MAREX 2016 - Organic Power

MAREX 2016
(Method for Atlantic Renewable Energy Export)
1. 1850MW+ wind generation in North Mayo and AC connections to Glinsk
2. 6GWhr/cycle (12 hours average) Energy Storage and Invertor at Glinsk
3. 2 x 500MW HVDC transmission cables from Mayo, 1 to UK
Interconnector and 1 to Dublin, inverter at Woodland.
Target: Delivery of 7.4Terawatt-hours of grid-compatible intelligent
clean electricity to Irish and UK markets by 2016, electricity
value for export ca. €500,000,000 plus domestic electricity
value ca.€250,000,000, annually.
TARGET DATE TO ENERGISE 2016
Organic Power Ltd
Responsible Energy for a Sustainable Climate
MAREX Initiative Brochure Issue 1, SEPTEMBER 2011

What is the initiative?
CLEAN ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE
The initiative is proposed by Organic Power to provide infrastructure to export large volumes of intelligent clean energy
from Mayo to both the Greater Dublin Area and the UK by 2016. We believe if all stakeholders engage with the initiative,
there are no technical or environmental barriers to its completion in a short timeframe. It is composed of 3 elements:
A large scale large turbine wind farm
Wind in North Mayo
The Mayo County Council Renewable
Energy Strategy adopted in
2011 has zoned an enormous area
of land as suitable for wind development
and a further area open to
consideration, which is sufficient
to accomodate many thousands of
Megawatts (MW) of Windpower capacity,
in large windfarms, in a part of
the country where large size windmill
efficiency will exceed 50% due the
high energy wind resource available.
This compares very favourably with
the other large zoned areas in midland
counties where efficiency will
be 40% or less. Therefore investing
in wind turbines in North Mayo will
generate a superior return on investment
than in the midlands. There is
zoned potential for 129MW of wind
within 5km of Glinsk, 207MW between
5 and 10km, 387MW between
10 and 15km, 909MW between 15
and 20km, 1464MW between 20
and 25km of the Energy Storage
Hub. This is on the basis of 3MW
machines spaced 500m apart. It is
probable that 6MW offshore type turbines
may be suitable for this area,
increasing the potential wind capacity
considerably. Wind farms would
be connected using underground AC
cables to an AC/DC node adjacent
to the Energy Storage Hub. When
wind generation is above 50% capacity
(1000MW) the excess will be
diverted into the energy storage at
Glinsk for delivery when the wind
drops wind farm output below 50%.
Proposed Seawater PHES at Glinsk
Energy Storage
The Glinsk Energy Storage Hub will
accept up to 960MW of power from
the windfarms for storage. This
power will be held in storage until
peak demand periods occur during
any given day and then exported
to coincide with demand. It will add
value to the variable electricity produced
by the wind generators, and
provide a large scale intelligent energy
source.
It will be ready to also accept wave
energy at large scale when this
technology comes of age.
It will link the best wind resource in
Europe to the UK market, delivering
power intelligently when needed.
The PHES will be at least 78% efficient
overall.
The PHES scheme can deliver intelligent
power at maximum output
for 6 hours per day (or much longer
at reduced output), corresponding
to peak demand on the day in the
UK and Ireland. The scheme will
accept energy off peak for 4 up to
20 hours per day depending on the
available wind energy.
The diversion of windpower above
1000MW output into storage ensures
maximum utility for the wind
farms and permits 2000MW of wind
to be connected to market using
1000MW of transmission cable.
Example Bipole HVDC cable
HVDC transmission
The main obstacle to developing
this clean intelligent energy resource
is the lack of transmission
infrastructure to export the power
from Mayo to market. EIRGRID
has plans to build a single 400kV
line to the area by 2019, which
will at very best, only accomodate
1500MW of wind power.
The proposal to link intelligent
energy to the market therefore includes
a dedicated transmission
system to deliver power to suitable
markets, in Dublin and the UK.
This transmission system will be
composed of 2 part -undersea and
part-underground cables each capable
of transmitting 500MW as a
minimum. One cable will deliver
power for distribution in the Dublin
Area, and the other will be linked
to the UK interconnector to export
500MW of power to the UK, or intelligently
import nuclear power for
storage for storage in times of long
calm weather periods.
HVDC is appropriate technology
for this application because it is
suitable for undersea and underground,
avoiding the public conflicts
generated by overhead lines.
It will also allow the efficient transmission
power at low levels of
losses accross the country.
Organic Power Ltd

BENEFITS OF MAREX INITIATIVE
• 1000MW of clean energy can be sustainably
exported from an area where the wind
resource is high, population density is low,
there is little employment,and sufficient
land has been zoned for the purpose. This
will generate export revenue in the order of
€500,000,000 per year once installed.
• The avoidance of displaced gas generation
CO2 emissions will total at least 4.6 million
tonnes annually.
• Over a short time frame it will unlock the
potential to install over 600 large wind turbines
(1850MW) of planned wind farms in
North Mayo which will be among the most
efficient onshore wind farms in Europe due
to the wind resource available.
• This level of windfarm construction will allow
the manufacture of 3MW or even 5MW
wind turbines to be undertaken locally, creating
at least 500 jobs and €3 billion investment
over a 5 year window.
• The energy storage hub will create 200 jobs
and €0.5 billion investment over a 3 year
window.
• The energy storage hub will accept
6000MWhrs of electricity from the wind
farms, the equivalent of 12 hours output
at average production of the wind turbines,
during times when demand is low (night
time), transforming clean but unpredictable
energy from local windfarms and ocean energy
projects, into a high quality predictable
intelligent green electricity product by storing
it for use when needed.
• The efficient use energy storage hub will
provide a user for water pumped by up to
1000 MW of wave pumps, when this technology
becomes mature.
• The initiative will, in its own right, justify
the installation of a dedicated High Voltage
Grid connection to North Mayo from the
East-West interconnector for the export of
renewable energy to the UK.
Input electricity will be sourced from grid connected wind and wave energy projects. The
process will transform unpredictable and variable wind and wave power to reliable, dispatchable
power delivered to the markets that need it via undeground cables.
Organic Power Ltd

HVDC TRANSMISSION OVERVIEW
WHY HVDC?
The resource that this initiative wishes to
harness and condition, via wind energy
convertors and energy storage, is geographically
removed from the identified
markets for electricity (the greater Dublin
area and the UK). Woodland is the ideal
location for a connection to both markets.
The problem is how to get the power there.
Overhead power lines are the object of
much public opposition as they are percieved
by many to be visually obtrusive
and some people have concerns regarding
potential risks from electromagnetic
radiation (whether real or imagined).
To allay these concerns, the use of DC
gives 2 distinct advantages, firstly, due
to a much reduced heat loss in DC cables,
they can be buried undersea and
underground without cooling systems
at high voltages, and secondly, electromagnetic
radiation is also much reduced.
Bipolar 700MW Cable used for Norned
THE CABLE
At this preliminary stage, it is very difficult
to describe with any certainty, the actual
specifications of the cable that will be used.
However, given the distances involved
and the obvious benefits of redundancy in
the system, 2 bipolar cables with a high
power rating would appear to be a promising
option. 800MW rated bipolar cables
are commercially available and may be
suitable for the MAREX proposal operated
using Voltage source Commutation Power
control. This would allow each cable to be
operated at 500MW initially with the potential
for increasing the power carried later.
EIRGRID may operate a 600MW connection
cap to the national grid, and
this may constrain the potential power
to be carried by the cable proposed to
connect to the EIRGRID AC system
at Woodland. The rated capacity of
the existing HVDC interconnector to
the UK is 500MW and this limits the
power that can be connected to that.
The advantages of the VSC bipolar
HVDC configuration are:
• Undersea cables, where
high capacitance causes
additional AC losses.
• Endpoint-to-endpoint longhaul
bulk power transmission
without intermediate ‘taps’,
for example, in remote areas.
• Increasing the capacity of an
existing power grid in situations
where additional wires are
difficult or expensive to install
• Power transmission and stabilization
between unsynchronised
AC distribution systems
• Connecting a remote generating
plant to the distribution grid,
• Stabilizing a predominantly AC
power-grid, without increasing
prospective short circuit current
• Reducing line cost. HVDC
needs fewer thinner conductors
as there is no need
to support multiple phases.
• Synchronize AC produced by
renewable energy sources
• VSC technology provides a
straight forward AC side connection.
The modular multilevel
converter principle renders AC
harmonic filters superfluous.
• A standard transformer design
can be used without special requirements
to withstand DC
voltage or harmonic currents.
• Converters do not produce
any significant high frequency
noise, so outdoor installation of
AC- and DC reactors (if necessary)
and switchgear is feasible.
CABLE INSERTION
At an initial level of examination it is
expected that the cable route from
Glinsk to Woodland will have the following
insertion methods:
• 2 no. 500MW Outdoor convertor
at Glinsk
• 500m Cross shore horizontal directional
drilling section in tunnelled
cable duct.
• 65km approx. smartjet subsea
insertion 2m below sandy substrate.
• 5km approx sand plough insertion
1.2m deep across intertidal
shore Sligo Bay to pier head.
• 1.5km approx. Under road
trench to rail head.
• Verge trench 1.2m deep alongside
permanent way 190km
• Surface trough insertion accross
bridges and through stations.
• Horizontal directional drillingwhere
exceptionally required
in narrow sections of available
wayleave along permanent
way.
• Under Road trench 1.2m deep
from permanent way to Woodland
substation.
• 2 no. 500MW convertors at
Woodland
CABLE COSTS
At this preliminary stage costs are
hard to estimate, however, ballpark
indication from extrapolation,
allows an estimate in the region
of €300,000,000 to be suggested.
This would be paid for in principle
by connection charges, and use
of system charges would cover
running cost. A combined capacity
connection for MAREX would
comprise around 2810MW, indicating
a connection charge of approx.
€100,000-120,000/MW.
Organic Power Ltd

CABLE INSERTION SYSTEMS
Example of an AC/HVDC convertor installation
Schematic of Smart jet subsea cable burial vehicle
Example of an intake structure
Cable insertion using Horizontal directional drilling
Example of sand plough cable insertion
Example of subsea cable laying vessel
Example of trench insertion HVDC cables
Smart jet cable burial vehicle
Example of Wayleave verge cable insertion
Organic Power Ltd

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Organic Power Ltd

Organic Power Ltd
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Description Unit Data
WIND GENERATION
Location
Erris, Mayo
Capacity zoned within 25km MW 3000MW approx.
Predicted wind at 100m+ height m/s 10
Capacity factor expected % 52
Required optimum capacity MW 1850
Number of turbines if 3MW rated - 615
class 1, 1A Type
Hub Height m 130+
Turbine separation 360 degrees m 500
Connection to Glinsk kV 110/220 AC XLPE
underground or similar
Projected annual power production TWhr 8.3
ENERGY STORAGE HUB
Operating head m 295.5
Reservoir volume m3 8,900,000
Energy storage capacity
MWhr 6,000/cycle
Minimum drawdown, fill rate hours 6,7
Rated capacity MW 960
Projected annual power storage TWhr 3.25
HVDC TRANSMISSION
Cable Type - Bipole, buried
From location (1,2) - Glinsk, Mayo
To location (1) - AC system Woodland
To location (2) - DC interconnector, Woodland
Cable length km 270 approx
Commutation - Voltage Sourced
Maximum cable power (certified) MW 550
Maximum output combined cables MW 1100
Projected average power MW 1000 for 7400 hours/year
Organic Power Ltd
Issued September 2011
FBD House, Mardyke Street, Skibbereen,
County Cork, Ireland
Tel: +353 (0)28 51951
E-mail: info@organicpower.ie
Web : www.organicpower.ie