Cummins Fuel-Agnostic X Series Platform
This post shows a Cummins video on YouTube about their fuel-agnostic X Series engine.
Irish Green Hydrogen Could Be Europe’s Cheapest In 2030, Aurora Finds
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Renewables Now.
These two paragraphs outline the story.
Ireland could produce the cheapest green hydrogen in Europe by 2030, achieving a levelised cost of EUR 3.50 (USD 3.73) per kg under optimal conditions, Aurora Energy Research said on Tuesday.
This would be 8% below optimal production costs in Spain and 35% below those in Germany, with Ireland’s cost advantage driven by the country’s high wind speeds and rising grid congestion.
Aurora also sees the possibility of exports to Germany before 2030.
Hydrogen Engines To Be Mass Produced By Hyundai By 2025
The title of this post, is the same as that, of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
This is the sub-heading.
Hyundai Doosan Infracore is accelerating engine development
These are the first two paragraphs.
After the completion of its H2 internal combustion engines (ICE) design and rolling out the prototype, Hyundai Doosan Infracore (HDI) is revving up the development of its hydrogen engines, with the aim to mass produce these engines by 2025.
The hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine can produce a power output of 300 kW (402 HP) and a torque of 1700 NM at 2000 RPM. Fulfilling Tier 5/Stage 5/Euro7 regulation, the engine satisfies the emission requirements to be 90% decreased to the current level to meet Zero CO2 (below 1g/kwh) and Zero Impact Emission.
Note.
- The engine is described as an 11 litre class engine.
- The new hydrogen engines that will be produced will be installed on commercial vehicles, including large buses, trucks and construction equipment.
It should also be noted that Hyundai are investors in Hull-based hydrogen production company; HiiROC, as I wrote about in Centrica Partners With Hull-Based HiiRoc For Hydrogen Fuel Switch Trial At Humber Power Plant.
Hyundai now have the hydrogen internal combustion engine to go with HiiROC, who are developing the means to produce hydrogen at a filling station or depot.
A Problem With The Hydrogen Fuel News Article
This article on Diesel Progress, which is entitled Hyundai Doosan Infracore To Launch Hydrogen Engine covers the same story.
But it shows a different picture of the hydrogen internal combustion engine, which as it looks like one, I assume it is the correct image.
X1 Wind’s Floating Prototype Delivers First Power Offshore Canary Islands
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
X1 Wind has announced that its floating offshore wind turbine prototype delivered first power to PLOCAN’s smart grid in the Canary Islands, Spain.
The article is based on this news item from X1 Wind, which is entitled X1 Wind’s X30 Floating Wind Prototype Delivers First kWh, which starts with these two paragraphs.
X1 Wind has announced today (MARCH 07) that its X30 floating wind prototype, installed in the Canary Islands, successfully produced its first kWh.
The milestone marks the world’s only floating wind platform currently installed with a TLP mooring system, which dramatically reduces the environmental footprint and improves compatibility with other sea uses. It further heralds Spain’s first floating wind prototype to export electricity via a subsea cable.
Note.
- TLP is short for tension leg platform, which is described in this Wikipedia entry.
- The TLP Wikipedia entry contains a section, which describes their use with wind turbines.
- TLPs have been in use for over forty years, with the first use in the Hutton field in the North Sea.
- TLPs work well for water depths of between 300 and 1,500 metres.
I also suspect there’s a lot of experience from the oil and gas industry around the world about how to deploy TLPs.
The X1 Wind news item also has this paragraph.
The novel X30 platform is equipped with a specially adapted V29 Vestas turbine and ABB power converter. Another key design feature, developed through the EU-backed PivotBuoy Project, combines advantages of SPM and TLP mooring systems. The proprietary SPM design enables the floater to ‘weathervane’ passively and maximise energy yields, with an electrical swivel ensuring electricity transfer without cable twisting. The TLP mooring system also dramatically reduces the seabed footprint, compared to traditional designs proposing catenary mooring lines, minimizing environmental impact while maximizing compatibility with other sea uses, in addition to its suitability to move into deeper waters.
SPM is short for single point mooring, which is described in this Wikipedia entry, where this is the first sentence.
A Single buoy mooring (SrM) (also known as single-point mooring or SPM) is a loading buoy anchored offshore, that serves as a mooring point and interconnect for tankers loading or offloading gas or liquid products. SPMs are the link between geostatic subsea manifold connections and weathervaning tankers. They are capable of handling any tonnage ship, even very large crude carriers (VLCC) where no alternative facility is available.
Note.
- The use of the weathervane in both paragraphs.
- If an SPM can handle a VLCC, it surely can handle a well-designed floating structure with a wind turbine mounted on top.
- I suspect that an SPM used for a wind turbine will be much simpler than one used to load or unload a gas or oil tanker.
As with TLPs, I also suspect there’s a lot of experience from the oil and gas industry, from around the world about how to deploy SPMs.
It looks to me, that X1 Wind have used the proven attributes of SPMs and TLPs to create a simple mooring for a wind turbine, that is designed to align itself with the wind.
X1 Wind Are Open With Their Technology
Today’s news item from X1 Wind also links to two other useful documents.
- X1 Wind Adaptation Of A Vestas V29 Turbine To Downwind Configuration
- X1 Wind Successfully Installs Floating Wind Platform In Spain
They are certainly open with their information.
The news item, also includes this video.
Thoughts
These are some thoughts.
Capacity Factor
The capacity factor of this wind turbine could be an interesting figure.
As the turbine constantly will turn to be downwind, this should maximise the amount of electricity produced over a period of time.
Tetrahedrons
The design is effectively a tetrahedron.
Alexander Graham Bell knew a lot about the properties of tetrahedrons and invented the tetrahedral kite.
This document details Bell’s involvement with tetrahedrons and says this.
Bell found the tetrahedron to have a very good strength to weight ratio.
Put more simply this means that an object is structurally very strong but at the same time very lightweight.
So X1 Wind’s design is probably extremely strong for its weight.
Large Turbines
X1 Wind’s prototype uses a wind turbine of only 225 KW.
Manufacturers are building 15 or 16 MW turbines now and talking of 20 MW in the next few years.
Given the strength of the tetrahedron, I wonder, if it will be possible to build a PivotBuoy, that is capable of hosting a 20 MW wind turbine?
Conclusion
Although it appears radical, it uses proven technology to generate power in an innovative way.
In some ways the thinking behind the design of this floating technology, is a bit like that of Issigonis in his design for the first Mini, where he took proven technology and arranged it differently to perform better.
The Anonymous Widower 