Welding a single 40-metre offshore wind monopile currently takes around 6,000 hours of arc-on time. A new electron beam welding system called EBFlow can cut that to under 200 hours—slashing fabrication costs by more than 85%. This matters because building the thick-section steel structures needed for nuclear reactors, offshore wind turbines, and other power generation equipment is slow and expensive. The UK alone requires over 1,000 offshore wind structures per year, each demanding roughly a million tonnes of steel. Reducing welding time is the bottleneck to cost-effective, large-scale deployment of low-carbon energy infrastructure. If successful, the EBManPower project will install and validate the first EBFlow system at Cammell Laird’s heavy fabrication shipyard in Birkenhead. The immediate goal is to demonstrate that nuclear micro-modular reactors (MMRs) can be built affordably. Beyond that, the technology could transform how the UK fabricates safety-critical components for thermal power plants, offshore wind foundations, and other thick-section steel structures—cutting costs, boosting exports, and securing high-value manufacturing jobs in the clean energy sector.
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"Globally 79% of electricity is generated by thermal processes, in which conventional power plants provide over 62% of global electricity supply and the remaining 17% is by nuclear fusion processes and this is expected to increase (IEA, 2015). Thermal power plants make use of a large number of thick section (\>20mm) components for many parts of the primary circuit; pump and valve bodies, ancillary systems and other safety critical components. Furthermore, off-shore wind demand in the UK requires \>1,000 structures (towers and foundations) or 1m tonnes of steel p.a. to be cost-effectively fabricated. **_The demand for 'thick section' steel structures in power generation is strong & growing._** The ability to fabricate these thick section structures cost-effectively is (in part) limited by the welding time and associated cost; to produce a typical 40m long monopile (60mm thick) takes ~6,000 hrs of 'arc-on' welding time. **_To reduce cost this manufacturing time needs to be significantly reduced._** Aquasium technology has developed the 'EBFlow' system, based on high productivity electron beam welding which can reduces this welding time to <200 hrs, equivalent to a reduction in cost of over 85%. **The EBManPower project will implement and validate the first EBFlow system within a large-scale fabrication facility to enable cost-effective manufacture of large scale power generation infrastructure.** Cammell Laird is one of the UKs last heavy fabrication ship yards and is the manufacturing partner for the U-Battery micro modular reactor (MMR) system. This project will focus on using the EBFlow system deployed at our site in Birkenhead to demonstrate the viability to fabricate MMRs in a cost-effective manner. Being able to achieve this will be critical to drive widespread deployment of new, cost-effective, nuclear fission solutions to meet low-carbon energy needs both within the UK and across the globe. Through this project our partnership believe we can increase revenues, grow exports and secure high value jobs in manufacturing and low-carbon energy sectors."
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