Options for Autonomous Power for the UK (Railways)

Transcription

1 Giles Pettit, Technical Director, Stephen Kent, Research Fellow, University of Birmingham The British Context Page 1

2 The Four Cs Carbon Carbon (taken to include pollutants): need to cut CO2 backlash against diesel in UK clean air zones for UK cities stations such as New Street in Birmingham under scrutiny Opportunity: UK generation mix becoming less carbon intensive, so electrification good in theory use hydrogen to store 3-phase renewable or off-peak electricity The Four Cs Cost Cost drivers: electrification too expensive & recent schemes over-budget need low-cost alternative to diesel for regional & rural lines Opportunity: Network Rail taking a serious look alternatives to traditional electrification low cost of finance means = many new fleets, so plenty of spare EMUs available soon for conversion to fuel cell power Page 2

3 The Four Cs Capacity Rail network capacity: need greater rail capacity DMUs holding up EMUs Electricity generation capacity: coal stations shutting distribution grid under pressure Opportunity: electric powertrains generally provide superior acceleration electrolysis, gas reformation & static fuel cells for distributed generation & grid balancing The Four Cs Customer Customer: UK still running dated DMUs that are noisy, smelly & slow PRM requirements by 2020 Opportunity: redundant EMU fleets could be converted to fuel cell powertrain provides cheaper alternative to electrification with less risk from customer s point of view new trains would be quick, quiet, & clean, with no installation disruption & no visual impact Page 3

4 Dissertation by Giles Pettit (supervised by Stephen Kent) UK Fleet Analysis Current fleet analysis: 9000 electric rail vehicles consuming 3TWh pa 1% of UK electricity consumption 3600 diesel vehicles Increasingly electrified: plans to increase to 51% electrified network* to be 75% electric traffic But will still need 3000 selfpowered vehicles! * certain of the electrification schemes planned to achieve this are currently under review Page 4

5 Electrification Gap Analysis 1. Region by region analysis of electrification, including schemes planned as of Gaps identified nationally 3. East Midlands & Midland Mainline area selected for detailed analysis 4. Cost of filling the gaps calculated for four traction options 5. Each route analysed in turn to identify its lowest cost option 6. Overall whole life cost predicted for optimised mixed fleet & for single fleet type for the whole area Power Options Considered 1. Electrify all lines + full EMU fleet 2. No further electrification + diesel bi-mode fleet that uses diesel generator off-the-wires (e.g. IEP) 3. No further electrification + battery hybrid fleet that stores energy to run off-the-wires (e.g. Class 379 demonstrator / CAF tram fleet) 4. No further electrification + fuel cell bi-mode* fleet that uses fuel cell off-the-wires (e.g. Coradia ilint + pantograph) * fuel cell hybridised with a battery pack in order to optimise fuel cell duty cycle & minimise size of fuel cell required to provide peak acceleration Page 5

6 Costs Included in Study Additional infrastructure: electrification of non-electrified lines (Option 1) hydrogen generation plant & equipment (Option 4) Additional rolling stock capital costs: higher capital cost of rolling stock (Options 2,3,4) Additional rolling stock maintenance & running costs: maintenance of diesel generators (Option 2) regular replacement of battery packs (Option 3) fuel cell maintenance & stack replacement (Option 4) higher track access due to extra mass (Options 2,3,4) Key Factors & Assumptions Planned electrification: the scenario assumes Midland Mainline is electrified as far as Sheffield by 2023 (now questionable!) Demand: assumes a 50% increase in demand over 50 years resulting in increase in fleet from 322 to 565 vehicles Costs: base cost = EMUs on existing electrified lines all fleets replaced after 30 years diesel and electricity costs at 2016 prices discounted costs over a 60 year period Page 6

7 Total Cost of Filling the Gap * * predicted total additional CAPEX & OPEX costs for lines that are non-electrified as of 2023 Dissertation by Giles Pettit available at railway/reports-and-publications.aspx Page 7

8 The Hydrogen Pioneer V6 Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) Railway Challenge : teams of students & graduates from UK universities & rail companies compete to build narrow gauge loco to challenging specification for the sixth time UoB will enter our Hydrogen Pioneer fuel cell loco photo shows demo at University of Birmingham Community Day 2017 video clip shows Hydrogen Pioneer hauling failed 1.5 tonne petrol loco while filming Channel 4 documentary Page 8