The Future of Small Scale Wind Energy in Northern Ireland. Chris Osborne UFU Senior Policy Officer January 2017

Transcription

1 The Future of Small Scale Wind Energy in Northern Ireland Chris Osborne UFU Senior Policy Officer January

2 Small Scale Renewables the Northern Ireland Experience Significant Barriers Encountered Planning Delays Grid Connection Delays Grid Connection Costs UFU evidence to consultations and NI Assembly Committees ETI Committee (three times) (NI Assembly) ARD Committee (NI Assembly) Environment Committee (NI Assembly) NI Affairs Committee (Westminster)

3 Congestion at 11kV Saturation of the Distribution Network Congestion at 11kV Additional reinforcement costs Directly chargeable to developer Massive Grid Connection Costs

4 Congestion at 33kV Aggregated Volume of Applicants Conventional Power Flow - High to Low (single direction) Embedded Generation - Alters Distribution Network - Passive to Active Network (Reverse Power Flow)

5

6 Wasted Opportunity Best wind resource in UK Many wasted applications C. 8,000 per application C. 200 applicants 1.6m wasted A missed opportunity Emphasises potential that still exists

7 Small Scale Wind to Date in Northern Ireland

8 UK Energy Policy UK government has abandoned its leadership on renewables Renewable subsidies withdrawn and fossil fuel industry enhanced; IMF data for 2014/15 Fossil Fuel Subsidies v Renewables Subsidies UK s fossil fuel sector - 26 billion in subsidies over 400 per citizen, (1.4% of UK GDP) UK defence spending is 2.1% of GDP. UK s Renewables sector billion in subsidies

9 Northern Ireland Energy Policy Energy Act Ending of the NIRO No replacement despite consulting on a small scale FIT which has not materialised 25 January 2017 NI Assembly Dissolved What now???

10 Current State of Northern Ireland Crossroads Small Scale Renewables Only devolved region with no support Despite coming to the game relatively late (2005) Many stand alone generation units Industry uncertainty with supply chain implications and a waste of educational resources RHI

11 Need for an urgent change of thinking More flexible access to the Grid Storage solution urgently needed Move from subsidy-only mentality

12

13 Storage The key to success Storage Rapid Response Absorbs excess generated power Flexible location Quick construction time Match power and energy to requirement

14 AES Energy Storage Kilroot, Carrickfergus 10MW (to extend to 100MW by 2017) Lithium-Ion Batteries Largest Battery-Based Energy Storage Array in United Kingdom Integrate local wind energy and support the grid Balance supply and demand and support the all island transmission grid via SONI

15 AES Energy Storage

16 On-farm Energy Storage Need to integrate small scale renewables to the farm business The potential of on-farm energy storage Contribution it would make to load management Allow power delivery at specified peak times

17 Potential for on-farm energy storage Use storage as an enabling technology in the absence of financial support Off grid or bolster weaker interconnections Peak shaving

18 Harvard Organic Flow Battery

19 Small Organic Molecule Based Flow Battery for Storage Electricity grid has little ability to store excess energy. Electricity must constantly be over-generated to assure reliable supply. Natural unpredictability and intermittency make renewables unstable Northern Ireland needs technologies that can cost-effectively store renewable energy Storage would allow renewables to contribute towards energy security.

20 Small Organic Molecule Based Flow Battery for Storage Harvard University developing innovative organic flow battery Flow batteries store energy in external tanks instead of within the battery container, permitting larger amounts of stored energy at lower cost per kwh.

21 Operation of an Organic Flow Battery Electrons picked up and released by compounds Which are composed of inexpensive abundant elements (oxygen, hydrogen, iron etc) Compounds are non-toxic/non-flammable and widely available (contrast to conventional batteries) Flow batteries store energy in liquids contained in external tanks Electro-chemical conversion software

22 Non-Organic Flow Battery Operation Metal ions are an active component of electrolytes Disadvantages Expensive Corrosive Difficult to handle (on-farm cross compliance implications) Kinetically sluggish

23 Quinones Replace metal ions with organic (carbon-based) molecules Known as Quinones Advantage of Quinones Abundant Naturally occurring Integral to biological processes (i.e photosynthesis and cellular respiration) Reactions are 1000 times faster that metal ions

24 Electrolyte Structure Battery has positive and negative electrolyte sides Organic Flow Battery Electrolyte Structure Negative electrolyte quione in water Positive electrolyte ferrocyanide (used in food additives) Quinone and Ferrocyanide both highly soluable and stable in alkaline and can be paired

25 Harvard Organic Flow Battery

26

27

28 What next for Northern Ireland? Should on-farm storage become a reality? Local Supply NI experience to date (Minister letter) US and Net-Metering Zero-Net Energy - where the renewable energy produced on a farm meets the exact needs of business, with no spill or wastage (unlike under the ROC system) Exchange Electricity for Discount on own use electricity bills