Combination of electrical equipment which build a substation; air-insulated switchgear is set up outside, uses air for electrical insulation and requires substantial space; gas-insulated switchgear is installed in a building or outside, is more compact and uses pressurized gas inside a metal enclosure for electrical insulation.

When an electric discharge occurs, electricity travels through a medium that is normally not conductive – such as air. In welding, this event is used productively, but in transmission lines undesired electric discharges are generally prevented by making sure that the distance between discharging components is greater than the arc that would be created.

CCS technology captures CO2 from a coal- or gas-fired power plant and then stores it in underground reservoirs. The technology has been demonstrated in small scale. It is foreseen full-scale plants will go commercial by 2020.

These are certificates created when a company reduces its carbon emissions below its assigned cap. The owner can trade these credits on markets created to set prices and facilitate trading in these credits. Credits can be bought by companies who have exceeded their carbon caps, by investors betting that their price will increase, or by those seeking to take them off the market as a way to drive up prices and make exceeding carbon caps more expensive.

A normal gas turbine has two parts waste heat for each part of electricity. In combined-cycle plants, this waste heat is used to drive a second, steam-generated turbine in order to increase overall efficiency.SubSection Headline

Compensation System (Siemens SVC Plus®): A system that uses power electronics, reactors and capacitors to ensure that the power and voltage coming from the wind turbines meet the exact requirements of the UK electricity grid.

Concentrated Solar Power: Solar heat can be used not only to heat buildings, but also to generate electricity. In this technology, which is to be used in the recently founded Desertec project, solar heat is used to drive a conventional steam turbine.

Refers to the reduction in electricity demand as a result of policies, technologies or consumption patterns that require less power than otherwise would be the case.

In a traditional wind turbine, the rotor is connected with a generator via a gearbox to produce power. With direct-drive technology, a permanentmagnet generator is directly connected with the rotor, eliminating the need for a gearbox. This reduces friction and increases efficiency.

An incentive that provides a guaranteed price for a fixed period of time to entities generating electricity using renewable technologies and feeding that electricity into the grid. By providing such a guarantee, FITs encourage investors to make the (often large) financial commitments necessary to build such plants.

Combustion exhaust gas produced at power plants.

Compact and maintenance-free switchgear ensure highly reliable distribution of electricity with advanced safety features on both substations.

A term that refers to the point when renewable power technologies produce electricity at the same (or lower) cost than the cost of generating electricity by burning fossil fuels.

HVDC lines are able to send large amounts of power over long distances with very little losses – key to the transmission of renewable power, often generated far from where it’s needed most.

The transfer of electrical energy from the place it is produced to the substations close to where it will be consumed.

Conventional power meters only record power consumption. More advanced power meters are able to indicate to households whether there is a shortfallor excess of electricity on the grid so that consumption can be tailored to power production.

Substructures that each of the 3.6-MW turbines are built on, providing support and stability. Made of steel and hammered precisely into the sand below, they are built to withstand the battering of the tide and winds for decades.

Power generation capacity has to be able to meet peak demand, but demand generally only peaks twice a day for just a few minutes. The rest of the time, many of these generators run far below capacity or are switched off completely. Engineers are now working to spread some of that peak demand across the day more evenly.

A particle of light that acts as an individual unit of energy.

The smallest part of a solar panel; the semiconductor element that converts sunlight into electric current.

“Photo” (light) plus “voltaic” (electricity); the process of directly converting sunlight (photons) into electricity without mechanical conversion

A complete set of components for converting sunlight into electricity by the photovoltaic process, including the array and balance of system components.

Hybrid vehicles currently on the market have small battery systems to improve fuel efficiency. Future hybrids will have large batteries and small gasoline-powered engines to increase the range of the electric motor. These cars willthen fully charge from wall sockets.

Removes CO2 from a power plant’s flue gas using special cleaning agents before the cleaned gases are discharged to the atmosphere via the plant’s stack; technology can be used in well-known fossil fuel power plant processes.

A method for pretreating fuel gas and extracting CO2 before combustion; treated gas volume is only 1 percent compared to postcombustion capture, with more than twice the CO2 concentration

Packaged, interconnected photovoltaic cells designed to produce power when exposed to sunlight.

Water pressure at extreme depths limits production capacity compared to surface-based installations. This gap can be reduced using durable, integrated subsea power grids.

Protection, monitoring and control equipment which can be remotely controlled by the customer, ensuring that all is functioning well both offshore and onshore.

A smart grid is an integrated transmission system for the delivery of electricity from producers to consumers. The system is smart in that it uses digital technologies to optimize efficiency, save energy and costs and to provide increased reliability and transparency. Smart grids are being promoted in many areas to address energy, environmental and reliability issues for electric power.

An electrical meter that communicates customer power usage in near real time to the utility.

Electromagnetic energy generated by the sun (solar radiation).

This CO2- free generation technology uses a field of mirrors to focus solar rays on an absorber pipe with an integrated heat carrier. The carrier transfers the heat to a central powergenerating unit, producing steam that drives a turbine. Solar thermal power plants operate mainly in southern Europe and the USA.

Motor compressor developed by Siemens for use in subsea gas extraction. Its seal-less design brings improved productivity and a better environmental
performance while enhancing plant safety through reduced complexity. Due to its durable design, maintenance intervals can be maximized for increased uptime.

These rugged, integrated grids provide power to seabed processing installations at extreme depths of up to 3,000 meters, making recovery of remote energy reserves more cost-efficient. They combine transmission and control & communication elements on a single frame and can be integrated with surface components.

The facility at which electricity is distributed and/or transformed from high or medium voltage to a lower voltage level, depending on the demands of the consumer; substations link transmission and distribution networks.

The term “super grid” is used to describe networks
that offer higher performance than conventional electricity grids. Super grids incorporate smart technology to steer and manage the system, enabling it to deal with the unpredictable supplies from renewable power sources like wind and sun. Super grids span across multiple countries, unlike the (almost) purely national grids currently in operation.

Situated on the offshore platforms and onshore substations, these raise and lower the power’s voltage for more efficient transport of electricity.

Ultrahigh-voltage direct current is marked by very low transmissionlosses and high energy efficiency, allowing remote power plants and load centers to be linked and great amounts of electricity to be carried across long distances in the most efficient, economical, reliable, and environmentally compatible manner possible today.