Pan-European Wind Energy Grid Proposed

[jpak]

http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/home

As more wind energy projects go online in Europe, concerns remain that additional generation will require backup generation from other electricity production to balance out times when the wind doesn't blow. One of the world's leading wind energy developers believes it has an answer that could help avoid concerns over backing-up intermittent wind power while also offering a more efficient, dynamic electric grid.

Ireland-based Airtricity this week unveiled plans to create a pan European undersea energy grid, or so-called Supergrid, that would link a series of wind farms from as far ranging locations as the Mediterranean, up to the Bay of Biscay in the Atlantic and all the way up to the North Sea and Baltic Sea.

"The scale of this undertaking means that when fully operational Europe will have access to wind energy at all times because the wind will always be blowing somewhere on the grid," said Airtricity's Chief Executive, Eddie O'Connor.

The company will formally introduce the ambitious plan at a Parliamentary reception for MPs in Westminster today. In conjunction, the wind energy developer will also outline a proposal to build a Euro 22 billion, 10 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind energy project that would cover a wind expanse in the North Sea between the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.

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[phantom power]

1. I gather they have evidence this will be cheaper than installing storage?

[Dead_Parrot]

2. Presumably...

Costs for pumped hydro are usually higher than than extra production, at least by wind. What I'd like to know is if they've fully considered the transmision losses: I wouldn't fancy being tasked with getting power from the Bay of Biscay to Estonia...

[jpak]

3. From the link...

<snip>

ABB Ltd. will be the project partner on the transmission side of the Supergrid. Trevor Gregory, Managing Director of ABB said they have established an advanced transmission technology called HVDC light which, among a number of applications, is used for demanding offshore applications. HVDC Light not only feeds electricity to platforms but it also connects and supports the integration of electrical networks.

<snip>

Feeding in power from wind farms dispersed over large geographical areas may balance out local load variations and make overall grid management mo' betta (what I get from this)...

[Dead_Parrot]

4. I saw that...

...but we're talking about a 2000 mile transmission distance. That's fucking enormous, by anyone's standards. The options seem to be:

- an HVDC line at least twice as long as anything that's been built (and another to the UK, one to Bulgaria, etc...). A bit expensive.
- a pure HVDC grid (unlikely - since there's no such thing as a DC circuit breaker - or transformer, for that matter - the whole thing would go bang if there's a problem).
- a grid of HVDC with rectifiers & inverters at the connections. It's the most likely, but the conversion losses will be crippling.

I do like the idea of turning the North Sea oilfields into a giant windfarm, though :)