Shetland Power Study
Support the identification and delivery of a robust, green Shetland electricity distribution grid, which reaches across all of Shetland, and enables further public, community and commercial 'greening'
The University of Strathclyde is leading a consortia-funded Shetland Power Study that aims to improve our understanding of how the post interconnector grid will work and all the demand components in and around Shetland.
The project is designed to study Shetland’s current and future power systems by characterising the current capabilities of Shetland’s onshore energy system including generation, electricity networks and current load centres, identifying future potential generation sources and loads including offshore oil and gas installations, and developing and assessing suitable power grid configurations for the future integrated onshore energy system on Shetland.
Shetland’s residential and commercial power demand has been considered, together with future demand of offshore oil and gas assets and other potential future applications such as hydrogen production. The Shetland electrical power consumption is predicted to increase from 43.5MW to a peak demand of around 80MW in 2030. In terms of future power network operation, it is estimated that 226MW peak power demand is likely to be required by oil and gas assets by 2030. Power demand from other ‘new’ applications (including green hydrogen, blue hydrogen etc) will rise to 450MW by 2030 and 1GW in 2035.
Future on and offshore generation sources within the Shetland region have also been identified and reviewed – all of the planned future sources are renewable. To accommodate these planned future renewable connections, there are plans to upgrade Shetland’s power system infrastructure.
Future operational requirements have also been reviewed including security of supply if there is planned/unplanned outage, together with potential innovative technologies that could provide solutions for future requirements.
Until there is robust information on when, how and what a green / smart / resilient/ robust / affordable Shetland electricity distribution grid will look like, it is difficult to plan substantial electrification actions with confidence and the work to date is the first step on that journey.