Develop your network skills; ELECTRICAL GRID The UK is counting on a more intelligent grid system to
The nation's electrical grid is going smart. Plans to move to a new low-carbon "energy mix" will transform future production, storage and transport of our energy, presenting a very different picture to the one we see today.
With 20 per cent of the UK's energy expected to come from renewables by 2020, wind energy production is set to triple and incentives such as the Feed-in Tariff scheme are making it profitable for households to produce renewable electricity domestically and export excess back to the grid.
The UK's current electrical networks are not designed to deal with large-scale renewable energy input, or locally produced power production, so they are having to be adapted to keep up.
Ofgem, the electricity and gas regulator, has set up a £500 million Low Carbon Networks Fund to encourage companies to find ways to develop a "smarter" grid for the future. The largest of these projects is the Customer-led Network Revolution, headed by electricity distributor CE Electric UK, and in partnership with Centrica/British Gas, EA Technology and Durham University. Over a three-year period, the £54 million project will trial smart grid systems within 14,000 homes and businesses in the north of England.
"Sustainable energy is happening now," says Jon Bird, CE Electric UK's head of sustainability. "Over 11,000 renewable micro-generation projects were installed in Great Britain under the Feed-in Tariff scheme by October 2010. This is why the need for a smart grid systems project is imminent.
We anticipate that pockets of the network will require new solutions in the short to medium term, but the need for a fully functioning, widespread smart grid is perhaps 10 years away. We have to develop different ways of generating, distributing and consuming electricity progressively in order to meet this challenge."
A new smart grid is also essential for the "green energy" revolution jigsaw puzzle to fall into place.
Professor Philip Taylor, deputy director of Durham University's Energy Institute, is consulting on the project. The institute has around 25 PhD and 30 MA students a year researching and learning about new renewable energy, as well as hundreds more studying across a range of related departments. "Without these smarter grids, the various renewable technologies - electric cars, smart meters, low-carbon energy production, groundsource heat pumps and others - don't work together properly," says Taylor.
"The electrical grid has to be designed to accept the power and distribute it effectively. The energy systems of the future will include widespread wind production, as well as micro-level power generation such as solar PV and heat energy pumps, and the grid has to be adapted to deal with that."
One of the biggest challenges is going to be accepting the increased amount of wind energy entering the grid. According to RenewableUK, the trade and professional body for the wind and marine renewables industries, the UK currently has 2,400 turbines, and a further 6,590 either under construction or planned for the near future.
"There is a huge focus on large-scale clean energy generation at the moment, including onshore and offshore wind," says Dave Roberts, group strategy manager at EA Technology, a consultancy that employs 160 people in the UK and works closely with the nation's electricity industry. EA Technology is taking a technical lead on engineering for the smart grid project. "When you get big amounts of intermittent wind energy into the system, you also get peaks and troughs in available power and this needs to be balanced out," explains Roberts. "Current networks aren't designed to accept this, but the problem can be resolved by creating a more intelligent system."
The key now is to get talented engineers and technicians, as well as other skilled professionals such as electricians, geographers, ICT experts, business graduates and even anthropologists, to play their part in the development of the UK's smart grid.
"Multidisciplinary skills will be vital to the energy sector of the future and it is crucial that we recruit more people," says Taylor. "There is a huge opportunity for the right individuals to take on this incredibly exciting challenge."
Wind-farm timeline
As the number of wind farms across the UK increases, so will the demand for skilled professionals along the production line, from those responsible for scoping out the site to those hooking the system to the grid.
"There are currently about 4,000-5,000 people employed in onshore and offshore wind industries in the UK," says RenewableUK spokesman Nick Medic. "By 2020, to keep up with demand, this is going to have to increase twelvefold - to around 60,000-70,000."
Here we outline the five key development stages.
1 PRE-PLANNING
Involves a feasibility study, including surveying the site and wind speed, checking grid connections, mapping the topography and logging the planning application. Offshore, it also involves arrangements with the Crown Estate.
People needed: environmental consultants, surveyors, landscape architects, electrical, structural and civil engineers, geologists and business and property lawyers. Offshore, marine biologists, specialist divers, climate scientists and geographers are also sought.
2 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Involves developing outreach in the community and public relations.
People needed: Planning and legal experts, scientific consultants to put together material for local communities, council experts and planning inspectorate bodies.
3 PREPARING THE SITE
Involves laying the initial groundworks of the site, such as digging foundations and doing the earthwork. It may also involve creating access routes to the site.
People needed: transport engineers, logistics experts, civil engineers, builders and police escorts.
4 CONSTRUCTION
Involves building the turbine blades and towers, mounting the huge blades on site, hooking the system up to the grid and checking the equipment.
People needed: materials experts, aerodynamic designers, software experts, civil engineers, welders, crane operators, electrical engineers, grid operators, health and safety inspectors and acoustics experts.
5 OPERATION
Involves monitoring and maintaining the blades and towers over the wind turbine's life span (around 20-25 years).
People needed: electricians, structural engineers, specialist surveyors, materials experts, divers to look at offshore foundations, structural engineers and submersible teams.
"A new smart grid is essential for the 'green energy' revolution jigsaw puzzle to fall into place
With 20 per cent of the UK's energy expected to come from renewables by 2020, wind energy production is set to triple and incentives such as the Feed-in Tariff scheme are making it profitable for households to produce renewable electricity domestically and export excess back to the grid.
The UK's current electrical networks are not designed to deal with large-scale renewable energy input, or locally produced power production, so they are having to be adapted to keep up.
Ofgem, the electricity and gas regulator, has set up a £500 million Low Carbon Networks Fund to encourage companies to find ways to develop a "smarter" grid for the future. The largest of these projects is the Customer-led Network Revolution, headed by electricity distributor CE Electric UK, and in partnership with Centrica/British Gas, EA Technology and Durham University. Over a three-year period, the £54 million project will trial smart grid systems within 14,000 homes and businesses in the north of England.
"Sustainable energy is happening now," says Jon Bird, CE Electric UK's head of sustainability. "Over 11,000 renewable micro-generation projects were installed in Great Britain under the Feed-in Tariff scheme by October 2010. This is why the need for a smart grid systems project is imminent.
We anticipate that pockets of the network will require new solutions in the short to medium term, but the need for a fully functioning, widespread smart grid is perhaps 10 years away. We have to develop different ways of generating, distributing and consuming electricity progressively in order to meet this challenge."
A new smart grid is also essential for the "green energy" revolution jigsaw puzzle to fall into place.
Professor Philip Taylor, deputy director of Durham University's Energy Institute, is consulting on the project. The institute has around 25 PhD and 30 MA students a year researching and learning about new renewable energy, as well as hundreds more studying across a range of related departments. "Without these smarter grids, the various renewable technologies - electric cars, smart meters, low-carbon energy production, groundsource heat pumps and others - don't work together properly," says Taylor.
"The electrical grid has to be designed to accept the power and distribute it effectively. The energy systems of the future will include widespread wind production, as well as micro-level power generation such as solar PV and heat energy pumps, and the grid has to be adapted to deal with that."
One of the biggest challenges is going to be accepting the increased amount of wind energy entering the grid. According to RenewableUK, the trade and professional body for the wind and marine renewables industries, the UK currently has 2,400 turbines, and a further 6,590 either under construction or planned for the near future.
"There is a huge focus on large-scale clean energy generation at the moment, including onshore and offshore wind," says Dave Roberts, group strategy manager at EA Technology, a consultancy that employs 160 people in the UK and works closely with the nation's electricity industry. EA Technology is taking a technical lead on engineering for the smart grid project. "When you get big amounts of intermittent wind energy into the system, you also get peaks and troughs in available power and this needs to be balanced out," explains Roberts. "Current networks aren't designed to accept this, but the problem can be resolved by creating a more intelligent system."
The key now is to get talented engineers and technicians, as well as other skilled professionals such as electricians, geographers, ICT experts, business graduates and even anthropologists, to play their part in the development of the UK's smart grid.
"Multidisciplinary skills will be vital to the energy sector of the future and it is crucial that we recruit more people," says Taylor. "There is a huge opportunity for the right individuals to take on this incredibly exciting challenge."
Wind-farm timeline
As the number of wind farms across the UK increases, so will the demand for skilled professionals along the production line, from those responsible for scoping out the site to those hooking the system to the grid.
"There are currently about 4,000-5,000 people employed in onshore and offshore wind industries in the UK," says RenewableUK spokesman Nick Medic. "By 2020, to keep up with demand, this is going to have to increase twelvefold - to around 60,000-70,000."
Here we outline the five key development stages.
1 PRE-PLANNING
Involves a feasibility study, including surveying the site and wind speed, checking grid connections, mapping the topography and logging the planning application. Offshore, it also involves arrangements with the Crown Estate.
People needed: environmental consultants, surveyors, landscape architects, electrical, structural and civil engineers, geologists and business and property lawyers. Offshore, marine biologists, specialist divers, climate scientists and geographers are also sought.
2 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Involves developing outreach in the community and public relations.
People needed: Planning and legal experts, scientific consultants to put together material for local communities, council experts and planning inspectorate bodies.
3 PREPARING THE SITE
Involves laying the initial groundworks of the site, such as digging foundations and doing the earthwork. It may also involve creating access routes to the site.
People needed: transport engineers, logistics experts, civil engineers, builders and police escorts.
4 CONSTRUCTION
Involves building the turbine blades and towers, mounting the huge blades on site, hooking the system up to the grid and checking the equipment.
People needed: materials experts, aerodynamic designers, software experts, civil engineers, welders, crane operators, electrical engineers, grid operators, health and safety inspectors and acoustics experts.
5 OPERATION
Involves monitoring and maintaining the blades and towers over the wind turbine's life span (around 20-25 years).
People needed: electricians, structural engineers, specialist surveyors, materials experts, divers to look at offshore foundations, structural engineers and submersible teams.
"A new smart grid is essential for the 'green energy' revolution jigsaw puzzle to fall into place
From The Daily Telegraph 27 January, 2011