COP26, the UN climate change conference 1st-11th November 2021
Large scale projects and initiatives designed to drive transition of entire industries onto a sustainable operational basis are high on the agenda at COP26, the 2021 UN IPCC climate change conference.
To ‘build in’ sustainability, the global companies partnering at COP26 have committed to changing their internal operations and those of their vast supply chains.
Clean energy is key to transformation. Across all industries, and in every geography the scale and operation of power infrastructure will play an increasingly important role in executing successful sustainability strategies.
As a multi-disciplined global power equipment design and manufacturing leader Piller is working in close partnership with many COP26 sponsors through the supply of power solutions and services that help them sustainably serve the markets in which they operate.
The Energy Market
Piller products already underpin public utility and private power company generation and distribution infrastructure in countries around the world.
As the energy market transitions to green power Piller technology meets the new requirements for stabilisation and energy ride-through including power conditioning for co-generation systems. Piller kinetic energy storage technologies offer excellent solutions at scale for the bi-directional energy transfer necessary to compensate asynchronous renewable energy sources.
National Grid
National Grid, the UK electricity grid operator and international connectivity and renewable energy supplier, is building a sustainability strategy that includes commitments to large-scale renewable energy, competitive energy transmission projects and battery energy storage systems.
National Grid is connecting the world’s largest offshore wind farm which will be based off the east coast of the UK. When operational, Hornsea Project One, in North Lincolnshire, will include 174 turbines, cover 407 square kilometres and provide 1.2 gigawatts of green energy. National Grid Ventures, the investment arm of National Grid, has a portfolio of projects which includes a £2bn investment in 8GW of subsea electricity interconnectors to share renewable energy across the UK, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and Denmark. It is a leading developer of solutions for linking offshore wind farms directly to interconnectors.
Among its many projects in North America, off the East Coast of the US it has partnered with RWE Renewables to develop large scale offshore wind projects. In 2020 it set up National Grid Renewables following the $100m acquisition of Geronimo Energy.
National Grid’s Emerald Energy Venture, LLC joint venture secured a $150 million Portfolio Revolving facility, with an accordion feature that will allow an increase to $250 million beginning in mid-2022 to support the growth of its renewable energy portfolio in the U.S. The financing will support a mix of solar, battery storage and wind projects being developed by National Grid Renewables.
Piller
Across the world Piller technology is being used with renewable power generation infrastructure. Piller rotary stabilisers are used to manage the fluctuations of renewable energy such as wind and solar power, minimising perturbations on the electricity grid in the process.
With energy storage of up to 60MJ per unit, not only is stabilisation possible on a commercial level, so too is high power ride-through, making the use of embedded standby generation a real possibility for peak reserve and fast frequency response in utility networks.
Power Generators Scottish Power and SSE
In the energy generation sector Scottish Power’s industrial scale projects in hydrogen production through wind powered electrolyser sites are showing true leadership.
Scottish Power has applied for planning permission to develop a 20MW electrolyser near Lochgoin Reservoir, south of Glasgow, to draw power from the Whitelee onshore wind farm.
If successful, it is hoping to develop up to 15 new offshore wind sites in the region, to supply electrolysers. With applications ranging from fuel cells for data centres to powering cars and aircraft, the use of clean, carbon free electricity to power the production of hydrogen using electrolysers, is seen by many as is key tool in efforts to decarbonisation.
SSE plc
- COP26 principle partner UK utility SSE Plc is committed to Green energy production and biomass plants; Co-generation; Micro-grid systems with discrete geographic footprints; Smart grid development; Reserve power capability and Renewable power sources. It is expanding wind farms in Scotland’s Highlands and double its capacity to over 200 MW. The firm has invested in a 50-MW battery storage project in UK, and plans to build a network of battery storage sites across the country.
Piller
Piller partnerships in the energy sector are long term. Over many decades it has worked with power generation companies and grid operators across the world.
As they transition the energy sector Piller customers are using its technology solutions which allow multiple sources of energy to be channelled into useful stored energy which can be returned to the grid. This provides additional ‘ballast’ or inertia to the power system in question, normally a function of the ‘hot rotating capacity’ provided by traditional fossil fuel power stations thus further aiding de-carbonisation of the grid.
As a world leader in kinetic energy storage Piller understands clean power. Kinetic energy storage offers an excellent solution for the bi-directional energy transfer necessary to compensate certain renewable energy sources.
Piller UPS technologies are designed for use with renewable electricity and for bi-directional operation for feeding power back to the grid.
Today the global energy sector is changing more rapidly and fundamentally than at any time in its history. As it transitions to a carbon positive future Piller is helping power generation companies and grid operators across the world decarbonise their operations.
