UK grid turns to flywheels for steady power supply

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The UK’s energy operator is betting its grid on an old technology for the future, as the power plants that traditionally help stabilize it are closed and replaced with renewable energy systems.

Spinning metal devices are used to provide for centuries, known as fly wheel – resistance to sudden changes in motion – in various machines, from a potter wheel to steam engine.

Grid operators are now looking for technology to incorporate connectivity into the renewable heavy power systems to prevent the blackout killing Spain and Portugal.

In the power grid, connectivity is usually supplied by large spinning generators found in coal -fired and gas power plants, which helps maintain a strong frequency by smooth the fluctuations in supply and demand.

But renewable energy sources do not add connectivity to solar and wind power grid, and usually do not help with other issues, such as voltage control.

The fly wheel can imitate the rotation of the power plant generators, rotating fast or slowly to respond to the fluctuations.

“This system is a high risk of fluctuations, without turning the turbines,” said David Breshav, a professor of climate at the University of Reading, England.

“When we reach the highest level of renewable sources, we have to think more carefully about it,” Breshav told AFP.

Fly wheel and batteries

The Peninsula, which is operating with high shares of renewable sources, went dark on April 28 after being unable to absorb its grid in frequency and sudden increase in deviation.

The Spanish government then identified fingers at traditional power plants after failing to control the voltage level.

It can do a wake -up call like the 2019 closure that has darken parts of the UK after the grid frequency reduction.

This blackout called the UK Energy Operator Neso a “World First” program for plans to sustain the grid.

Fly wheel and batteries can add artificial connectivity to the grid, but engineering professor Keith Plin says steel fly wheel can be more cost -effective and sustainable than lithium -ion batteries.

“I am not saying that fly whales are the only technology, but they can be very important, very important,” said Plyn, a professor at the University of London’s City St. George.

In the coming years, Plin warned that the grid would be more unstable due to the rapid demand.

With electric cars, heat pumps and energy -powered data centers leaning on the grid, “we will have a burden of more trauma … which will smooth the fly wheel”.

Carbon -free root

In Liverpool, the Norwegian company Statcher was contracted by Neso to maintain the “Green Grid Park” lights.

Since 2023, it has been a stone throw from a former coal -fired power station site, which is roaming the northern English city in most parts of the 20th century.

But now, instead of steam turbines, two large fly wheel weighs 40 tonnes (40,000 kilograms), with each rotating on the state craft site, which provides 1 % connecting for grid required in England, Scotland and Wales.

Each fly wheel is connected to a synchronized compensation, a spinning machine that further promotes connectivity and provides voltage control services in the Liverpool region.

“We are supplying this root without burning any fiancé fuel, without producing any carbon emissions,” said Guy Nicholson, head of the Zero Carbon grid solutions of the Statecroft.

According to Neso, 11 other synchronous compensation and fly wheel projects were operating in the UK by 2023, with many more contracts.

‘Not fast enough’

A department of Energy Security and Pure Zero spokesperson told AFP, the government is “working with our industry partners who are developing global -driven technology, including fly -whales, static and synchronized compensation,” as we monitor the energy system, “said AFP.

“We are not building them so fast for the grid decoration,” Nichason warned.

The purpose of the UK is to clean the grid over 95 % of the time, before 2030, before changing the renewable sources in the next decade.

“At this time … we can’t even do an hour,” said Nichason.

Even when there is enough solar and air energy, “we still have to run a gas turbine to keep the grid stable”, he explained.

Nevertheless, it seems that the UK and neighboring Ireland are ahead of curves in purchasing technology to stabilize the renewable heavy grid.

“In GB and Ireland, the system operators are contracting these services, Nickel said. “In the continent, it has not been the same drive.”

“I think these things are driven by events. So, the Spanish blackout will change.”