gas and aquaculture.

The Blue X prototype was built in Scotland with around 80 percent local supply chain content, and it is anticipated Blue Horizon will deliver similar levels of local work. In March, Mocean Energy selected Aberdeen-based TEXO Engineering and Fabrication as its preferred fabrication, assembly and load-out contractor for its future wave energy convertors.

Tim Hurst, Managing Director of WES said:  “With their Blue X prototype deployed in Scapa Flow, Mocean Energy proved their technology had the right cost, performance and reliability to deliver commercial wave energy.

“The RSP project has successfully demonstrated the technology in a specific oil and gas application, and now phase 3 of EuropeWave will demonstrate that the technology can scale up and ultimately be deployed in sufficient numbers to make a significant contribution to our net zero targets.

“The EuropeWave project itself has shown that effective collaboration between European public funders in a structured and competitive programme can accelerate technology development and deliver outcomes to an internationally recognised standard.”

Neil Kermode, EMEC’s Managing Director, said: “Mocean Energy first came to Orkney in June 2021 with the testing of their Blue X prototype on our scale test site in Scapa Flow for a five month test campaign gaining initial operational experience in real-sea conditions

“We’re delighted to see Mocean secure this funding and continue the next steps in their development journey in Orkney which will see them deploy at our grid-connected test site at Billia Croo. This perfectly illustrates the importance of facilities and services that enable practical demonstration and allows learning by doing.”

Phase 3 will involve the detail design, a full-scale build, and 12 months at-sea testing of a first-of-a-kind wave energy converter (WEC) at EMEC, leading to technology readiness level TRL6/7 (TRL1-9 scale). Focus areas will include:

Building a novel power take-off system (PTO) at full-scale – combining a Vernier Hybrid Machine (VHM) with an associated linkage mechanism to boost energy yield/mass;

Exporting power to the grid – ensuring grid compatibility and compliance;

Meeting targets set across IEA-OES evaluation areas, and improving across power performance, availability, reliability, and survivability in particular;

Refining costs and our commercial roadmap – ensuring follow up projects exist that are viable and attractive to customers and end-users;

To complete the full-scale 250 kW Blue Horizon programme, Mocean will bring in private funding as required.

The post Wave hello: Scots marine pioneers find Blue Horizon under water appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2) is a 525kV, 2GW high voltage direct current (HVDC) subsea electricity mega-connector, linking Peterhead in Aberdeenshire to Drax in north Yorkshire. Joint backers National Grid and SSEN Transmission say it will take five years to build, and could be taking current by 2029.

Planning consent has now been granted for all onshore and offshore elements of the project, including new converter stations and onshore and offshore cables.

As a joint venture between the two transmission operators, EGL2 will be the longest high voltage direct current (HVDC) cable in the UK.

It is rated nominally to power more than two million homes. Its backers say it is essential to meet the UK’s Net Zero commitments and deliver a cleaner, greener and more secure energy future.

Today the parties confirmed EGL2 had secured planning approval from three local authorities, plus from England’s Marine Management Organisation and from Marine Scotland, its equivalent north of the border.

Ofgem’s approval is EGL2’s last hurdle. Its backers say it is essential to meet the UK’s Net Zero commitments and deliver a cleaner, greener and more secure energy future.

Once complete, EGL2 will run from a new converter station and landfall point at Sandford Bay, Peterhead, under the North Sea.  Landfall in England will be at Fraisthorpe, on the East Yorkshire coast. Once onshore, it will run underground to a new converter station next to pellet-burning Drax power station near Selby.

Planning permission in principle was granted by Aberdeenshire Council in May last year for the HVDC converter station and in February this year for a pylon compound joining the high-voltage underground cable to the overhead line.

Marine licences were secured from both the Marine Management Organisation and Marine Scotland on 28 July and 5 May 2023 respectively for EGL2’s 436km subsea cable.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council granted National Grid Electricity Transmission full planning permission on 3 May 2023 for the majority of the project’s onshore underground cable.

Earlier this month North Yorkshire Council consented for a new HVDC converter station and stretch of underground cable adjacent to Drax, the former coal-burning power plant.  Drax burned its last coal on a regular commercial basis in 2018.

Thanking EGL2’s supporters and consultees, deputy project director Sarah Sale said:

“We are delighted that our plans for the onshore and offshore elements of our project have been approved by all local planning authorities and marine licencing organisations. What was particularly pleasing to hear, was the support for the project and its purpose from a number of those planning authorities.

“This renewable electricity superhighway is vital in supporting the UK’s transition to net zero and decarbonisation and we’re thrilled to be making such a significant contribution with the largest electricity transmission reinforcement project in the UK.”

Construction of EGL2 is expected to begin in 2024, with a targeted operational date of 2029.

Three further subsea links between Scotland and England look set to follow, under National Grid’s ‘Great Grid Upgrade’, the operator’s multibillion investment in the largest overhaul of English & Welsh transmission in generations

In addition, proposals in the Humber region and East Anglia including a further subsea link between Suffolk and Kent.

The post EGL2 mega-connector wins Anglo-Scots planners’ green light appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Brockwell Energy secured a Contract for Difference (CfD) for North Kyle, near Ayr, in the government’s Allocation Round 4 last year.  Now being manufactured for the site, the former Chalmerston coal complex, the project’s 49 turbines will be collectively rated at 220.5MW.

Once commissioned in early 2025, they should yield 630GWh annually. The parties’ PPA commits EDF to take all its output.

North Kyle is Brockwell Energy’s largest venture in onshore wind.  The Edinburgh-based firm was set up in 2017 to raise investment capital to develop an £800 million portfolio of energy projects, predominantly in Scotland, on and around former coal mining sites.

An important consideration in shaping the North Kyle venture was to provide funding to the restore the former mining site, improving public access and providing what Brockwell describes as a “ground-breaking community benefit programme”.

Brockwell’s commercial manager David Surtees commented: “EDF has been a great counterparty to deal with.

“We set ourselves tight deadlines for closing the project and the EDF team was supportive and responsive throughout the process. EDF’s deep expertise in structuring PPA’s for renewable projects helped us to quickly get an optimal solution that addressed the needs of equity and debt providers.”

EDF UK cites Cornwall Insight as authority for its claim to be not only Britain’s biggest generator of zero carbon electricity but, via its PPA contracts, the biggest offtaker of renewable power among Britain’s energy suppliers.

The company says its renewables capacity already generating exceeds 1GW, with another 4GW in construction or development.   EDF’s biggest marine development in the UK is the 450MW Neart na Gaoithe project off the Fife coast, due to begin generating next year.

Of the North Kyle venture, EDF’s head of PPAs Tom Abbott commented: “It’s great to be definitively helping Britain achieve Net Zero through this agreement, which will bring new renewables onto our grid via this new farm in Scotland”.

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New process research funded by the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC), Aberdeenshire-based “circular economy” innovators SEM and Edinburgh University’s researchers, has unearthed a route to extracting highly valuable elements from waste alloys.

Rare metals such as niobium, tantalum and rhenium are critical to strengthening steel, adding stability & endurance to high-impact structures including turbine towers.  But such resources are mined outside the UK, often using methods harmful to the environment.

Manufacturers know that, by recovering rare metals at the end of a structure’s lifecycle – including from many of Scotland’s older wind turbines – they could re-use them in making new alloys, and cutting down Britain’s exposure to imports.

Unalloyed delight

No suitable extraction plant currently exists in the UK, sadly, though.  Fabricators, including of turbines, must send end-of-life waste to be processed in Canada, home to the world’s only rejuvenation facilities.

The trick is to begin by treating the elderly compounds with a combination of bio-based chemicals, some derived from whisky distilling, to separate the alloys’ components.

Using chemicals by-produced on the way to making Scotland’s “water of life”, SEM’s pioneering DRAM system acts as a filter to ensure the resultant waste liquids are safe to dispose of.  The DRAM technology was developed to safely extract valuable metals from waste electronics.

SEM’s lead metallurgist Leigh Cassidy said: “These rare metals are essential for the integrity of steel-based components commonly used in wind turbines and other high-temperature engines, but most of the stocks are still mined from the earth.

At the same time, we have ageing infrastructure coming to the end of its life. Substantial amounts of the components could be re-used”.

One DRAM thing after another

Cassidy went on; “We’ve already worked with the University of Edinburgh on methods for safely extracting metals from waste electronics. We saw an opportunity to explore a similar technique for separating the different metals in alloys.

“If used at scale, this type of process could be a big boost for UK manufacturing and unlock a new sustainable, circular supply chain where rare metals are recovered from existing alloys.

“Only small quantities of these rare metals are obtained as a result of the destructive mining processes, but with a process like this adopted at scale, there should be no need to cause additional harm to the planet”, the SEM metallurgist added.

“The project has contributed to the company’s mission of turning waste into value by focusing on resource recovery. We’re excited to continue exploring ways to collaborate with others and further advance solutions that showcase the art of the possible for industries looking to build upon sustainable processes.”

Dr Liz Fletcher, director of business engagement at IBioIC, added: “SEM is a great example of a business taking a bio-based process and applying it to multiple sectors to help companies achieve environmental goals.

“By joining forces with academic experts, SEM has developed potentially game-changing processes for sustainably treating various types of waste. Recycling at an industrial scale will be key to achieving net zero, while also reducing the carbon footprint and environmental damage associated with imported raw materials.”

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Anastasiia Kharchenko, Alona Lystopad and Maryna Saienko – pictured – are among the first batch of employees to start work at the green energy firm in 2023, a year on from the start of war criminal Vladimir Putin’s assault on their homeland.

All three have resettled in Scotland, bringing with them skills and experience applied now to new roles ranging from operating onshore windfarms, to digital operations and materials buying.

The trio have all joined Scottish Power under its Returners Programme, which provides people taking a career break of at least 12 months with opportunities to re-enter the workplace in STEM roles.  The scheme offers placements of at least nine months, paying a minimum of £29,100, plus benefits.

As well as refreshing skills, the programme also helps build the confidence of those returning to the working environment after a prolonged break.

Maryna, from Donetsk in Ukraine’s Russian-dominated east, has settled in Glasgow with her mother, husband and their daughters.  She will be working with ScottishPower’s procurement team, employing her experience in analysis and tender management from the power industry in Ukraine.

She said: “Since moving here I’ve wanted to feel useful, help people and contribute to my new society. I was looking for a job here for around five months, with many rejections, before finding out about the Returners Programme. In the meantime, I’d been volunteering with a charity and trying to improve my English.

“I want to leave the world a better place for my girls, and hopefully someday my grandchildren too.”

Maryna added: “ScottishPower has really supported us at the darkest moment in our life and having a job to us means having something permanent in our life.

Anastasiia, 28, from Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk region, graduated in 2016 from Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Chernivtsi and worked in the research, data analysis and innovation field before war broke out. She moved to Glasgow last year with her mum.

This week she started work at ScottishPower Renewables’ Whitelee wind farm in Dumfries, Britain’s biggest onshore turbine park.

She said: “I’m really excited to be based at Whitelee Windfarm. Looking after the environment really matters to me and it’s wonderful to feel part of a company that really wants to make a difference.

“I’ve been in Scotland since June last year and I really like it here, even the weather.

“With my new team, I’ll learn technical skills, but there’s also coaching and personal development too with extra support around confidence and team building. It’s a new life for us all here and a chance to play an active role in our new home.”

 Alona graduated from Ukrainian State University of Finance & International Trade, Kyiv in 2012 and worked in a senior IT role before relocating to Glasgow’s south side last year.

As well as joining ScottishPower’s digital team, she volunteers with OPORA, a charity that supports Ukrainians to settle and sustainably rebuild their lives in the UK.

She added: “Working in the digital team at ScottishPower is great, we have lots of different people from different countries which has really helped me settle in. English is a new language for me, and I’m learning to adapt to the Scottish accent too, but much of the approach to digital here is similar to what I’ve done before in Ukraine.

“Since joining the company, I’ve been supported at all steps either with mentoring or learning new skills. There’s still a lot for to learn as it’s a really big company but I’m very happy to be here. It’s been hard to think about the future and my career, but I just want to work and make a difference. ScottishPower is helping me do exactly that.”

Melanie Hill, ScottishPower’s social projects director, heads up the firm’s three-year old Returners Programme.  She said: “We’ve all witnessed the impact of the war in Ukraine and the upheaval that many people have gone through.

“At ScottishPower, we’re proud to be able to offer placements on the returners programme to these three highly skilled women, helping build their skills and confidence through our mentoring programme while support their long-term career prospects.

“Accelerating net zero is at the heart of everything we’re doing and we’ve a huge pipeline of projects to deliver over the next decade. We’re looking for people from all walks of life who want to make a real difference and our returners programme provides us with wider access to the talent that’s out there that can sometimes be hidden. This is a classic situation where the individuals win, and the business benefits too.”

Interest declared: This writer is privileged & blessed to have hosted three Ukrainian refugees, thanks to the superlative support of the Refugees at Home charity.

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The two technologies have been deployed off Orkney in a four-month pilot, providing low carbon power and communication to infrastructure including Baker Hughes’ subsea controls equipment and a resident underwater robot vehicle provided by Transmark Subsea.

The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) has supplied kit to measure speed and direction of currents during the deployment.  Wave Energy Scotland gave £160,000 to support the integration of the umbilical cord into the wave energy converter.

The RSP pilot project aims to show how green technologies can combine to provide reliable low carbon power and communications under the waves. Proponents hope setups such as the RSP will deliver cost-effective alternatives to umbilical cables, which are carbon intensive with long lead times to make and install.

Deployment off Orkney is the third phase of the RSP project. Consortium partners supporting it include Harbour Energy and Serica Energy. Each phase of the programme has also been supported by grant funding from the Hollyrood- and Westminster-supported Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC), formerly known as the Oil and Gas Technology Centre.

In 2021 the consortium invested £1.6 million into phase two of the programme – which saw the successful integration of the core technologies in an onshore commissioning test environment at Verlume’s plant in Aberdeen.

The entire system is now undergoing sea trials 5 km east of the Orkney mainland. The system’s technology readiness level is elevated to levels six to seven, in other words, system completion and qualification via testing.

Two years ago Mocean Energy’s Blue X prototype underwent sea tests at European Marine Energy Centre’s test site at Scapa Flow.  It generated its first power and provided valuable operational data. The Blue X programme was also supported by Wave Energy Scotland, its £3.3 million fostering the venture’s development, construction and testing.

“This is a natural next step for our technology,” says Cameron McNatt, Mocean Energy’s managing director. “The new test site east of Deerness offers a much more vigorous wave climate and the opportunity to demonstrate the integration of a number of technologies in real sea conditions.”

Verlume’s seabed battery energy storage system, Halo, has been specifically designed for the harsh underwater environment, reducing operational emissions and facilitating the use of renewable energy by providing a reliable, uninterrupted power supply.

Halo’s core is its intelligent energy management system, Axonn, a fully integrated system which autonomously maximises available battery capacity in real time.

Andy Martin, chief commercial officer of ten-year old Aberdeen technologists Verlume, added: “This programme is the pinnacle of the success to date in this project.

“We are very much looking forward to the Halo being deployed”, said Martin, pictured. The testing will provide a great opportunity to gather high quality performance and operational data which will support the further electrification of the subsea sector.”

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