1. Alex Salmond's idea (APPENDIX A) of a sub-sea supergrid from the north of Scotland to Norway sounds pretty whacky! If we must have wind power from the remote north of Scotland, subsea transmission would be good, but not to Scandinavia which also has a surplus of renewable energy. Subsea to London, Belgium and Holland, yes, but not Norway.
2. An article (APPENDIX B) passed by the Johnsons in Canada reports contrasting cost estimates for directional drilling (DD) to install deep-buried (rather than trenched) underground cable (UGC) transmission lines. We don't know if Vernon's estimate of $9 m was just for DD without the cost of cables etc. Technology and costs of UGC keep changing, generally making it more affordable. Revolt reported on HVDC and UGC back in 2004 (news172.3, 174.4) and variously since then as information developed.
3. Britain faces the prospect of power shortages and soaring prices this winter after the National Grid warned of a shortfall in electricity- generating capacity yesterday (Guardian story, APPENDIX C). 4. Keith Borthwick sends news from Australia of the continuing Basslink fiasco (APPENDIX D) and calls for a Federal Royal Commission to investigate the establishment of Basslink.
5. The Revolt AGM held at the end of October confirmed the aims and objectives with their focus on powerlines and energy policy. There had been discussion about other environmental impacts, such as the spreading of (sometimes inadequately treated) human sewage sludge on fields, which has recently caused a stink as well as a health hazard! While Revolt supports protests against this practice, it was decided not to take on new issues directly.
6. The AGM also reviewed Revolt's Position Statement. The updated version is now on the web site, linked from the home page along with the new FAQs. An additional FAQ14 is already in the pipeline, so this is a moving picture. Hopefully FAQs will help concerned members of the public to access more easily what they need to know.
7. A further development soon to be posted on the web site is a set of Revolt Notes, linked from the home page. It includes informal running notes on such things as EMF safe distances, probity in EMF research, underground cables, and property devaluation. These notes collect key points from various Revolt news items, correspondence and research.
8. In addition to the 85 km Cavan-Tyrone 400 kV (AC) Interconnector
proposed between Northern Ireland and the Republic, the Irish grid
company Eirgrid proposes a further 58 km 400 kV line from Cavan to Meath
near Dublin. Then this will connect, at a substation called Woodland in
County Meath, to a proposed HVDC undersea 200 km 500 MW Interconnector
to Britain with 70 km on land. The projects plan for completion by 2012
and are supported by EU Trans-European Networks (TENS) policy.
9. The multiple Eirgrid project(s) raise the issue of what is a single
project under the EU Environmental Impact Directive 97/11/EC and whether
there should be a Strategic Environmental Assessment under Directive
2001/42/EC for the whole grid and wind policy. A little more discussion
is at APPENDIX E.
10. Thanks to Krzysztof Kuklinski in Poland for alerting us to the EU
Parliamentary Question put by Caroline Lucas 19 September 2007. She
describes the Bioinitiative Report and the role of the EEA in support of
it, and asks what action the Commission will take in response.
*****
APPENDIX A Salmond plans Norwegian energy link-up
The Scotsman, 30 Oct 07
ALEX Salmond, the First Minister, is to meet Jens Stoltenberg, the
Norwegian prime minister, over plans to create a subsea "supergrid" to
take green energy from Scotland to Europe.
Proposals have been previously mooted to connect renewable schemes in
the Highlands and Islands to an underwater grid in the North Sea to
export power to the Continent.
Yesterday, Mr Salmond told the Highlands and Islands Convention that
Scotland's natural resources held considerable potential as sources of
power.
He added: "We have six to seven times the power Scotland needs, but we
have to figure out how we take that power to market. It would have to
go subsea in a supergrid to take the power to energy-poor areas."
Mr Salmond plans to meet Mr Stoltenberg and European officials early
next year. The First Minister said he also hopes to make progress on
reducing National Grid connection charges.
APPENDIX B BCTC not keen on TRAHVOL solution
Maureen Gulyas and Sandor Gyarmati , The Delta Optimist
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Tsawwassen residents lobbying to keep higher voltage power lines away
from their homes have high
hopes that horizontal directional drilling could be the answer.
Calling it a compromise solution, homeowners along the right-of-way say
the technology would allow the high voltage lines to be installed with
little intrusion into their properties and provide a safe situation over
the long-term.
But the B.C. Transmission Corporation has already rejected the method,
saying it was considered long ago and deemed too expensive.
BCTC looked at three methods to underground the lines on the four-
kilometre right-of-way, including trenching and two different kinds of
directional drilling, said CEO Jane Peverett.
Peverett said the estimate for horizontal directional drilling was in
the neighbourhood of $40 million, well above the cost to trench the
lines ($15 million) or string them overhead ($3 million).
Cecil Dunn, who co-chairs Tsawwassen Residents Against Higher Voltage
Overhead Lines (TRAHVOL), is frustrated with the numbers thrown around
by the provincial Crown corporation.
"That's been standard procedure for them to reject things out of hand
whether they did a study on it or not, and then they always throw some
wild figure at it," Dunn said.
TRAHVOL has sought and received municipal and school board support for
the new solution.
"The vast majority of residents, and we're still polling, but the vast
majority support it also," Dunn said.
TRAHVOL hired engineer George Vernon from Mill Creek Management
Technology in Seattle to undertake an analysis of the power lines
proposal. TRAHVOL spokesperson Bernadette Kudzin pointed out the report
concludes HDD is both workable and cost effective.
"Wouldn't you know it, not only, as he puts it, is it a 'piece of cake'
to do this, it can be done in a timely manner and it's relatively cost
effective. It's not near as expensive as putting it underground in the
streets or trenching our backyards."
While BCTC said the cost could be as high as $40 million, Vernon said it
was more likely to be $9 million and that's on the high end.
Kudzin noted that if lines were buried deep enough, they would reduce
the health risks of electromagnetic fields (EMF) because they would also
be encased in metal piping.
TRAHVOL hopes the line could be buried as much as 10 metres, but even at
just a few metres underground it would be an improvement over the
current plan to install the higher voltage lines overhead where the EMF
will be much higher.
Dunn said the HDD proposal caught on fast once the consultant had
completed his report.
"This is a win-win situation. It allows them to use the existing right-
of-way. It doesn't do anything to destroy our yards, and there's very
minimal EMF."
Peverett is unconvinced, saying the method is intrusive and will still
mean the 138 kiloVolt line now overhead will stay in place until at
least 2018.
"The staging grounds for directional drilling is quite large so that you
have a platform that is 30 metres by 30 metres, so it's big equipment.
Again, it's only temporary, but it can be disruptive to the
neighbourhood, so we did consider all those things," she said.
Dunn said TRAHVOL has given the consultant's report to Delta South MLA
Val Roddick, who has passed it on to Premier Gordon Campbell and Energy
Minister Richard Neufeld.
"We're hoping, of course, that the government will give some direction
to BCTC to say, 'Have a serious look at it and don't give it a fly by
night review,'" Dunn said.
(c) The Delta Optimist 2007
APPENDIX C Rising fear of energy crisis this winter
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2202128,00.html>
Electricity shortages and gas supply problems predicted to push bills up
Terry Macalister, Wednesday October 31, 2007, The Guardian
Britain faces the prospect of power shortages and soaring prices this
winter after the National Grid warned of a shortfall in
electricity-generating capacity yesterday. The alert coincides with a
surge in gas prices, which are now 40% higher than in continental
Europe, and the confirmation that a vital import plant in South Wales
will not be operational this winter.
And it emerged last night that the energy minister, Malcolm Wicks,
met power providers and users last week to discuss mounting
concerns that the UK was heading into another winter of soaring
prices and power shortages, similar to the one that forced some
manufacturers to shut down capacity 24 months ago.
The warning by the Grid, which operates the pylons and other parts
of the electricity transmission system, came days after it reassured
ministers that an earlier alert was nothing to worry about and that
there were no expectations of power blackouts this winter.
The fragility of the country's power infrastructure is partly the result
of a series of breakdowns at the UK's ageing nuclear reactors. It is
an embarrassment to the government, which has often insisted that
two years of price peaks and insecurity would end in 2007 as Britain
benefited from extra investment in pipelines and import facilities.
But yesterday the Grid carried a "transmission system warning" on
its website calling for an extra 300 megawatts of capacity to ensure
sufficient slack in the electricity supply system between the peak
periods of 1600 GMT and 1930 GMT, when homeowners put the
kettle on, turn on the television and make supper.
The company issued a similar warning on October 19 but insisted
yesterday that these were precautionary and did not mean there was
any immediate risk of a power cut. "This is just a tool to ensure we
can deal with the unexpected. It is a normal part of the market
working and not a reason for concern," said a spokesman.
Jeremy Nicholson, director of the Major Energy Users Council who
attended the talks, said everyone had been caught by surprise by a
recent 30% surge in the forward price of electricity and gas. "We are
all trying to understand why the supply situation looked fairly good
and yet prices have suddenly shot up."
The surge in wholesale prices is likely to encourage suppliers to
pass on the burden to domestic users. Mark Todd, a spokesman for
energyhelpline.com, which helps customers switch suppliers, says
his contacts have told him to expect a 10% rise in gas and electricity
bills after Christmas.
Gas is used directly by many of the steel, chemicals and paper
manufacturers represented by Mr Nicholson but is also used to
generate power to provide electricity. Gas prices are heavily
influenced by the value of oil, which this week hit record levels of
$93 a barrel, and also by availability.
A liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant being built by BG, formerly part of
British Gas, at Milford Haven in South Wales, was expected to be
finished this year but yesterday the company said industrial action by
contractor staff and other difficulties had pushed back its completion
to 2008 with "no definite date yet for opening".
Sources close to the company said there was no chance of the
facility being able to bring in shiploads of LNG from Qatar to meet
peak demand this winter.
There has also been uncertainty over the amount of gas coming into
the market this winter from Norway's Ormen Lange field in the North
Sea. The Langeled pipeline linking the field with an import plant at
Easington, east Yorkshire, was opened last year and is taking some
gas but it is unclear when it will be at full capacity.
Centrica, the owner of British Gas, which has contracted with
Norway's StatoilHydro to bring in the supplies, insisted last night that
concerns were misfounded. "There is plenty of capacity there," said
a spokesman. "When this [Langeled] is fully up and running it will be
able to supply 20% of all Britain's gas needs."
APPENDIX D - BASSLINK FOLLY AFFECTS ALL AUSTRALIANS 1 Nov 2007
The Tasmanian State Government has approached the Federal Government to
write off a $248million public housing debt at the same time that Hydro
Tasmania is requesting $450million from the Tasmanian State Government
to prop up its ailing finances. Hydro Tasmania is citing the effects of
the drought as the reason for a reduction in profits of $100million for
the 2006 2007 year. Hydro Tasmania had pinned its hopes on the Basslink
cable to boost its profits with export sales of hydro electricity at
peak prices to the mainland. However with dam capacity at an all time
low, Hydro Tasmania is instead importing electricity from the mainland
and is having difficulty servicing its $92million facility fee for the
cable.
Hydro Tasmania has no right at all to blame the weather for its current
financial predicament. In its submission to the Joint Assessment Panel,
Basslink Concerned Citizens Coalition (BCCC) made the prediction that if
Tasmania was in drought it could not expect to service exports to
Victoria above Tasmanian demand for electricity. BCCC also predicted
that even if the Tasmanian dams were filled to capacity, Basslink would
fail to generate sufficient revenue to service the annual facility fee
for the cable. But the Panel took no notice.
Keith Borthwick, Chair of BCCC says "We now see the crazy situation
where Victorian gas is piped over to Tasmania to be converted into
electricity and sent back again through Basslink in a desperate attempt
by Hydro to get some return from the cable. It would have made more
economic sense if Hydro had built and operated a gas fired power station
here in Victoria."
"To partly fund the $450 million rescue package required by Hydro,
Premier Lennon is asking the Federal Government to write off a $248
million public housing debt. In other words as well as having Basslink
crossing over us in Gippsland we are, as taxpayers, expected to pay for
it as well. This is despite assurances at the time that Victorians would
not be expected to pay anything for Basslink," continued Mr Borthwick.
Mr Borthwick is calling for a Federal Royal Commission to investigate
the establishment of Basslink. "As the financial burden of Basslink is
now affecting the entire nation, there should be a Federal Royal
Commission into the process by which it was set up. It is too late now
to pull Basslink down but we can learn from the mistakes made and ensure
that future projects such as pulp mills, desalinisation plants and the
like all receive proper objective scrutiny before the commitment is
made to proceed with them. Above all, the views of action groups, no
matter how small, should be tested and not just swept under the carpet,"
says Mr Borthwick..
Media Information
Contact: Keith Borthwick, Chair, Basslink Concerned Citizens Coalition
(03) 5148 2292 (bh) (03) 51977364 (ah)
APPENDIX E Multiple grid projects in Ireland
Directive 97/11/EC requires major grid projects to have an assessment
(EIA) to cover the cumulative, secondary, direct and indirect effects of
the whole project, rather than give a fragmented or piecemeal
assessment. There is then the question of defining a project. The Meath-
Cavan 400 kV line seems to be an extension of the Cavan-Tyrone
Interconnector.
A good case was made (after the event, as a complaint) for treating the
Teesside power station (consented 1989) and the consequent 75 km of 400
kV lines (proposed 1991) as one project combining generation and "deep"
grid reinforcement. That complaint was rejected by the European
Commissioner.
Then in 1994-5, I did succeed in getting the three sections of the
Scotland - Northern Ireland interconnector treated as one, thereby
bringing the Larne inquiries to a halt for six months. The three
sections were respectively in Scotland, under the sea, and in Northern
Ireland, and had been the subject of separate applications to different
government departments with separate EIAs. That may be a UK precedent
for a connected sequence of lines.
The proposed Beauly-Denny (B-D) line in Scotland would also be linked at
Beauly to the mooted Ullapool -Beauly line, but the EIA and inquiries
have proceeded for Beauly-Denny alone. There is the wider question here
of an integrated policy for renewable energy (RE) and grid development,
in which the B-D line might be seen as part of a wider "programme", to
use the word in the SEA Directive 2001/42/EC. That would be important
particularly with regard to "alternatives", which should include UK-wide
under-sea cables (which are widely discussed as possibilities in any
case). The problem is that B-D is only considered within the powers of
the Scottish Executive, which precludes a UK strategic consideration.
It will be interesting to see how the multiple and trans-national Irish
projects are assessed, and whether that is challenged.
Mike O'Carroll