We commissioned 9 new generator sets and 3 repaired generators this year on 8 sites and provided technical support and maintenance at many other sites at home and abroad. We visited Algeria, Ghana, Kuwait, Iran, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Syria.
Gas turbine generators are the most complicated items of plant in power systems and it is a great satisfaction to us that we know we are good at doing them. The next most complex plant is the power transformer and this year we commissioned many of these too. The protection relays for transformers are almost as complex as generator protection relays and getting all the connections and the programmable logic correct is detailed work which we excel at.
The biggest and best news in the energy world is Shale Gas. One estimate is that 50% of US gas demand will come from Shale by 2020. The techniques developed to harvest the gas will mean reductions in world gas prices and the fuel’s abundance should remove European dependence on imported gas from countries we would rather not name. The economics of CHP will change favourably which means there will be many more gas turbine installations, which is good for us. There could also be a second dash for gas meaning lots more combined cycle generation plant with very impressive efficiency ratings. No doubt, world car makers will start to look at offering gas fuelled cars and the time will come when Americans really will fill up with gas.
The link between CO2 and global warming is now firmly established in legislation, most noticeably from the European Union in Brussels. It seems to us that serious science has given up on the subject and politicians have taken over. Our own professional institution, the IET, asserts that the subject is beyond its expertise and so it does not express an opinion as to whether there is truth in the link. The Institute of Physics which, very properly, feels bound to express an opinion, plays very clever. It says that yes, CO2 does cause global warming if the climate models are correct. It does not say that the climate models are correct! Our view about global warming coincides exactly with the above statements from these two learned institutions. Industry has no choice but to obey the law and have the audits done and pay the levies required. The City of London trades carbon credits and makes profits. They probably have a futures market in them too. For the consumer, the consequence of the attempts to reduce CO2 emissions is that our electricity and other energy bills are higher by virtue of the climate change levy imposed. Apart from these small matters, there are, we admit, some favourable aspects. There is a national focus on energy efficiency, our National Grid is being reinforced and renewed to cope with energy sources such as wind farms located in remote places and there is noticeable vigour in the industry which might otherwise be absent. Most importantly, there is an increase in distributed generation which means much more electricity is produced and consumed locally without having to flow through the National Grid. All this work is done by Engineers who are, well, like us. They are realistic reasonable people and they do as they are told. They solve the problem whatever it is and they minimise costs by optimising designs.
Moreover, they do not complain…however misguided their politician masters appear to be...
The directors of the company thank all our staff and our clients and consultants and friends
for their loyalty and trust during 2010.
We wish them all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
John Sanderson, Director, 3 December 2010