The Anonymous Widower

UK Consortium To Develop Mobile Hydrogen Refuelling For Construction Sites

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on H2 View.

These first two paragraphs outline the project.

A UK consortium has secured over £3m ($3.7m) in government funding to develop mobile hydrogen refuelling for construction sites.

The Ryze-led consortium, made up of iGAS, Wrightbus, Skanska, Mace Dragados and Sizewell C, has been awarded £3.2m ($3.99m) from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero’s Red Diesel Replacement Programme to develop and demonstrate a new suite of production-ready hydrogen refuelling equipment suitable for construction sites.

It appears to be a very comprehensive project and everything will be tested in a working quarry.

Having recently had a diesel-powered truck outside my house, that was clearing up the mess left by a dead tree, I feel that the health benefits of zero-carbon construction sites could be immense.

Sizewell C

I find it interesting that Sizewell C is part of the consortium.

Does this mean, that all construction on Suffolk’s new nuclear power station will use hydrogen and electric power, to lower the carbon footprint?

In Ryze Hydrogen’s Suffolk Freeport Hydrogen Vision Takes Shape, I gave this  quote from this article on S & P Global.

Ryze Hydrogen plans to install a 6 MW electrolyzer at the Sizewell nuclear site in Suffolk as a launchpad for mass production of low carbon hydrogen in and around the future freeport of Felixstowe, company founder Jo Bamford told S&P Global Platts March 3.

As Sizewell C is to be built by a consortium led by EDF Energy and the French company operates Sizewell B, will the Sizewell electrolyser be built first and powered by Sizewell B, so that the hydrogen can be used to lower the carbon footprint of Sizewell C?

The Zero-Carbon Toilet

In Cadent’s Hydrogen-Hybrid Solar Toilet, I describe how Cadent are looking after their workers on a site in London.

These ideas will inspire a lot more.

September 13, 2023 Posted by | Health, Hydrogen | , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Cadent’s Hydrogen-Hybrid Solar Toilet

You see some strange sites on the streets of London, but this is one of the strangest I’ve seen for some years.

 

It describes itself as a Zero-Emission Support Unit, which is solar-powered with hydrogen back-up.

I suspect some of the conversation and banter amongst users is priceless to say the least.

But at least it doesn’t hide its achievement of a zero-carbon toilet under a bushel.

September 13, 2023 Posted by | Design, Energy, Health, Hydrogen | , , , , | 3 Comments

New Freight Interchange Connects To West Coast Main Line

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.

This is the sub-heading.

Rail passengers have been thanked after major work to connect a new rail to road freight interchange with the West Coast main line was completed.

These two paragraphs outline the project.

The work, which took nine days, saw new track, points and signalling systems installed to connect the existing railway to the new sidings at the under-construction freight facility at SEGRO logistics park in Northampton.

Once complete, the facility will provide 5 million square ft of warehouse space and employ up to 7,000 people.

This OpenRailwayMap shows the location of SEGRO logistics park in Northampton (SLPN).

Note.

  1. SEGRO is in the middle of the map.
  2. The M1 motorway runs along the North-East side of the logistics park
  3. The complex junction of the M1 at the Eastern side of the logistics park is Junction 15.
  4. The orange line down the West side of SLPN is the Northampton Loop Line.
  5. A loop from the Northampton Loop Line is used to create a Rail Freight Interchange on the West side of the logistics park.
  6. The red line running across the South-West corner of the map is the West Coast Main Line.

The SEGRO logistics park has a comprehensive web site, which shows seven plots.

These are my thoughts.

Freight Trains

Initial plans talk of four freight trains per day, with more to come in the future.

This picture from Network Rail shows the Northern end of the Rail Freight Interchange.

Note.

  1. There is a freight train, which looks like it’s going North on the Northampton Loop Line.
  2. There are tunnels at the Northern end of the site.
  3. This page on the Network Rail web site has another picture and a video.
  4. It looks like there will be a lot of concrete.

It will be interesting to see the final layout in a year or so.

There Is No Mention Of A Rail Station

In everything I’ve read about the SLPN, there is no mention of a railway station, so this must mean that all the seven thousand or more workers on the site, will get there by road.

The only thing I can see about transport for workers to and from the site is this sentence.

A sustainable bus route will connect SLPN to the town centre and local neighbourhoods to the south.

Well-designed and implemented, it would properly suffice.

Nothing though is said about cycling or walking!

There Is No Mention Of Hydrogen

It is likely, that in the life of SLPN, there will be a significant move to hydrogen-powered heavy trucks.

Has SLPN been designed with hydrogen in mind.

Solar Thermal Heating

The building are noted as having solar thermal heating. That is a new one on me, but it seems possible.

I took these pictures as I passed the site on my return from Birmingham on September 21st 2023

One concrete tunnel is clearly visible.

 

September 13, 2023 Posted by | Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | , , , , , | Leave a comment

RWE Applies For Rampion 2 Development Consent, Reduces Number Of Offshore Wind Turbines

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

This is the sub-heading.

Last month, RWE and its project partners submitted an application for the development consent order (DCO) for the Rampion 2 offshore wind farm in the UK. The Planning Inspectorate accepted the application for examination on 7 September and will start the examination process within three months.

RWE and other major wind developers may well have taken a pass in acquiring new offshore wind leases in the Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 5  last week, but RWE seem to be carrying on with the projects they already have.

Dates for the 1200 MW Rampion 2 wind farm include.

  • Development Consent – Early 2025
  • Construction Start – Late 2026 or Early 2027
  • Fully Operational – End of the decade.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rampion 2 being earlier, as it is the only wind farm in the development queue in the South of England.

September 13, 2023 Posted by | Energy | , , , , | 4 Comments

Two UK Offshore Wind Farm Extension Projects Sign ‘Good Neighbour Agreement’

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

This is the sub-heading.

The North Falls and Five Estuaries offshore wind projects, both extensions to existing offshore wind farms, have signed what is called a “good neighbour agreement” with regard to their connections to the UK grid.

I have flagged up this article as it shows the benefits that can accrue if infrastructure developers listen to the locals and cooperate with all stakeholders.

This paragraph describes the agreement,

The agreement enables closer liaison, information sharing and joint planning, and is a result of feedback gathered through public consultation, which has shown a preference for more cooperation and coordination between the two projects on the landfall location, onshore corridor route, substation location and stakeholder engagement.

It is probably helpful that RWE is involved in both projects.

North Falls wind farm is a 504 MW wind farm being developed by SSE Renewables and RWE.

Five Estuaries wind farm is under development by RWE and the size doesn’t seem to have been decided yet.

This is all good project management.

Let’s hope ur all goes well!

September 13, 2023 Posted by | Energy | , , , , | 1 Comment

Prescription Pot Luck

There was a trailer and interview about this BBC documentary, which is available on this page of their web site.

This is the BBC’s description of the programme.

Since it was legalised five years ago hardly any patients in the UK have been prescribed medical cannabis. Used to treat a number of medical conditions, the Government has been accused of misleading the public over its availability on the NHS. Campaigners say an exception has been made for a few patients but others are being forcing to fund it themselves, go without or turn to the black market.

I am in two minds about cannabis.

  • On the one hand, I wouldn’t take it myself.
  • But on the other, it did contribute to making my son; George’s slow death from pancreatic cancer, a little more bearable for him.

George also had a device whereby he could control the level of morphine he was getting and that probably had a more beneficial effect.

I am lucky, when it comes to pain. My late wife used to mock me because I would never take pain killers, if say I had a tooth out.

I always remember taking our middle son; Henry to the A & E at Barts Hospital, when he was about two or three. He’d tripped over a seat-belt getting out of the car and cut his lip badly, when he fell.

Henry was ushered through immediately by a tall black doctor with a shaven head and laid down to be treated. The doctor skillfully stitched him up and Henry didn’t make a sound during the procedure. The odd thing, was that I could see beads of sweat on the doctor’s head.

When he’d finished the doctor picked Henry up and stood him on his feet, saying something like “Off you go!”. Which, Henry duly did!

The doctor then turned to me and said. “Are you alright, Sir?”

I replied that I was and he then said something like. “I’m not! I wasn’t getting any reaction. He put himself into a trance!” He then added. “I’ve seen it with African kids in Nigeria, but not in a white child!” So that explained the beads of sweat!

I feel that episode may have convinced me, that my mind can control pain and several times since, I have been able to avoid taking any drugs.

A few years ago, I had a difficult tooth taken out at the Royal London, which needed the Senior Tutor and two students to extract it. I wrote about it in Taking The Plunge. I’m sure, I got through that by following Henry’s example.

Since then, I met a GP on a dating site. But she wasn’t an ordinary GP. she was also a licensed hypnotist and used hypnotism in her work. Her view was that it is not used enough in medical practice.

I’m also fairly sure, I hypnotised myself to a certain extend, when I had my gallstones out by endoscopy, as I wrote about in Goodbye To My Gallstones.

Perhaps some of us have minds, that can avoid the need for drugs; legal or otherwise?

I shall add to this post, when I’ve watched the BBC documentary.

 

September 13, 2023 Posted by | Health | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

WES Starts Testing Combined Floating Wind And Wave Energy Models

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

This is the sub-heading.

Wave Energy Scotland (WES) has started a series of tank tests of floating wind and wave energy structures at the University of Edinburgh’s FloWave facility to explore the potential benefits the synergy between the two technologies could bring.

These two paragraphs introduce the technology.

The tank tests currently being completed by WES use sea states which are representative of one of the future floating wind lease sites on the west coast of Scotland, leased through the ScotWind program and which has an appropriate water depth and wave resource for large-scale wave energy exploitation.

The physical model used for the testing incorporates multiple identical wave energy absorbers mounted onto a semi-submerged, triangular floating platform.

Have we got enough research facilities to test devices like these?

I can find these.

With Edinburgh, that makes five.

September 13, 2023 Posted by | Energy | , , , , , , | Leave a comment