Features | Zurich, Switzerland | 12.01.2023 | 3 min read
A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a converter station in England delivers key insights about the IFA2 interconnector’s carbon footprint in the effort to advance a sustainable energy future.
Challenge
Energy customers need support to achieve environmental, operational, and financial goals and help reduce the carbon footprint of energy systems that power, move and connect the world. From utilities to data centers and e-mobility operations, they need deep insights to help guide their sustainability-related initiatives at all stages of a project.
National Grid, one of the world's largest publicly listed utilities focused on the transmission and distribution of electricity and gas has an ambitious vision: to contribute to clean, fair and affordable energy. With the IFA2 interconnector, a 1,000 MW, high-voltage direct current (HVDC) link built to accelerate the exchange of low-carbon electricity between the UK and France, National Grid has a huge potential to influence sustainable energy in the region. An important milestone is to assess the current impact of this key project.
Solution
EconiQ™ is Hitachi Energy’s eco-efficient portfolio for sustainability, where products, services, and solutions are proven to deliver exceptional environmental performance.
EconiQ Consulting provides this support in many forms. For example, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) like the one performed for National Grid’s IFA2 Daedalus converter station can identify, quantify, and evaluate the environmental performance of the station throughout its lifecycle.
An LCA helps to strategically prioritize technology solutions to optimize design, minimize losses, and improve the supply chain. It is also essential for providing transparent data for sustainable finance reporting.
The holistic and science-based LCA process provides the customer with a clear understanding of the key factors in the material, equipment, and process that are driving the environmental performance of the station.
The Daedalus LCA provided a clear understanding of the station’s environmental impact by quantifying CO2 equivalent (kg CO2e) across the complete project life cycle, with a strong focus on raw material extraction, manufacturing, transportation, use, and disposal.
Impact
One of the key findings that came out of the Daedalus LCA was that the IFA2 Interconnector saved more carbon emissions in its first year of operation than the total kg CO2e emitted during its creation, due to the resulting low-carbon electricity exchanges between UK and France.
“This is fantastic news and highlights the critical role that interconnectors like IFA2 are playing in delivering a cleaner, more secure, and more affordable energy system for UK consumers,” said Nicola Medalova, Managing Director, Interconnectors, for National Grid. “By 2030, we estimate our interconnectors, including IFA2, will have saved the UK around 100 million tonnes of CO2 by enabling the fast and flexible sharing of clean and green energy with our European neighbors.”
Open collaboration, transparency, and fact-based decision-making are the starting points when assessing a project’s carbon emission impact. EconiQ Consulting develops and provides strategic insights to guide companies and help them reach their environmental targets while maintaining or improving their operations. Another service in the EconiQ portfolio is EconiQ Implementation, which builds effective sustainability practices into daily business routines.
Customers benefit from Hitachi Energy’s world-class expertise in sustainability solutions and unsurpassed technology and product knowledge to clearly understand the assessment results and channel them effectively.
