India is the third-largest producer and the second-largest consumer of electricity in the world. Against a backdrop of rising demand and the need to decarbonise, it has set an ambitious aspiration of becoming energy independent by 2047.

Achieving this aim requires energy sector transformation, improving efficiency, reliability, digitalisation, and sustainability.

Essentially, to be truly energy independent, India needs to produce more energy and generate it through sustainable methods as well as minimise losses during transmission, distribution, and consumption.

Over the last few decades, the demand for electricity in India has increased exponentially, driven by industrialisation, digitisation, and technological advancements.

This need has been partly met by growth in renewable energy – from 2010 to 2022, India’s generation capacity, including renewables, has grown by 85%.

India is now the fourth-largest global producer of windpower and the fifth largest in generator of solar power.

However, the country is not energy independent, currently spending $160 billion annually on energy imports.

India has therefore set ambitious targets to become energy independent by 2047, as well as further expanding its use of non-fossil fuel generation to reduce carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2070.

Achieving these goals requires transformational change across the sector, focusing on ten imperatives grouped around three themes – sustainability in power generation, making national power transmission networks future-ready, and increasing the profitability of players in the distribution sector.

Ways to energy independence

1. Become self-sustaining in power generation

It is increasingly difficult to meet rapidly growing energy demand with current power resources, particularly given the rising price of coal.

At the same time achieving net zero targets requires a substantial reduction in carbon emissions from power generation,

The industry therefore needs to focus on the following three key imperatives:

Scale up the contribution of green energy

To ensure an affordable and cleaner energy mix there needs to be a dramatic increase in the use of renewable energy sources.

The potential is there – the Indian Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) estimates that the country has a renewable energy potential of around 1700 GW from commercially exploitable sources. However, unlocking the investment needed to deliver renewable growth requires reforms to:

• Improve investor confidence
• Remove entry barriers such as difficulty in land acquisition
• Boost domestic manufacturing of photovoltaic (PV) cells and wind equipment
• Incentives to increase the adoption of rooftop solar.

Alongside this the industry should increase the emphasis on baseload technologies such as offshore wind and nuclear generation, increasing nuclear energy production by establishing scalable small modular reactors (SMRs), utilising locally available thorium, and building a regulatory environment conducive to these alternatives.

Promote green hydrogen as a carbon-neutral energy storage solution

Leveraging renewable energy sources to meet total electricity demand is not possible without developing additional energy storage solutions.

Green hydrogen is emerging as the go-to option in areas that require high power density storage and have space/weight constraints.

Read more: India rubber-stamps $2bn Green Hydrogen Mission

Increasing its use requires the introduction of financial incentives for stakeholders and ensuring self-sufficiency in electrolyser production.

With this in place, readily available biomass can be used to generate green hydrogen as long as robust logistics are in place to transport it to production facilities.

Accelerate Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS)

To meet its net zero emission target, India should also look at CCUS technology. This can complement and supplement nature-based carbon removal solutions, such as afforestation and reforestation.

India’s carbon storage potential varies from 5 to 400 billion tons of CO2, located mainly in geological formations such as coal fields, oil and gas fields, sedimentary basins, and saline aquifers.

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Greater uptake of CCUS for decarbonisation can be driven by introducing financing channels for CCUS implementers, investing in R&D to identify cost-effective mechanisms, establishing a start-to-end governance framework for CCUS management, and participating in global forums to leverage recent developments.

2. Make national power transmission future ready

The second key theme relies on transformation of the transmission sector, both to increase current efficiency and to accommodate changing dynamics within the industry.

Mitigating these technical issues relies on four key imperatives:

Enhancing infrastructure development and augmenting capacity

The country should look to improve transmission infrastructure through the deployment of anti-theft and anti-oxidation cables to reduce theft and technical losses, shifting toward high-voltage direct current (HVDC) lines for long-distance transmission, imposing stricter penalties for transmission network developers upon default, and expediting development of interstate transmission lines.

Watch: Video interview – Exploring India’s rapid electrification and digitalisation

Securing the future of the national smart grid

India must support the development of a national smart grid by designing and implementing a strategy that emphasises efficient data collection by installing smart meters at nodal points, securing data communications by using narrow broadband technologies, building data concentrator units, and piloting dedicated systems like smart grid control centres (SGCCs) and outage management systems (OMSs).

Deploying microgrids effectively

The objective across the sector should be to achieve flexibility and scale by deploying microgrids in coordination with local operators. At the same time, this strategy should be future proofed by retaining the possibility of complete integration into the national grid in the future.

Establishing world-class grid congestion management

With an increasing share of renewable energy, more efficient use of available network capacity will become a necessity. Unnecessary grid investments and ineffective grid operations must be avoided through the deployment of direct control methods (e.g., peak shaving), market-based methods, or a combination of both.

3. Driving greater profitability for distribution companies (DISCOMs)

The distribution of power is the most troubled sector across the Indian value chain. State DISCOMs, who make up 93% of distribution companies have been characterised by negative net worth (-$4.49 billion), high debt ($62.87 billion), and operational inefficiencies.

This highlights an urgent need for transformation, leveraging the following three key imperatives:

Harnessing the digital potential of power distribution through smart meters

Distribution companies need to successfully digitize by developing digital infrastructure such as smart meters.

This will allow them to transform energy distribution through consumer-centric engagement strategies, the phasing in of nationwide deployment with constant feedback collection, and by investing in a multilevel data security system.

Pushing for increased private player participation

Currently 7% of DISCOMs are privately held, though the presence of major private players has increased significantly over the last few years.

This trend should be accelerated through the help of supporting regulatory frameworks as well as providing financial support in terms of subsidies and rebates for private entities.

Scaling up adoption of power exchanges

While the Indian power exchange market is still in its infancy, now is the time to implement and experiment with reforms to create a solution targeted to local needs.

These should include the introduction of a market-coupling operator to discover a common market clearing price (MCP) across exchanges, initiating energy derivative markets with regulatory frameworks that support fair price determination and shorter credit lines, and considering a market-based economic dispatch model to prevent complete replacement of power purchase agreements (PPAs).

Energy independence is of growing importance to leading nations. India could fast-track its self-reliance goals by leveraging these ten key imperatives toward strategy-driven reform.

With some directed momentum, India can achieve its aspiration of becoming an energy independent nation, while at the same time meeting net zero targets.

Barnik Chitran Maitra is a partner at Arthur D. Little.

Recap: The ten ways to energy independence

1.Scale up the contribution of green energy

2. Promote green hydrogen as a carbon-neutral energy storage solution

3. Accelerate Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS)

4. Enhancing infrastructure development and augmenting capacity

5. Securing the future of the national smart grid

6. Deploying microgrids effectively

7. Establishing world-class grid congestion management

8. Harnessing the digital potential of power distribution through smart meters

9. Pushing for increased private player participation

10. Scaling up adoption of power exchanges

The post Ten ways India can achieve energy independence appeared first on Power Engineering International.

That was one of the core sentiments expressed by Mark Copley, CEO of the European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET), in a discussion about how Europe’s new gas price cap will impact markets.

Copley stressed that despite Europe’s well-established regulatory framework, price caps and national interventions ultimately make a regulatory framework more risky and that translates into price premiums and decreased willingness to trade and invest in Europe.

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Price caps don’t address the supply problem

Copley explains that the price cap is a newly introduced market correction mechanism that places a cap on the price at which derivative contracts can be bought.

However, according to Copley, the price cap is not a solution to the supply and demand issue which he believes to be the cause of the current energy crisis.

“We warned against the introduction of price caps…because the energy crisis we have experienced over the past year to 18 months was around not having enough gas… or power and our view is very clearly that you need to tackle that by increasing supply or reducing demand.

“If we’re talking about increasing supply in the short term at least you have to make sure that LNG cargos reach Europe.”

Not only do price caps not address the issue of supply, but it also leads to negative consequences that could make the situation worse, says Copley.

Price caps could have negative consequences

Even though it’s too early to say what changes might result in market behaviour, Copley suggests that capping derivative prices could result in the following negative effects:

• Reducing the incentive for gas to flow to Europe and largely making markets other than Europe more attractive.
• Increasing the uncertainty in Europe’s regulatory framework means people are less likely to want to deliver gas to Europe.
• It reduces incentives to reduce demand.

We would expect to see traded volumes moving away from exchanges and towards over-the-counter markets, argues Copley. “People might also start looking to trade in venues outside of Europe, such as the UK, Singapore, or US.”

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Ultimately, there is a chance of a general increase in uncertainty, leading to traders being more risk-averse and deciding to trade less. This will lead to a fall in market liquidity, increasing market volatility and risk.

How safe are the safeguards?

Although attempts have been made to ensure the price cap is only triggered in exceptional circumstances, says Copley, there are some challenges around figuring out when it will be triggered and under what circumstances.

“It’s good that safeguards have been built in, but what we need to realise is that the cap doesn’t need to be triggered to have an effect on market behaviour. What we worry about is its effects of merely existing”.

“If you’re trying to hedge gas transactions long term, you’re thinking about what to buy and how to manage the risks associated with it. If you don’t know if the policy will be triggered, how the policy will be triggered, or in some cases how it will be implemented…all of that translates into an increase in risk and a greater unwillingness to trade.”

The way forward

According to Copley, despite the search for the magic bullet, there simply isn’t one.

In a crisis of short supply, there are however ways to alleviate the problem. He suggests expanding LNG capacity, resolving bottlenecks in the grid, making as much cross-border power available as possible, working with member states on security of supply arrangements and coordinating filling tenders.

Copley suggests that taking more time on policy-making is critical now. It’s time to carefully consider how to remove these temporary interventions and if this is done in consultation with stakeholders, it would be a measure welcomed by the market and would go a long way to rebuilding lost trust.

For more insights from Mark Copley, listen to the Energy Transitions podcast episode:

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“Unnecessary, self-imposed complexity,” was how Bret Kugelmass of Last Energy described the key reason for the downfall of nuclear power.

Kugelmass, in a presentation at Enlit Europe in Frankfurt, hailed uranium as the most energy-dense fuel source by far, responsible for one of the fastest scale-ups of decarbonised electricity ever.

“However, nuclear power is fundamentally flawed,” he said.

And if we are to take our energy security and decarbonisation goals seriously, we must urgently overcome these flaws and tackle the barriers to commercial nuclear power.

Nuclear power – the fundamental flaw

We have come a long way since German chemist Martin Klaproth discovered Uranium in 1789.

Kugelmass pointed out that it has been over 60 years since we began generating electricity from the splitting of the atom. Since then, the nuclear sector enjoyed a time of prosperity.

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Large-scale development of nuclear in the 1960s saw the sector flourish. Plants were built quickly and efficiently, plants that even decades later run consistently.

“So what caused the industry to stagnate, what caused such as essential source to flounder after decades of success,” asked Kugelmass.

He explained that the underlying technology is simple, the electricity is clean and reliable, however, the flaw lies with the delivery model. How nuclear power is financed and how it is physically built is fundamentally broken.

Fix the flaw but keep it simple

Over the last 15 years, explained Kugelmass, nuclear reactors have been built smaller and more modular, causing a buzz around SMR technology in particular.

“SMRs are neither small nor modular and do not address the cost and complexity that led to nuclear stagnation”.

“We treat nuclear as if it needs to be complex and that in order to move forward it needs innovation around the fuel, chemistry, metallurgy or reactors.”

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But is the industry trading the boring problems for the fun, overly technical ones? Kugelmass believes this is the case and that we won’t move the needle on underlying economics by concentrating on innovation that will yield applications only decades from now.

Kugelmass cited the exciting advances made with molten salt and fusion, emphasising that although these are promising, they blatantly ignore the challenges to the nuclear industry today.

Nuclear plants as a product and not a project

In order for nuclear to benefit us with baseload power, it must be implementable, and scalable, now, said Kugelmass.

He suggested that in order to break through the barriers to commercialisation, nuclear plants must be treated as a product and not a project.

He suggests that in order to scale nuclear, we need to build dozens of plants at the same time.

The build requires a simple design that can be easily manufactured. Also, maximising standardisation, leveraging current technology and established supply chains, while minimising specialised labour will be critical.

“It needs to be affordable and financeable,” said Kugelmass, leveraging private funding with minimal government involvement.

Kugelmass recommends producing nuclear power plants in the same way the automotive industry produces cars, a sequence of ongoing builds that roll off the assembly line, with the only waiting period being for installation.

Mass production allows the planning and permitting to begin with product development, reducing the time required to deliver the product.

Nuclear’s decentralised power

Last Energy’s focus on building micro modular nuclear power plants has received a lot of interest, with the company securing deals for 24 power plants across three European markets within the last six months.

Poland, UK and Romania are the hotspots as industrial partners and grid-scale utilities seek distributed, on-site baseload nuclear power, stated Kugelmass.

“We have seen a shift to renewed interest in nuclear as our energy systems struggle to meet energy security and decarbonisation goals.

“There is no question that this trend will continue – the question is how will society rise to meet such demand?”

Kugelmass stressed that there is no need to wait for research and development or the sometimes elusive political will to mobilise billions in government funds.

The core technology is available now, it has been for decades. However, the mindset needs to change in order to realise nuclear’s power and potential.

“Nuclear power is the easiest pathway to decarbonise entire countries in under a decade and guarantee energy security for generations to come.”

The post ‘Self-imposed complexity’ – nuclear’s fundamental flaw appeared first on Power Engineering International.

It truly is a sight to behold: an offshore wind farm with over 100 giant turbines covering an area of 300km2. With a capacity of 714MW, the East Anglia One wind farm off England’s Suffolk coasts produces enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of more than 630,000 homes.

To watch the power-generating field amidst the relentless waves of the southern North Sea is extremely impressive. Yet there’s a hidden feature that also makes the wind farm notable. On each wind turbine, the field uses the greenest insulation possible for its high-voltage switchgear: clean air instead of SF₆ (sulphur hexafluoride), which used to be the standard.

The answer is indeed blowin’ in the wind, and the times they are a-changin’.

This article is part of the ‘Future Energy Perspectives’ series, in which experts from Siemens Energy share their insights into how we can move towards a decarbonised energy system.

SF₆, a man-made and odourless gas, belongs to the family of F-gases (fluorinated gasses). As the most harmful and long-lasting greenhouse gas emitted by human activity, it’s 25,200 times more potent than CO₂ and has an atmospheric lifetime of up to 3,200 years.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, around 80% are used worldwide in the switchgear industry. Therefore, it’s clear that tackling this segment is paramount.That’s why East Anglia One should lead the way for effective efforts towards protecting the environment.

It doesn’t just generate renewable energy, but it also sets new standards in decarbonizing the power transmission part of the project.The wind farm has been in operation for almost three years, being one of the first using switchgear with a global warming potential (GWP) of zero.

Regulating F-gases

Today, the continued use of SF₆ and other fluorinated gases in high-voltage insulation are pressing concerns when it comes to clean power transmission, especially, as the demand for insulated switchgear has risen sharply.

This is due to decentralised renewable energy production, the global rise in electricity consumption and increased urbanisation which also increases the demand for small substations, and hence, for compact environmentally friendly switchgear.

Regulators have taken note and are increasingly pushing away from fluorinated gases. For instance, the high GWP of SF₆ led the EU to prohibit SF₆ in 2014 for most applications, except for the power sector due to a lack of alternatives at the time.

In April 2022, the European Commission proposed a revision of this key legislation calling for more restrictions on using F-gases in grid technologies.

It would reduce F-gases by 90% by 2050, and ban using F-gases in switchgear with a GWP of more than 10 by 2026 to 2031 (high-voltage), depending on the voltage of the switchgear.

It also allows for flexibility in niche situations where F-gas-free alternatives might not be available.

In California, regulation is already in place to remove F-gases from gas-insulated switchgear. And unsurprisingly, at the recent COP27 in Egypt, F-gases were central topics of panel discussions aimed at exploring F-gas-free alternatives globally.

In the 1960s, SF₆ replaced oil in switchgear

What made SF₆ such a popular gas for switchgear in the first place?

For obvious reasons, it’s a highly effective arc-quenching and insulating medium with long-term stability, and with precautions, relatively safe to handle. Until the 1960s, oil was used as an arc-quenching media for high-voltage circuit breakers in substations around the world.

However, it had a variety of disadvantages, such as fire risk and maintenance intensity. When SF₆ was first implemented, it was seen as an excellent alternative for improving the performance and safety of high-voltage applications.

Currently, SF₆ is still the standard gas used in switchgear worldwide today. Thousands of tons of SF₆ are installed in switchgear globally every year, with an expected lifespan of 40-60 years.

For sure, manufacturers aren’t taking risks posed by SF₆ lightly. Current state-of-the-art technology allows for keeping the leakage rate of SF₆ below 0.1% per year.

At the same time, system engineers are all sensitized to and trained in the careful handling of switchgear components containing SF₆.

Natural-origin or fluorinated gases?

Yet, given the net-zero target that’s been embraced worldwide to minimize climate change, SF₆ will need to be completely phased out for switchgear equipment.

The main contenders for replacing SF₆ are based on gases of natural origin, such as CO₂, O₂, and N₂, and gas mixtures, including other man-made fluorinated gases having a fraction of the climate impact of SF₆.

Though fluorinated gas mixtures have less global warming potential than SF₆, the GWP is still some hundreds above 1. In addition, these gas mixtures lose their effectiveness at very low temperatures.

There is also a risk that switchgear components wear out more quickly, which in turn, reduces switching performance and results in higher maintenance costs.

In addition, gas handling is much more complex than with natural-origin gases, and service and storage requirements are correspondingly higher. In this case, the tightness of the switchgear is above SF₆ and results in higher maintenance costs. As these F-gases belong to the ‘forever chemical’ PFAS (per- and polyfluoro-alkyl) group, they can involve further risks.

As PFAS chemicals are connected to environmental pollution and health risks, there’s a global trend towards PFAS phase-out and regulatory restrictions for these substances, where alternative solutions are available.

To actively ensure sustainability, one of the biggest market players, 3M, announced at the end of 2022, that it would exit (PFAS) manufacturing and work towards discontinuing its use of PFAS across its product portfolio by the end of 2025.

Shifting from SF₆ in switchgear to natural-origin gases

The other alternative to SF₆ are F-gas-free products that use natural-origin gases as an insulation medium. This gas technology poses zero harm to the environment, climate and human health. But how realistic is it to move away from SF₆ -insulated switchgear to natural-origin gases as insulation?

Today, more and more switchgear manufacturers, transmission and distribution operators as well as regulators favour F-gas-free-options with GWP of zero, or < 1, with no contamination risk of the atmosphere, water, or soil.

That also means there’s no need for careful handling, recycling, and reporting as required by law when using SF₆ and other F-gases in some parts of the world.

Finally, looking at the proposed different transition timelines for phasing out SF₆, it’s clear that today’s F-gas-free technology can meet that challenge.

Download your copy of ‘Replacing F-gases in switchgear: a revolution in the making’

Switching gears for net zero

It’s already happening: and not just offshore. In 2018, Siemens Energy supplied a substation of Norwegian network operator BKK Nett in Bergen with a clean air switchgear from its ‘Blue Portfolio’.

Clean air consists of purely 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen and has a GWP of zero. Worldwide, the company currently has more than 1,000 switchgear units with clean air in operation.

From 2030 onwards, Siemens Energy aims to sell only F-gas-free products globally. Also, other manufacturers are very active: companies from Europe, Japan, South Korea and China are able to offer natural-origin gases-based switchgears, e.g. offering also circuit breakers based on CO₂/O₂ gas mixture with a GWP < 1.

And some of these companies have formed an alliance called “Switching gears for net zero” calling for zero F-gases in switchgear.

Natural origin gases with GWP < 1 means no new emissions, easy and safe handling, no health risks to workers or environmental harm. The CO₂ footprint of natural origin gas equipment is significantly lower than that of SF₆ and offers the only solution to have zero direct emissions and is able to achieve zero carbon footprint when coupled with a fully decarbonized supply chain.

Using natural origin gas solutions reduces life cycle costs of the equipment significantly. The equipment can be used at very low temperatures of up to -50°C without any countermeasures.

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Benign non-toxic gases for higher high voltage ranges

Though the path ahead may seem clear, during this transitional phase switchgear manufacturers, as well as transmission operators, still have their work cut out for them.

That’s particularly the case with wind farms. While there are first projects equipped with F-gas-free switchgear in wind turbines, the switchgear combining the power infeed with voltages above 145 kV still uses SF₆-insulated switchgear (albeit only kilograms, not tonnes as in many substations).

Why? Alternative products with clean air or other harmless gas mixtures are not available yet for this kV-range.

But it’s no secret that they’re in the works. At Siemens Energy, for instance, validations for switchgear with 400kV are in progress, while switchgear with no circuit breaker function like instrument transformers and gas-insulated busducts are already available for up to 420kV.

Other manufacturers are also pushing forward. So, F-gas-free alternatives should also be available for these higher voltage-ranges soon.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr Mark Kuschel is Head of International Standardization at Siemens Energy, steering standardization and regulation topics for the company’s Grid Technologies business. For more than 20 years he has held various positions in the Transmission and Distribution business, where he was also one of the initiators of sustainable, F-gas-free products.

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It was writer and socialite Zelda Fitzgerald – wife of F. Scott – who said “she refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn’t boring”.

Songwriter Neil Tennant of pop group the Pet Shop Boys later loosely adapted the quote for the band’s hit Being Boring.

No one could accuse Annika Viklund of being boring: she’s the progressive-thinking Senior Vice-President of Vattenfall Distribution in Sweden.

Yet when we meet, it’s not electricity grids she wants to talk about, but the perception of the energy sector as ‘being boring’.

“If there’s one thing that keeps me awake at night, it’s the scarcity of talent in the energy industry. Many of the older generation are now going into retirement at the same time that we have electrification and decarbonisation, and we need people who can build and plan and operate.”

This problem, she says, is compounded by the fact that “the energy industry is seen as the ‘old boring guys’”.

She’s clear that to tackle this problem, a strategy is needed to target not college students, but children.

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“We need to be in pre-school or kindergarten, or elementary school, and show them that they can become a climate influencer. There are so many things that they can do.

“We need to say: ‘You matter to this world. And you can make a difference if you come into our business.’ Everybody needs to feel that they are important and needed.”

She stresses that the industry needs more than just engineers: “We need lawyers, we need economists, we need communicators.”

She says that there is a perception that the next generation workforce wants more from a job than their parents did, yet Viklund has three children in their 20s and she states that “surprisingly, they are not so different from what I was”.

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“They would like to have an interesting development of their life and a work-life balance. They would like to learn at work, and to be accepted and included for who they are.”

All things that should be a given in any career and certainly things that the energy sector should – and does – offer.

But she stresses that to counter this draining of the current talent pool, the industry needs to collaborate as a whole, otherwise “we all fail together”.

“We have to start by looking at where the jobs will be, going forward. What kind of industries will be needed?”

And she is adamant that the energy sector should “definitely join forces with other industries. Too often, particular industries see themselves as ‘no one understands me – I’m very, very special’.

“But I think we have much in common, so we need to see these people – and not only young people, but those who wish to change career path in their 40s – as a whole potential new workforce.

“We need to see how different industries can cooperate and be much closer to schools and communities, like, I guess, it was in the ‘old days’.

“Maybe we should be inspired by the ‘old days’, when communities were stronger. Individualism is good… inclusivity is better.”

Community. Inclusivity. Communication. Collaboration. These are the words Viklund uses repeatedly in our interview: not just about recruiting new talent but also regarding the other major issues facing the energy sector, not least the race to net zero.

And a race is exactly how she describes it: “It’s a relay race to be sustainable. And don’t underestimate industries and consumers, because they don’t want to be in the position of saying: ‘I did nothing’. We need to run a little bit faster and a little bit smarter.”

Viklund is clearly a thinker, but she is also evidently a ‘do-er’.

She insists that to counter the climate crisis, the energy sector needs to get out of the blocks and start running the race.

“We can’t wait anymore. We need to ‘do’. We need to learn and proceed. We have a world in crisis and I am concerned that we think we have time to think and analyse more.

“Innovations often come from engineers and academics, and they like to have everything in place before they move. I’m not sure we can afford to do that.”

She looks to entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos for inspiration: “They ‘do’, they try, sometimes they fail… and they pick themselves up and go again.”

She emphasises that a key reason the sector needs to ‘do’, is that many of its customers have already been busy ‘doing’ for themselves. “I have customers breathing down my neck saying: ‘We need to get started.’

“They have found a way to produce products that are fossil free and decarbonised, and they want to put it on the market and get the market share.”

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“Sometimes you can believe that large industries do not move until they get large incentives to do so. Yet these companies are so much more engaged in sustainability, and by working with sustainability, they see how they can contribute.

“And then in turn, their customers start to ask how they can contribute to sustainability.

“People and industries start moving without incentives. Then you need the right incentives to get the late-movers to join.

“We need to include people. We need to engage people. Otherwise, we can’t get the whole of the civilised world to move. We need to move fast, be brave, to design and redesign.”

She compares the need for speed on climate action to the urgency that was required to find medical solutions to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Sometimes I’m impressed by how leaders act during a crisis. We now need to act like we did around the pandemic. So many decisions were taken that were going into the unknown – they were not trialled before. But it worked.”

Viklund says we should not look at the climate crisis “as if we haven’t adopted tremendous solutions and innovations in the past, because we have.

“I have a basic belief that everybody tries to do good things. All over Europe and the rest of the world, people are taking the measures that they can”.

What we need now, she says, is a coordinated approach to a common goal.

“Communication and collaboration, between society, politicians, and consumers. We need to have some kind of common roadmap to see how we can gather in our communities to discuss these topics. I think that’s an underestimated resource.”

The post ‘Scarcity of talent keeps me awake at night’ says Annika Viklund of Vattenfall appeared first on Power Engineering International.

Much has been written about the role of digitalisation in the delivery of the wind power capacity required to decarbonise our economies. In order to implement this fully we need to digitise the wind. This is being achieved by moving from met masts to lidar as the primary source of the wind data used in assessments on which the planning and operation of wind farms are based.

Data requirements and use cases associated with optimised performance of wind turbines and wind farm arrays have outgrown the capabilities of met masts. Wind is a time-varying three-dimensional vector field. We can no longer rely on simplifying this as a “wind speed” of the sort acquired by met masts when understanding and characterising complex interactions between our wind assets and the atmosphere.

Lidar acquires a richer dataset by analysing laser emissions backscattered by airborne particles advected by the wind. Lidar allows us to learn about much more than wind speed and direction in a single location where a met mast has been installed.

Managing complexity

With lidar we gain detailed insights into phenomena such as wakes and complex shear which can have a significant effect on the bottom line of a wind project throughout the asset’s lifecycle, from demonstrating project bankability pre-construction right through to optimised operations and maintenance. As wind turbines and arrays get bigger, the impact of these phenomena are becoming more important.

Here are some practical illustrations. Engineering approximations of wind conditions tend to assume that wind gradually increases with height. In the North Sea complex, intermittent – and crucially-  unanticipated wind shear phenomena associated with variations in atmospheric stability have been directly observed using lidar.

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These phenomena impose mechanical loads on the turbine blades that propagate through the rotor nacelle assembly and drive train. Thanks to lidar data we now understand some of the loads that had been observed on offshore wind farms which were previously unexplained.

Lidar has also helped reveal the importance of atmospheric stability on wake propagation. Wake losses downwind of a wind turbine have been seen to increase at night, compared to day-time operations, because more stable night-time atmospheres meant that wakes propagated further.

Reducing uncertainty

So across the board, from investors, developers, and turbine manufacturers, to owners and operators, the benefits of supporting the digital representation of wind with lidar lie in grappling with the inherent complexity of the problems we are trying to solve as we seek to develop profitable wind projects and operate those assets in the most cost-efficient manner. By helping manage complexity, digitising the wind reduces uncertainty and increases confidence in wind projects. Lidar methods help limit the scope for circumstances to arise that would be unforeseeable if we relied only on met masts. Lidars achieve this by enabling assessments that would be inconceivable if we limited ourselves to met mast functionality.

You need to use lidar to do more than emulate the capabilities of a met mast if the true benefits of digitalisation are to be achieved. Lidar allows you to map the vector field that represents wind conditions with a level of detail and degree of precision that allows you to test the fidelity of the most sophisticated wind simulations. To fully see the wind as a digital object that is compatible with other digital objects in your workflow requires data acquired by lidar to be combined with, for example, computational wind models. These can then be coupled to aeroelastic models, which themselves provide input to engineering models that represent the turbines, to generate predictions grounded in wind measurement. Uncertainty models allow us to propagate measurement uncertainties associated with the data through to the predictions. Lidar lets us close the loop.

Lidar data can also be combined with mid-fidelity wake models for validation, and to support wind farm control methods. With developments like these we are taking the steps necessary to move away from using lidar as a met mast surrogate and thinking not in terms of ‘what measurements am I limited to?’ but, ‘what do I need to measure to remove as much uncertainty as possible from my wind project?’

Uncertainty is removed because data-driven analysis replaces assumption. Using a met mast, or lidar as simply a surrogate met mast, leaves more and bigger gaps in the information upon which a project is based which have to be filled with assumptions, which introduces uncertainty. Lidar helps us fill these gaps and reduce the possibility of unpleasant surprises later in the project lifecycle when adverse wind conditions that could otherwise have been predicted and mitigated with a properly designed and executed lidar measurement campaign prior to construction are only discovered through their unforeseen consequences in terms of component failure and unscheduled downtime.

Total lifecycle benefits

Applying high-fidelity lidar data, combined with the types of modelling discussed previously, reduces project uncertainty, which has benefits throughout the project lifecycle. Turbine design, operation and maintenance can be informed by richer data sets that allow us to describe the operational conditions more effectively, which can enhance the quality of project specific performance forecasts and allow the development of more predictable operations and maintenance costs.

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Ultimately this all feeds into greater confidence in the quality of levelised cost of energy analysis which enhances bankability for developers, and gives owners and operators greater confidence when evaluating energy production – and ultimately – profitability.

This approach offers an alternative to managing the unplanned consequences of wind conditions that – although the ability to model and predict them is available – are not accounted for due to gaps in wind assessments that do not fully exploit the capabilities of lidar and the integration of the data it acquires into the digital workflow. Component or structural failures that could have been proactively mitigated during design or construction become instead the subject of reactive remedial work, which is rarely the most cost-effective approach to operations and maintenance.

This issue is especially pertinent to offshore assets, both fixed and floating, where inspection, repair and maintenance represent a significant programme cost and consideration. Unless site-specific wind data has been incorporated into a project’s early development, it is possible that the built assets may not be able to consistently achieve the performance forecast – because the ability of local conditions to hamper O&M activities has not been accounted for in sufficient detail. In the preconstruction phase floating lidar offers an effective way to gather detailed site-specific wind data.

The post Digitising the wind key to decarbonisation goals appeared first on Power Engineering International.

Poland has traditionally been viewed as the ‘black sheep’ of energy transition in Europe.

The dominance of (mostly) domestically-mined coal in its power generation — currently at around 70% — has long been contributing to the country’s energy security.

It has also, however, been a big liability weighed down by increasing CO2 prices and the ever more stringent environmental standards requiring costly upgrades of coal-fired power plants.

At the same time, the Polish economy has been one of the fastest growing in the EU: it was the only EU country not to go into recession between 2007 and 2009 amid the financial crisis and has also been among the strongest performers during the Covid pandemic.

GDP per capita, measured in purchasing power parity, is now close to 80% of the EU average, and disposable household income has grown almost twofold in the past ten years.

READ | GE secures €1bn agreement with Polish Export Credit Agency

These favourable economic developments, combined with the continuing drop in the costs of renewables, have made the prospect of transforming the energy sector in Poland more palatable to Polish society.

In fact, climate change now ranks high among the worries of the average Polish citizen: close to 80% of those polled last summer responded that climate change is a real threat to our civilisation.

At the same time, however, there was an interesting response regarding how to translate that threat when it comes to Polish energy policy.

Over 40% said that Poland should strive to achieve climate neutrality at its own pace, even if it means that it will be after the EU’s 2050 deadline.

This nicely illustrates the problem that European energy policies have always presented in Poland. Polish citizens, while generally among the most Euroenthusiastic nations in the EU, have usually been very sceptical of EU policies and regulations.

READ | Israeli IPP wins €150m for Romania and Poland solar farms

This scepticism is perhaps most pronounced in the energy sector, where EU climate policy has historically been perceived as too costly, as well as threatening to deprive Poland of its domestic resource and cause widespread economic trouble in the affected regions.

Germany’s household power prices, which shot up after the generous feed-in-tariff fuelled solar boom from 2010 to 2012, was viewed as a useful example that the energy transition was only for the rich.

A lot, however, has changed in the past few years. Even if the Polish government’s rhetoric is sometimes quite sketchy, the Polish economy and Polish citizens have been heading down the path towards the energy transition.

The real turning point came after 2015 when a new law on support of renewables was adopted. That law introduced an auctioning system for renewables with support granted in the form of double-sided contracts for difference (CfDs).

READ | Poland’s low-carbon ambitions offer clear investment and business opportunities

It might be argued that Poland has benefitted from a last-mover advantage. While being fairly late to the table with a comprehensive system for renewables (the previous green certificate scheme, introduced in 2005, supported initial growth in onshore wind development and biomass co-firing), it introduced a robust system.

On one hand, the CfD system gave investors certainty, and on the other hand, it protected customers from unnecessary costs in the future. The current EU energy crisis clearly points to the advantages of this type of support mechanism, which will probably be used much more widely in many more European countries in the future.

The strike prices achieved in the CfD already been observed elsewhere: that prices of renewable energy sources have plummeted to levels comparable with wholesale prices (and are currently at an order of magnitude lower than that).

Since that point the energy transformation in Poland could use a powerful argument — you could no longer say ‘we cannot afford to develop renewables’. On the contrary, you should be saying ‘we cannot afford NOT to develop renewables’.

The road since that time has been bumpy, though. In 2016, a distancing law for onshore windfarms was introduced, which prevented locating windfarms at a distance closer than 10 times the tip height of the turbine from homes and neighbourhoods.

This meant that most locations in the country were now off limits. At the time of writing this article, the Polish parliament has still not voted on the draft law amending these provisions that was presented by the government in June 2022.

LISTEN | Energy Transitions Podcast: Poland – Race to 55

And this is while the EU package of measures aimed at getting off Russian gas — REPowerEU, introduced in May 2022 — has asked for a comprehensive review of the permitting regimes and suggested treating all renewables as being in the overriding public interest. Polish reluctance to speed up onshore wind development is completely incomprehensible in this respect.

But there are other very optimistic developments. The past two years have seen an unprecedented growth of rooftop solar, fuelled by growing social awareness and a fairly generous net metering scheme complemented with direct subsidies.

Rooftop solar has grown from around 1GW at the end of 2019 to 8GW in June 2022, which has absolutely surpassed any governmental projections.

This trend will undoubtedly continue as the economic rationale for homegrown energy sources has never been better, even if net metering has been changed into net billing — a less generous, but more equitable scheme.

Another big success story is heat pump deployment. Last year Poland was the fastest-growing heat pump market in Europe, with a growth rate of 87% (albeit from a rather small base). This year might shatter that record.

Growth is promoted by government-funded schemes that encourage replacing coal boilers with modern installations: Poland is the only country in Europe that still uses coal to heat individual houses — around three million households use this type of heating source — which explains why many Polish cities consistently rank among the most polluted in Europe.

The share of heat pumps in these subsidy schemes, which are also open to other technologies like gas and biomass boilers, has increased up to 60% through June: it was around 30% at the beginning of 2022.

These positive developments are also supported by the fact that three large heat pump manufacturers have recently announced plans to build new factories in Poland, increasing the total number of units produced to 650,000 by 2025.

Finally, in just a few years, a new energy source will be covering more than 10% of Poland’s electricity consumption. Offshore wind got a big boost last year with the regulatory environment decisively established (a dedicated offshore wind act adopted, a relevant grid development plan approved, and a maritime spatial plan drawn up) and five projects totalling nearly 6GW are currently under advanced development.

These projects are due to come online around 2026-2027. Another 2GW of offshore wind are a bit less advanced.

A competition to develop new sites of up to 11GW is currently under way. In addition, on 30 August the Polish Prime Minister, together with the other seven countries surrounding the Baltic Sea, signed the ‘Marienborg Declaration’, committing to ‘explore joint cross-border renewable energy projects’ and identify infrastructure needs to enable their integration. This may signal a reverse in a long-standing policy of a self-centred development of energy sources.

While Polish strategic planning documents in the energy sector are sometimes not painting a very clear picture of where the country is going, it seems that reality occasionally overtakes political discussions.

In particular, the growing understanding and acceptance among Polish consumers and industries of the merits of energy transformation towards renewables — especially in the current energy crisis — points to a more optimistic future. Even if the regulatory landscape might still be moving two steps forward, one step back.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Monika Morawiecka is a senior advisor for the Regulatory Assistance Project, a global NGO specialised in energy policy.

The post Poland’s energy transition: Two steps forward, one step back appeared first on Power Engineering International.

Pumped hydro has been used as a storage to support the grid since as far back as the 1890s, almost since the start of electricity distribution itself.

As the system undergoes its most fundamental transition from centralised to decentralised, storage is playing an increasingly important role, with requirements from the sub-second level up to months and even seasons.

More than 30 storage technologies are available currently and more are appearing apace with the advance of new techniques and materials, particularly at the nano level, and with the evolution of the business model.

Here we offer (a non-exhaustive) five energy storage technologies to watch – one each from the five broad technology categories: electrochemical, including solid and liquid batteries; and mechanical, from pumped hydro to flywheels to gravity, the most diverse; chemical; electrical; and thermal.

Mechanical: Pumped hydro storage

What: Energy storage with pumped hydro systems has been widely implemented around the world, with over 160GW of installed capacity and comprising over 90% of the world’s energy storage for the grid. Such systems require water cycling between two reservoirs at different levels with the ‘energy storage’ in the water in the upper reservoir, which is released when the water is released to the lower reservoir.

Why: Pumped hydro is a low cost and well understood form of mechanical energy storage. It is able to deliver benefits on scales from minutes to days and can support a range of grid services. It is a challenge is to find appropriate sites but older facilities may be readily modernised and can also form part of hybrid facilities with the siting of floating or nearby renewables.

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Where: Numerous projects are under way, with the installed capacity projected to double to 325GW by 2050. Loch Ness in Scotland, famously known for its so-far mythical ‘monster’, is set to be the site for the 450MW ‘Red John’ pumped hydro scheme at a cost of £550 million ($664 million) – one of three currently under way on the Scottish lochs by clean energy developer ILI Group.

Thermal: Molten salt storage

What: Thermal storage in essence involves the capture and release of heat or cold in a solid, a liquid or air and potentially involving changes of state of the storage medium, e.g. from gas to liquid or solid to liquid and vice versa. Several large scale technologies are being developed, including molten salt and liquid air, while hot water and storage heating offer potential for residential flexibility.

Why: Thermal storage offers a long lifetime option for long term storage on scales from days to months, with the proviso that certain options may be limited by the need for large underground storage caverns. As such it can offer a low cost option for systems with high penetration of weather dependent renewable energy.

Where: Molten salt is currently the most used in the power sector, due to its advanced technological readiness and application with concentrated solar power plants, with an installed capacity of over 21GWh worldwide. The fourth phase under development at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park about 50km south of Dubai in the UAE is set to include a molten salt plant with what is believed to be the world’s largest thermal storage capacity of 13.5 hours.

Electrochemical: Flow batteries

What: Batteries are the most widely used form of energy storage, ranging from tiny pen batteries up to utility scale installations stacking tens of cells. As a technology they are also the broadest, with availability in numerous combinations of materials with differing characteristics and typically for energy applications up to about 112 hours of storage capacity. New developments are focused on improving their performance and lifetime; for example, to improve the range of electric vehicles.

Why: Flow batteries with liquid electrolytes offer a greater flexibility to independently tailored power and energy ratings for a given application, rather than other technologies when it comes to storing electrical energy. However, depending on the type, their applicability can be limited by the electrolyte storage requirements. Also, most flow batteries on the market today use vanadium – a rare, expensive and toxic transition metal.

Where: Scientists at the DOE Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have created a new symmetry-breaking design for a molecule that could substantially improve the voltage, electrochemical stability and solubility of electrolytes used in flow batteries. In cells these demonstrate more than 90% capacity over 6,000 cycles, projecting more than 16 years of uninterrupted service at one cycle per day.

Electrical: Supercapacitors

What: In a supercapacitor the charge is stored physically, with no chemical or phase changes taking place as in batteries or thermal storage technologies. Thus, the process is fast and highly reversible and the discharge-charge cycle can be repeated virtually without limit. Different capacitor technologies with different types of cells, electrolytes and system designs are available in a wide variety of capacitance and nominal voltage values.

Why: Supercapacitors provide the fastest response of storage solutions, in the range from a few milliseconds to minutes. Due to the relatively high specific energy combined with low internal resistance and the up to one million cycling capability without significant wear out, they are suitable for a wide variety of applications from regenerative braking to uninterruptible power supply systems and FACTS devices for managing power flows on transmission lines.

Where: Supercapacitors are widely installed in wind turbines on both land and sea to smooth the intermittency from gusting and other wind variabilities. As the North Sea offshore wind capacity grows, supercapacitors will be a key to optimise not only the power output but also – with their long lifetime and limited maintenance requirements – the O&M costs.

Chemical: Green hydrogen

What: Energy storage with hydrogen, which is still emerging, would involve its conversion from electricity via electrolysis for storage in tanks. From there it can later undergo either re-electrification or supply to emerging applications such as transport, industry or residential as a supplement to or replacement for gas.

Why: Green hydrogen is expected to become a major component of the future energy system and many powerto-gas projects are emerging across Europe and elsewhere. Hydrogen storage offers potential mainly for longer term applications of days and longer and several large demonstrations employing salt caverns are on the way. Further experience needs to be gathered on how this particular storage system could interact with wind generation and the gas and electricity networks.

Listen on Enlit.world: Energy Transitions Podcast: Lessons from a Danish hydrogen pilot project

Where: Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) is partnering with GKN Hydrogen and the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory to demonstrate green hydrogen as a megawatt-scale, clean energy storage resource and identify potential commercial use cases. The three-year project set to launch by year-end 2022 envisions connecting 500kg of hydrogen storage capacity to a renewables-powered electrolyser and fuel cell at NREL’s Flatirons Campus near Boulder, Colorado to produce and store green hydrogen for subsequent reconversion back to renewable electricity.

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The post Five energy storage technologies you should be watching appeared first on Power Engineering International.

These imperatives were defined in Europe where, in response to the hardships and global energy market disruption caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; the European Union (EU) launched the REPowerEU Plan. The plan is designed to transform the Blocks energy system, end dependence on Russian fossil fuels, and tackle the climate crisis.

While a shift from fossil-based energy production and consumption to renewable energy sources is happening – it’s not happening fast enough to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. In fact, some of the latest projections suggest we are heading to 2.5 degrees of warming by 2030.

However, with increased action, inspired by the need to ensure both energy sovereignty and security, the promise of a successful energy transition is edging closer. The transition won’t be easy, but every effort must be made to protect and accelerate our collective progress towards net zero. So, how can we do it?

Encourage energy efficiency

Energy efficiency and conservation gains are among the fastest, cheapest, and easiest ways for Europe to reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports in the short term and alleviate the costs of surging gas prices this winter. Cost-effective efficiency measures can deliver a reduction of 12% in annual energy-related emissions.

REPowerEU aims to increase energy efficiency savings from 9% to 13% by 2030 through measures like retrofitting buildings, switching to more energy efficient household appliances, using higher fuel economy standards for vehicles, and improving the recovery of industrial waste heat. France, for instance, has announced subsidy increases for the installation of heat pumps to replace less-efficient gas boilers and is now Europe’s leading market for heat pump sales.

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Governments, businesses, and individuals must all take incentives to reduce their energy consumption. This is especially important in the shorter term as the impact of the energy crisis continues to be felt across Europe. For businesses alone, turning down thermostats by just one degree can deliver a 10bcm reduction in energy use.

State players must play a vital role in setting energy reduction strategies and creating incentives to help households reduce their energy bills. The potential for long-term impact is significant as efficiency initiatives could deliver a 40-70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Leveraging the biomethane opportunity

The EU has been relatively swift in responding to the continent’s energy dependence from Russia. Russian energy supplies made up 45% of European gas imports in 2021, by comparison, in September 2022 the figure dropped to just 14%. This was due to the EU’s ability to find alternative supplies and reduce demand to compensate for the shortfall. But to fulfil future energy needs and establish a sustainable energy mix, we need to activate long-term energy strategies that will stand the test of time and growing population demands.

Biomethane gas (or Biogas) is one part of the solution, and REPowerEU includes a target to produce 35bcm a year of biomethane within the EU by 2030. The Biogas target will replace 20% of natural gas imports from Russia with a sustainable, cheaper, and locally produced alternative. As a renewable and dispatchable energy source, scaling up the production and use of biomethane also helps to address the climate crisis.

The EU is already bracing to accommodate this new model, by 2024, EU states will have to collect organic waste separately, which marks an opportunity to upscale the production of sustainable biomethane as well as create income opportunities for farmers and foresters.

However, meeting the energy and climate crises requires a complex response and Europe will need to look beyond just gas to ensure a diverse and balanced supply of energy. Therefore, accelerating research and development (R&D) in green energy technologies is becoming vital for long-term European energy strategy.

Accelerating Wind and Solar

Renewable energy output made up 28.7% of global electricity generation but meeting 2050 net zero targets requires renewables to share more than 60% of electricity generation by 2030. Currently, wind generates 15% of Europe’s electricity, while solar generates 10% but we still need to see more technological advancement aimed at improving wind and sun conversion rates.

As the most advanced renewable solutions currently available, wind and solar power are the frontrunners for Europe’s renewable energy mix. Last summer, the EU generated 12% of its electricity from solar power, helping to avoid a potential €29 billion ($31.3 billion) in gas imports. Still, further technological advancements in solar power are possible like developing alternative materials to increase the efficiency of solar cells.

To accelerate deployment of clean and efficient energy technologies, the EU will need to address slow and complex approval procedures for renewable projects and attract increased investment. This means addressing bureaucratic red tape and it’s already starting to happen. The COP27 summit saw the creation of the Planning for Climate Commission which is designed to fast-track approvals for solar and wind projects. We can expect to see EU players leading the charge in these efforts in the short-to-mid-term.

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Elsewhere, for wind, floating offshore wind platforms deployed on floating structures secured to the seabed are an emerging solution. Floating offshore wind presents the possibility of deploying wind projects on deeper waters where the wind is stronger and can produce electricity more frequently.

Navigating the renewables paradox

With solar and wind production set to increase exponentially in the coming years, European players will need to be cognizant of where they source wind turbines and PV modules. For instance, in our annual WEMO report we saw that 75% of all imports of PV panels come into the EU from China. European domestic PV production has declined sharply over the past decade as many manufacturers have been unable to compete with cheap procurement from China.

Historically, Europe has been the technology and price taker, rather than a leader. To avoid replacing Russian gas dependency with Chinese solar PV dependency, the EU must seize the opportunity to invest in its own solar panel and wind turbine R&D and industries to regain sovereignty.

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The ongoing economic and energy crises presents the Block with an opportunity to do things differently and an opportunity to regain its energy sovereignty while also making progress on achieving climate action goals. Achieving the REPowerEU ambition is possible, with continued commitment and investment the EU will be able to achieve secure and reliable sources of energy to meet the needs of its growing populations and corporate industries.

Ultimately, it will require a combination of policy, innovation, and collaboration to effectively balance energy security with climate change goals in Europe. By working together, Europe can ensure a sustainable and secure energy future while also playing a leading role in the global fight against climate change to limit global temperature to 1.5 degrees.

The post Meeting REPowerEU targets: What next for Europe? appeared first on Power Engineering International.

“It’s just completely mind-blowing,” says Trine Borum Bojsen.

What has blown the mind of the new Senior Vice-President of North Sea Renewables at energy giant Equinor is the significant progress – in relatively little time – of the wind industry.

“When I started working with offshore wind, it was a niche industry – 50 people sitting in the corner of a company that was very big and working with a lot of conventional energy. “However, it’s moved from that niche to being fully commercialised and even more competitive than other energy sources within a decade or 15 years.”

Bojsen joined Equinor in May having worked most of her career in offshore wind. She has a background in engineering, with hydrodynamics as her speciality.

So, having established that the history of offshore wind has been short but impressive, how does she see its future? “The market will mature, focusing more on energy systems bundling different solutions together.”

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She explains: “In the old days, we would connect a cable from a wind farm to shore and sell the electrons. But electrons alone will not solve our decarbonisation issues. Some industries need other solutions, which is where hydrogen or power-to-x solutions will come into play. The offshore wind industry needs to embrace that as well.”

Listen now:
Webcast on demand: Unlocking the potential of floating offshore wind

Equinor has embraced the potential of the North Sea for decades, so how does Bojsen see those waters developing? “The role of the North Sea is substantial: the region provides the largest supply of energy to the UK as well as to a number of other European countries.

“In the North Sea, there are a lot of oil and gas competencies, but also beautiful wind – it has some of the best resources. There’s a lot of potential in the region with many countries in the North Sea region. I believe we will see many exciting projects in the future.”

“Developers are also tapping into the huge potential for floating wind, going into deeper waters where fixed bottom solutions are no longer feasible.”

Equinor already operates Hywind Scotland, the first commercial floating wind farm in the world, and Bojsen says the company is “also constructing another floating wind farm, Hywind Tampen, in Norway, which is allowing us to obtain a lot of experience in floating wind, specifically in the North Sea”.

For an industry that has made fast progress in the last decade, it is ironic that time is now the enemy of further offshore wind growth.

“We see governments wanting to build more offshore wind which is needed for the climate change agenda; however, discussions across countries take a while,” says Bojsen. “It takes a long time to develop a project and to mature the technological solution. Delays are also related to permitting, consenting and fitting into the frameworks that are set by the governments.”

All of which means, she stresses, that “as an industry, it is important to speed up those regulatory consenting processes for each project”.

“If we want to increase the volume and scale, we need to secure a healthy and sustainable supply chain that can deliver. Of course, we also need to build out the grid. If we want to send power from a power hub in Europe to other parts of Europe, we need to have stronger infrastructure to do that.

“Some of these are easier fixes. Some take longer with more political decisions needed to make them happen.” And some – if not all – take significant investment. How does she believe greater private sector participation can be developed?

“The private sector will play an increasingly prominent role because as we move into new territory, we’re looking for new technology solutions – and this is what the private sector is skilled at.

“This has been proven through the development of offshore wind, from a niche industry to fully commercial and competitive. However, cooperation is critical and will release the industry’s potential.”

One way to do that, she says is to “create opportunities for broader energy solutions, such as tenders that focus on offshore wind but include an option to add hydrogen solutions or batteries. We need to see more of these bundles of energy solutions”.

She emphasises that “private and public sectors need to work closely together”, yet cautions that “it can be complex – but we shouldn’t overcomplicate it”.

“Many governments are already good at involving the private sector in different market dialogues or consultations on regulatory frameworks to make sure that they get it right. This is helpful and a valuable kind of engagement.”

Talking of collaboration, when does she think we will see countries uniting their efforts to develop energy infrastructure? “We have seen several EU countries coming together to form statements around what to do in the North Sea and what grid developments are needed.

Energy Transitions Podcast: The North Sea – Axis of decarbonisation

“If you want to import and export between countries, whether electrons or something like hydrogen, you need to reinforce the grid and ensure the necessary infrastructure. This calls for the cooperation between countries.

“Energy islands and interconnectors are currently being discussed in Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. They all have this element of connecting countries that produce in the North Sea. “We will see more of this kind of cooperation, which is important to ensure the fast build out that we need.”

Bojsen acknowledges that Equinor’s shift into renewables has been eased considerably by its oil and gas heritage. “The 50 years of experience with oil and gas provides many transferable skills. There’s so much knowledge and insight in working with huge, challenging projects offshore. This valuable competence and skills can be brought almost directly into offshore wind.

“To deliver on the renewable ambitions, we need all competencies. Every time we post a position in renewables, we are happy to see oil and gas people apply – it’s a straightforward transfer of competencies.”

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