Results:

A review funded by HubNet and UKERC, and written by the University of Strathclyde's Damien Frame, Keith Bell and Stephen McArthur, argues that RD&D activity by Britains electricity distribution network operators has significantly revived; this revival is linked to Ofgem's 500m Low Carbon Network Fund investment.

The principal aims of this paper are to examine the range of reported unit costs for major generating technologies, show the range of estimates, explain where possible the reasons for the range, and show to what extent there is any clustering around central values. In addition, the paper explains the components of unit cost calculations and discussed what is, and is not, included in these calculations.

This document is a profile for the project titled 'Advanced Materials Modelling And Lifing Technologies For Gas Turbine Components Operating In Coal Gasification Plant'.

This document is a profile for the project titled 'Advanced Modelling And Testing Of Thick Section Welded Hcm2s'.

This document is a report for the project titled 'Advanced Modelling and Testing – Thick Sectioned Welded Alloy HCM2S (P23)'.

• To optimise the fabrication of thick section HCM2S utilising practical and efficient welding processes (MMA, FCAW).
• To thoroughly investigate the welding of HCM2S without PWHT.
• To model the weld and cross weld mechanical properties of HCM2S both with and without PWHT in order to define cross weld properties.
• To demonstrate acceptable weldment mechanical properties.
• Consequently to produce fabrication guidelines for thick section HCM2S both with and without PWHT.

1. Background
2. Welding & Weld procedure qualification
3. Neural network analysis
4. Service Aged Material
5. Stress Rupture Testing
6. Residual Stress Modelling
7. General Discussion & Conclusions

This document is a profile for the project titled 'Advanced Monitoring Using Imaging For Combustion In Power Station Boilers'.

This document is a profile for the project titled 'Advanced Near Burner Flame Diagnostics For Ignition And Stability Studies On Full Scale Pulverised Coal Flames'.

The overall aim of the project is to improve the simulation of the near burner region of flames by CFD models, and to devise techniques whereby ignition processes in the vicinity of the flame holder and the flame structure immediately downstream can be assessed for individual flames in large pulverised coal fired furnaces. Specific project objectives are:

This document is a report for the project titled 'Advanced Optimisation - Coal Fired Power Plant Operations'.

In recent years the efforts to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from power stations have resulted in operational modifications including the fitting of low - NOx burners. These modifications are expensive and generally have an adverse effect upon plant performance, resulting in an increase in unburnt carbon. To reduce these adverse effects, on-line optimisers have been developed as an enhancement to the power station's digital control system (DCS). GNOCIS (Generic NOx Optimisation Control Intelligent System) is the main optimiser used within the UK. This is a neural network based optimiser that takes various control parameters such as mill feeder speeds, excess oxygen, burner tilt and load as inputs and predicts the resultant NOx emissions and carbon-in-ash levels. In fact the models are usually used in reverse with boiler control settings being provided by the model to optimise the emissions.

The success of the boiler optimisation models has suggested that on-line optimisation can be used in other parts of the power station, eg thermal efficiency, electrostatic precipitator (ESP). Although each local optimiser is able to perform its task well individually there will be occasions when the individual packages will provide conflicting advice. The purpose of this unit optimisation project is to develop an integrated approach to unit optimisation and develop an overall optimiser that is able to resolve any conflicts between the individual optimisers.

1. Introduction
2. Project Members
3. Individual Optimisers
4. On-Line Thermal Efficiency Package
5. GNOCIS/Boiler
6. GNOCIS/Turbine
7. ESP Optimisation
8. Intelligent Sootblowing System (ISBS)
9. Unit Optimiser
10. Software Implementation
11. Handling Conflict Among Optimisers
12. On-Line Power Plant Optimisers in the UK
13. Recommendations
14. Conclusions
15. References

This document is a report for the project titled 'Advanced PF Power Plant - Improved Materials for Boilers and Steam Turbines'.

In 1997 the Foresight Task Force identified advanced pulverised fuel technology as having the greatest market potential of the Clean Coal Technologies over the following 15 years. This task force, together with the Institute of Materials task force on materials, highlighted that the economic and environmental performance of this technology was currently limited by the performance of high temperature materials for boilers and steam turbines. As a consequence of this, the required R&D programmes perceived as being necessary for the development of improved materials were outlined.

This programme is receiving support through the EC's Thermie framework and from the DTI. It has a far longer timescale to fruition than the present initiative, as it will require inclusion of a demonstration phase. The technology involved in the present programme will be commercially exploitable much earlier, and, even after introduction of technology based on nickel based alloys, it will continue to be competitive in markets particularly sensitive to capital cost rather than through-life cost. The present programme is implemented through a wider European collaboration under the auspices of COST 522; as such collaboration reduces the costs of implementation and ensures that the UK remains abreast of the state-of-the-art in this technology.

1. Background
2. The Cost Framework of Programmes
3. Technical and Economic Value
4. Boiler Group Activities
5. Steam Turbine Group Activities
6. Common Activity Goals
7. Plant Integration and Ancillary Components Group
8. Conclusions
9. Acknowledgements
10. References
11. Abbreviations Used in Text

This document is a profile for the project titled 'Improved Materials for Boilers and Steam Turbines'.

The principal aim of this project was to develop and demonstrate the suitability of advanced materials and components for the power industry. Such materials and components were aimed at steam temperatures of 620 - 650°C. Specific areas covered were:

This document is a summary of the project titled 'With/without CO2 Capture Options'.

This document is a report that summarises the findings of the DTI Cleaner Coal Technology R and D Programme Project 217 'Application of CFD Modelling to Mill Classifier Design'.

In order to reduce the carbon in ash (CIA) levels arising from the application of advanced low NOX technologies, it is necessary to improve the quality and consistency of the coal milling process. In many low NOX retrofit applications, mill upgrades, including classifier upgrades, are required to achieve the improved milling performance. Unfortunately, plant space constraints often make it impossible to install classifiers of ideal geometries and the performance of non-ideal geometries is difficult to predict using existing design methods. In addition, low quality coals are increasingly being used, alone or in blends, to reduce plant operating costs. The grinding and classification behaviour of low quality coals and their blends has been found to differ from that of UK and world-traded bituminous coals. Consequently, classifier design rules that have been derived from the extensive experience of milling bituminous coals are less reliable when applied to low quality coals. There is a clear requirement to improve and extend the range of applicability of classifier design methods so that they may be used to design classifiers of non-ideal geometries and for coals outside the conventional range of experience.

1. Introduction
2. Classifier Design
3. Review of E Mill Classifier Process Data and Design Rules
4. Physical Model Testing
5. CFD Simulation of Physical Model
6. Plant Trials
7. CFD Simulation of E Mill Classifiers
8. Development of Improved Design Rules
9. CFD Simulation of Primary Classification
10. Conclusions
11. Recommendations for Further Work
12. Acknowledgements

This document is a profile for the project titled 'Impact on Plant Performance and Ash Disposal'.

This document is a summary for the project titled 'Impact on Plant Performance and Ash Disposal'.

This project has shown that ash re-firing is both technically and financially viable on existing coal fired power plant. It is believed that commercial scale replication of the concept could be undertaken by plant operators using the data gathered by this project as the basis for a full scale development.

This document is the final report for the project titled 'Assessment of Ash Re-firing and Mineral Addition - Impact on Plant Performance and Ash Disposal'.

Pulverised coal fired generation plant will continue to play a major role in the world-wide electrical power market for the foreseeable future. Emission standards have become tighter in recent years and coal fired plant has been required to become more flexible in terms of operating regimes. The changes have led to increases in the levels of unburnt carbon in ash, deposition patterns in boilers as well as increased pressure on the performance in electrostatic precipitators.

This project, to investigate if ash refiring and mineral addition were viable methods of improving boiler efficiency and reducing emissions, was supported by the DTI as part of its Cleaner Coal Programme. The project involved the collaboration of two generators (RWE npower and TXU Europe), a major coal supplier (UK Coal) plus two university groups (Imperial College London and the University of Sheffield)

1. Introduction
2. Project Overview - Aims, objectives and work programme
3. Coals and minerals selected for the project
4. Mineral addition trials on the Entrained Flow Reactor
5. University of Sheffield MSc projects
6. Pilot scale trials of ash re-firing
7. Pilot scale trials of mineral additions
8. Characterisation of coals, ashes, minerals and deposits
9. The nature of fly ash and its ability to be collected in electrostatic precipitators
10. Power station evaluation of ash re-firing
11. Techno-economic assessment
12. Conclusions
13. List of Participants

• Energy balancing is critical and extends beyond the electricity system
• Numerous opportunities to achieve balancing include:
  • Energy storage
  • Demand side flexibility
  • Vector integration
• Key decisions that lead to new energy systems will affect how much and what type of flexibility is needed.
• There is a huge amount of potential that we do not currently understand about balancing within a whole energy system.
• It is possible to assess the requirements for future flexibility – tools and evidence are being developed to help with this.

The aim of this project was to further develop micro turbine indirect firing and to develop this into a biomass generator, building on the success of the previous project. The system was redesigned and rebuilt using the experience gained and the recommendations reported in our last project. The efficiency, maintenance and safety of the system was improved through this development project.

The Specific aims were:

The main achievements of these projects are:

1. Introduction
2. Re-evaluation and Design
3. Initial Testing
4. Long Term Testing
5. Results and Discussion
6. Conclusions
7. Recommendations
8. Acknowledgements

The Scope of the Project is intended to investigate the potential future option available for Black Start by looking at all possible technologies available and including but not limited to the following areas for consideration:

1. Future Energy Scenarios - 2020
2. Technical - Energisation Scenarios
3. Technical Requirements
4. International benchmarking
5. Additional system benefits of approaches
6. Regulatory and commercial arrangements

The objective of this project is to complete a desktop study to investigate the potential of alternative Black Start options for the future. In particular to Identify credible Alternative approaches for the procurement of Black Start in GB in the future considering both Technical and Commercial /Regulatory frameworks. This is a short initial study which may lead to further detailed studies on specific preferred options.

The conclusions from the work undertaken are as follows:

It is recommended that some further studies and development work are undertaken with engagement with DNOs to further investigate the potential use of smaller scale plant for Black Start into the future. NGET are planning to follow up on the above outcomes as detailed in Next Steps.

It is generally accepted that improvements in coal particle size distribution are beneficial to carbon burnout, and considerable emphasis is placed on the optimisation and maintenance of coal pulverising equipment at utility power plant. The modelling of carbon burnout has been the subject of a number of recent and ongoing projects, some of which have received the financial support of the DTI, and significant technical advances have been made. However, there is an absence of available plant data to demonstrate the effect of coal particle size distribution on carbon in ash, which would allow the validation of this aspect of CFD and engineering models of burnout. This project seeks to address the shortfall.

The overall aim of the project is to establish good quality plant data to demonstrate the effect of changing coal fineness in a controlled way. Specific objectives are:

This document is a report for the project titled 'Carbon Burnout Project - Coal Fineness Effects'.

Carbon-in-ash presents an obvious cost to coal-fired generation plant in terms of lost fuel. High levels of carbon-in-ash can also inhibit the efficiency of electrostatic precipitators, which in turn can lead to increased particulate emissions, while the potential for selling fly-ash is dependent upon the level of carbon in the ash and excessive levels can result in additional disposal costs.

The aim of DTI project 226 has been to establish good quality plant and rig data to demonstrate the effect of changing coal fineness on carbon burnout in a controlled manner, which can then be used to support computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and engineering models of the process. The project was designed to achieve this through:

The full scale plant trials were successfully completed at Powergen's Kingsnorth Power Station, establishing plant data that demonstrates the effect of changing coal fineness on carbon burnout in a controlled manner. A full set of tests were also completed on Powergen's CTF, operating with four different fuel grind sizes. During these tests both carbon-in-ash and NOX levels were seen to increase with increasing fuel particle size.

1. Introduction
2. Programme of Work
3. Discussion of Results
4. Conclusions
5. Future Work
6. Acknowledgements
7. References
8. Figures

This report endeavours to understand the technical aspects of a 5kW fuel cell based UPS. Suitable testing is done to determine whether the performance of the system is equivalent to a battery based UPS. The Economic analysis deals with the feasibility of a fuel cell UPS is today's economy.

Testing was then carried out to verify the operation of the fuel cell and establish weather performance was equivalent with battery-operated UPS. The influence of temperature and stack power over start-up time was studied. To establish the dynamic operation of the fuel cell, load-switching tests, both of active and reactive nature, were carried out. Consecutive runs of soak tests were done to verify long hours of operation.

The fuel cell has proven capable to equal the performance of a battery bank, to the inverter and then AC load, the fuel cell is just a battery which never drains. Testing in lower operating temperatures has shown start up is not affected by long hours on non-operation. Though the optimum fuel cell stack an ambient temperature of less than 20°C. Start up is not affected when operated with active and reactive loads.

The objectives of this project are to:

The primary aim and objective of the work is to develop the technical and economic information that will assist existing or future owners and investors in the power industry to evaluate the advantages of utilising coal based syngas generated in a Gasification Enabling Module (GEM) to refuel existing NGCC plants which have the capability to remove 85% or more of the CO2 prior to combustion. To achieve this objective, the study will evaluate GEMs located both adjacent and remote from existing NGCC plants and will evaluate the performance of the GEMs both before and after carbon capture. The results to date on these flow schemes are based on preliminary conceptual technical evaluations and preliminary cost estimates.

The range of coals encountered by new and existing power stations in the UK and abroad is steadily increasing. The inorganic component - the mineral matter - of coal impacts directly on plant availability through coal ash slagging, emission limits especially for fine particulate material and ash use and disposal. These factors constrain the acceptable range of coals for power station use. This project addresses the lack of fundamental understanding of the processes and rates of coal ash formation. It also considers the inability to predict boiler ash properties and behaviour because of a lack of detailed numerical descriptions for fly ash. The objectives of this project are:

The UK now imports more than 50% of the coal that is used for coal-fired power generation. UK generators are offered an increasingly wider range of world-traded coals for burning in boilers that were designed to burn a relatively narrow range of indigenous coals. This project was undertaken to provide UK boiler designers and operators with an improved knowledge of the combustion characteristics of coals for which they had little combustion experience. The study placed particular emphasis on the effects that a wider range of coal minerals and mineral matter distributions might have on the many aspects of boiler operation. These ranged from coal grinding for pulverised coal combustion, to combustion behaviour, levels of unburned carbon in ash, precipitator performance, gaseous and particulate emissions, and the slagging and fouling characteristics of the ash.

The coals were selected to reflect the wide range of world-traded coals that are now on offer and came from North and South America, Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, China, Russia and India. The coals were chosen on the basis of the ash content and ash chemistry that UK utilities might encounter. As a consequence of the varied geographical origins of the coals and the range of ash chemistry, the nature and distribution of the mineral matter in the coals was found to be significantly different from that of indigenous coals.

Coal and mineral matter characterisation was carried by Nottingham University and Imperial College London. Combustion studies were undertaken by E.ON, using the Combustion Test Facility (CTF) at the Ratcliffe Power Technology Centre and by Imperial College, using a high temperature Entrained Flow Reactor (EFR). In addition the EFR was used to study the mineral transformations of the minerals found in the suite of coals. The combustion facilities generated a range of samples for analysis and characterisation, including combustion ash and unburned char, cyclone ashes and deposits collected on ceramic probes and a slag panel. Characterisation of the samples enabled the combustion performance and slagging propensity of the coals to be assessed and ranked against that of a typical UK bituminous coal (Harworth).

Some of the coals would be unsuitable for UK boilers. Two coals from the US Powder River Basin had a high slagging and fouling potential, a high ash coal from India could give potential ash handling problems unless blended with a low ash coal, and a South African coal gave high NOx and high levels of unburned carbon. The remaining coals would be expected to give few operational problems.

The implications of burning a wider range of imported coals have been considered. Sales of boiler ashes to the construction market are an important consideration in the overall economics of coal-fired power generation. Several of the ashes with a high calcium content would be unlikely to meet current and anticipated specifications for use with cements and concrete.

Existing methods of coal and ash characterisation were found to be generally satisfactory in predicting the combustion performance of the coals burned at rig scale. The more advanced coal and ash characterisation techniques were found valuable in understanding the mineral transformations, the ash formation and ash deposition mechanisms.

1. Introduction
2. Project Overview - Aims and Objectives - Activities
3. Coals and Minerals Chosen for the Project
4. Coal Combustion Characterisation
5. Generation and Characterisation of Ashes from Coal and Mineral Combinations
6. Mineral Transformations and Ash Formation Processes
7. Ash Particle Interactions and Transformations
8. Implications of Findings for Power Station Performance
9. Ash Sales and Ash Disposal
10. Conclusions
11. Further Work
12. References

This document is the final report for the project titled 'Coal-Fired Advanced Supercritical Retrofit with CO₂ Capture '.

Retrofit of carbon abated clean coal technologies (CATs) is a practical solution with no technical or physical show stoppers being identified in the course of the study. Advanced supercritical boiler/turbine (ASC BTR) technology is available now with the appropriate guarantees for retrofitting to coal-fried power plant to improve efficiency, reduce costs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

When CO2 capture and storage becomes economic or mandatory the retrofit routes studies are likely to be amongst the best and most economic options for existing pulverised fuel power generation plant. The project consortium members (Doosan Babcock, Alstom, E.ON UK, Air Products, Imperial College London and Fluor Ltd) are well positioned to exploit the opportunities worldwide.

1. Introduction
2. Technical Description of Results
3. Recommendations
4. Results and Conclusions
5. Acknowledgements
6. References

The Code for Sustainable Homes has been developed to enable a step change in sustainable building practice for new homes. It has been prepared by the Government in close working consultation with the Building Research Establishment (BRE) and Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA), and through consultation with a Senior Steering Group consisting of Government, industry and NGO representatives.

The Code is intended as a single national standard to guide industry in the design and construction of sustainable homes. It is a means of driving continuous improvement, greater innovation and exemplary achievement in sustainable home building.

The Code will complement the system of Energy Performance Certificates which is being introduced in June 2007 under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). The EPBD will require that all new homes (and in due course other homes, when they are sold or leased) have an Energy Performance Certificate providing key information about the energy efficiency/carbon performance of the home. Energy assessment under the Code will use the same calculation methodology therefore avoiding the need for duplication.

This document is divided into the following sections:

1. What is the code for sustainable homes?
2. How does the code work?
3. Summary of code benefits
4. Code standards
5. Practical Examples

The objectives of this project were:

All project objectives have been achieved. As planned, video capture and processing equipment was installed and tested on actual boiler plant early in the project and the results of practical experience used progressively to inform and refine developments.

This experience has confirmed the importance of proving techniques under actual PF combustion techniques. Work by Imperial on a number of other video projects involving observations in small-scale furnaces has shown that the technical challenges involved in acquiring satisfactory video data are much more severe in full scale plant. Different combustion-related phenomena are also encountered in practice.

The objectives of this project are:

The main aim of the project was to demonstrate the proposed low volatile burner at full scale in a single burner test facility and to establish its performance with regard to NOX and combustion efficiency. Furthermore, pilot scale testing was undertaken to quantify the effect of the staged addition of combustion air. Air staging is generally regarded as an effective, mature technology for NOX reduction from bituminous coals, but its impact on low volatile coals is less well understood.

Specific objectives for this project are:

Traditionally low volatile coals and anthracites have been utilised in arch fired furnaces (often referred to as 'downshot' firing) so as to overcome the inherent difficulties of achieving stable and efficient combustion which arise from the lack of volatile material in the coal to aid in the ignition, and the low reactivity of the remaining char. The downshot firing system is, however, of higher initial cost than a comparable wall fired system, and if it were possible to utilise low volatile coal in wall fired furnaces there are clear economic benefits both in retrofit applications and for new plant.

In Phase 1 of the project the key mechanisms for ignition and stabilisation of low volatile coal flames were identified. A conceptual burner design for firing coals down to 10% VM daf was outlined. In Phase 2 of the project the aim is to develop further a burner design specifically for firing of coals of lower volatile matter content down to ca. 10% daf. It will be necessary to determine more closely the limit of volatile matter on ignition and stability with existing Low NO_x Burner technology and investigate the actual/relative sensitivity of ignition/stability to variations in the key mechanism parameters identified in Phase 1. The burner design developed in the project will be tested at full-scale

Objectives of project:

1. Technical Background
2. Project Objectives and Achievements
3. Techniques and Results
4. Conclusions and Future Work

The objectives of this project are:

As a result of this project, a prototype instrumentation system for the concurrent measurement of flame temperature and soot concentration has been developed. The system operates on the principle of multi-wavelength pyrometry combined with digital imaging and image processing techniques. A monochromatic imaging system is used to visualise the flame field in the furnace. The flame light incipient on the optical sensor installed on the furnace wall is split into separate beams passing through narrow band-pass filters of different wavelengths before reaching the imaging device. The resulting digital images are processed to determine temperature distribution of the flame field. The soot concentration of the flame is represented using a parameter called KL factor, which is derived from the temperature measured. The operability and effectiveness of the system have been evaluated on an industrial-scale combustion test facility operated by Innogy plc.

Results obtained have demonstrated that the system is capable of measuring two-dimensional distributions and fluctuations of flame temperature and soot concentration. The accuracy of the system was verified using a tungsten lamp as a standard reference source. The relative error between the measured temperature and the reference temperature was found to be no greater than 1% throughout the measurement range from 1280°C to 1690°C. The resolution of the system was dependent upon the resolution of the camera and its installation on the furnace. The prototype system was applied to investigate the distributions of flame temperature and soot concentration of typical pulverised coals. Quantitative relationships between flame temperature, soot concentration and corresponding plant conditions were identified. Preliminary comparisons between the pulverised coal flames and other fossil fuel flames were also undertaken.

In order to examine the corrosive effects of co-firing biomass with coal in existing subcritical and possible future (ultra) supercritical boilers, typical and potential boiler tube alloys have been exposed to simulated furnace wall and superheater/reheater environments in the 1MWTH pulverised coal fired Combustion Test Facility (CTF) at Power Technology. A total of four CTF runs have been completed, each of which were nominally of 50 hours duration. Up to 15 furnace wall and 16 superheater/reheater steel alloy specimens were exposed to a range of metal temperatures, with differing heat fluxes and gaseous environments, representative of pulverised coal combustion under low NO_x conditions with biomass additions. The biomass fuels were co-fired with Daw Mill coal, furnace wall corrosion specimens having previously been tested without biomass additions in this environment, providing base line corrosion data for comparison. Numerous previous tests with coals provided baseline data for superheater/reheater corrosion rates. Biomass was fired at both 20% and 10% on a thermal basis, representing proportions significantly above and close to the maximum proportions expected to be utilised in actual plant, enabling examination of concentration effects. The specimens were exposed to the combustion environment on air-cooled, precision metrology, corrosion probes.

When co-firing with wood at both 20% and 10% on a thermal basis, there was no discernable worsening of either furnace wall or superheater/reheater corrosion when compared with firing coal alone. Whilst there was no comparable data for TP316 austenitic stainless steel superheater/reheater specimens, the measured corrosion rates were substantially reduced when compared to the ferritic T22 specimens exposed at the same location.

1. Introduction
2. Experimental Program
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
6. Recommendations
7. References

We welcome the opportunity to comment on the findings of the Cost of Energy Review, conducted by Professor Dieter Helm. In our response, we address most of the questions set out in the Call for Evidence from BEIS. Before turning to these specific questions, we have three general observations about the Review and the Call for Evidence.

First, whilst the review title focuses on the cost of energy, this is misleading. The terms of reference and the Review report make it clear that the main focus is electricity rather than energy in general.

This distinction is important since the data shows significant differences in the position of UK electricity and gas costs when compared to costs in other countries. There are also differences between relative costs for households and relative costs for business energy consumers. UK electricity prices are higher up the European league table than prices for gas. Electricity prices for energy intensive industries in the UK are particularly high.

Our second comment is that there are important distinctions between prices, costs and bills. Whilst much of the debate focuses on prices, the costs of energy for consumers also depends on their energy consumption. Therefore, it is also important to consider energy efficiency of buildings, appliances and industrial processes since these are a key determinant of costs.

Our third comment is that costs need to be considered for the electricity system as a whole. Whilst the separate questions in the Call for Evidence about generation, networks and retail supply are understandable, costs to consumers partly depend on interactions between these components of the electricity system. This compartmentalised approach to the evidence base could mean that some of these systemic interactions are missed.

The main objectives of this project were to:

The project evaluated the relative merits of three different systems for burning low calorific value gas. These were a diffusion flame combustion system (current Värnamo/ARBRE build), a lean premix combustion system (based on the ALSTOM-Lincoln premium fuelled G30 design) and a catalytic combustion system. The evaluation was based on assembly and analysis of:

The specific objectives of the project are:

In-furnace NO_X reduction technologies, and low NO_X burners in particular, are considered mature for application to a wide range of coals. However their performance deteriorates with the more 'difficult' coals; i.e. low volatile coals (<10% daf) and those with high levels of moisture and/or high levels of inert materials. Such coals are being utilised increasingly in large export markets such as Eastern Europe, India, Asia and the United States. The problem with difficult coals is in achieving a stable performance with low emissions and efficient combustion. For example, the presence of high levels of moisture causes a delayed ignition resulting in the flame front not being stabilised within the burner throat as is normal with bituminous coals. Consequently, the burner is significantly less effective in controlling both NO_X emissions and combustion efficiency. The presence of high ash compounds this problem.

The proposed project aims to develop and demonstrate a new burner type capable of firing a range of difficult coals, at full-scale in a single burner test facility. The development phase will employ advanced modelling techniques for investigation of the effects of ignition, devolatilisation and burnout behaviour for difficult coals. This will be combined with detailed coal characterisation data. Burner design and performance implications as a result of integrated CO₂ capture options will be considered.

This document is a report for the project titled 'Development of Stable Isotopic Ratio Measurement - Apportioning of Fuel and Thermal NO_x'.

The main aims of the project have been to develop a nitrogen-stable isotope measurement technique for NO_x and to ascertain whether it can be used to determine the relative contributions of fuel and thermal NO_x during coal combustion at high temperatures. Suitable substrates for adsorbing sufficiently high concentrations of NO_x from flue gas streams to facilitate the reliable measurement of the nitrogen stable isotope ratios were developed, the substrates encompassing both manganese oxide supported on zirconia (MnOy-ZrO2) and iron supported on active carbon (Fe/AC, first milestone completed October 2001).

1. Introduction
2. Technical Progress/Overall Planning and Objectives Summary
3. Expenditure
4. Exploitation/Publication of Results

• Appendix 1 - Background nitrogen levels in EA-IRMS for the Europa 20:20 instrument
• Appendix 2 - Tables
• Appendix 3 - Details on nitrogen stable isotope measurements obtained using the N-free Fe/Mn-AC

Overview

A series of energy policy changes announced since the May election have led to concerns about increasing political risk faced by prospective investors in the UK energy system (ECCC 2015). It has also been suggested that policy needs to be ‘reset’, with less technology-specific intervention and increased resources for longer term research into new technologies (Helm 2015). This paper draws on a large body of analysis from UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) and Imperial College.

The paper argues that a ‘reset’ approach is unnecessary, will create delays to investment, increase political risks, and hence costs to consumers. Simply put, the government already has the levers it needs to encourage investment in a secure and lower carbon system. Policy can be made more effective by providing investors with greater clarity and a longer term perspective, using the policy framework that is already in place. Auctions for Contracts for Difference (CfDs) have already brought forward significant reductions in the prices paid to low carbon generators. CfDs could be moved progressively to a technology neutral basis, combined with price caps to bear down further on costs.

The paper discusses the infrastructure implications of new sources of energy and notes that government will need to balance the benefits of technology neutral CfD auctions against the need to develop strategic infrastructure in a timely fashion. It also discusses the impacts of variable renewables and explains that whilst it is important for system costs to be allocated cost effectively this does not mean that variable generators should be obliged to self-balance and invest in dedicated back up.

The paper also explains that whilst greater investment in innovation would be welcome, forthcoming research shows the timescales associated with invention, demonstration and deployment of technology are long. Whilst improvements to technologies are hugely important, the emergence of entirely new technologies remains very uncertain. Support for innovation should not be premised on wishful thinking about silver bullet technologies. Many of the technologies we need to decarbonise already exist and have done so for several decades. The challenge is to drive costs down and encourage network innovation to better suit new sources of power.

Finally, the paper argues that whilst more effective carbon pricing would bring many benefits it is not a sufficient condition for significant energy system change. Regulation iv UK Energy Research Centre of emissions from existing coal fired power stations after 2025 would aid investor clarity and improve the prospects for investment in both low carbon and gas-fired generation.

This report therefore considers what a 2030 world would look like for PiV ( plug-in electric vehicles) purchase and use to be at the levels foreseen in typical scenarios, where it would be possible to end the sale of pure fossil fuel vehicles by 2040 or earlier. It discusses the challenge - how to design and operate the energy system to make that possible. This report discusses three key questions: The nature of the driver experience and the levels of service that could be provided by innovative use of modern internet technologies and infrastructure.

The kinds of public and private charging infrastructure that will be required and what this might mean for charging points in different locations, including the network upgrades required to support them. The integration and operation of the whole system including charging management, the effective carbon intensity of the added electricity load, and the impact on networks and the economics of generation.

This report is a surmised version of the 'ETI Insights Report - Smarter Charing a UK Transition to Low Carbon Vehicles: Full Report'. The report considers what a 2030 world would look like for PiV (plug-in electric vehicles) purchase and use to be at the levels foreseen in typical scenarios, where it would be possible to end the sale of pure fossil fuel vehicles by 2040 or earlier. It discusses the challenge - how to design and operate the energy system to make that possible. The report discusses three key questions:

The report highlights these key points:

The paper first discusses estimates of the levelised costs of selected technologies and the corresponding rates of return under alternative assumptions as to prices. It then shows how such estimates can be refined to allow for the variability of demand, changes in plant dispatching schedules, storage and so forth. Next it considers the effects of environmental policies and innovation on costs and the rate of return. Finally it considers the issues posed by uncertainty and risks. By beginning with the simple cases of levelised costs and average returns, and then by gradually peeling away assumptions, the aim is to gradually reveal the fundamentally different perspective that arises when the rate of return becomes the focus of investment.

The meeting considered both the general shape of the Electricity Market Reform (EMR) package and the four specific elements proposed in the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and HM Treasury (HMT) consultations. This summary covers first the generic aspects and then, more briefly, the four specific elements.

This report is an account of the discussion; comments are nonattributed. Opinions expressed in the report do not necessarily represent UKERC’s views. Arrangements for the meeting were facilitated by the UKERC Meeting Place.

• Low cost heat networks
• The use of syn-gas generated from EfW technologies to create fuels / chemicals�
• The use of pyrolysis to create transport fuels�
• The injection of bio-gas and syn-gas from EfW technologies into the gas grid�
• The injection of bio-gas and syn-gas from EfW technologies into the gas grid with CCS

• Applying forecast values for low to high waste availability and conversion efficiencies, the amount of useful energy from waste (both heat and power) which may be generated ranges from 5 to 230TWhrs.
• Projected achievable electrical generation is approximately 25TWhrs per year
• This equates to between 5% and 8% of the UK?s electricity demand
• For each of the technology and waste arisings scenarios, the deployment of advanced energy from waste technologies is projected to contribute to a net decrease in UK CO₂e emissions of between 5 and 10 MTCO₂e/year at midpoint technology conversion and waste arisings scenarios
• Greater emissions reductions are associated with high total conversion efficiency technologies, both to electricity and from utilising heat.

• The Technology Evaluation Criteria to allow the technologies assessed within the project to be compared;
• The financial modelling approach and key assumptions for the calculation of the benefits; and
• The definition of the existing market and baseline technologies to compare against the proposed optimisation and improvements.

• A - Summary of Work Packages
• D - Modelling user manual for WP4
• E - Task 4.1 Project framework deliverable
• F - Technology development opportunities for EfW
• G - Pre-treatment and gas cleaning
• H - Summary of technology readiness for use with wastes

• Biogas cleaning and compression (for gas grid or vehicle use) for Medium Scale AD plant applications generating around 300kW and 1500 kW of biogas (Type 2) applications
• Multi-stage AD plant for Type 2 applications
• Thermo-chemical pre-treatment of wastes to increase biodegradability of feedstock
• Single stageAD plant for dairy farms (Type 3)

• Single stage AD technology is relatively inefficient with respect to semi-solid waste, but will continue to be applied, with some modification, as it provides greater flexibility when feedstocks are prone to change from season to season or even daily.
• Multi-phase AD provides greater energy yield, but is relatively more costly (tankage, quality of digestate, high level of control etc).
• Pre-hydrolysis involving the use of chemicals or enzymes may prove too costly (the digestate will require different handling) to reach financial viability, but it will be important to keep abreast of the development with second and third generation biofuels, which look more promising.
• Hydrolysis of the hemicellulose and cellulose fractions of ligno-cellulosic materials is still at the development stage, although there are plans for demonstrations in the EU and USA. It is not clear whether this should be a priority for the UK at present, since the same feedstock could potentially be used in more efficient thermal processes such as gasification and pyrolysis.

1. The opportunity for Energy from Waste in the UK
2. Makes recommendations regarding Technology Development Opportunities needed to take advantage of the opportunities identified.

• WP1: UK Waste arisings
• WP2: Technology Assessment
• WP3: System Modelling

• Distributed scale advanced thermal integrated systems for wastes
• Cost effective gasification gas clean-up, in accordance with a system solution
• Low cost, high efficiency distributed scale integrated AD systems
• Integrated distributed energy from waste facilities incorporating: thermal and AD technologies to maximise resource efficiency.

This document is a summary report for the project titled 'Enhanced Efficiency Steam Turbine Blading - For Cleaner Coal Plant'.

The aim of this project was to increase the efficiency of the short height stages typically found in high pressure steam turbine cylinders. For coal fired power plant, this will directly lead to a reduction in the amount of fuel required to produce electrical power, resulting in lower power station emissions. The continual drive towards higher cycle efficiencies demands increased inlet steam temperatures and pressures, which necessarily leads to shorter blade heights. Further advances in blading for short height stages are required in order to maximise the benefit. To achieve this, an optimisation of existing 3 dimensional designs was carried out and a new 3 dimensional fixed blade for use in the early stages of the high pressure turbine was developed.

The milestones for the project were defined around the following specific objectives:

The work that CCLRC undertook on the ALSTOM C.F.D. code was very successful. The 3-D flow solver code supplied by ALSTOM was analysed and two methods of parallisation implemented. The OMP method of parallisation is only suitable for use on "shared memory" multi-processor computers. The MPI method of parallisation is suitable for use on "distributed memory" computers, sometimes know as "Beowulf Clusters", which tend to be significantly cheaper to buy than large shared memory computers of similar processing power. As a result of this work, ALSTOM Power have purchased a Beowulf Cluster, and it has become the main workhorse of the Aerodynamics Group.

1. Introduction
2. Analysis of the Project
3. Improved Computational Grid Generation
4. Optimisation of Current Controlled Flow Design
5. Development of Very Short Height Fixed Blades
6. Improved Methods for Producing Model Turbine Components
7. Model Turbine Test of Very Short Height Fixed Blade
8. Summary and Conclusions

The aim of this project is to increase the efficiency of the short height stages typically found in high pressure steam turbine cylinders. This will directly lead to a reduction in the amount of coal required to produce electrical power, resulting in lower power station emissions. In order to do this, the following tasks must be undertaken:

The benefits of the project include:

The aim of this project was to increase the efficiency of the short height stages typically found in high pressure steam turbine cylinders. For coal-fired power plant, this would directly lead to a reduction in the amount of fuel required to produce electrical power, resulting in lower power station emissions. The continual drive towards higher cycle efficiencies demands increased inlet steam temperatures and pressures, which necessarily leads to shorter blade heights. The specific objectives were as follows:

This working paper analyses the environmental sustainability of four electricity production systems that include carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS):

• Pulverised coal (PC)
• Pulverised coal with oxyfuel combustion (PCOC)
• Natural gas combined cycle (NGCC), and
• Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC)

The analysis is based largely on a review of relevant Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs). Thus it considers the environmental sustainability of the entire electricity generation chain from fuel extraction through electricity generation and CO2capture to CO2 storage.

The objectives of this project are:

This project was set up by E.ON to investigate ways of putting a monetary cost to plant inflexibility. The project was undertaken in collaboration with UMISTs Department of Process Integration, who are world leaders in the science of process optimisation and who possess the necessary optimisation and computing expertise. The DTIs interest is primarily because of the importance of this subject to IGCC; however, the issue is of general applicability to all types of generating technology.

The aims of this project were:

An investigation has been made into the possibility of welding together 10%Cr and 3.5%NiCrMoV rotor steels, a combination which would allow manufacture of large turbine rotors with inlet steam temperatures in excess of 570°C.

Following a comprehensive modelling programme by the University of Cambridge and complementary testing and examination by Siemens Power Generation (SPG), a welding procedure was developed and successful narrow gap TIG welds were made between 380mm diameter, 50mm thick material. This was accomplished using the established Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) filler wire.

This document is a report for the project titled 'Fabricated Turbine Rotors - Advanced Steam Turbines'.

An investigation has been made into the possibility of welding together 10%Cr and 3.5%NiCrMoV rotor material in order to produce the next generation steam turbines operating above 570°C.

Following a comprehensive modelling programme and complementary testing and examination by Siemens Power Generation (SPG) and the University of Cambridge, a welding procedure was developed and successful plate and small diameter welds were made between sections of 3.5%NiCrMoV and 10Cr material. Mechanical and metallurgical assessment of these welds showed that the weldment properties matched the requirements of the original parent material.

Following the success of the initial welds, a large-scale weld has been manufactured using the established materials and procedures to fully validate the developed welding procedure. This weld has been subjected to non-destructive examination (NDE) followed by extensive mechanical and metallurgical testing. The results confirm that the large scale weldment properties matched the requirements of the original parent materials and thereby satisfy the objectives of the project.

1. Summary
2. Introduction
3. Objectives of the Project
4. Technical Challenges
5. Development Procedures
6. University of Cambridge Modelling
7. Development Welding Trials
8. Full-Scale Welding Trial
9. Conclusions
10. Figures 1 to 9

Steels for advanced steam turbines operating within super-critical steam conditions have been developed within the COST 501 collaborative programmes and are continuing to be developed within the COST 522 programme. The data generated has already been used to develop and design high temperature turbines which are now in operation or at an advanced stage of construction.

New cleaner coal power generation technologies such as air blown gasification combined cycle (ABGC), integral gasification combined cycle (IGCC) and fluidised bed combustion will be looking to utilise these new steels in steam turbines but costs will need to be reduced to improve their competitiveness. The objectives of the project are:

These combined cycle plants will generate in the region of 350 MW to 400 MW and will utilise steam turbines with an output in the range of 120 MW to 250 MW. The cost of the steam turbine can be reduced considerably if the number of turbine cylinders is reduced. A single cylinder reheat turbine would be adopted for smaller outputs and a two cylinder turbine with an HP turbine and a combined IP/LP turbine for the larger outputs. The requirement for a single rotor forging steel that has good creep properties at temperatures of 570°C and greater combined with high strength and toughness to carry long turbine blades at the low pressure end cannot be met by the COST steels alone.

The objectives of this project were:

Typical and potential boiler tube alloys have been exposed to simulated furnace wall and superheater/reheater environments in the 1MW_Th Combustion Test Facility (CTF) at Power Technology.

A total of four nominally 50 hour duration exposures have been completed. Specimens were exposed to a range of metal temperatures, heat fluxes and gaseous environments, representative of pulverised coal combustion under low NO_x conditions with biomass additions. Biomass was co-fired with Daw Mill coal on 20% and 10% thermal or heat input basis (approx 35% and 17% by mass). Specimens were exposed to the combustion environment on air-cooled, precision metrology, corrosion probes.

The objectives of this project are:

Type IV cracking in the weld Heat-Affected Zone (HAZ) is likely to be the critical problem which will limit design conditions for satisfactory operation of advanced PF plant. The FOURCRACK project carried out high temperature creep testing of welds in advanced high alloy steels with a range of specifications, supplemented by specialised testing, optical and electron metallography, weld simulation and data assessment. Further work outside FOURCRACK will extend testing to longer durations.

E.ON UK led the project and undertook metallurgical investigation and assessment. Mitsui Babcock carried out weld manufacture and creep rupture testing. RWE npower investigated and characterised a special weak material. In parallel work, Loughborough University carried out electron metallography and weld simulation. Five external organisations also provided test materials and/or weldments.

The recently completed project 'Practical Improvements in Power Plant Engineering (PIPPE)' - part of the DTI Cleaner Coal Programme - has highlighted weld heat-affected zone "Type IV" cracking as a principal concern in advanced high temperature plant. Current creep test data, inevitably obtained on a much shorter timescale than the projected life of plant, suggest that weld performance could substantially deteriorate in the longer term. Better data and extrapolation techniques are needed to assess the extent of this threat to plant reliability and thus develop effective countermeasures that will gain the confidence of prospective plant purchasers and operators.

This project will help manufacturers gain a fundamental understanding of why the weld heat-affected zone is susceptible to "Type IV" cracking in high temperature service, how its susceptibility is related to steel composition and heat treatment, and, consequently, how advanced steels can best be selected and developed to minimise these risks. The main objectives are:

The FOURCRACK project will produce and assess cross-weld creep rupture test data on welds in advanced high temperature steels. The leading competitor materials will be critically compared. New welds will also be compared with simulated service aged and repair welds. Weld thermal simulation and microstructural assessment will be employed to gain a better understanding of the causes of "Type IV" cracking

The objectives for this project are:

Improved efficiency in coal-fired power plant can be achieved by increasing steam temperatures and pressures, and this has been made practically possible over a number of years by the development of steels with improved creep strength enabling operation up to 600-620°C at present. In Europe a new initiative (COST 536) has been launched, entitled 'Alloy Development for Critical Components of Environmentally Friendly Power Plant (ACCEPT)', and encompasses all stages in the development and validation of advanced steels capable of operation at temperatures up to 650°C. The primary route of achieving this is through the development of new alloying and coating concepts.

This project focuses on the validation testing of the capabilities of a new class of steels and their weldments at temperatures up to 650°C and the longer term qualification of advanced steels developed under COST 522. The project has been accepted for inclusion in the COST 536 initiative.

This document is the final report for the project titled 'Gas Turbines Fired on Coal Derived Gases - Modelling of Particulate and Vapour Deposition'. This report is titled 'Alkali Salt Vapour Deposition on Gas Turbine Blades.'

The following report describes the development of a computer program for calculating deposition rates of alkali salts from two-dimensional turbulent boundary layer flows on turbine blades. The description of the program was originally submitted as the Milestone 1 Report of the project. This description is included here, but with additional sections summarising the background and theoretical approach of the work and the application of the code to an example cleaner-coal turbine.

The development and testing of the new code involved:

1. Conducting a literature search for thermochemical data on the alkali oxide/hydroxide system;
2. Deriving appropriate thermochemical constants and parameters;
3. Revising the existing models to incorporate the alkali oxides and hydroxides;
4. Incorporating the new model into a computer program to estimate the boundary layer diffusion and surface deposition rates of the alkali salts;
5. Performing sample test calculations with the new computer program.

There is considerable potential for exploitation of the existing computer code. As it stands, the code should be of interest to those companies involved in the design and manufacture of the type of heavy-duty industrial gas turbine which will be required in the future for coal-fired operation. The main companies operating worldwide are General Electric in the United States, Alstom in the United Kingdom, Siemens in Europe, and Mitsubishi and Hitachi in Japan. The Whittle Laboratory at Cambridge University has close contact with most of these (and other) companies and it is proposed to investigate the possibilities for marketing of the code and establishing other consulting arrangements.

There is also potential for further scientific development of the thermochemical modelling. Although attention has been confined in the present project to the salts of sodium and potassium and their behaviour in high temperature gas flows, the method of analysis is fairly general and could be extended to encompass other situations. For example, two problems of current interest which might respond to similar modelling techniques are the transport of corrosive vanadium salts to gas turbine blades in conventional gas turbines and corrosion of steam turbine blades by sodium salts present in the feedwater. In the United Kingdom, companies such as Rolls-Royce, Alstom and Siemens will be approached for discussion on the possibility of extending the modelling to deal with these and other technical problems.

1. Introduction
2. Outline of the Theory
3. The Computer Program 'VAPOURDEP'
4. Testing and Validation of the Program

The remainder of the report consists of a user manual for VAPOURDEP written by J.B. Young, and Appendices:

• Appendix 1 - Equilibrium of Sodium and Potassium Species in the Gas Phase
• Appendix 2 - Species Conservation Equation
• Appendix 3 - Grid Generation
• Appendix 4 - Finite Volume Solution of the Species Continuity Equations
• Appendix 5 - Specification of the Initial Concentration Profiles
• Appendix 6 - Calculation of Mass Transfer Coefficients
• Appendix 7 - Equilibrium at the Gas-Deposit Interface
• Appendix 8 - Thermodynamic Properties

The project aims to provide boiler operators with greater confidence in using higher levels of biofuel replacement (50% thermal or more). The specific objectives of the project are:

The increased use of biomass, a fuel that is seen as largely CO2 neutral, in power generation is one of the few ways in which the power industry could make a significant step to reducing CO2 emissions. Co-fired boiler trials have been encouraging and have shown that small amounts of coal can be replaced by biofuels without undue impact on boiler performance. However, in order to make a real impact towards reaching Government targets, the amount of biomass for co-combustion would have to be greatly increased.

The overall aim of the project is to ensure the continued participation of major UK power generation organisations in the European Co-operation on Science and Technology COST 522 initiative. The project covers two distinct areas of the COST 522 initiative, steam power plant and plant integration & ancillary components. The specific objectives of these two groups within COST 522 are to demonstrate advanced components for the supercritical boiler and steam turbine that will permit thermal efficiencies of 50% to be achieved and to develop technology (gasification, heat exchanger, hot gas clean-up) for alternative cycles and fuels that will play a major part in future high efficiency low emission power plant. Specific objectives for the participants within the project are the development of:

Strategies and business opportunities for UK companies in the power generation sector will also be identified.

The objectives for this project are:

The overall aim of the project was to develop new tools for the reliable and rapid prediction of combustion efficiency of coals in pf-fired utility boilers. This would give the ability to improve fuel selection and chose the most appropriate burner and boiler design for a given fuel.

The conclusions of this project are:

This document is a summary for the project titled 'Improvement of Energy Efficiency of pneumatic systems by recycling exhaust compressed air'.

Pneumatic systems are commonly used in industries as varied as automotive, aerospace, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and food processing. They are so commonly utilized in industry because they have a number of distinct advantages: they are environmentally friendly; have a high load-carrying capacity-to-size ratio; they are mechanically simple; low cost; and easy to maintain. In the UK over 10% of National Grid output is used to generate compressed air, in addition around 20% of electricity supplied to manufacturers/factories is used for this purpose.

Research on improving the energy efficiency of pneumatic actuator systems has been carried out for over seven years at the University of Liverpool. Early research has shown that around 3% energy could be saved by connecting a by-pass valve to partly recycle exhaust air. An improved control strategy has also been developed for some pneumatic systems, which is based on an idea of saving energy through better controls and can save between 1.5 to 2% of compressed air. Dr Wang and her research team are also working on using the highly efficient scroll type air motor in pneumatic systems to help recycle the exhaust air in order to generate electricity. This motor is currently widely used in air conditioners and refrigerators because of its efficiency and compact nature but has only recently been converted for air motors. They have created a test system to simulate the use of this motor as an air-electricity transformer to recycle the pneumatic systems exhaust air and experiments have shown that around 20~50% of exhaust air can be recovered using this system.

The aims of this project were:

This project is concerned with the design and demonstration of a high efficiency cyclone grit arrester which could potentially achieve a particulate collection efficiency of in excess of 98%, making it suitable for reducing the emissions from boilers of this size and type.

The successful particulate and emission reductions would enable coal to be a viable fuel for heating and process applications in the smaller range of boilers in terms of environmental acceptability.

The conclusions from this project are:

There are thousands of coal-fired boilers in the commercial and industrial sector throughout the world with the biggest impact on the environment being particulate emissions. The market area in terms of boiler output is from 0.6MWth - 6.5MWth output and the number of boilers when aggregated, results in a large potential source of pollutants. The types of combustion equipment commonly used in this sector in China, India, and the CIS are chain grate or travelling grate stokers.

The results of the trials conducted in this project exceeded expectations in terms of measured particulate emissions with low rates being achieved in both high and medium fire tests, significantly below the 150mg/m³ proposed in the Small combustion Plant Directive. If further work was carried out then it could be possible to achieve further reductions in emissions as some of the test results showed emissions levels at around 50-60mg/m³.

1. Introduction
2. Technical background to the project
3. Grit arrestor design and installation
4. Commissioning of boiler
5. Cyclone blow down test work
6. Test results and discussion
7. Technology suitability and efficiency to selected coals from targeted countries
8. Identification of hierarchy of export opportunities
9. Dissemination of information

This proposal is concerned with improving the design, efficiency and environmental performance of low-grade coal burning appliances - commonly used in China, India and the former Soviet Union (FSU) - which produce unacceptable environmental pollution mainly in the form of particulate emissions. In the initial draft of the small combustion plant directive limits for particulates are set at 150 mg/m³ for boilers less than 10 MW, and 50 mg/m³ for those between 10-50 MW. These suggested figures raise considerable challenges for industry. Our objectives are therefore:

For new boiler plant the successful particulate and emission reductions would enable coal to be a viable fuel for heating and process applications in the smaller range of boilers. In countries such as India, China and the FSU that currently burn low-grade coal as their primary energy source, the impacts of this work could be essential to its future use.

Microgeneration in individual homes has been the subject of increasing policy and industry attention in recent years. Although there are only around 100,000 microgeneration installations in the UK, the Energy Saving Trust believes that microgeneration could supply 30-40% of UK electricity demand by 2050 (Energy Saving Trust, 2005b). If adopted by large numbers of households in this way, microgeneration could bring about fundamental change to our energy system. Many consumers would become energy producers, leading to a breakdown of the traditional distinction between energy supply and demand. Established regulatory frameworks and energy infrastructures could need to change radically to deal with a fundamental decentralisation of power and control.

This project investigated how microgeneration might be deployed in the UK and its possible implications for domestic consumers, energy companies and the energy system as a whole. Working closely with industry and government it identified technical, regulatory and institutional changes that might stimulate the market uptake of microgeneration technologies. The aims of the project were set out in the original proposal. The main objective of the research is: to work with industry and government to help tackle the main challenges associated with microgeneration. Its more specific aims were:

These aims and objectives have largely been fulfilled by the project. A number of challenges affected the fulfilment of the objectives. Section 7 of the End of Award Report Form provides further details of these and their impact on the project.

1. Background
2. Objectives
3. Methods
4. Results
5. Activites
6. Outputs
7. Impacts
8. Future Research Priorities
9. References

• Appendix 1 - Schematic of main project activities and outputs
• Appendix 2 - Members of the Project Advisory Group
• Appendix 3 - List of interviewees
• Appendix 4 - Full list of project outcomes

The aim of this project was to understand how microgeneration might be deployed, and to explore policies to support investment by consumers and energy companies. The research was undertaken by an interdisciplinary team drawn from three universities: University of Sussex, University of Southampton and Imperial College. It was carried out in parallel with significant policy developments, notably the government Microgeneration Strategy, the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act and the wider Energy Review.

The research found that it was important for policy makers support a diversity of routes to microgeneration deployment, with incentives for both householders and energy companies. The project analysed three different models of microgeneration deployment to explore the possibilities and implications. This included 'Plug & Play' deployment by individual consumers wishing to assert their independence from established suppliers; 'Company Driven' deployment by incumbent energy companies that shift their focus towards the delivery of energy services rather than energy supply; and 'Community Microgrid' deployment as part of decentralised microgrids.

There are significant opportunities to build microgeneration into new construction developments. The Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act is important since it encourages local authorities to set targets for this. In addition, the research found that it will be desirable to include flexible service areas and space (e.g. as cellars) in new buildings so that future developments in micro-generation and home energy automation can be accommodated. If sustainable visions for larger developments such as Thames Gateway are to be realised, strong intervention is likely to be required by government. This is because such developments are substantially different from the UK's current energy system. In the absence of strong intervention, an opportunity for the implementation of more pervasive local energy systems based on Community Microgrid models linked to new district heating networks could be lost. Energy regulation has a role to play here too. The Registered Power Zone scheme developed by the regulator, Ofgem allows electricity network companies to experiment with new network concepts and recover costs from consumers. So far, the rules governing this scheme have proved to be too restrictive to rebuild capacity for innovation with the electricity network companies.

Overall, the research showed that microgeneration can make a potentially powerful contribution to a sustainable energy future - in terms of carbon reductions and wider social impacts. Microgeneration can be both a result of ongoing changes in existing energy systems and the cause of potentially radical change. Our research has also underlined the interdependence of technical, institutional and social factors that inhibit or enable the diffusion of sustainable technologies. Technically, energy networks will have to be able to cope with two-way flows. Policies, regulations and institutions will need to change and to acknowledge that the distinction between energy supply and demand is not as sharp for micro-generators. Finally, consumers could have a new position in the energy system - whether as hosts of microgeneration installed by company or as 'co-providers' of their own energy services.

Low or zero carbon energy sources are increasingly being installed in buildings, e.g. small scale and micro CHP units, photovoltaic panels and building mounted wind generators. The development of performance standards and suitable guidance on satisfactory provisions, on e.g. structural measures, weatherproofing and location is needed, also compliance with ADL and any relevant provisions of the forthcoming Electrical AD. This desk study will also take account of the Energy White Paper and the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).

The overall aim of this project is to develop suitable performance standards and guidance for the installation of low or zero carbon energy sources in buildings.

It is proposed to include a specified list of low or zero carbon energy sources as alternatives to energy conservation and energy efficiency measures in order to achieve target carbon emissions for different building types. The extent to which LZC energy sources can contribute to achieving the carbon emissions target should be limited to a given level or percentage.

Since the proposal is to include LZC energy sources as an alternative to further energy conservation or energy efficiency measures there is no strict requirement to calculate the cost effectiveness of each for the purposes of regulatory impact assessment. However, an assessment of cost effectiveness has been undertaken to provide ODPM with:

The assessment of cost effectiveness shows that few LZC technology/application cases achieve a positive NPV and hence none are recommended to be considered for mandatory inclusion.

The objectives of this project are:

A wide variety of gasification systems are continuing to be developed around the world, including Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) and the UK developed Air Blown Gasification Cycle (ABGC) systems. Originally, these systems were developed to be fired on various grades of coal, but there is now interest in using a more diverse range of solid fuels (e.g. co-firing coal with waste or biomass, using low grade coals and heavy fuel oils) in order to reduce environmental impact and fuel costs.

All gasification technologies require a heat exchanger (often called either a syngas cooler or fuel gas cooler) between the gasifier and the gas cleaning system. The duty required from this heat exchanger varies depending on the type of gasifier, gas-cleaning requirements (e.g. hot dry cleaning or wet scrubbing) and steam cycle needs.

The data generated has been used to identify safe operating windows where factors do not combine to produce rapid heat exchanger failures. Aspects such as candidate heat exchanger materials, gasifier type, fuel and fuel gas compositions, deposit compositions and heat exchanger operating conditions have been investigated.

A wide variety of gasification systems are continuing to be developed around the world, including Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) and the UK developed Air Blown Gasification Cycle (ABGC) systems. Originally, these systems were developed to be fired on various grades of coal, but there is now interest in using a more diverse range of solid fuels (e.g. co-firing coal with waste or biomass, using low grade coals and heavy fuel oils) in order to reduce environmental impact and fuel costs.

All gasification technologies require a heat exchanger (often called either a syngas cooler or fuel gas cooler) between the gasifier and the gas cleaning system. The duty required from this heat exchanger varies depending on the type of gasifier, gas-cleaning requirements (e.g. hot dry cleaning or wet scrubbing) and steam cycle needs. However, gasifier hot gas path environments are potentially very aggressive for materials both during plant operation and off-line periods. This has the effect of imposing a temperature window for the safe operation of these heat exchangers (with current materials restricting their use to modest steam conditions and preventing their use as superheaters with commercially viable lives) and dictates that downtime corrosion control precautions are required during off-line periods. There are significant differences in the hot gas path environments between the various gasification systems and with different fuels, but unfortunately these just have the effect of changing the balance between different potential degradation modes arising from the gasification environments.

The project has assessed the potential corrosive effects of deposits formed on coal-fired and coal/waste co-fired gasifier fuel-gas/syngas heat exchangers in ABGC and IGCC systems. This has included determining the ranges of deposit compositions formed on heat exchangers with different fuels and quantitatively assessing the effects of such deposits on downtime corrosion (including the effects of potential preventative measures) and synergistic interactions. These activities have lead to the identification of combinations of fuels, operating conditions and materials that could produce rapid heat exchanger failures due to interactions with the deposits formed during the heat exchanger operation.

The following candidate gasifier heat exchanger alloys were investigated; AISI 316L, AISI 310, AISI 347H, Alloy 800, Sanicro 28, Haynes 160, Esshete 1250, Haynes 556, IN625 and T23. In terms of cost and performance Sanicro 28 appears to be the best choice for evaporative heat exchangers in the range of test conditions investigated.

1. Introduction
2. Aims and Objectives
3. Background
4. Deposit Formation on Gasifier Hot Gas Path Components
5. Review of Trace Element Partitioning in Gasifier Hot Gas Paths
6. Downtime Corrosion Testing
7. Downtime Corrosion and Preventative Measures
8. Synergistic Testing
9. Identification of Safe Operating Window
10. Conclusions
11. Further Work
12. References

The objectives for this project are:

Advanced power generation systems, based on gasification, are being developed. Hot gas cleaning technologies for gasification systems offer the potential of a lower cost approach to pollutant control and gas turbine protection, leading to simpler cycle configurations with associated efficiency advantages. The unreliability of the ceramic filter elements used in demonstration trials and the high capital cost of these systems have hindered their application and are factors restricting the uptake of gasification power plants in general. The successful development of a durable metallic filter system for the ABGC would be a major step towards its implementation.

Metallic filter media provide a number of significant advantages over ceramics. In order to realise fully the cost and environmental advantages, it is essential that the systems provide not only efficient contaminant removal but also have the reliability and availability required of the overall system. It is now apparent that reliable, lower cost filter systems can be operated using metallic filter media, provided improved materials selection and advanced fabrication methods are developed.

This project has successfully investigated the performance of a range of candidate materials for the manufacture of filters for use in gasifier (IGCC and ABGC) hot gas paths.

This document is the final report for the project titled 'Metallic Filters for Hot Gas Cleaning'.

Hot gas filtration has not only been adopted as an essential system component in hybrid technologies like the Air Blown Gasification Cycle, but is also being used to remove particulate prior to water scrubbing of fuel gases in first generation Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plants. The unreliability of the ceramic filter elements in demonstration trials and the high capital cost of these particle removal systems have hindered their application and are factors restricting the uptake of gasification power plants in general. The successful development of a durable metallic filter system for the Air Blown Gasification Cycle (ABGC) would be a major step towards its implementation. Metallic filter elements have potential applications in all IGCC systems and in other industries requiring hot gas cleaning.

This project aimed to identify the optimum materials for the various component parts of metallic filter elements, evaluate candidate fabrication routes and determine likely service lives in gasifier hot gas path environments typical of IGCC and ABGC.

A screening test (Activity A) was carried out to aid the selection of candidate materials for exposure in the main materials test programme (Activity B). The materials chosen for inclusion in the second phase tests were: Haynes D205 EN2691, Fecralloy, Haynes HR160, IN690, Haynes 188, AISI 310, IN C276, Hastelloy X, IN Alloy 800HT, AISI 316L and Iron Aluminide. Activity B tests were carried out in two environments, simulating high sulphur content IGCC fuel gas and low sulphur content ABGC fuel gas. The materials were evaluated at temperatures of 450, 500 and 550°C for the high sulphur gas and at 550°C for the low sulphur gas, for periods up to 3000 hours.

Using the results of Activity B, existing corrosion life prediction models for gasification environments developed at Cranfield University, have been modified and used to predict the expected service lives under operational IGCC/ABGC filter conditions (Activity C). The design requirements for a prototype element for IGCC/ABGC applications have been identified and related to the data produced in this project (Activity D).

When compared to the ABGC gas environment, the IGCC gas environment has been shown to cause significantly greater damage. The damaging effect of deposit coatings has also been demonstrated. The materials tested in Activity B have been ranked in order of degree of oxidation and Haynes D205 EN 2691, Fecralloy and HR 160 have shown the best performance.

The project has provided the basis for new opportunities for the development of metallic filter media in gasification environments. To confirm this potential the manufacture of full sized elements is required together with their demonstration in pilot scale trials and in commercial installations. In addition to coal, biomass gasification can benefit from the improved reliability and filtration performance offered by metallic filters and it is recommended that further work is undertaken to evaluate materials suitable for operating in such environments.

1. Introduction
2. Overall Aim
3. Background
4. Experimental
5. Summary
6. Recommendations
7. Acknowledgements
8. References

Close control of combustion conditions is a prerequisite of efficient operation of power generating plants and for meeting ever tightening emission compliance levels. Often conflicting requirements are placed on combustion systems in limiting individual species such as NO_x and particulate. Recognising this, the project aims to address the following:

The three year project builds on and complements existing work to potentially provide a powerful comprehensive optimiser package to provide maximum collection rate for minimum inputs to the precipitator and assist in the optimisation of combustion. The project aims are met with the following programme:

A multi-time period combined gas and electricity network optimisation model was developed. The optimisation model takes into account the varying nature of gas flows, network support facilities such as gas storage and the power ramping characteristics of electricity generation units. The combined optimisation is performed from an economic viewpoint, minimising the costs associated with gas supplies, linepack management, gas storage operation, electricity generation and load shedding. It is demonstrated on two case studies, a simple example, and on the GB network.

The main aim of the project was to develop a nitrogen-stable isotope measurement technique for NOx and to ascertain whether it can be used to determine the relative contributions of fuel and thermal NO_x during coal combustion. The specific objectives were to:

Suitable substrates for adsorbing sufficiently high concentrations of NO_x from flue gas streams to facilitate the reliable measurement of the nitrogen stable isotope ratios were developed, the substrates encompassing both manganese oxide supported on zirconia (MnO_y-ZrO₂) and iron supported on active carbon (Fe/AC).

This project has established a simple and robust experimental protocol for collecting and determining the stable isotope ratios of NO_x from flue gas. The protocol is much more convenient and rapid than that used in the only other reported study where flue gas NO_x has been sampled for determining isotopic ratios.

Nearly all types of coal gasification based advanced power generation systems under development incorporate hot gas cleaning stages to remove particulates and gas phase contaminants prior to the gas turbine. These hot gas cleaning systems offer significant benefits over conventional wet scrubber clean-up systems. However the development of a continuous fully integrated process, in which gas cooling, sulphur/halide removal, using regenerable sorbents would give substantial benefits.

Systems of this type have a number of advantages: the use of regenerable sorbents produces less waste and reduces the operating cost associated with disposal of classified waste products; the fuel gas cooler is located in a benign environment and can therefore be used to generate superheated steam at supercritical conditions yielding a further improvement in cycle efficiency. In addition, the removal of gas contaminants early in the hot gas path will directly improve the environment for downstream components, e.g. hot gas filter parts. On the basis of the expected reduction in the corrosivity of the fuel gas, components' lives may be extended by up to ten times. This benefit would apply to all types of gasifier, including conventional oxygen blown IGCC's where the introduction of hot gas cleaning would otherwise happen downstream of the raw gas cooler and the hot gas filter, both of which would have to operate in a highly aggressive environment.

This project was targeted at developing such a novel integrated raw gas cooler and sulphur and halide removal process for gasification plant. The desulphurisation process is based on a twin fluidised bed system employing direct solids transfer between adjacent vessels. Halide removal is achieved by means of sorbent injection.

The first stage of the project developed a series of mathematical models for the twin-bed desulphurisation concept. Then a 2-D cold model was designed and manufactured to demonstrate the concepts and the validity of the mathematical models produced. After a series of modifications were carried out and their effects assessed, a twin bed unit was designed and manufactured that was capable of being used initially as a 3-D cold model and then being retrofitted to an existing atmospheric pressure gasifier. The 3-D unit functioned as anticipated as a cold model, demonstrating the expected particle flux between the twin beds, and also showed that there were low gas leakage rates between the two beds. After being retrofitted to an existing atmospheric pressure gasifier, the twin bed unit was used to demonstrate the effect of sulphur sorbent on real gasifier derived fuel gases. Limestone, a well known sulphur sorbent in oxidising atmospheres and reducing atmospheres, was selected to test the effectiveness of the twin bed unit in this project. The twin bed was operated with the outlet gases from the gasifier in one side (absorber side) and with air in the regeneration side of the system. Several operating conditions and variables have been studied in the system: gas velocity, bed temperature. The use of the limestone sorbent in the twin-bed reduced the H2S level in the fuel gas stream under all the conditions investigated.

The twin bed system seems to be a promising technology for a heat exchanger system, due to the good particle flows between the two fluidised beds, and for the reduction in contaminant emissions. However, further work is required to improve the understanding of the twin-bed hydrodynamics, as well as to develop sorbents with operating temperatures that are compatible with the twin-bed concept. Two options for the twin bed system have been suggested as worth pursuing as viable use of this technology in gasification plant design. The first involve a twin-bed gasification-heat exchange system where gas from a gasifier is fed to one vessel and heat is transferred to a second by means of re-circulating solids. The second option is a triple-bed adsorption-regeneration-heat exchange system, where the gas from the gasifier is fed to a vessel and the H2S is removed. Catalyst/sorbent is transferred to a second bed for regeneration, and solids are transferred to a third vessel where heat is removed.

1. Introduction and Background
2. Aims and Objectives
3. Reactor Design
4. Pilot Scale Desulphurisation Studies
5. Halide Removal Studies
6. Scale-Up Issues
7. Conclusions
8. Recommendations
9. References
10. Meanings of Symbols

The overall aim of the project was to develop a novel integrated fuel gas cooler and sulphur and halide removal process for coal gasification plants. Specific objectives were:

This project was targeted at developing a novel integrated raw gas cooler and sulphur/halide removal process for gasification plants. This desulphurisation process is based on a twin fluidised bed system employing direct solids transfer between adjacent reactor vessels, with halide removal being achieved by means of sorbent injection.

Within this project a series of mathematical models were developed for the twin-bed desulphurisation concept. Then a 2-D cold model was designed and manufactured to demonstrate the concepts and the validity of the mathematical models produced.

Following on from this, a twin-bed unit was developed from initial design through construction to operation in the hot gas path of an air blown fluidised bed gasification pilot plant. Initially the unit was used as a 3-D 'cold model' for further testing of the twin-bed concept and producing model validation data (particle and gas transfer rates between the twin-beds).

The twin-bed gas cleaning/heat exchanger system shows promise for use on gasification systems, as has been demonstrated by inter-bed heat flux and reduced H2S emissions in all the experiments carried out in the pilot scale hot test rig during this project. However, further work is necessary to understand the complex nature of this process.

This response provides recommendations on the reform of the energy supply market, based on research on “energy retail market governance” undertaken within UKERC.

• Overall, we recommend that reform of the retail energy market should not be considered in independence from the work on ‘systems flexibility’, energy transitions, ‘whole systems’, network charging reform and wholesale market policy.
• We recommend that the evaluation of energy retail market success should explicitly include an assessment of its compatibility with a low-carbon transition. Specifically, the retail market should allow for long-term investment recovery in low-carbon solutions .
• We also provide an overview of approaches to organising default energy commodity supply in some US energy retail competition states.
• We suggest that Ofgem (and Government) consider improving the potential for intermediaries and assess the likely implications of resale of commodity energy by a wider range of eligible players, subject to customer protection requirements.

Increasingly, power plants are burning a diverse range of coals (indigenous and imported) under tighter economic and environmental constraints. On-line coal analysers have been investigated in the past, but these are expensive and do not provide a practical solution to the problem. To improve the efficiency of the process, utilities are turning to optimisation packages to assist operation staff. Experience has shown that these optimisation packages can help to optimise the process, but are limited by the wide variation imposed on the system by the constantly changing coal diet. It is therefore desirable to identify the coal being burnt on an on-line, continuous basis to improve the performance of the optimisation packages. Specific objectives are:

This project aims to develop a low-cost, fuel tracking system for the identification of coals being burnt at any one time. The approach is to extract the dynamic 'finger prints' of the flame and hence the fuel type by processing the output signal of an improved flame-eye using digital signal processing and soft-computing techniques. A prototype will be design, implemented and evaluated first on a combustion test rig under a laboratory environment and then on a 500kW coal fired combustion test facility at Innogy. Quantitative relationships between the dynamic characteristics of flames and their corresponding fuel types will be identified such that the on-line fuel-tracking system could be integrated into a power station control system. Full scale demonstration trials will be conducted on a coal fired power station.

This profile contains information on the project's:

This document is a report for the project titled 'Once Through Benson Boiler - Vertical Tube Furnace'.

Situated in Henan Province, PRC, Yaomeng Power Plant consists of 4 × 300MWe coal-fired boilers, units 1 and 2 of which, entered service in the mid 1970's. They were of the high mass flux, once through, sub-critical universal pressure ( UP ) type, designed for base load operation to generate 935te/h main steam at 570°C.

From 1992 onwards, after overheating in some of the pressure parts, which led to a restriction of 545°C on the main steam temperature, the maximum output was reduced to 270MWe. The boiler's intrinsic intolerances to load changes, and operation below 230MWe were also problematic, and the prospect of more onerous emissions legislation was thought likely to impose even further restrictions on plant usage in the future, or even bring about its closure.

The scope of work for Mitsui Babcock was centred on the upgrade of the existing boiler, comprising refurbishment of the furnace pressure parts and improvement of the burners, start-up system and control philosophies.

The 168-hour full load reliability test was completed successfully during May, 2002. What made the occasion particularly significant for all concerned was that this was the first time Low Water Mass Flux Vertical Ribbed Tube Benson Boiler Technology had been used for commercial power generation anywhere in the world, a very significant achievement by Mitsui Babcock.

The Performance Guarantee Tests ( PGT's ) were performed by the Thermal Power Research Institute ( TPRI ) during the end of July / early August 2002, and these results and subsequent operation have confirmed the major improvements in the unit. Peak steam output is 1010.3t/hr and maximum continuous output is 954t/hr, both exceeding the guarantee requirements. Peak power output has increased from 270MWe to 327MWe, and in fact the boiler has now been formally up-rated to 310MWe.

The successful completion of this refurbishment is a major milestone in both the development of the technology of once through low mass flow vertical tube boilers and Mitsui Babcock's presence in the refurbishment market in the PRC. Wherever sub-critical once through boilers are suffering load restrictions, intolerances to load changes or high metal temperatures, this technology now offers a proven solution, which also extends to super-critical pressure conditions.

1. Introduction
2. Original Furnace Design and Performance
3. Design of the Refurbished Vertical Ribbed Tube Furnace
4. Boiler Performance
5. Operational Feedback since the Performance Guarantee Tests
6. Future Applications

Mitsui Babcock will provide a new furnace to the Benson 'once through' design as a retrofit to a Chinese power plant. The existing unit is based on Chinese technology and has reached the end of its useful life. The new boiler furnace from Mitsui Babcock will correct short falls and ensure the unit is able to match the best world practice. The new equipment will result in an 11% increase in station output and a reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions by over one third.

The principal aim of the project is to validate the performance of the Mitsui Babcock 'once through' vertical ribbed tube boiler technology. The specific objectives of the project are:

This project will validate the Mitsui Babcock designs for the vertical ribbed tube 'once through' Benson boiler. An assessment of the existing Chinese boiler will address the existing performance of the small bore tubes employed in the furnace walls of the boiler and of the existing corner fired combustion arrangement.

A detailed assessment of new boiler performance will be conducted. The new vertical ribbed boiler furnace tubes will be heavily instrumented and data recorded under different operating regimes (e.g. turndown) to establish the performance. Study tubes will be representative of the whole boiler geometry (e.g. corner, centre tubes etc). Data such as heat transfer, metal temperatures, water mass flux rates, water temperatures, location of boiling, steam temperature profile at the furnace wall outlet and individual tube flows etc will be established.

The objectives of this project are:

Retrofit installations of low NO_x systems are often constrained to some extent by the configuration of the existing plant. These practical constraints can be avoided in the design process for new plant. Factors such as the size, number and pitching of burners are selected to optimise furnace performance in terms of heat input, residence time, corrosion, pollutant formation and economics. The identification of optimum burner size and pitch with particular regard to NO_x emissions and carbon burnout is of significant interest.

The typical burner size employed in existing front and opposed wall fired furnaces, of 300 and 500 MWe, is between 40 and 60 MWth. A non-dimensionalised horizontal, vertical and wall clearance pitch of 2.75d was deemed to be representative of all units studied. However, several units feature tighter pitches.

Comparison of physical model data with predictions from a CFD model of the physical model showed reasonable agreement. Mathematical modelling, for the prediction of the flow field within a multi-burner furnace, can therefore be applied with confidence.

For lower NO_x emission, with no carbon burnout penalty, fewer larger burners are preferable to more burners of a lower thermal heat input. Employing larger burners is also economically advantageous.

Modelling predictions were found to be consistent with previous research by IFRF into the effect of burner scaling technique on NO_x emission. When considering constant-velocity scaling, flame chemistry becomes dominant over mixing as scale is reduced and so a higher NO_x emission results from rapid fuel and air mixing.

This document is a report for the project titled 'Particle Impact Erosion and Abrasion Wear - Predictive Methods and Remedial Measures'.

The overall objectives of the project can be listed as follows;

This project involved a detailed investigation of the abrasion and erosion characteristics of a suite of pulverised coals, selected to represent the full range of coal quality encountered by boiler plant designers and operators worldwide, and of the relative erosion resistance of a range of materials. The principal objective of the abrasion and erosion work was to develop improved correlations between the abrasion and erosion behaviour of the coals and their basic characteristics, as measured using CCSEM techniques. The CCSEM techniques are relatively novel, and generate quantitative information about the chemical and microstructural characteristics of the pulverised coals, which is not available by any other technique.

The abrasion and erosion testwork and the CCSEM characterisation of the test coals have been very successful, and very good correlations have been developed between the measured abrasion and erosion rates and the volume percent of hard mineral particles above a certain size in the pulverised coals. These correlations are suitable for predictive purposes, and the work has resulted in the development of laboratory procedures suitable for the assessment of the abrasion and erosion behaviour of unfamiliar coals. This represents a very significant step forward in our understanding of the abrasion and erosion behaviour of coal particles.

The project also involved the measurement of the relative erosion resistance of a range of materials and coatings, relevant to the materials of construction of the components of coal milling and combustion equipment and of boiler plant.

1. Introduction
2. The Selection and Characterisation of the Test Coals
3. The Abrasive Wear of the Grinding Elements of Vertical Spindle, Ball and Race, Coal Mills
4. The Erosion Behaviour of Coal and Ash Particles and the Erosion Resistance of Materials
5. The SEM and CCSEM Analysis of the Raw and Pulverised Coal Samples
6. Correlating the CCSEM Pulverised Coal Data with the Abrasion and Erosion Properties of the Coals
7. Conclusions
8. Suggestions for Further Work
9. References

Fuel gas derived from coal can contain various impurities such as dust and alkali salts, which can deposit on the blades of gas turbines used in cleaner coal systems and lead to increased turbine degradation. It is important to be able to estimate these deposition rates in order to assess different systems.

This project is aimed at:

Many cleaner coal technologies, including the various IGCC and ABGC systems derive their inherently high efficiency by coupling a gasification process with a gas turbine combined cycle unit. The coal is converted into a fuel gas that is then used to fire the combined cycle unit. Gas turbines are designed to operate on clean gaseous fuels such as natural gas, whereas the fuel gas derived from coal will contain various impurities such as dust (ash) and also alkali salts. These can cause deposit build-up, erosion and/or corrosion of the gas turbine blades, leading in turn to increased operating costs, both in terms of replacement blades and the associated down times, and reduced efficiency. Conventional IGCC's can clean the fuel gas to very pure levels using low temperature processes. The ABGC, and second generation IGCC's will use hot gas clean up where the degree of alkali removal and dust capture may not be as efficient. This will improve the efficiency of the plant and lower capital costs, but may have deleterious effects on the gas turbine.

To predict the degree of deposition, erosion and corrosion in the gas turbine, it is first necessary to be able to model (i) the behaviour of small particles within the turbine passages, including their impact on the blades and (ii) the deposition rate of alkali salts on the turbine blades. Current models for deposition are difficult to apply and not always physically accurate. Improved models are needed to provide better estimates of the degradation and determine the degree of cleanliness required in coal-derived fuel gases fed to gas turbines.

A computer program will be developed to calculate the behaviour and deposition of small particles in the three dimensional flow fields typical of gas turbines. This program will incorporate the models for both inertial and turbulent effects, which current models can only consider separately

A number of the components of cleaner coal energy conversion plants are subject to damage by erosive and abrasive wear - particularly by coal or ash material. This is of concern to equipment suppliers who are required to provide commercial guarantees of the operating lifetimes of components, and to plant operators who need to plan maintenance schedules.

There is a requirement for reliable predictive methods for abrasive and erosive wear rates based on the characteristics of the coals being fired. Recent developments in the application of Computer Controlled Scanning Electron Microscopy (CCSEM) for the quantitative analysis of coals, coal minerals and ash materials provides a new means of obtaining the relevant data on the coal and ash characteristics. This project is intended to make use of these advanced coal characterisation techniques within a programme of experimental work to study the erosiveness and abrasivity of coals and ashes. It is intended that the programme will help:

In order to achieve the programme objectives a number of activities are planned including selecting and characterising a suite of coal and ash materials - including indigenous coals from India, Southern Africa and China, in addition to British coals and coals traded on the world market - using conventional techniques and advanced CCSEM analysis. The abrasion and erosion resistance of a range of materials will be studied. These will include materials employed for the manufacture of mill grinding elements, pf pipework, burner components and boiler tubes plus a number of specific erosion-resistant coatings.

This report considers the role and importance of electricity cost estimates and the methodologies employed to forecast future costs. It examines the conceptual and empirical basis for the expectation that costs will reduce over time, explains the main cost forecasting methodologies, and analyses their strengths, limitations and difficulties. It considers six case study technologies in order to derive both technology specific and generic conclusions about the tools and techniques used to project future electricity generation costs.

The objectives of this project were;

This being achieved through;

A literature survey was undertaken on the application of measurements of PAH from power plants as an indicator of combustion performance. In the publications considered it is generally found that there is a correlation of PAH with Carbon rendered useless by the components of the flue gasses.

It was concluded that although the only equipment that is currently commercially available worked well enough at pilot scale, it was simply not robust enough for application at full scale.

The results from the pilot scale investigations showed links between CO emission and degree of burnout and between CO emission and the levels of PAH detected. From this it is concluded that the link between burnout and PAH emission has been established for the rig used.

• Vehicle electrification
• Users and Vehicles
• Energy supply
• Project aims
• Project structure
• Modelling framework
• Narratives (scenarios)
• Stage 1 initial analysis
• Stage 1 research with consumers
• Stage 1 research with fleets
• Stage 2

• Substantial challenges associated with widespread roll-out of low carbon vehicles; shift from a “problem for the network” to an “opportunity through integration of vehicles as part of a wider system” can yield benefits for all actors in the system, including:
  • increased uptake of low-emission vehicles, managing charging and refuelling, and optimising the system design
• Analysis and solutions must be holistic (considering all parts of the system together, including users)
• Robust trials in Stage 2 will generate data to test solutions and inform analysis, and will add unique value:
• Trial with mass-market users (i.e. people from the majority of the vehicle user and fleet operator markets)
• Addressing widely-applicable plug-in vehicles (BEVsand PHEVs) suitable for wide range of users
• Holistic system design

Pulverised coal-fired utility plant is under increasing pressure to operate at the highest possible efficiency, while remaining within the limits set by regulatory bodies on environmental pollutants. Because fuel costs are the single largest factor in power station operations, even small savings made here are highly desirable in real terms. It is for this reason that utility companies world-wide are investing in control strategies that maximise the efficiency of boiler operation through the control of important boiler variables in, or as near to, real-time as possible. In the UK, the recent introduction of Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) mandates plant operators to operate at the highest practicable efficiency, and this provides an additional impetus to achieve improvements to operating practice that result in efficiency gains.

Specific objectives are:

For the best control over boiler operation, it is necessary to utilise easily measured boiler parameters that respond quickly to the changes in the combustion environment. This is usually done by the continuous monitoring of excess oxygen and carbon monoxide concentrations. An additional and valuable measurement of boiler combustion efficiency is the carbon-in-fly-ash concentration. However, this requires an extractive sampling technique, and even the latest generation of carbon-in-ash analysers operates on a semi-batch basis, and so cannot give real-time data.

There is clearly a need for an on-line technique that is robust, relatively simple to operate and maintain, and that gives high-quality validated information on a combustion efficiency. Such a technique could be readily utilised in existing control systems and the development of a real-time combustion efficiency analyser is the focus of this proposal.

The objectives of this project were:

The benefits to the operator, Yaomeng Power Generation Limited, (YPGL) from the project have included:

This brochure describes the principles used for the Yaomeng upgrade to a Mitsui Babcock Posiflow boiler and illustrates the clear benefits to boilers designed or converted to utilise this low water mass flux, optimised internally ribbed vertical tube boiler technology.

This Consultation Response to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee Inquiry into the resilience of electricity infrastructure.In this response we discuss whether theUKs electricity system is resilient to peaks in consumer demand and sudden shocks, andhow the costs and benefits of investing in electricity resilience are assessed and decisions made.

The UK Energy Research Centre welcomes this opportunity to provide input to the HMT Carbon Floor Price Consultation. We have focused only on the questions where we believe we may have something to offer. The observations have benefited from discussions at an “Independent Experts Workshop on Electricity Market Reform” convened jointly by UKERC and the Imperial Collage Centre for Energy Policy and Technology on 31 January 2011.

1. The transition to net-zero will affect the whole economy. Investment and policy decisions by all government departmentmes need to be compatible with this transition.
2. Policies to support renewable electricity generation should be more ambitious, building on deployment and cost reduction successes. Action is also needed to ensure electricity market rules are fit for a fully decarbonised power sector.
3. Decisions by the energy regulator, Ofgem, should also be compatible with net-zero. This includes enabling investment in local electricity networks to facilitate heat and transport decarbonisation, and ensuring more active use of existing networks.
4. Local energy systems could play a significant role in achieving net-zero, particularly in the integration of electricity, heat and transport. More resources and greater powers for Local Authorities will help to ensure the potential for local action is realised.
5. A clear plan is required for upgrading the UK housing stock. A heat and energy efficiency White Paper must include policies for widespread deployment of low carbon heat (including demonstrating hydrogen at scale) and for prioritising low income households.
6. Whilst the decarbonisation of industry is receiving more attention, policy initiatives are not joined up. Funding for specific projects and industrial clusters should be complemented by market creation policies, including for carbon capture and storage.
7. Our analysis shows that achieving net-zero requires the phase out of fossil-fuelled vehicles to be brought forward to 2030. Immediate action is also required to counter the rapid increase in sales of larger cars (including SUVs).
8. Plans to meet net-zero should maximise environmental co-benefits. Potential negative impacts on ecosystems should be assessed and mitigated.
9. Continuing uncertainty about the UK’s changing relationship with the European Union has already affected decarbonisation plans. Whatever the outcome, close co-operation with the EU is likely to make it easier to achieve net-zero.
10. The transition to net-zero should not compromise energy security. In light of the events on August 9th, responsibilities for ensuring system resilience need to be clarified and applied in a more rigorous way.

In this issue of UKERCs annual Review of Energy Policy, we discuss some of the effects of COVID-19 on the energy system and how the unprecedented events of 2020 might impact energy use and climate policy in the future.

Focusing on electricity demand, transport, green jobs and skills, Brexit, heat, and societal engagement, the Review reflects on the past year and looks forward, highlighting key priorities for the Government.

Key recommendations

Electricity

The scale of investment in the power system required over the coming decade is huge. A big challenge is market design. We need a market that can incentivise investment in low carbon power and networks at least cost whilst also providing incentives for flexibility. Output from wind and solar farms will sometimes exceed demand and other timesfallto low levels. The right mix of flexible resources must be established to deal with variable output from renewables, with the right market signals and interventions in place to do this at least cost.

Mobility

The end of the sale of fossil fuel cars and vans by 2030 must be greeted with enthusiasm. Yet if this is to play its part in a Paris-compliant pathway to zero emissions, it must be one of many policy changes to decarbonise UK transport. Earlier action is paramount, and we recommend a market transformation approach targeting the highest emitting vehicles now, not just from 2030. Phasing-in of the phase-out will save millions of tons of CO2 thus reducing the need for radical action later on. The forthcoming Transport Decarbonisation Plan has a lot to deliver.

Green jobs and skills

COVID-19 recoverypackages offer the potential to combine job creation with emissions reduction. A national housing retrofit programme would be a triple win, creating jobs, reducing carbon emissions and make our homes more comfortable and affordable to heat. However, UKERC research finds that there are significant skills gaps associated with energy efficient buildings and low carbon heat. UKERC calls for a national programme of retraining and reskilling that takes advantage of the COVID downturn to re-equip building service professions with the skills needed for net zero.

Brexit

As the UK leaves the EU on the 1st January it will lose many of the advantages of integration. With new regimes for carbon pricing, trading, and interconnection yet to be agreed, there will be a high degree of uncertainty in the near to medium term. Given upward pressure on energy costs,delays to policy, and this uncertainty surrounding new rules, the overall effects of Brexit are not positive for UK energy decarbonisation.

Heat

UKERC research calls for action on heat to deliver the net zero technologies that we know work - insulating buildings and rolling out proven options. We need to end delay or speculation about less-proven options. Analysis is consistent with recent advice from the CCC that heat policy should focus on electrification whilst exploring options for hydrogen. We need to break the pattern of ad hoc and disjointed policy measures for heat and buildings, and develop a coherent, long-term strategy. This would be best achieved as an integral part of local and regional energy plans, involving local governments as coordinating agents. The aspirations for heat cant be realised unless we also take actionon the skills gap.

Societal engagement with energy

Achieving net zero in 2050 will entail significant changes to the way we live, what we eat and how we heat our homes. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that when faced with a threat, society can change rapidly. Engaging society with the net zero transition also needs to change, it needs to be to be more ambitious, diverse, joined-up and system-wide, and recognise the many different ways that citizens engage with these issues on an ongoing basis.

As we reach the end of 2018, the scorecard for UK energy policy is mixed. Optimists can point to rapid emissions reductions, cost falls in renewables and the centrality of clean energy within the Industrial Strategy. Ten years after the Climate Change Act was passed, UK greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 43% from the level in 1990. The UK is on the way to meeting the first three carbon budgets, and a transformation of the power sector is well underway.

However, if we turn our attention from the rear view mirror, the outlook is more pessimistic. As the Committee on Climate Change pointed out in June, there are an increasing number of policy gaps and uncertainties. If not addressed promptly, meeting future carbon budgets will be much more challenging. For some of these gaps, there is a particularly clear and immediate economic case for action.

Key recommendations:

The government needs to take urgent action to ensure that the UK continues to meet statutory emissions reduction targets, and goes further to achieve net zero emissions. This not only requires new policies to fill looming gaps in the portfolio, it also requires much greater emphasis on sharing the benefits and costs of the low carbon transition more equitably. Our main recommendations are:

1. We repeat our call for a heat and energy efficiency White Paper, and recommend that the Industrial Strategy mission to reduce building energy use is extended to existing buildings.
2. A better, more targeted approach to the energy needs of low-income households is required. Energy efficiency investment for these households should be funded via general taxation.
3. Urgent large-scale trials of heat decarbonisation using hydrogen are required to understand whether it could be technically, economically and socially viable.
4. A dashboard of indicators is needed to monitor gas security during the energy transition. The current one dimensional approach is not sufficient.
5. Future electricity policy should build on the Electricity Market Reform policies that have worked well, and adapt them in the light of changes in technologies and costs.
6. Changes in incentives for ‘black start’ and other ancillary services are necessary to ensure that the electricity system remains resilient as it changes.
7. The target for phasing out conventionally fuelled vehicles is inadequate and does not fit with our emissions targets. The 2040 date should be brought forward and linked to accelerated investment in networks and charging.
8. The Industrial Strategy needs to be strongly linked to market creation policies for low carbon technologies. Carbon capture and storage is in particular need of such policies to progress beyond its current holding pattern.
9. To ensure widespread support for the energy transition, there needs to be more focus on equity and justice. The UK government should consider setting up a process similar to Scotland’s Just Transitions Commission to achieve this.
10. Continued vigilance is required to mitigate any negative impacts of Brexit, particularly those that could affect integration with European energy markets.

Energy System Demonstrators are physical demonstrations testing new technologies for low-carbon energy infrastructure.

A review of energy systems demonstrator projects in the UK was undertaken for UKERC by the Energy Systems Research Unit (ESRU) at the University of Strathclyde. The review encompassed 119 demonstrators and consisted of two phases: 1) the identification of demonstrator projects and 2) an analysis of projects and their outcomes.

Energy demonstrators

The review defined an energy system demonstrator as "the deployment and testing of more than one technology type that could underpin the operation of a low-carbon energy infrastructure in the future". Only demonstrators that post-date the 2008 Climate Change Act were included and that included a physical demonstration at one or more UK sites. 119 projects were identified that met the search criteria.

There were two phases of review activity. Phase 1 involved identification and documentation of demonstration projects, involving a systematic search to identify and record the details of projects. Phase 2 was a review of project outcomes and outputs, particularly end-of-project evaluations, covering technical, economic and social outcomes where available.

The review outputs (available here) are a final report summarising the findings, 119 demonstrator project summaries (the Phase 1 reports), 119 demonstrator output analyses (the Phase 2 reports) and a GIS (Geographic Information System) map and database showing the locations and project details of the demonstrators.

The final report, attendant project summaries and GIS data are intended to provide policy makers and funding bodies with an overview of the existing demonstrator "landscape", enabling decisions on future demonstrator calls and the focus of those calls to be made with a clearer knowledge of what has already been done.

Project files

• Access the demonstrators GIS map here.
• Access the Phase 1 summaries here.
• Access the Phase 2 summaries here.

Clean power technologies have been developed to achieve high efficiencies and low emissions due to stringent environmental regulations. The obvious benefits of clean technologies were adequate while the power market was relatively stable and the plant could operate in base-load condition. However, in the current liberalised power market, electricity prices fluctuate, and thus the operational flexibility plays an important role in the plant profitability.

Powergen and UMIST (Department of Process Integration) have collaborated in a project to develop a means of ascribing a financial value to the operational flexibility (start-up times, ramp rates, minimum stable generation etc) of generating units. The project was partly funded through Powergen (£55k) and partly through support from the DTI's Clean Coal Technology Programme (£50k). This report summarises the Ph.D. study undertaken and presents the results and conclusions.

The basic purpose is to investigate the operational flexibility for power plants generating using coal or heavy fuel oil, in particular looking at Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle plants (IGCCs). The operational flexibility is defined as the ability of the plant to change its operation to respond to the fluctuating electricity prices. The profit that a plant makes is then compared to the profit of a perfectly flexible plant (i.e. instantaneous start-up and shutdown times) to give the cost of inflexibility (Operational Inflexibility Cost (OIC)).

Of the plants studied, the fully integrated IGCC has the best overall thermal performance. The higher the fuel price, the more beneficial it is to operate the IGCC compared with PF plant. In terms of the degree of integration, the fully integrated IGCC has better performance rather than the non-integrated and the partially integrated IGCC plant. The calculated operational inflexibility costs ranged between 0 (for base load operation) and about £2.5M p.a. (for about 55% utilisation) on a 250MW unit.

The overall profitability (excluding fixed costs and capital cost payback) is more dependent on the base capability of the plant than its flexibility. The higher the efficiency of the plant, the less relevant operational flexibility becomes, since high efficiency plant will run base load more often and for longer than lower efficiency plant (if all other factors are equal, such as fuel price, etc). The higher efficiencies of highly integrated IGCCs can offset the cost associated with the longer start up times of the gasifier, due to the increased likelihood of base load running).

1. Introduction
2. Background
3. Theory and Implementation
4. Summary of the Methodology
5. Results
6. Conclusions
7. References

A three year research programme is being undertaken to develop ways of calculating the benefit of plant flexibility as a function of operating regime. This information will be used to evaluate methods for improving plant designs to ensure the optimum trade-off between flexibility and other crucial plant parameters such as capital cost, efficiency and reliability. The main aims of the programme are:

Electricity markets throughout the world are being reformed and deregulated. One result of this is that power stations are required to operate more flexibly, with more starts and stops and more rapid variations in output. As a result there is considerable commercial pressure being put on manufacturers to provide plant that can be operated flexibly, and on generating companies to buy such plant. However, improving the operational flexibility of a plant almost invariably involves some additional expense, either in terms of increased capital costs or a reduction in efficiency or reliability

Powergen UK plc and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) are working together to explore ways in which the costs of plant inflexibility can be quantified. Powergen is contributing its expertise and experience of operating in a variety of liberalised power markets world-wide, whilst UMIST is one of the world's leading centres for the economic optimisation of complex industrial processes.

Biomass Engineering Ltd. have demonstrated that their downdraft gasification technology is capable of producing very low tar levels in the producer gas, as independently measured, and have four gasifiers in operation. Developments in the gasifier configuration have led to a very low tar gas, allowing a simplified hot has filtration system to be used. Recent independent analysis of the "tars" from the Mossborough Hall farm gasifier at Rainford, NW England has shown that over 80wt% of the condensable organics in the gas are benzene, toluene, xylene and naphthalene and that problematic tar components in the gas were less than 20 mg/Nm³ under prolonged operation. The gasification technology of Biomass Engineering Ltd. is therefore close to a warrantable commercial reality.

Biomass Engineering Limited has succeeded in developing a downdraft gasifier capable of producing a very low tar, low particulate gas of consistent high calorific value (> 5 MJ/Nm³ for wood feedstocks). However, with the development of a technology capable of handling a well-defined wood, there is a requirement to assess the possibility of using other non-standard fuels, especially as these are more readily available in some locations and where other disposal and transportation options are not economical. To this end this work was concerned with testing a variety of fuels in an existing 80 kg/h (80 kWe) gasification system and measuring a range of process emissions and assess whether they could possibly be used in a downdraft gasifier for gas production for use in a boiler or engine. The fuels used were: dried papermill sludge (briquetted), Dried leather wastes (briquetted), palletwood wastes (and some demolition wood), medium density fibreboard (MDF), panel board (and other chipped pallets), pine/bark mixed waste strippings and renewable biomass fuel (RBF) produced form the organic fraction of MSW.

The Biomass Engineering Ltd. technology is a throated downdraft gasifier and it can be operated using different gas cleaning systems, including cyclones for dust removal, hot gas filter for very high dust capture efficiencies (>99wt%) on low tar gases and a wet scrubbing system for contaminated (volatile metals) and high tar gases. Wastes with high ash contents are more prone to high levels of tar formation. Tests of over 60 hours on each fuel were carried out, except for the RBF, of which there was only a limited quantity and of highly variable quality, which caused various processing difficulties.

Tests on the fuels showed that the high ash feedstocks (>15wt%, RBF and papermill sludge) were problematical in gasifier operation and not unexpectedly gave a producer gas with low heating values in the range of 1-3 MJ/Nm³. The buffings dust, pine/bark mix and the palletwood could be satisfactorily gasified to give a has with a good lower heating value of 4-5 MJ/Nm³. This is the expected value for low ash feedstocks and low tar levels in the gas. Extensive analyses of the feedstocks, the by-products chars and ashes, the producer gas and some of the condensates were made. The RBF fuel was prone to clinker formation on the grate possibly by the formation of low melting eutectic of SiO₂ and CaO (or a derivative). The chars exhibited high carbon conversions of typically over 85wt%.

1. Introduction
2. System Configuration and Operation
3. Operation on Various Feedstocks
4. Product Analysis
5. Conclusions
6. Recommendations
7. Acknowledgements
8. References

The objectives of this project are:

UK power generation and associated industries are facing growing pressures from ever-tightening environmental constraints, the drive for sustainability and increasing global competition. This provides new challenges and applications for power plant modelling in: new plant development; design and manufacture; plant demonstration and authorisation; engineering support. The recently completed project on Power Plant Modelling (see Project Summary 336), which was supported by the DTI, proposes a new UK power plant modelling initiative: the development of a VPDM.

A future VPDM will provide an integrated software framework which will allow the full potential for whole-plant software modelling to be realised. As a result, UK industry could provide competitive power plant solutions and ultimately zero emission technologies with significantly reduced development costs, risk and very competitive prices. The development of the full VPDM will be split into two phases, each lasting three years.

It argues that, since its emergence in the UK in the late 1990s, community energy has grown through finding opportunities for smaller scale, decentralised energy activities in the UKs highly centralised energy system. The combination of development of renewable energy technologies, and the launch of the governments Feed-In Tariff Scheme (FITS) in 2010, produced a boom in the sector, especially around solar electricity generation.

Recent cuts to FITS rates and other policy changes place community energy at a crossroads. Some renewables activity will continue, but groups are exploring a wide range of activities, partnerships, and business models. We are engaging with the sector around outputs from our research, which include a survey and case studies, to co-develop recommendations and pathways for the future.

This document is the final report for the project titled 'The Feasibility of Building-Mounted/Integrated Wind Turbines (BUWTs): Achieving their potential for carbon emission reductions'.

The energy generation potential and technical feasibility of siting wind turbines in the built environment have been assessed. The study includes various configurations of Building Mounted/Integrated Wind Turbines (BUWTs), considered to be largely but not necessarily exclusively in urban areas: from turbines situated next to buildings, through turbines mounted on buildings, to turbines fully integrated into the building fabric.

It is concluded that wind energy could make a significant contribution to energy requirements in the built environment and that a more detailed evaluation of the resource is justified. In particular, through a combination of new-build with specifically designed wind energy devices and retrofitting of (preferably certified) turbines on existing buildings, it is estimated that the aggregated annual energy production by 2020 from wind turbines in the built environment could be in the range 1.7-5.0 TWh (dependent on the distribution of installations with respect to optimal wind speed) resulting in annual carbon dioxide savings in the range 0.75-2.2 Mt CO₂. These figures represent between 1.5%-4.5% of the UK domestic sector electricity demand in 2000.

This remains an underdeveloped area of technology with potential for the UK to establish considerable, world-leading technical expertise, building on existing strengths in the small wind turbine market and offering good job creation opportunities.

Section 1 of this report briefly reviews the UK wind energy resource, the influence of the built environment on this resource, and the status of conventional wind energy technology, before, in section 2, introducing specific BUWT technologies and their potential advantages and disadvantages. In section 3, the main technical hurdles are reviewed and addressed in terms of whether potential solutions exist or further research and development is required. In section 4, the potential electricity production and carbon dioxide emissions savings are estimated for a range of assumptions about incident wind speed and installation rates. To achieve the estimated levels of penetration and to maximise the effectiveness of individual BUWT installations, it is concluded in section 5 that improved understanding is required in four main areas (reproduced under Recommendations overleaf).

The successful development of Building Mounted/Integrated Wind Turbines would be assisted by further R&D in four broad areas: assessment of wind regime in urban areas, assessment of the structural implications of BUWTs, optimisation of wind turbine design for BUWT installations, and addressing various non-technical barriers. In addition, the establishment of a national test centre would facilitate the adoption and application of consistent standards for power performance measurement, noise and vibration assessment, and location/mounting and safety.

1. Assessing the Energy Generation Potential of BUWTs
2. Surveying and Assessing BUWT Technologies
3. Examining the Technical Solutions to the Technical Hurdles
4. Assessing the Economics and Potential CO₂ Emissions Savings from BUWTs
5. Producing a Research and Development Pathway to Demonstration

• Appendix 1: Detailed chart of turbine characteristics
• Appendix 2: Relative importance assigned to the 25 hurdles

Energy security is a central goal of energy policy in most countries and with rapid changes occurring throughout the UK energy sector, it remains high on the policy agenda. Recent concerns about UK gas supplies - highlighted by National Grid's gas deficit warning demonstrated just how fundamentally important it is to have a reliable energy system.

Using a number of indicators, ‘The Security of UK Energy Futures’ assesses aspects of security such as energy availability, reliability, sustainability and affordability to examine how energy security risks will change over time

The report draws three main conclusions:

1. There is an important role for energy efficiency and energy demand reduction in energy security strategies; by reducing our energy demand we reduce exposure to risks such as price shocks and energy shortages.
2. The relationship between decarbonisation and energy security is not straightforward. Energy imports are often cited as being insecure, however this can be controversial. Imports can help enhance security by providing additional sources of energy, by lowering costs, or by increasing diversity. What matters most is where the imports are from and whether they are dominated by risky sources or supply routes.
3. Many of the risks can be mitigated; security of the electricity and gas system can be improved significantly by investing in system flexibility. Increasing demand side response has a particularly positive impact on system reliability.

When the UKERC TPA team completed its first assessment of the evidence on the costs and impacts of intermittent generation on the British electricity system, the conclusion was that the additional costs would be relatively low, adding around 5-8 per MWh to the cost of the renewable electricity generated. This was based on a review of the available evidence, most of which did not envisage more than 20% of electricity to be sourced from intermittent renewables.

Since then, the UKs targets for renewable generation have been set considerably higher than this, and a number of significant new studies have been carried out into the likely effects of a much higher proportion of renewable electricity in the UK mix.

This project provides an update to the original 2006 UKERC report, reviewing the new evidence for the impacts associated with higher shares ofrenewable generation and

The principal aim of the project was to use advanced modelling and testing to extend the size range for which the HCM2S (P23) steel can be fabricated both with and without Pre-Weld Heat Treatment (PWHT). The specific objectives were:

This project involved the manufacture of a number of pipe butt welds between HCM2S (P23) and itself - both with and without PWHT, and also dissimilar joints with BS 3064 660 (CMV) and ASTM A 335 P91 respectively, both these alloys representing materials with which there has been identified a potential desirability to join with thick section P23.

It was concluded that acceptable strains were developed during the life of the thick P23 weld for the non-PWHT'd condition to make it a viable option.

The overall aim of this project is to investigate and develop an integrated, multi-pollutant control approach that targets major reductions in NO_X and mercury emissions from coal-fired plant. The specific objectives of the project are:

Increasing environmental concerns regarding the use of pulverised coal for power generation continue to drive legislation that limits the emissions of pollutant gases to the atmosphere. The current European Union Large Combustion Plant Directive calls for significant reductions in NO_X, SO₂ and particulate emissions from coal-fired power plant over the next few years. Primary NO_X control measures such as low NO_X burners and air staging and secondary (post-combustion) NO_X control measures such as NOxStarTM or SCR, in combination, should provide the potential for significantly higher overall NO_X reductions to meet the most stringent emission limits in a more cost-effective manner than a stand-alone technology for the same level of NO_X control.

This UKERC Research Landscape provides an overview of the competencies and publicly funded activities in electric power conversion research, development and demonstration (RD&D) in the UK. It covers the main funding streams, research providers, infrastructure, networks and UK participation in international activities.

UKERC ENERGY RESEARCH LANDSCAPE: ELECTRIC POWER CONVERSION

• Section 1: An overview which includes a broad characterisation of research activity in the sector and the key research challenges
• Section 2: An assessment of UK capabilities in relation to wider international activities, in the context of market potential
• Section 3: Major funding streams and providers of basic research along with a brief commentary
• Section 4: Major funding streams and providers of applied research along with a brief commentary
• Section 5: Major funding streams for demonstration activity along with major projects and a brief commentary
• Section 6: Research infrastructure and other major research assets (e.g. databases, models)
• Section 7: Research networks, mainly in the UK, but also European networks not covered by the EU Framework Research and Technology Development (RTD) Programmes
• Section 8: UK participation in energy-related EU Framework Research and Technology Development (RTD) Programmes
• Section 9: UK participation in wider international initiatives, including those supported by the International Energy Agency

The UK power system experienced a period of significant and rapid expansion during the late 1980s and in the 1990s. Many power generation assets are now approaching the end of their useful life and need to be replaced as we decarbonise the overall energy system. Developments in distributed generation and other technologies open important questions as to whether the traditional approaches to development and operation of power systems are still adequate and whether the anticipated major re-investment in transmission and distribution networks could be avoided by adopting new technologies such as smart grids, smart meters and a greater emphasis on demand side participation.

High level research issues identified within the UKERC Energy Supply theme cover a number of areas, including:

• Aging infrastructure replacement strategies before failure - models and tools for condition monitoring - risk management of existing T&D infrastructure
• Energy security & system security
• Environmental sustainability reducing the impact of electricity production, transportation and use on the environment (strive to reduce greenhouse gases responsible for climate change) - need to incorporate climate change driven constraints into system planning and operation (EU renewables targets; 80% 2050 CO2 targets; Meeting UK carbon budgets will require large scale decarbonisation of the electricity sector by 2030)
• Integration of distributed generation including intermittent energy technologies & micro generation - what type of network architecture - reliability and power quality - communication and control aspects of networks - incorporation of demand response and demand side participation (impact of smart meters) - role of energy storage
• Incorporation of smart meters and smart grids (impact on demand and networks)
• Transmission (on- and offshore) and distribution network planning under uncertainty of intermittent renewable resources such as wind and the uncertainty of markets and regulatory policy
• Interaction between electricity and gas networks - Integrated network (multi energy vector) research and optimisation
• Encouraging network innovation and low carbon generation through regulation and market design
• Assessing the potential of heat networks
• Impact of greater European market/network integration (gas and electricity)

These projects are reviewed in this report and from these high level research issues, some of the key research challenges identified are summarised as follows:

• Identifying and quantifying the costsand benefits of community heating and energy systems
• Quantifying Costs and Benefits of Integrating UK and EU Energy Infrastructures
• Smart meters and demand side participation
• The role of gas in the UK energy system
• Resilience of gas systems
• Compatibility of energy market and climate objectives and risks in a post EMR world

UKERC endorses the principles underlying the proposed package of reforms and supports the broad direction and aspirations of the EMR. However we believe that the package is unnecessarily complex and that some important issues, such as governance arrangements and price transparency in wholesale markets have received insufficient attention, or are absent.

A system of feed-in tariffs differentiated by and tailored to specific technologies, coupled with a capacity mechanism, would be sufficient to deliver the twin goals of promoting investment in low carbon generation and ensuring security of supply.

The feed-in tariff (FiT) is the key element of the EMR package. However, a one size fits all approach to FiT design is not appropriate. Low carbon technologies are diverse in terms of technological maturity, cost structure and risk profiles and different technologies may merit different approaches.

We regret that fixed FiTs have been excluded as they are the lowest risk option and they have a proven track record globally in encouraging investment in renewables. Contracts for differences (CfDs) may be appropriate for nuclear, while biomass generation and CCS could be supported by premium FiTs. The Emission Performance Standard (EPS) appears to be the most dispensable part of the EMR packages since other measures, such as carbon price support, will effectively inhibit investment in new unabated coal in the UK.

A capacity mechanism will be needed to give assurance that sufficient capacity will be installed to guarantee security of supply though it may be some time before the mechanism is needed.

We would recommend approaching auctions for FiTs with caution as, for many technologies, the pre-conditions for a successfulauction are not in place. These include the need for established technologies, a vibrant, diversified and competitive market, and a well developed supply chain. Administered prices or beauty contest type tenders could be used initially with a move to auctioning at a later date.

The key risk associated with the proposed package is that its complexity and uncertainty surrounding its implementation could lead to an investment hiatus threatening the attainment of both low carbon generation and security of supply goals.

• There are extremely ambitious technology deployment rates (for example for CCGT, heat pumps and electric vehicles) within some scenarios that could be challenging in reality and should therefore be subjected to stress testing.
• In addition to the need for appropriate investment signals, analysis should address the incorporation of a very active demand side and if the current arrangements can handle large amounts of intermittent generation supplying an elastic demand side.
• UKERC recommends that Ofgem consider a stress test that examines the loss of Norwegian gas supplies.