Lumcloon Energy
About Nigel Reams:
Nigel Reams is the founder and Managing Director of R & R Mechanical Ltd., (now trading as RR Projects), Lumcloon Energy and Schwungrad Energie, each of which are involved in the energy and power industry.
Nigel has been to the fore in developing innovative technology for the energy and power sector, initially focusing on the Irish market as a template for international replication. He is considered as one of Ireland’s premier energy entrepreneurs/innovators, one who has seen concepts developed through to deployment. He has travelled extensively applying his trade and has built upon his technical and managerial abilities to start, develop and grow his business operations since 2003.
Nigel trained as a mechanical engineer with Bord na Mona and progressed to become an aircraft maintenance engineer with Team Aer Lingus where he learned to apply his high quality of technical workmanship. Having gained extensive experience with rotating machinery, he identified an opportunity in the rotational equipment marked and so founded R&R Mechanical ltd. in 2003.
There are three divisions to the business: the first is the provision of outage support to power plant owners such as the ESB. This can involve short notice repair for emergency shutdowns to planned repair and preventative maintenance programmes, working on steam and gas turbo-generator units.
The second division is where the company has built a respected reputation to become the erectors/installers of choice. It provides a full service installation and maintenance service to a range of customers including, Siemens, GE, Doosan Skoda, ESB, SPX and GEA where the company is contracted to install original equipment for these highly respected manufacturers. This can only be achieved following an exhaustive qualification process to prove competence to work on such highly technical equipment.
The third tranche of the business is installation work such as the erection of Air Cooled Condensers (ACCs), where competence and reputation are key to contract awards where Installation can only be performed by qualified and experienced personnel.
Since establishment, RR Projects has grown significantly and now has a core team of 75 people which has an annual turnover of €10 million.
Some notable project examples:
| · Bord Gáis, Whitegate IPP, Cork 2009 · CNIM, Waste to Energy Jersey, 2012 · Mongstad Oil Refinery, Norway · GE, CHP Plant Workington, 2012/13 | · SPX, Ferrybridge Waste to Energy, UK · HZI, Buckinghamshire Waste to Energy, UK · HZI, Dublin Waste to Energy, Ireland · HZI, Cornwall Waste to Energy, UK |
RR Projects is currently providing erection and installation services to HZI on the Poolbeg waste to energy project Dublin. It provides Consultancy and technical project management personnel to the EPC contractor in addition to manpower crews for the project construction.
Separately, the company is contracted to procure, manufacture and install the interconnecting pipework for the turbine for Doosan Skoda.
Nigel identified an opportunity to increase the efficiency of installation and operation of one of the major components of a power plant, the Air Cooled Condenser, and began the development of the MACC (Modular Air Cooled Condenser). Building on and initial personal investment in R&D the MACC concept Through the EU FP7 programme Nigel developed and deployed the MACC on a Concentrated Solar Power plant in Australia during the highly successful €5.7 million MACCSol project. RR Projects and the MACC technology received the Research Award from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, recognising its potential impact on energy efficiency.
The evolution of the energy industry, as it transitions to renewable energy sources, opened new/additional business prospects which Nigel has targeted, diversifying his business operations and the establishment of two new companies, Lumcloon Energy in 2008 and Schwungrad Energie in 2013.
Nigel has put a complementary team of experts together to form Lumcloon Energy, who have developed a 300MW plant to deliver energy less system services to the electricity grid. The original plan was to have a 300MW flexible multi-unit CCGT plant to follow the wind generation. This is a shovel ready project which has significant support from the local community, as it is located on the site of a decommissioned power station and has the potential to return economic prosperity to the area. More recently, Lumcloon has begun developing, in parallel, a 300MW high power battery project which could result in enhanced use of his 300MW grid connection asset.
Lumcloon appreciates and respects the local support and as such has provided IT resources and Novel JUMP Maths programmes to the schools and also provide financial support to local charities.
Lumcloon have been requested by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Vietnam to deliver a seminar to the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam on the Electricity Market in Ireland, providing an insight into the development, implementation and operation of a deregulated electricity market.
Schwungrad Energie developed Europe’s first grid connected flywheel/battery hybrid, which was seeded by Nigel and is supported by EU Horizon 2020, Enterprise Ireland, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and EirGrid. This €1.95 million project to demonstrate the technologies ability to stabilise the grid, has attracted the interest of major utilities, power project developers and technical magazines. A major utility has expressed interest in collocating the technology with their existing power plant to increase the value of their asset in an evolving electricity market.
Schwungrad continues to be invited to speak at industry conferences on topics relating to grid stability issues and energy storage and use these opportunities to disseminate the project results. The project was featured in the Energy UK “A Future of Choice” documentary.
Schwungrad were invited to speak at a conference of large industrial energy users (Pharma, Tech, Medical Devices etc.) where a new application for the technology was determined. With support from a consortium of industry stakeholders, Schwungrad will develop an Energy Research Centre of Excellence with renewable generation and simulated load where issues facing industry can be tested, isolating their operation from risk.
His interest in energy storage has resulted in the concept of a second generation integrated energy storage and material production technology, which uses molten salt for the reduction of metal oxides. This project has been awarded €250,000 in funding to develop and demonstrate the technology.
Nigel is a keen aviation enthusiast and has maintained his connection with aircrafts through the years, regularly attending international air shows and completing the Private Pilot Licence programme after which he was licenced as a Private Pilot.
