Interconnectors to help manage green power

LONDON (Reuters) - Building more electricity links between Britain and its neighbouring markets could be an answer to managing its growing renewable energy output which is hard to predict and cannot be stored, a manager at National Grid said on Tuesday.

Interconnectors to continental Europe and Scandinavia can help balance Britain's electricity system when renewable energy production, such as wind or solar power, exceeds demand levels.

They also allow Britain to import extra electricity when green energy output is low during times of weak wind or cloudy weather.

"Interconnectors may provide the answer in that they are used to export excess electricity. (Renewable energy) storage is a European issue and solution," said Craig Dyke, strategy development manager at network operator National Grid, during a conference in London.

He added Britain probably needed more interconnectors than the new ones planned for Norway, Belgium and France, but exact figures had not been researched.

Britain is currently linked to France, Ireland and the Netherlands through cables with a combined capacity of 3,500 megawatts (MW).

The government estimates 31,000 MW of onshore and offshore wind power capacity could be available in the UK by 2020, a more than fourfold increase of current installed wind capacity.

Britain has to meet a legally-binding target of sourcing 15 percent of the country's energy demand from renewable sources.

Britain could build as much as 5,000 MW in interconnector capacity with Norway, said David MacKay, chief scientific adviser to the British energy ministry.

"Britain could maybe build 10 gigwatts of interconnections with other countries, but that will be difficult," he said.

Norway could decide to build further interconnection with other countries too, such as Germany where managing huge amounts of intermittent renewable energy is already a reality, leaving less flexibility for transport to the UK.

The benefit of building interconnectors to manage excess green energy output over other technologies, such as huge batteries, is financial.

"Interconnectors can compete cost wise, but most other technologies can't," MacKay said.

The 260-kilometre long BritNed interconnector linking Britain and the Netherlands, which opened in April 2011, cost 600 million euros to build, while battery storage has not been proven on a commercial scale.

(Reporting by Karolin Schaps; editing by James Jukwey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/interconnectors-help-manage-green-power-140720032.html

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