Deal that turned moon folk into harvesters of the sun

People in the county of Wiltshire in southwestern England are known as Moonrakers because of a legend that says they fooled excise officers into thinking they were simple-mindedly raking the moon's reflection from a pond when they were really retrieving illegal liquor from its hiding place.

Though the details of the original story have been lost, the legend of the Wiltshire Moonrakers has been handed down from generation to generation.

Now the people of Wiltshire can also call themselves sun farmers because of their use of renewable energy, a change brought about by a battery storage project from the Chinese company Huaneng.

"I think that is an interesting change from that colloquialism, and I think really important for us," said Chuck Berry, a councilor for the town of Minety, during a discussion while China's Ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang was visiting the Minety Battery Storage Project.

"We look here and we can see many 'batteries' growing in the ground, and they died, they became coal, they became oil," Berry said. "And this (project) is just a step forward, a future battery and battery that will allow us to harvest the sun's energy and use it when we need it as opposed to waiting for several million years."

Renewables accounted for 35.9 percent of the country's electricity generation in the third quarter of last year, the government says, 4 percentage points less than in the third quarter of 2020 and lower than fossil fuel generation's share.

This was largely due to much less favorable weather conditions for renewable generation, with reduced wind speeds, less rainfall and fewer hours of sunshine.

On the other hand, total renewable capacity in the UK grew by 609 MW in the third quarter of last year, which may reflect progress in some projects previously delayed because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Opportunities arise

The fluctuation in renewable electricity generation provides opportunities for companies such as Huaneng. The Minety Phase 1 project, which consists of two adjacent 49.9MW batteries and is the largest grid-side battery energy storage system in Europe, has been fully operational since last June.

Using Chinese battery systems, the project meets the needs of energy storage in the UK as more renewables connect to the country's grid, the company said, balancing supply and demand and securing greater stability and flexibility.

The project has been profitable since it entered into commercial operation, thanks to relatively stable equipment conditions and a thriving market environment, the company said.

In March last year, Huaneng started building the Minety Phase 2 project by expanding 49.9MW to Minety Phase 1. Phase 2, one of the 18 deals secured at the UK Global Investment Summit in October, is expected to employ local partners in construction and operations, and help the country deliver on its commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

"We have only one planet which we call home, the Earth," Zheng said. "We (in China) have our objectives for carbon peak by 2030 and for carbon neutrality by 2060. And as a developing country with a population of over 1.4 billion, we need to continue to work extremely hard."

The economies of China and the UK are highly complementary, and companies in both countries have their own advantages and huge potential for collaboration, he said.

Zheng said he appreciated the strong support of the local government in Wiltshire, and the companies involved in the Huaneng project, and said the essence of China-UK collaboration is mutual benefit.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of ambassadorial diplomatic relations between China and the UK. Fruitful results of practical cooperation have been seen in clean energy, low-carbon technology, green finance and other fields in recent years, becoming a new highlight of the two countries, Zheng said.

Guo Jingyu, chief representative of Rep Office of China Huaneng Group, said Huaneng is willing to make greater contributions to promoting China-UK green development collaboration.

Huaneng, founded in 1988, has its headquarters in Beijing and owns more than 550 power stations in operation, with total installed capacity exceeding 200GW.