SP Energy Networks to trial offshore wind grid restart

The trial is the latest phase of transmission operator SP Energy Networks’ flagship ‘Blade’ project, which aims to improve Britain’s energy security by giving more options to re-energise the national grid using renewable energy resources.

The three-year project will see Scotland’s two transmission (SP Energy Networks and SSEN Transmission) companies work together with wind farm operators and developers including SSE Renewables, Ørsted, and the National HVDC Centre to model different restoration methods using offshore wind.

Currently, offshore wind farms cannot restart the grid themselves. Hydropower generators are the traditional first port of call if there was a national power cut as they can restart without support from the grid. They can then generate electricity to send to the grid and, as part of a co-ordinated plan, help power up different types of generation like gas power stations and wind farms to get all the lights back on.

However, to diversify and provide more options to the National Energy System Operator (NESO), Britain’s transmission companies are considering more ways of restarting the electricity grid in the unlikely event of a national power outage.

The Blade project will be trialled in a specialist lab which will be set up to model the real-life scenario.

SP Energy Networks is working with manufacturers, offshore wind farm developers, the NESO, and other transmission companies to consider how it could then potentially be rolled out to offshore wind farms across the UK.

Eddie Mulholland, Director of Processes and Technology, SP Energy Networks, responded: “This project will help shape the future, not just of Great Britain’s grid but electricity networks worldwide. Electricity drives every part of modern life and alongside ensuring we have a secure, resilient, and robust grid, we also must evolve and diversify the technology to restart it in the rare event of a national power outage.”

Mulholland added: “The UK has one of the biggest offshore wind markets in the world and being able to harness that power to restart the grid offers the system operator more options in the event of any emergency. This project will help advance Britain’s electricity network even further and reinforce security of supply.”

Blade builds on the success of SP Energy Networks’ and NESO’s previous award-winning Distributed ReStart project, demonstrating the ability to restore the electricity network from small scale distribution connected generators. It is now being fully deployed to provide alternative means of restoring power in the event of a national power outage.

It will also learn from work conducted by The Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator programme, which is also helping to fund part of this work alongside the Strategic Innovation Fund, an Ofgem programme managed in partnership with Innovate UK.

An industry-wide consortium, including SP Energy Networks, SSEN Transmission, TNEI, the National HVDC Centre, the University of Strathclyde, 11 offshore wind developers and operators, three international transmission system operators, and seven equipment manufacturers are working to deliver the project across the next three years.

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