Elecnor to participate in the NOA Stability Pathfinder programme in Scotland
The two contracts awarded are worth more than £20 million
Elecnor, through its United Kingdom subsidiary IQA, has been awarded two contracts to install four synchronous condensers (SynCons) for two plants in Scotland designed to stabilise the electricity grid in Phase 2 of the NOA Stability Pathfinder Programme promoted by National Grid ESO. The contracts, which have a total value of over GBP 20 million for IQA, have been awarded by Welsh Power, a power generation company based in the United Kingdom, and Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, an investment management company specialising in sustainable infrastructures and renewable energy. These two projects will be executed by IQA in a consortium with Ingeteam, also a Spanish company, who will manufacture the four synchronous condensers at their plant in Beasain (Spain).
IQA is to install the equipment in the Thurso South electrical substations (275/15 kV) in the county of Caithness and the Neilston substation (400/15 kV) located in the Glasgow metropolitan area. The infrastructures will consist of two plants equipped with four INDARCOM electrical rotating machines to provide short circuit power and inertia, as well as to compensate reactive power, which will enable the electrical system’s efficiency to be increased. The scope will also include the design, supply and installation of the evacuation system to connect the SynCons with the grid. The first of them, Thurso South, will be operational in June 2024 and the second, Neilston, in September the same year.
The NOA Stability Pathfinder programme is an initiative promoted by the National Grid ESO in Scotland with the objective of exploring and developing innovative solutions to improve the stability of the electricity grid. It focuses on the use of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimise the management of energy supply and demand. This will allow for more efficient and sustainable management of the power supply. The aim of implementing these solutions is to strengthen the existing electricity transportation infrastructure, by facilitating the integration of more renewable energy into the system. This will contribute to achieving the goals of the Net Zero 2030 strategy.