The Anonymous Widower

UK-German Energy Link Reaches Financial Close

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on renews.biz.

These are the three introductory paragraphs.

A multibillion-euro 725 km interconnector between the UK and Germany has reached financial close, paving the way for construction works to begin in the coming months.

The £2.4bn (€2.8bn) NeuConnect interconnector will form an “invisible energy highway” with subsea cables allowing up to 1.4GW of electricity to flow in either direction between the UK and Germany and will help deliver a more secure and resilient energy supply, particularly as more renewable generation is added.

Independent analysis shows the project will create over £1.7bn in UK consumer benefits over 25 years.

Other points about NeuConnect include.

  • It has been privately funded by a consortium of over twenty national and international banks.
  • It will run between the Isle of Grain and a the new Fedderwarden substation in Wilhelmshaven.
  • It should be operational in 2028.

Although, it is bi-directional, it appears that one of its major uses will be to provide Germany with UK wind energy to compensate for the loss of Putin’s bloodstained gas.

July 21, 2022 Posted by | Energy | , , , , | Leave a comment

easyJet And Rolls-Royce Pioneer Hydrogen Energy Combustion Technology In H2ZERO Partnership

The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Rolls-Royce.

These three opening paragraphs outline the project.

easyJet and Rolls-Royce today announced a ground-breaking new partnership, H2ZERO, that will pioneer the development of hydrogen combustion engine technology capable of powering a range of aircraft, including those in the narrow-body market segment.

Both companies have committed to working together on a series of engine tests on the ground, starting later this year and have a shared ambition to take the technology into the air. The objective of the partnership is to demonstrate that hydrogen has the potential to power a range of aircraft from the mid-2030s onwards.

While Rolls-Royce will bring its expertise in engine development and combustion systems, easyJet will contribute its operational knowledge and experience to H2ZERO and will also directly invest in the test programme.

This to my mind is good news.

This paragraph gives details of some of the planned work.

Through H2ZERO, the companies will support an early concept ground test of a Rolls-Royce AE 2100 engine in the UK later this year. This will be followed by a full-scale ground test of a Rolls-Royce Pearl 15 jet engine – a range of location options are being assessed for this including the Rolls-Royce test facility in Mississippi, USA. The programme will build on initial hydrogen combustion and fuel system rig tests that Rolls-Royce is undertaking with both Cranfield and Loughborough universities.

Note.

  1. The Rolls-Royce AE 2100 engine, powers the Lockheed Super Hercules amongst others.
  2. Rolls-Royce Pearl 15 powers various business jets.

easyJet and Rolls-Royce certainly have ambitions, and as there is little about the route they are taking to decarbonise, I would assume, that the main purpose of the study, is to find the optimal route.

I have just found this paper on the German Aerospace Centre web site, which is entitled Assessment Of Hydrogen Fuel Tank Integration At
Aircraft Level.

It uses as a baseline aircraft, the Airbus A320neo, of which easyJet have a few!

I suspect that using some of the techniques outlined in this paper, Rolls-Royce could decarbonise an Airbus A320neo.

July 21, 2022 Posted by | Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | , , , , , | Leave a comment