Bank Station Upgrade – 6th January 2023
I took these pictures this morning of the new Cannon Street entrance to Bank station.
There’s certainly space above the building for a substantial oversite development.
This article on Ian Visits is entitled TfL’s Office Development At Bank Tube Station Gets Taller.
These four paragraphs describes the scheme.
Transport for London (TfL) already had permission for a 7-storey building on the site but was structurally future-proofed for the possibility of an additional floor. They’ve now received permission to add the extra floor on top, and it’s further stepped back from the front of the building so that there’s space to create a large roof terrace as well.
Commercially, the previous top floor, the sixth floor lost about a third of the floorspace to plant room equipment, but will now be a full-width open plan office space, and while the new top floor still needs space for the plant equipment, but also has the new roof terrace and some additional office space. They’ve also flipped the plant room from the western side where it blocked the view of the church steeple and a lower-rise set of buildings, to the other side, which faces an office block, so the 6th-floor office users have a rather better view from the windows.
The revised scheme provides accommodation totalling 142,310 square feet across the ground and 7 upper floors plus over 7,600 square feet of terrace space over three floors.
The new scheme also changes the roof structure, which was to be covered in solar cells. However, that’s because the attic level above the offices was for traditional water boilers. The new scheme has removed the water boilers to replace them with a lower energy air source heating network, so the roof needs to be open to the air instead.
There’s also been a requirement from the City of London to reduce the number of vehicles allowed to make deliveries to the building from 54 per day to a maximum of 42, which considering that the building is also larger, is a meaningful change. Planning policy required at least 142 cycle racks, but another recent change to the building requested by the developer allowed them to put in space for 229 cycle spaces at the basement level, which is significantly higher than the minimum required.
The building certainly appears to have good environmental credentials.
Is Something Happening At Highview Power?
It seems to be impossible to connect to the Highview Power web site.
I get the message, that my security is not private.
There is also no news of the company in the last month.
The Next Generation Of Fixed Foundation Wind Farms
This article on offshoreWIND.biz, is entitled Offshore Wind Turbines In 2022: 15 MW Prototypes Starting To Spin In Europe, Chinese Rolling Out 16 MW Models, Windcatcher And VAWTs Secure Demo Projects.
The title itself, shows 15-16 MW wind turbines and the text lists three European 15 MW and two Chinese 16 MW wind turbines, that are being developed.
This paragraph also indicates that Siemens Gamesa are in the running for orders.
So far, the SG 14-236 DD wind turbine has been selected as a preferred option for the Norfolk Vanguard and Boreas wind farms offshore the UK, as well as for the MFW Bałtyk II and MFW Bałtyk III wind farms in the Polish Baltic Sea.
Large turbines with a capacity of 15 MW and upwards appear to be becoming the new normal.
Water depths for these large turbines are forecast to be deeper than the two Norfolk wind-farms, which are between 22 and 40 metres.
This means that foundations will get much larger and heavier.
This article on offshoreWIND.biz, is entitled New Monopile Installation Method Attracts Major Backer, describes a new generation of monopiles as 100-130 metres in length, 12-15 metres in outer diameter, and a weight of up to 5,000 tonnes.
Installing these long and heavy objects safely in deep waters, is not a job for the faint-hearted.
The article describes a new method of installation, which I feel is very elegant.
- The XXXL monopiles are built horizontally.
- They are moved on to the jack-up ship by self-propelled modular transporters (SPMT).
- It appears at least two or possibly up to four monopiles can be carried on the ship.
- They are lifted into the vertical position by a lifting beam.
Note.
- No cranes are involved in the process.
- The lifting beam method of erecting the 5,000 tonne XXXL monopile is simple and very efficient.
- Self-propelled modular transporters were used to install the 2000 tonne subway at Hackney Wick station.
- Rollers are fitted on the ship to ease handling of the monopiles.
I can certainly see this specialised jack-up ship speeding up the installation of these giant monopiles.
Consequences For Floating Wind
I do wonder, if this method of installing fixed foundation wind farms, will allow larger foundations and these may mean that there is less need for the more complex floating wind farms.
Gravitricity Makes Hydrogen Play With FlexiStore
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Engineer.
This is the sub-heading.
Edinburgh-based energy storage firm Gravitricity is looking to green hydrogen, bringing a new underground storage solution to market.
The system is explained with a large graphic, showing an electrolyser, a FlexiStore and a hydrogen filling station, with this paragraph underneath.
Known as FlexiStore, the concept involves purpose-built, steel-lined shafts capable of holding up to 100 tonnes of compressed hydrogen at 220 bar – around 3.33GWh of energy, or enough to refuel over 1,000 HGVs, according to Gravitricity. Unlike naturally occurring underground storage like salt caverns, FlexiStores could be positioned anywhere, with the current plan to co-locate the storage as close as possible to renewable generation. Gravitricity says a single FlexiStore could serve a 460MW wind farm and that 1,000 units could meet the UK’s predicted hydrogen storage needs in 2050.
Note.
- The concept certainly solves the problem of storing hydrogen on a country-wide basis.
- I suspect, a machine could be designed and built to create the shafts.
- A 3.33 GWh store could supply 460 MW for nearly 33 hours. As a Control Engineer, that sounds a good balance for backing up a wind farm!
As ARUP has been involved in a feasibility study, I suspect there’s a fair chance that FlexiStores can be built.
Norway’s Answer To Wind Power Intermittency Lies Offshore – Study
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the first paragraph.
SINTEF has revealed in its recent study that there is no statistical covariation or systematic correlation in time between the occurrence of offshore wind conditions in southern and northern Norway, and adds that this knowledge will increase the commercial value of Norwegian offshore wind energy.
It does seem lucky for the Norwegians, that their wind farms appear to be able to supply a more constant amount of electricity, than many of those against wind farms would have you believe.
I hope that a reputable UK agency or university, is doing a similar analysis for UK wind farms.
World’s First Floating Offshore Wind Farm Celebrates Five Years Of Operation
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Hywind Scotland, the first floating offshore wind farm in the world, has passed five years in operation since its commissioning in 2017.
And this is the first paragraph.
According to Equinor, Hywind Scotland is the world’s best-performing offshore wind farm, achieving a capacity factor of 54 per cent over its five years of operations.
Note.
- Hywind Scotland is a 30 MW wind farm with five turbines.
- The capacity faction is much higher than a windfarm with fixed foundations.
- The water depth is between 95 and120 metres.
- The wind farm is 30 km. off Peterhead.
There is at least 15 GW of floating wind farms being planned in UK waters before 2030.
Conclusion
The wind farm has made a good start for the first floating wind farm.
Looking For A Job
There’s probably a lot like me these days, what with Putin’s war having depressed the financial markets and put up the cost of everything.
I’m now 75 and seem to regularly get good news about my health, which probably means that my pension will have to stretch further.
Before Christmas, I did a couple of weeks as a volunteer receptionist in a research institute and I enjoyed it.
Perhaps, I’m just lonely and feel a job would liven up my life.
I have a large number of skills and a wide range of knowledge about technical subjects.
I have programmed in many languages with the most useful probably being VB6, which I used for perhaps twenty years, so I might be the guy to update a VB6 system, that is vital to your business.
I am very much an algorithm person because of my background and have done a lot of work in project management.
I also live a few miles North of the City of London.
So if you have any ideas let me know!
Denmark’s Bank Robbers Count The Cost Of Cashless Society
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the second paragraph.
Figures from Finans Danmark, an industry association, show the number of attacks has collapsed in recent years as the shift towards online transactions has led many Danish banks to abandon cash services in branches. While there were 221 bank robberies in 2000, the number of hold-ups in Denmark fell to 121 in 2004, before declining to one in 2021 and none last year.
There were also no attacks on ATM machines.
Doing away with cash certainly cuts crime and it must be twelve years, since a Unite representative on Manchester buses told me he wanted cashless ticketing on Manchester’s buses and trams, as since it had been introduced in London, attacks on staff had declined dramatically.
I also wonder by how much the Income Tax take would rise?
Danes Talk 62 MW Offshore Wind Turbines For North Sea Energy Island
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Offshore Energy.
The Danes may talk 62 MW, but that four times larger than one of the biggest today, that I wrote about in Vestas 15 MW Prototype Turbine Produces First Power.
This paragraph says a bit more about the 62 MW turbine.
According to the DEA’s framework document for the draft plan for the strategic environmental assessment (SEA), this could be a 500-metre-tall wind turbine with a rotor diameter of 480 metres and a capacity of up to 62 MW.
This turbine is bigger in terms of capacity, than than some whole farms.
Ofgem OKs Transmission Investments Needed For UK’s 2030 Offshore Wind Target
The title of this post, is the same as that, of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Ofgem has approved the strategic electricity transmission reinforcements required to deliver the UK Government’s 50 GW offshore wind by 2030 target, set out as part of the regulator’s Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) framework.
A map then shows the principle new transmission reinforcements.
These include two 2 GW subsea HVDC links from Peterhead to England, both of which will be taken forward as joint ventures with National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET), a 2 GW subsea HVDC link from Spittal in Caithness, connecting to Peterhead, as well as a 1.8 GW subsea HVDC link from Arnish on the Western Isles to the Beauly area near Inverness.
The approval also implies 400 kV onshore reinforcements, between Beauly, Blackhillock, New Deer and Peterhead; between Beauly, Loch Buidhe and Spittal; and between Kintore, Tealing and Westfield; and uprating the existing Beauly to Denny line to enable 400 kV operation on both circuits.
All cables seem to lead to Peterhead.
The Anonymous Widower 