Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 6TH - 12TH DECEMBER 2019 | 17 Finance & Investment Equinor and Masdar, the own ers of the world's first floating windfarm, have partnered with the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult to share operational data from the project for free. Hywind Scotland is located 25km off the coast of Aberdeen shire and consists of five tur bines with a combined genera tion capacity of 30MW. It was officially opened in October 2017. ELECTRICITY Data from the world's first floating windfarm to be shared for free Information on the perfor mance of one of the turbines will be made available to businesses and academics through the cata pult's Platform for Operational Data (POD). The aim is to help lower the cost of floating wind and make it competitive with other generation technologies. "This initiative shows Equinor's strong commitment to support dissemination and education in the UK and abroad, as well as providing a platform for collaboration across the floating wind supply chain," said Sebastian Bringsvaerd, head of floating wind develop ment at Equinor. "We believe this technology will play a key role in delivering the UK's sector deal and decar bonisation goals." Chris Hill, operational perfor EDF gives go-ahead to offshore wind farm 450MW windfarm located in Scotland's Firth of Forth is scheduled for completion in 2023 EDF Renewables has given the goahead to the 450MW Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm aœer tying down the necessary financing. The wind farm, located in the Firth of Forth in Scotland, will feature 54 of Siemens Gamesa's 8MW turbines and is scheduled for completion in 2023. The fab rication of components is now under way and offshore construction will begin in June 2020. EDF Renewables has also announced that Irish energy company ESB will take a 50 per cent stake in the project, which it acquired from Mainstream Renewable Power in May 2018. Matthieu Hue, chief executive of EDF Renewables UK, said: "These are hugely important milestones for the project, and a great credit to the EDF Renewables team. "We are excited to get work under way with our new equity partner ESB, our contractors, and all Scottish companies and stakeholders participating in the project. "The 450MW Neart na Gaoithe project will play an important role in decarbonising the UK electricity system." Neart na Gaoithe – Gaelic for "strength of the wind" – secured a 15year agreement in the first competitive Contracts for Difference auction in 2015 at a strike price of £114.39 (2012 prices). The Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) with drew the subsidies for the project in 2016 aœer a legal challenge by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) prevented it from meeting the deadline for finan cial close. Its planning permission was subsequently revoked when a court in Scotland ruled in favour of the RSPB, although this decision was later overturned by the same court following an appeal by Scottish ministers. TG ELECTRICITY Centrica to pilot EV 'charge park' Centrica has revealed plans to pilot a "charge park" in early 2020, which will see the creation of a more convenient location to charge commercial electric vehicle (EV) fleets. The scheme will combine leisure services such as cafes and gyms alongside technology to make charging less onerous for professional drivers. A company spokesperson told Utility Week that the loca tion of the charge park had not yet been decided and that its team was looking at a number of sites, from innercity parking sites to major transport hubs where EV taxis can charge while waiting for fares. Andreas Atkins, head of elec tric vehicle strategy at Centrica Innovations, said: "One of the big barriers we need to overcome in terms of adoption is how pro fessional drivers can make time in their day to charge. "While there has been a great deal of research into how to make charging faster, little has been done to enhance conveni ence, so that charging can fit comfortably into our busy lives." Jonathan Scott, chief execu tive of NCP, said: "Mechanisms such as the congestion charge and Ultra Low Emissions zones are drivers for the adoption of electric fleets. "We are investing to grow the number of our sites offering EV charging, but we want to do so in a way that's fit for purpose for all of our customers." ELECTRICITY ESO launches reactive power tender for Mersey The electricity system operator (ESO) at National Grid has launched a new tender for reac tive power absorption to limit voltage in the Mersey region for nine years starting in April 2022. The ESO said it is the longest duration over which it has pro cured reactive power services. Reactive power refers to the 'wattless' power required to push active power around the electricity network. Raising reactive power on the network increases the voltage, while lowering it does the opposite. To keep voltage levels within operational limits, the ESO instructs generators and other asset operators to either absorb or produce reactive power. The announcement follows a "pathfinder" tender for reactive power services in the Mersey region, which was issued in October. Applicants to the latest tender will need to make a tech nical submission on 13 Decem ber 2019 and a commercial submission on 21 February 2020. Contract winners will receive availability payments but not uti lisation payments. They will need to be on call 24/7 and will be penalised if they are unavailable. The minimum unit size is 15MVAr, or 5MVAr for individual compo nents within an aggregated unit. Hue: excited to get work under way mance director at the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, said: "The inclusion of free touse operational data from Hywind Scotland will be a great addition to our POD service, and greatly enhance our offering to our users. Big data is transform ing our understanding of how wind farms work, and therefore our approach to building, oper ating and maintaining them." This week

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