Direct Train Between Brighton and Newcastle Take Next Steps
The title of this post, is the same as that, as this article on The Argus.
This is the sub-heading.
Plans for a new direct rail link connecting the north and south has taken its next steps
These two paragraphs add more details.
In December last year, Arriva submitted an application to regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) for permission to launch a direct service between Brighton and Newcastle.
The operator said the service would run under its Grand Central brand and call at stations such as York, Sheffield, Birmingham New Street, Oxford, Reading and Gatwick Airport.
Arriva has since confirmed it has agreed to lease four additional class 180 trains from Angel Trains to support the proposed route.
As the trains would now appeared to be leased, it would appear, that the Government will be iapproving this open access service.
The story is also reported in the Northern Echo and the Yorkshire Post, so there will be a lot of dissappointed travellers, if the service doesn’t start.
Rolls-Royce Secures Deal For ŠKODA-Made Hardware To Drive The Next Generation Of Nuclear Power Stations
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on techradar.
These three bullet-points act as sub-headings.
- Critical safety hardware for an upcoming range of Rolls-Royce’s turbine-equipped nuclear power stations is being provided by ŠKODA JS
- The Czech company will provide safety mechanisms for 470 MW reactors
- ŠKODA JS was bought by the Czech Republic’s state-backed electric power company ČEZ in 2022, removing it from its previous Russian owner, OMZ
These three paragraphs add more details.
Development of new nuclear plants based around Rolls-Royce turbines will feature critical safety hardware from ŠKODA JS, it has been announced. The Czechia-based company – once part of the old ŠKODA Works organization – will design and manufacture the Control Rod Drive Mechanisms, which are vital for regulating output and handling safety in emergencies.
The Rolls-Royce SMR (small modular reactor, but also referred to as UK SMR) is a reactor capable of outputting 470 MW of energy. That’s the equivalent of 150 onshore wind turbines, and offers a low-carbon, always on, and virtually invisible alternative to landscape-spoiling steel and fiberglass constructions.
Competition for nuclear hardware expertise is strong across Europe, and ŠKODA JS is considered a “tier-one” supplier. The deal is expected to be worth Kč 1 billion Czech Koruna (around £35 million) per Rolls-Royce power station.
In Clean, Affordable Energy For All, I said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see other countries join both projects, if they have something to offer. It looks like Skoda is a partner for Rolls-Royce.
Memorandum Of Understanding
The article also mentions a Memorandum of Understanding and says this.
Announcement of the ŠKODA JS built Control Rod Drive Mechanisms (CRDMs) follows an earlier Memorandum of Understanding with Rolls-Royce, in which the British company developed plans to develop sites in the Czech Republic, enabling deployment of up to 3GW of power.
That looks like the Czech Republic could be looking at six Rolls-Royce SMRs.
Conclusion
I must admit that I was a bit surprised that Rolls-Royce had gone to Skoda for such a critical component.
Consider.
- But in the 1960s, I put control systems on old machinery and you have to get it right.
- Skoda have probably worked with a lot of second-grade Russian hardware, so they make sure it works.
- Skoda are probably honoured to be working on such a prestige project.
- It might even be a tactic employed by Rolls-Ryce to get the best out of suppliers.
So long as it results in a safe and reliable reactor, who cares?
East West Rail Plan For 900 Bedford Parking Spaces
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Plans for 900 new parking spaces across three car parks in Bedford have been proposed as part of the East West Rail (EWR) project
These two paragraphs add more detail.
East West Rail Company (EWR Co) said 70% of the spaces would be to the east of Bedford station in a six-storey car park and a surface car park, both on Ashburnham Road.
The remaining spaces would be in a car park off Ford End Road.
My first reaction is borrowed from the incomparable John McEnroe and is “You cannot be serious!”, as why would the East West Rail Company need car parks, when they aren’t running trains, due to union opposition.
This Google Map shows the location of Bedford’s two stations and the proposed new car parks.
Note.
- Bedford station is in North-West corner on the map.
- Bedford station is served by Thameslink and Midland Main Line services.
- Ashburham Road, where two car parks will be located, is to the East of the station.
- Ford End Road, where the other car park will be located, is to the South of the station.
- Bedford train depot is also South of the station.
- Bedford St. John’s station is in South-East corner on the map.
- Bedford Hospital is t the West of Bedford St. John’s station.
Does Bedford have a planning problem because of the River Great Ouse running through the middle?
The BBC article does have an, impressionist-style visualisation of the Ashburham Road car park.
Will the actual car park be as tasteful?
Could A Highview Power CRYOBattery Be Mounted On An Offshore Platform?
In the early days of North Sea Oil and Gas, I was asked to help two Cambridge University engineering professors, with the mathematics and some of the problems, they were having with a revolutionary design of oil or gas platform.
I was convinced it would have worked, but sadly they were unable to sell the design to even a single customer and the company folded.
I have been following a company called Highview power and their CRYOBatteries, which store electricity as liquid air.
I just wonder, if the Cambridge design could be adapted to hold say a 50MW/300 MWh CRYOBattery, which could then be erected alongside the wind turbines in a wind farm.
This battery would then smooth the output of the wind farm.
Centrica And Canada’s Ksi Lisims LNG Sign HoA For Long-Term LNG Supply
The title of this post, is the same as that of this news item from Centrica.
This is the sub-heading.
Centrica and Ksi Lisims LNG LP have entered into a Heads of Agreement (HOA) for the sale and purchase of 1 million tonnes per annum of LNG. Sales to Centrica will be on a free-on-board basis for 20 years and are subject to the completion of a Sale and Purchase Agreement.
These two paragraphs, add more details.
This long-term agreement strengthens the resilience of Centrica’s LNG portfolio, adding reliable supply for its customers during a time of continued volatility in global energy markets.
With this announcement, Ksi Lisims LNG has now entered into long-term supply agreements or Heads of Agreement covering 9 mtpa of its planned 12 mtpa capacity.
The next paragraph shows how LNG is moving towards low-emission and low-carbon.
Ksi Lisims LNG is a proposed 12 mtpa floating export facility located on the northwest coast of British Columbia, developed in partnership between the Nisga’a Nation, Rockies LNG, and Western LNG. It is designed to be one of the world’s lowest-emission LNG projects, using renewable hydroelectricity from British Columbia’s grid to power liquefaction and cut carbon intensity by up to 90 per cent versus conventional plants.
The news item also states that they are in a genuine partnership with the Nisga’a Nation.
How Do Tankers Go From British Columbia To The Isle Of Grain?
I had to ask Google AI this question and received this answer.
Vessels travel from British Columbia (such as the Port of Vancouver or Prince Rupert) to the Grain LNG Terminal on the Isle of Grain in Kent, England, by sailing through the Pacific Ocean, transiting the Panama Canal, and crossing the Atlantic Ocean into the English Channel and the Thames Estuary.
The Maritime Route
Departure: Ships load cargo (such as liquefied natural gas or bulk goods) at a British Columbia port on Canada’s Pacific coast.
Pacific Leg: Vessels head south along the North American west coast or out into the Pacific.
The Panama Canal: Ships enter the canal to shortcut from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea / Atlantic Ocean.
Atlantic Crossing: From the Caribbean, vessels cross the open North Atlantic Ocean toward Europe.
European Approach: Ships enter the English Channel, pass through the Straits of Dover, and navigate into the Thames Estuary / River Medway to dock at the Isle of Grain.
It’s a long way.
This Must Be The Ninth Or Tenth Deal, Like This I’ve Found
Perhaps, if we can extract gas in a Canadian low emission/low carbon way from the North Sea, it may be better all round, as the gas wouldn’t have so far to go.
Could Centrica Build An Alternative Grid For The UK?
Andy Burnham’s Speech In Liverpool Introduced The Great British Grid
This extract is what he said on energy and the grid.
One of the biggest barriers to growth in the UK is the cost of energy. British businesses and billpayers pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe.
Within 10 years, I want those costs to be in line with our neighbours.
This means reforming a broken energy market so it better serves the public interest.
We are already taking more control of our electricity prices with a massive expansion of home-grown renewables and nuclear. I have asked Miatta to speed up the breaking of the link between what we pay for power at home and the international gas market, to get bills down.
And we will be pragmatic in relation to the North Sea as we build a bridge to a clean energy future and face the climate crisis.
But it’s not just the price. The system needs to work better too. You would not believe how many businesses complain to me they can’t get going because they can’t get connected to the grid.
It pushes costs up. It drags growth down. And it holds Britain back. We won’t get the growth and inward investment we need if we don’t fix it.
So, for the first time, we will have a national energy plan and we will bring back local democratic control through a stronger role for mayors and local leaders.
But we must go further. Today I can announce our plan for Great British Grid. A new branch of Great British Energy. A publicly-owned company that will challenge the private sector operators.
But is Andy Burnham’s plan realisable?
The Great Grid Upgrade From Norwich To Tilbury
National Grid are aiming to replace the grid between Norwich and Tilbury to add extra capacity and the details of the project are on this web site.
This is a map of the route.
To ascertain the level of objections, I asked Google AI “Norwich to Tilbury grid objections” and received this reply.
Local councils, residents, and organizations object to National Grid’s Norwich to Tilbury Project primarily due to the visual and ecological damage of using 50-meter overhead pylons instead of offshore or underground alternatives.
Key Objections and Concerns
Overhead Pylons vs. Alternatives: Opposition to roughly 100 miles (159–183 km) of towering onshore overground lines. Objectors demand fully costed offshore high-voltage direct current (HVDC) or underground cabling options.
Environmental & Landscape Harm: Severe impact on protected and valued landscapes, including the Dedham Vale national landscape and Waveney Valley, alongside extensive tree loss and disruption to local wildlife habitats.
Heritage & Property Impacts: Damage to the settings of historic buildings and significant property or land devaluation, including negative impacts on planned developments like the Dunton Hills Garden Village in Brentwood.
Unrealistic Delivery Timeline: Concern that the targeted 2030/2031 completion deadline is overly ambitious, forcing rushed implementation without proper scrutiny of cumulative effects from multiple East Anglian energy projects.
Community Disruption: Strain on local highways, disruptive weekend and bank holiday working hours, agricultural disruption, and a lack of adequate community compensation or tangible social value.
The Nimbys don’t seem very keen on more and bigger overhead power lines.
Conclusion
I believe building a second set of power lines across the country will be very difficult, if not impossible.
The Investment Of Centrica And Others In innovative Energy Technology
I think we’ll see innovation from the likes of Centrica, Octopus, National Grid and others, as to how we get our energy delivered.
Centrica and others, who include the UK Government, have backed four British companies, that I’m sure will be used in the grid of 2030.
- Ceres have developed a fuel cell that runs on hydrogen, biomethane or natural gas. It was thought it would be used to power data centres, but it could be used to provide power anywhere there is a gas supply, like a big factory or a new housing estate.
- Heata was developed by British Gas Research and is part of a data centre, which sits in a domestic hot water tank and the waste heat gives you affordable hot water.
- Highview Power make liquid-air batteries up to 300 MW/3.2 GWh. Significantly, Andy Burnham performed the groundbreaking for a 50 MW/300 MWh battery in Manchester, when he was Mayor of Greater Manchester.
- HiiROC from Hull University have a way to make hydrogen that uses only a fifth of the electricity. Cemex are using HiiROC to make low-carbon cement at Rugby. I also think Jim Ratcliffe has plans for HiiROC, as he is an investor with Centrica and others.
Could Centrica build an innovative Great British Grid from their investments?
I don’t think so because of the problem I indicated earlier with Norwich to Tilbury of putting up more overhead cables.
But all of these four companies can provide support and enhancement to the existing grid.
- Ceres could be used to provide extra power, where it is needed, if there is a suitable gas supply.
- Heata could be used to give a large proportion of houses and flats affordable hot water.
- Highview Power could be used to provide energy storage where too much energy is being generated at times and needs to be stored for a number of hours.
- I believe that many large wind farms will be connected to the grid, with a Highview Power battery at the sub-station.
- I also believe that we could see Highview Power batteries installed offshore to smooth wind farm output.
- HiiROC could produce hydrogen when and where it is needed.
The big problem will be that the grid will get more complicated and will be more difficult to control.
In Centrica And Return Partner To Scale Battery Flexibility In Germany, I ask Google AI if Centrica are good at optimising batteries and received this reply.
Yes, Centrica is considered a strong and established player in grid battery (BESS) optimisation.
Centrica Energy leverages over 15 years of flexible asset trading experience and has actively optimised battery energy storage systems since 2018. They currently manage over 950 MW of grid-scale batteries on contract across the UK and Europe.
It may be difficult to manage all these assets, but it does appear that Centrica have the mathematicians and engineers, who are up to the task.
The Future Of Nuclear
Consider.
- The four nuclear stations at Hartlepool, Heysham 1, Heysham 2 and Torness are to be shut down by March 2030, which will lose approximately 5 GW of zero-carbon electricity.
- Hinckley Point C will deliver 3.2 GW from the early 2030s.
- Sizewell C will deliver 3.2 GW at some time in the future.
Can we rely on solar and wind power to power the UK?
It is not a question of can, but we have to.
But Centrica have made a bold move to link up with X-energy of the US to build a fleet of small modular reactors called an Xe-100.
- I wrote about the initial deal in Centrica And X-energy Agree To Deploy UK’s First Advanced Modular Reactors.
- In Hartlepool Nuclear Reactor Moves To UK Regulatory Assessment, I talk about how the first reactor will be built at Hartlepool.
- In Centrica, X-energy Advance Nuclear Plans As UK Regulators To Begin Design Review For Xe-100, I say more about the design and the parners in the Xe-100.
- In With Federal Funding Windfall, X-energy Advances Small Nuclear Reactor, I talk about US Federal funding for X-energy.
- In TRISO-X Completes Vertical Construction Of TX-1 Fuel Fabrication Facility, I describe how they are cracking on with the fuel facility in the US.
It certainly, seems to be a project that has started with a certain degree of momentum, which says to me, they have got the project management right.
But believe that these 80 MW Xe-100 reactors, if strategically placed around the country will keep us going as older nuclear and gas power stations are retired.
The Relationship Between Andy Burnham And Chris O’Shea
I wrote about this in Have Chris O’Shea And Andy Burnham Met?
I will assume its a good relationship, until proven otherwise.
Conclusion
I wonder whether in the end, the Great British Grid is a series of extensions to the current grid we have.
Councillors Urged To Raise No Objection To Hydro Scheme Near Loch Ness
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Highland Council planning officials have recommended councillors raise no objection to a hydro-electric project that would use water from Loch Ness
These initial four paragraphs give more details.
Under the proposals, Glen Earrach Pumped Storage Hydro scheme would use Loch nam Breac Dearga in hills above Drumnadrochit as an upper reservoir and Loch Ness as a lower one.
Glen Earrach Energy said its 2GW project would be one of the UK’s largest and most water efficient energy storage schemes.
Highland Council’s south planning applications committee is due to debate the proposals next week.
The Scottish government has consulted the local authority on the plans.
But has Nessy been consulted?
Seriously though, if you want to learn more the project has a web site.
This paragraph introduces the project.
Glen Earrach Energy is a 2GW, 34GWh pumped storage hydro project located on the Balmacaan Estate above Loch Ness. Using the site’s unique topography and a 480m head height, it will be one of the UK’s largest and most water efficient energy storage schemes.
It then gives these facts.
2GW of installed pumped capacity, 1.8GW of installed electrical generation capacity
34 GWh of clean energy output
10% reduction in the electricity grid’s post-2030 carbon footprint.
Over £2.9 billion in savings to electricity grid running costs
This really is a monster of a project!
Train Staff To Strike Over East West Rail Door Row
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
The first trains on a £7bn new railway which will eventually connect Oxford and Cambridge could be further delayed due to industrial action
These three paragraphs add more detail.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), which represents train guards, said on Tuesday that its Chiltern Railways members had agreed to take 24-hour strike action.
It comes following a lengthy dispute over plans for drivers to control the opening and closing of carriage doors on services along the first section of the new East West Rail (EWR) route.
Tony Baxter, the interim managing director of Chiltern Railways, said the firm was “disappointed” by the vote in favour of industrial action.
Surely, it’s about time for Andy Burnham to invite the unions round to No. 10 for beer and sandwiches.
Have Chris O’Shea And Andy Burnham Met?
I feel that this is a sensible question to ask Google AI.
I received this answer.
Yes, Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea and Prime Minister Andy Burnham have met.
They most recently crossed paths at the September 2026 Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.
During the event, Chris O’Shea was part of a slimmed-down delegation of top British business executives who attended a private meeting where Andy Burnham took questions and delivered a frank address regarding the “cost of business” and his future economic strategy.
They have also met previously during Burnham’s tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester.
For instance, in April 2022, the banking group NatWest arranged a high-level meeting involving both Andy Burnham and Chris O’Shea to discuss green energy initiatives and policy incentives for sustainable housing.
It should also be noted, that Centrica, where Chris O’Shea is Chief Executive, have backed Highview Power’s 50 MW/300 MWh battery at Carrington in Greater Manchester. I wouldn’t be surprised that given the NatWest meetings, that Burnham and O’Shea met at Carrington at some point. In Andy Burnham and Highview Power, I investigated Burnham’s attitude to the Carrington battery and it appears to be positive.
I have just read this interview with Chris O’Shea in the Guardian.
Burnham and O’Shea have a lot of similarities in their lives.
- There is only a four years difference in their ages.
- Both are from Catholic families.
- Both may have had financial troubles in their families as children.
- Both went to good universities.
- Both are keen football supporters.
I can expect that on a lot of important issues, they are in agreement.
Power Lines Disappear From Cornish Beauty Spot
The title of this post, is the same as this news item from National Grid.
This is the sub-heading.
Visitors to a North Cornwall beauty spot will be able to enjoy improved views after overhead power lines were removed by our engineers.
These three paragraphs add more detail.
They took down more than a mile of poles and lines at Hawkers Cove, near Padstow, which have been replaced by underground cables.
The cove is a popular destination known for its coastal scenery and views across the Camel Estuary, and we worked with Cornwall National Landscape, Cornwall Council, local landowners and a tenant farmer to identify which overhead equipment could be removed.
This resulted in more than a dozen poles and 15 spans of high and low voltage conductors covering 1,600 metres being taken down.
It appears that National Grid work in partnership with National Parks and National Landscapes, to identify and prioritise schemes.
I posted this story, as in Burnham’s speech, he said he would be setting up Great British Grid.
Will this mean, if you vote Labour, you’ll get ugly cables removed from around your house, so that it goes up in value?
