A Non-Technical Introduction for Wind Turbine Manufacturers

Preface WindTP is a power-transmission system for wind turbines enabling them to put large amounts of energy (50-100hrs rated output) into storage. 2 WindTP will substantially raise the max. threshold of wind power penetration into power systems. It will also enable manufacturers and operators of wind turbines to exploit a second income stream simultaneously – flexibility in electricity grids.

Contents Firm Power vs. Inflexible Generation Generation Integrated Energy Storage The future of W IND TP 3

Contents Firm Power vs. Inflexible Generation Generation Integrated Energy Storage 4 The future of W IND TP

Fossil fuels (hydrocarbons) are dense energy carriers – concentrated over extremely long times with potential to release energy very quickly. Fossil fuels give us cheap energy Fossil fuels are very easily stored Burning fossil fuels releases CO2 Replacing fossil fuels requires that 2 problems are solved 5 Decarbonising electricity presents 2 problems. 1. Low cost per kWh(e) generated 2. Flexibility to match supply and demand

For Northern Europe, onshore wind power can already deliver affordable power (€/kWh). Offshore wind already competes strongly with PV. $0.4/kWh $0.2/kWh Biomass Geo-thrmal Hydro Solar PVSolar CSP Offshore Wind Onshore Wind Source: Fraunhofer ISP, Germany, Nov €0.20/kWh €0.16/kWh €0.08/kWh €0.12/kWh €0.04/kWh Levelised costs of Renewables 2010 & 2014 Source: IRENA Renewable Cost Database 6 Renewables: cost-per-kWh approaching “grid parity”

Conventional arrangements of wind turbines generate electricity when the wind blows in the right range of speeds. 7 Most low-carbon generation is inflexible. You can turn-down the output from a wind turbine but you cannot turn it up. Turning-down basically means dumping energy that might have been collected with approximately zero marginal cost. The same applies to PV, nuclear power stations, tidal stream generators and wave energy converters.

Introducing a small quantity of inflexible generation into a system with lots of flexible generation is simple. 8 Starting to decarbonise generation is easy Trivial illustration: a system with constant demand of 10GW and 10GW flexible generation capacity could accommodate 10GW (rated) of wind (=~3GW average output wind power). 10GW 0GW time Generation from wind Generation from fossil-fuels

9 From Continuing to decarb. gen n is not so easy 450GW of installed wind capacity now – rising at ~12%p.a. 250GW of installed PV capacity now – rising at ~20%p.a. Average world electricity generation is only ~2400GW. Many countries already experiencing difficulty to accommodate more renewables.

10 New Flexibility Services Are Required - Urgently There is a rapidly emerging market for flexibility services to assist electrical grids. content/uploads/2014/12/Global_Elec tricity_Initiative_WEB.pdf from …

The exponentially-rising interest in energy storage, new balancing services and smart meter technologies evidences a new value-stream coming now – flexibility. The need for flexibility - summarised 0% 100% Mid-Grid Energy Storage Flexible Generation Demand-Side Response ? 0%100% Mid-Grid Energy Storage Flexible Generation Demand-Side Response ?

Contents Firm Power vs. Inflexible Generation Generation Integrated Energy Storage 12 The future of W IND TP

Stored Energy Electricity Primary Energy To Grid Stored Energy Electricity Primary Energy To Grid A) Non-GIES System B) GIES System η B1 η A1 η A2 η A3 η B2 η A4 η A5 η B3 η B4 Intermediate Energy Form 13 Generation Integrated Energy Storage All flexible generation is effectively doing energy storage – but the energy is stored before it is converted to electricity.

14 ALL natural hydro-power possessing a dam is GIES! Itaipu Dam Brazil / Paraguay 12.6 GW GIES systems: ca.com/place/Para na-River/images- videos/Itaipu-Dam- on-the-Parana- River-at-the- border-of/106363

15 GIES systems: Most Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant are GIES! Andasol III ( Spain) 50 MW, 7.5 hrs storage

16 GIES systems: All biomass-fired generation is GIES. An Open Lecture, Nottingham, June 15, 2010 Miscanthus (from SEWTHA) Wood pellets. ( )

17 GIES systems: This open-access paper describes GIES thoroughly

Generation Integrated Energy Storage (GIES) systems have two major advantages over systems comprising separated generation and (standalone) energy storage subsystems: GIES systems: summary (1) They save the capital costs of equipment to transform energy from electricity to some storable form and back again. (2) Losses associated with transforming energy from electricity to some storable form and back again are avoided.

Contents Firm Power vs. Inflexible Generation Generation Integrated Energy Storage 19 The future of W IND TP

20 * The original system patent filed June 16, The IP protected. * National phase applications now filed in Europe, USA, India, China and Australia. * Intended mode of operation is to develop strong partnerships in each of the above five major domains.

21 * Substantial resource already in place through EPSRC funding and the Energy Research Accelerator high performance compression and expansion laboratory at Nottingham University. WindTP development * Currently applying for UK & EU funding to demonstrate the power transmission & energy storage at ~750kW scale. * Subsequent steps are: (1) Demo. a 750kW system in back-to-back confign. (Dec. 2017) (2) Demo. a complete system in wind turbine (Dec. 2018) (3) Pilot (7 x 3MW WT) onshore plant (June 2020) (4) Pilot (1 x 10MW WT) floating offshore unit (Dec 2020)

22 There are two motivations for a large wind turbine manufacturer to think about WindTP. A W.T. manufacturer’s perspective (1) The scope to continue to sell existing products will be curtailed strongly over the coming decade due to grid flexibility limitations. (2) There is the potential to address an income stream not yet considered with (largely) the same product: grid flexibility services

23 The wind industry could just rely on other energy storage technologies (or other flexibility services) coming into play. Non-WindTP options Marginal capital costs for standalone E.S. are very high (>$200/kWh ?) Lifetimes for battery sets in particular are very limited. Develop in-house methods to integrate energy storage with wind turbines ?

An Open Lecture, Nottingham, June 15, 2010 Thank you for listening Sincere thanks to EPSRC for funding the work from which WindTP emerged.