UK governments boost to renewable energy sector
The UK government last year set ambitious targets for greenhouse gas emissions becoming the first major economy to pass a law to ensure that the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced to net zero by the year 2050. This will be no small task and will require a comprehensive strategy to reduce emissions across all industry and domestic settings, the corner stone of these efforts is a move to renewable energy.
The government has previously run subsidy schemes for both solar and wind based renewable energy solutions but this month they have gone a step further and have committed £160 million in funds to upgrade ports and infrastructure. These funds will be used to build upon our world leading wind based renewable energy sector that already provides 10% of the UK’s electricity demands and will initially generate around 2000 jobs for the construction industry.
In addition to the physical elements of the roll out of wind turbines, such as fabrication and installation, internet connectivity plays a vital role as each turbine is remotely monitored and controlled for both efficiency and maintenance purposes. A refined system of sensors communicates between each turbine via an independent fibre network before connecting to an internet connection for data backhaul connecting the turbines to a central operations centre. Typically controlled using a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, turbines are controlled and monitored remotely. To support the remote control of wind farms robust and reliable internet connections are required and as wind farms are typically in remote locations, such as offshore wind farms or situated on remote farmland, specialist internet solutions are required. The two most common internet solutions implemented for wind farms are 4G and satellite broadband internet and given the high value nature of wind farms and their contribution to the national power grid both internet technologies are implemented to provide high availability and redundant internet connectivity.
Bentley Walker Freedomsat is uniquely positioned to offer both 4G and satellite internet connectivity, contact our sales team to find out more or to discuss renewable energy sector projects.