UK – Biogas Private Wire to Manufacturing Plant

GridGEM enables Biogas to connect to wind turbine manufacturing site with multiple Grid connection issues to solve

Overview & Client Problem

Black Dog Biogas had an existing biogas combined heat & power (CHP) plant in the Isle of Wight sited near to the Vestas wind turbine manufacturing site. Black Dog biogas wanted to be able to connect their plant to the Vestas site to supply electricity via power purchase agreement (PPA) to enable both parties to benefit from a combination of higher revenue for Black Dog and lower electricity costs for Vestas.

The CHP assets could not be connected unless the solution could be shown to ensure that both sites were not connected to allow “parallel supply” at any point. In addition, Vestas had an export limit imposed on their own Grid connection (through which the CHP could export) and the distribution network operator (DNO) wanted the CHP generation system to be able to respond to any active network management (ANM) signals.

Black Dog Biogas engaged Argand Solutions to enable the solution from planning through to delivery and required the solution to be able to collect, store and analyse the energy flows for PPA billing.

Argand’s Solution

Prior to the design & delivery of a control solution, Argand took the lead on the G99 application to the DNO. This was critical as the required solution was deemed to be innovative by the DNO and, hence, needed a full electrical design process that was closely communicated with the DNO.

The client received approval from the DNO and Argand was then engaged to design, build and deliver a turnkey GridGEM control and monitoring solution for the project, working with the development / installation partner Power Systems UK (https://www.powersystemsuk.co.uk/). The GridGEM technology provided an automated changeover solution to enable the CHP system to connect to either the private wire or its own Grid connection dependent upon the realtime demand / net export at the Vestas site.

In addition, output of the generation asset is managed according to the DNO’s active network management system, providing a “fail safe” if the generation could not be reduced quickly enough due to on-site rapid power fluctuations. The GridGEM is fully G100 and G99 compliant & incorporates a full monitoring system to collect, store, transmit and process the electrical data from the generation assets, the private wire and export to the Grid to provide the O&M team with data to support their reporting & billing requirements. Data is visualised via the GridLENZ platform with reporting automated via Argand’s Client Data Services.

Client Benefits

The result has enabled the client to obtain greater revenues from the same connection and has improved their overall ROI for the project site. Vestas are now being supplied with a significant proportion of their electrical needs with low carbon electricity.