SEGIL - Sustainable Electrical Gas Insulated Lines

Completed

Renewable Energy Sources(Wind Energy)
Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution)

Applied Research and Development

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Project Contact
National Grid Electricity Transmission

Network Innovation Allowance

Ofgem

01 March 2022

01 May 2022

2 months

£133,814

Power

London

Project Contact, National Grid Electricity Transmission

Project Contact, SP Energy Networks

A sustainable GIL solution will help to connect offshore renewables to urban centres. Our project will focus on identifying:The potential for GIL to provide high-capacity transmission connections over 2000MVA to increase capacity available for new offshore wind generation.Options to replace SF6 with alternative low carbon footprint gases as a viable means of GIL insulation. Scope: The project meets the scope of the competition by developing and widely implementing a technology that will allow more rapid progress towards Whole System integration and decarbonisation. It will address:“Current and future heat, power, and transport energy requirements”: the solution potentially offers more cost-effective, sustainable and better-performing transmission capacity delivery to support demand growth from heat and transport electrification.Novel approaches to infrastructure investment to maximise efficiency in large-scale network and system investments by taking systems view across generation and demand side changes linked to decarbonisation.Project PartnersLead partner is National Grid ET (NGET). Additional project partners are:Ørsted as a windfarm developer and generation licence holder.Scottish Power Transmission (SPT) and National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO) as networks owners and operators.General Electric (GE) as the GIL technology provider.J. Murphy & Sons as civil construction expert and EPC.University of Manchester as an academic partner and expert in HV assets and SF6 replacement.Frazer-Nash Consultancy (FNC) as techno-economic assessment experts.These partners bring knowledge and capabilities and have a strong interest in advancing SEGIL technology: NGET, SPT and Ørsted can deploy the solution on the respective networks, GE will design and produce innovative GIL components, University of Manchester can expand their research in the area of sustainable gases and new assets, J. Murphy & Sons would benefit from learning how to specify, procure, install and commission GIL, while FNC would gain experience collaborating with the networks on innovative technology.User NeedsPotential users of SEGIL technology are NGET, other transmission owners (TOs) and offshore wind developers that require connection of new offshore generation sites to the existing networks via high-capacity connections; faster and with less disruption to local communities or wildlife. Future power infrastructure investments can benefit from increasing the range of technologies available, including the replacement of existing assets reaching the end of life. The potential benefits to consumers are faster integration of renewable generation and a more cost-effective and sustainable network, with lower impact on areas of natural beauty.

14/10/22