POWER


Towards a cleaner and more efficient energy sector


For some time now, the world has been in the midst of an energy paradigm shift. Before the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, there was a clear dependence on Russian gas, thanks to which most European countries generated electricity. However, the restrictions applied to the distribution of this energy source have led many countries to take the decision to look for alternative energy sources on which to rely.


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his real energy crisis has had unexpected consequences, such as the reactivation of a multitude of coal-fired plants to levels that seemed far away in the last five years. This is in stark contradiction to pan-European plans to achieve greenhouse gas reductions by 2030. However, not all countries have sought energy from polluting alternatives. France, for example, announced the creation of up to 14 new nuclear power plants in the country, at a time when this type of energy generation is already responsible for approximately 70% of French demand. The US and China have also made a strong commitment to nuclear energy, supported, in many cases, by technological advances that guarantee safe production with a low impact on the environment.


In Britain’s case, the construction of a new reactor has been underway since 2019 at the Hinkley Point power station in Somerset, which will be capable of generating energy for 6 million homes in the region, and will avoid the emission of approximately 9 million tonnes of CO2 once it comes into operation in 2030. This is a strategic project for England, the first in 20 years on British soil, and will create more than 25,000 new jobs. The construction of this new plant has required the mobilisation of the world’s largest land crane, the SGC- 250 created by Sarens, also known as Big Carl, with a load capacity of up to 5,000 tons, which perfectly reflects the magnitude of a project that is set to change the way energy is produced in the United Kingdom. The nuclear industry is currently undergoing a technological revolution, thanks to the emergence of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). With approximately one-third the power generation capacity of traditional reactors, these new units, such as those manufactured by NuScale, exponentially reduce their environmental footprint and can be installed


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in a much shorter time, even in remote locations or for less populated and less demanding locations, significantly reducing the overall project cost and offering cleaner, more affordable energy to locations that would otherwise have to rely on fossil fuel-fired generators.


Onshore wind as a renewable alternative


In the UK, the commitment to onshore wind farms has already resulted in the generation of more than 14GW, which will increase to 23GW once all the planned installations are commissioned. This commitment, however, will require sustained growth over the next few years in order to deliver the 95 projects that are already in the planning and approval phase. This will require ensuring efficiency throughout the construction process, from the loading and transport of the wind turbine components to their unloading at the final location and the lifting of loads, often weighing


DECEMBER/JANUARY 2024 | ELECTRONICS FOR ENGINEERS


hundreds of tonnes, for assembly. Companies such as Sarens have specialized in offering a complete set of services so that only one partner is needed for the assembly logistics of this type of wind farm.


Additionally, ensuring the operation of the installations through adequate corrective and preventive maintenance is also key for guaranteeing the contribution of wind energy to the national grid. Optimising the tasks of replacing blades or generator parts makes it possible to reduce the time in which generators do not provide energy, something which, in particularly large wind farms, ends up being key. Examples such as the maintenance work at Longpark in Stow (Scotland), which recently undertook a renovation of its turbine drive trains, are becoming increasingly common in wind farms around the world. As we can see, the new global energy paradigm is placing the highest demands on existing installations, and accelerating the construction of new alternatives.


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