Toyota Hydrogen Cars At Le Mans
I gave the title of this post to Google AI and this is what I received.
Toyota is aggressively pushing hydrogen technology at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, moving beyond concepts to on-track public demonstrations of the TR LH2 Racing Prototype. Powered by a liquid-hydrogen combustion engine, the vehicle aims to showcase the viability of hydrogen as a near-zero emission fuel in endurance racing.
The TR LH2 Racing Prototype
The Vehicle: Built on the same chassis as Toyota’s TR010 HYBRID. It acts as a dedicated technology development platform to test hydrogen performance under extreme endurance conditions.
On-Track Debut: The prototype officially took to the track for demonstration laps at the 13.626km Circuit de la Sarthe during the 94th Le Mans 24 Hours.
The Drivers: The vehicle was driven in special dynamic sessions by former Le Mans winner Kazuki Nakajima.
The Competition: Toyota’s demos also featured other pioneering hydrogen machines, including the Alpine Alpenglow and the Ligier Bosch JS2 RH2.
Long-Term Vision & Infrastructure
Timeline: The ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest) is targeting the introduction of an official hydrogen class at Le Mans, with race entries potentially slated for upcoming endurance racing seasons.
Hydrogen Village: During the race week, Toyota highlighted the full hydrogen ecosystem.
Fans could explore the Hydrogen Village, which featured a functional TotalEnergies 700-bar liquid hydrogen refueling station.
Fuel Cell Support: Toyota’s commitment expanded to race operations, with official team staff and drivers utilizing hydrogen fuel cell buses and Toyota Hilux Fuel Cell prototypes during the event week.
Toyota seem serious about hydrogen.
Could Northern Trains Eliminate Diesel Trains From Newcastle Station?
Destinations served by Northern Trains from Newcastle, include the following stations.
- Ashington – 18.6 miles – Not-Electrified
- Carlisle – 61.5 miles – Electrified
- Chathill – 46 miles – Electrified
- Darlington – 36.1 miles – Electrified
- Hexham – 22 miles – Not-Electrified
- Morpeth – 16.6 miles – Electrified
- Nunthorpe – 51 miles – Not-Electrified
I believe that with short lengths of electrification at Nunthorpe and some platforms in Newcastle station, that battery-electric trains could serve all the routes to non-electrified stations, given that battery-electric trains seem to be capable of around a hundred miles on batteries.
Offshore Wind Could Help Create ‘Electric Shipping Highway’ Across Europe, Study Says
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Offshore wind farms, energy islands, ports and proposed “Offshore Power Zones” could together form the foundation of an integrated maritime energy system capable of supporting large-scale vessel electrification across Northern Europe, according to a study by Maersk’s Stillstrom, Baltic Energy Island and the Port of Roenne.
This is a map from the report.
Note.
- In Investment in Grain LNG, I talked about Centrica and Grain LNG Terminal, Centrica’s plans for the terminal, which include bunkering.
- London Gateway and Immingham are two substantial ports on the East side of England.
Are English ports, except for the notable exception of Felixstowe, not shown on the map, because of Brexit?
These two paragraphs add some detail.
According to the findings, it is estimated that around 37,000 cargo vessels pass Bornholm each year, consuming approximately 3 million tonnes of marine fuel and emitting around 10 million tonnes of CO₂ annually. Full electrification of this traffic is estimated to require about 17 TWh of electricity per year, potentially replacing roughly EUR 2 billion in fossil fuel imports with domestically generated renewable power.
The whitepaper also introduces the concept of Offshore Power Zones (OPZs), developed by Stillstrom, which involves vessels accessing offshore wind-generated electricity at sea for battery charging or hotel loads. The report sees these zones linked with electrified ports to form an “electric shipping highway” stretching from the English Channel through the North Sea into the Baltic Sea.
Note that Bornholm is between Sweden and Germany.
Kensington (Olympia) Station – 16th June 2026
The refurbished Olympia Exhibition Centre is now open, so I went to have a look and took these pictures.
As it was a hot day and the Overground was playing up, I only got as far as the station.
- The Victorian building and the new Hyatt Regency hotel looked good from the outside.
- There were also toilets inside the updated station.
- As the owners appear to have spent £1.3 billion and six years on the refurbishment, you’d have thought, they would have put in a bridge with lifts at the station of the venue.
- There is a step-free route, that avoids the bridge, but it is a 600 metre walk.
- An affordable cafe would be nice too!
But then all the celebs, influencers and Z-listers wouldn’t turn up in a train!
Trump Administration Withdraws Appeal, Leaving Wind Energy Leasing And Permitting Freeze Vacated
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The Trump Administration has withdrawn its appeal of a federal court ruling that vacated the section of its January 2025 Presidential Wind Memorandum that halted federal leasing and permitting activities for onshore and offshore wind projects, leaving the court’s decision in place and the wind permitting and leasing freeze overturned.
These two paragraphs add more details.
The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has granted the federal government’s motion to voluntarily dismiss its appeal of a December 2025 ruling by the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, which found the challenged section of the Presidential Wind Memorandum unlawful and vacated it in its entirety.
With the dismissal, the district court’s ruling remains in force, meaning the indefinite nationwide pause on wind energy leasing and permitting activities can no longer be enforced.
To quote one of my favourite accountants and a very good friend.
Trump has been screwed, glued and tattooed.
Thankfully, he also has appeared to have given up fairly quickly and has stopped throwing good money after bad.
GWEC Calls For Faster Offshore Wind Deployment As Global Capacity Nears 100 GW
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has called on governments worldwide to accelerate offshore wind deployment and treat offshore wind projects as critical energy infrastructure, warning that a faster build-out is necessary to strengthen energy security and reduce exposure to future energy market shocks
These two paragraphs add some more detail.
The industry is approaching a major milestone of 100 GW of installed offshore wind capacity globally, according to GWEC’s 2026 Global Offshore Wind Report, released on 9 June at the APAC Wind Energy Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The report shows that 9.3 GW of new offshore wind capacity was grid-connected worldwide in 2025, a 16 per cent increase compared to the previous year and the third-highest annual total on record. Global installed offshore wind capacity reached 92.5 GW by the end of 2025.
These are some points from the article.
- China remained the world’s largest offshore wind market in 2025, commissioning 6.6 GW of new capacity and increasing its total installed offshore wind capacity to 48.4 GW.
- Europe added nearly 2 GW across the UK, Germany and France, with the UK accounting for just over 1 GW of new installations.
- Despite the positive outlook, GWEC said project development continues to be hindered by permitting delays, grid constraints, supply chain bottlenecks and shortcomings in auction design.
- The average size of offshore wind turbines installed in 2025 exceeded 10 MW for the first time, reaching 10.3 MW.
It certainly looks like offshore wind power is going well.
Is The UK Developing Sea-Drones To Protect Wind Farms?
I asked Google AI the question in the title of this post and received this answer.
Yes, the UK is actively developing and utilizing sea-drones (and autonomous boats) for its offshore wind farms. This technology is being used to protect the farms by patrolling subsea infrastructure, inspecting underwater turbine foundations, and delivering heavy equipment to mitigate human risk.
Here is a look at how sea drones and autonomous systems are being developed and used for the UK’s offshore energy sector:
Subsea Security and Patrolling: The UK and NATO are highly focused on protecting critical subsea cables and wind networks from adversarial interference. Firms like Aberdeen-based Honuworx have been contracted to develop autonomous underwater vehicles capable of prolonged remote operation for defense and infrastructure surveillance.
Underwater Structure Inspection: Projects like the UNITE program (led by Heriot-Watt University and supported by the National Robotarium) are testing AI-controlled underwater robots to operate in turbulent seas and maintain offshore wind infrastructure. Meanwhile, Beam (an offshore wind services company) successfully deployed the world’s first AI-driven autonomous underwater drone at Scotland’s Seagreen wind farm, cutting inspection times in half.
Sailing Drones & Remote Operations: Energy companies like Vattenfall are controlling uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) and sailing drones from remote operation centers in Aberdeen to patrol and keep North Sea wind farms safe and efficient.
Heavy-Lift Cargo Drones: Beyond sea drones, energy giant Ørsted has utilized giant autonomous drones to deliver heavy equipment—like 70kg boxes of safety gear—directly to the tops of offshore wind turbines in the UK, removing the need for ships and cranes in rough seas
We should fight fire with innovation.
TfL Don’t Care About Passengers
This morning Transport for London’s contractors are fiddling with the traffic lights at the junction of Mildmay Park and Balls Pond Road.
As is often the case, when they do this sort of work, there is no warning and all they do is shut the bus stops and advise passengers to walk to the next stop. Which is too far for me.
In fact, if they’d given warning, I’d have taken a different route.
I got to Moorgate OK for my breakfast, by looking pitiful and virtually standing in front of a passing bus.
Coming home, I went one stop further, as the downhill walk from that stop is easier.
But I took these pictures of the London-bound stop, I’d used earlier.
Note.
- The bus stop is officially closed.
- The guy with the wheeled frame doesn’t get picked up.
- But the young lady in the mini-skirt does.
- Surely, the drivers could have picked the guy up.
After all, theyu did make an exception for me.
Can A ‘Secret Sauce’ Help Store Renewable Energy?
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
The US-Israel war with Iran has led to higher electricity bills and put the issue of energy security back in the spotlight.
These two paragraphs add more detail to the story.
Now a pilot project inspired by a 100-year-old idea aims to store renewable energy.
Those behind the high density hydro demonstrator scheme near Plymouth say the technology can “turn small hills into giant batteries”, as part of the transition away from fossil fuels.
This is one of those stories, that could only emerge in the UK.
If you have the time, click on the link to the BBC article and read it in full.
I have a feeling, that the world will be hearing a lot about RheEnergise.
I asked Google AI, “How Much Energy Can A RheEnergise Battery Store”, and received this reply.
A RheEnergise system acts like pumped-storage hydro, using a dense fluid instead of water to store energy.
Planned commercial facilities are designed to store 2 to 16 hours of energy capacity, offering between 10 MW and 50 MW of power generation.
The exact energy storage figures for their deployments scale depending on the site requirements.
The breakdown of how these installations store and yield energy includes:
Commercial-Scale Capacity: A standard commercial site ranging from 10 MW to 50 MW will yield between 20 MWh and 800 MWh of total energy output (based on operating at full capacity for 2 to 16 hours).
The “Secret Sauce”: The system uses a proprietary fluid called R-19, which is 2.5 times denser than water.
This density allows the system to generate 2.5× more power and energy from the same physical footprint and vertical drop compared to traditional water-based facilities.
Real-World Pilot: The company operates a 500 kW demonstrator project at Cornwood near Plymouth, UK. This smaller test-bed, if run continually, generates energy equivalent to powering about 400 homes for an entire year.
Zero Seasonal Losses: Unlike chemical batteries (like lithium-ion) that degrade and lose charge over time, pumped hydro setups suffer virtually zero energy loss while the fluid sits idle.
The Anonymous Widower 