Hitachi Warns Transformer Shortage Threatens UK’s ‘net zero’ Plan
A few days ago, The Telegraph reported that Hitachi, the world’s leading producer of high-voltage transformers, has told the British government that a worldwide shortage of raw materials means they cannot supply enough equipment to keep expanding our electricity grid
The article states:
Laura Fleming, Hitachi’s UK managing director, said this shortfall was caused by unprecedented demand for electricity combined with a shortage of raw materials and skilled labour.
This has led to soaring prices and delayed deliveries for electrical equipment crucial to net zero.
Ms Fleming said: “In the UK and Europe, we’ve had 30-40 years of growing these [electrical] systems only on an as-needed basis and we’ve actually not seen electricity consumption go up dramatically.
“But we are now in a very different place where we’ve got very ageing systems with ageing equipment that needs replacing.
“At the same time, we’re trying to expand that grid because we’re moving from an energy system that is predominantly oil and gas-based to an energy system that is much more based on renewables, nuclear and a handful of other technologies.
“This is creating pressure on the system in a number of ways.”
The scale of the planned changes to Britain’s energy system is huge, inspired by the Energy Secretary’s move to embrace green electricity and slash the country’s reliance on fossil fuels.
Currently, the UK’s power stations, wind farms and other electricity producers have a total generating capacity of about 100 gigawatts.
This comes from a diverse mix of generators, ranging from massive gas-fired or nuclear power stations that produce steady, reliable power to intermittent wind and solar farms dependent on the weather.
Transformers are the unseen technology that unifies this system, converting the power they produce into the standardised voltages and frequencies needed by the UK’s power networks.
They work by “stepping up” power to the high voltages needed to efficiently transmit it long distances, typically around 400,000 volts.
Then, at the other end of the line, they reduce it first to 132,000 volts, then to 11,000 volts for industry, then down to the 240 volts we need to run our homes.
But the 500 or so supergrid transformers that form the backbone of Britain’s high-voltage power transmission system are no longer enough to meet the nation’s needs.
There are also far too few of them to support Mr Miliband’s ambitions of decarbonising the entire grid by 2030, along with a significant increase in power generation by 2050.
He has pledged to displace the oil and gas that now supply over 75pc of our total energy with green electricity from wind, solar and nuclear plants.
Such promises are easy to make but require mammoth upgrades to Britain’s grid.
Transformer capacity is measured in megavolt-amperes (MVA), with the UK currently boasting a capacity of about 170,000MVA.
By 2035, that will have to reach up to 280,000MVA – a two thirds increase – with even more needed by 2050.
That’s an unprecedented increase – and Britain’s problem is that its plans to expand and update its transmission network have coincided with everyone else’s across Europe.
See more here telegraph.co.uk