Britain’s energy operator is betting on an old technology to install its network in the future, where the power plants that have traditionally assisted and replace it with renewable energy systems are closed.
Metal spinning devices known as Flywheels have been used for centuries to provide self -deficiency – resistant to sudden movement changes – to different devices, from the tank wheel to the steam engine.
Network operators are now looking to technology to add the considerations of the internal floor to the heavy electricity systems to prevent power outages such as those that struck Spain and Portugal this year.
In the electricity network, self -deficiency is generally provided by large spinning generators in coal and gas power plants, which helps to maintain fixed frequency by homogeneous fluctuations in supply and demand.
But renewable energy sources such as solar energy and wind energy do not add a cage to the network, usually cannot help in other problems, such as voltage control.
Airlines can simulate the rotating stalemate of the generators of power stations, and to spin faster or slower to respond to fluctuations.
“The system is more vulnerable to fluctuations than it will be otherwise,” said David Praichao, Professor of Climate Science at the University of Reading at England, without spin turbines.
“The higher levels of renewable energy sources, we will have to think about this more carefully,” Praichao told AFP.
– Holders and batteries –
The Iberian Peninsula, which is operating with a high share of renewable energy sources, became dark on April 28 after its network was unable to absorb a sudden increase in voltage and deviations in the frequency.
Since then, the Spain government has referred to the fingers of traditional power plants for its failure to control voltage levels.
It can serve as a waking call similar to the 2019 interruption that fell on parts of Britain in the dark after a decrease in the network frequency.
This UK’s operating blackout has prompted the launch of what it called the “Global” program to contract with network expansion projects.
It can add flying factors and artificial maximum batteries to the network, but the engineering professor Keith PolaN says that steel scars can be more cost -effective and durable than Li -Ion batteries.
“I do not say that Flyweels is the only technology, but it may be very important,” said Pollen, a professor at City Saint George, London University and director of Flywheel Startup Levistor.
In the coming years, Pullen warned that the network will also become unstable due to the greatest demand, but the low demand.
With electric cars, heat pumps, and data centers that are connected to the network, “We will have more shock loads … that enjoy the budget wheel.”
Carbon -free stalemate –
“Greenr Grid Park” from the Norwegian company Statkraft in Liverpool was one of the projects that NESO contracted to maintain the limelight.
It has been working since 2023, and it is a stone’s goal from a former coal power plant site, which was waving on the horizon in the northern English language for most of the twentieth century.
But now, instead of steam turbines, two giant factors weigh 40 tons (40,000 kilograms) each at Statkraft, which provides one percent of stalemate for the network needed in England, Scotland and Wales.
Each budget wheel is connected to simultaneous compensation, a spinning machine that enhances self -deficiency and provides voltage control services in the Liverpool region.
“We provide stalemate without burning any fossil fuel, without creating any carbon emissions,” said Jay Nicholson, head of network solutions in Starscraft.
According to NESO, 11 other similar projects of simultaneous and transported compensation in Britain were operated as of 2023, with many contracting.
– “Not fast enough” –
The government “is working closely with our industry partners who develop the world’s leading technology, including Flywheels, fixed and coincidences, where we reform the energy system,” said a power security section and net zero to Agence France -Presse.
But “we do not build it quickly enough to remove the carbon network,” as Nicholson warned.
Britain aims to operate the network using clean energy by 95 percent of the time by 2030, before it completely turns into renewable energy sources in the next decade.
“At the present time … we cannot even do this for one hour,” Nicolson said.
He explained that even when there is enough solar energy and wind energy, “we still have to run gas turbines to keep the network stable.”
However, it appears that Britain and neighboring Ireland are moving on the curve in purchasing technology to achieve stability in renewable heavy networks.
“In GB and Ireland, the operators of the regime are driving by contracting these services,” said Nicholson. “On the continent, there was no same drive for it.”
“I think these things are driven by events. So, Spanish blackout will lead to change.”
AKS/JKB/DC/Sco