The Anonymous Widower

RWE Opens ‘Grimsby Hub’ For Offshore Wind Operations And Maintenance

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

This is the sub-heading.

RWE officially opened its ‘Grimsby Hub’ offshore wind operations and maintenance (O&M) facility in the UK on 9 July. From the new O&M base, located at Associated British Ports’ (ABP) Port of Grimsby, RWE’s teams will maintain and operate the Triton Knoll and Sofia offshore wind farms.

These are the first two paragraphs.

The Grimsby Hub also houses RWE’s new UK Centralised Control Room (CCR), which has been set up to provide 24/7 monitoring of the company’s UK offshore wind farms and can provide services such as marine coordination, turbine operations, alarm management, high voltage monitoring and Emergency Response services with a team of twelve operatives, the developer says.

The O&M facility is already employing over 90 Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs), according to RWE, and is expected to employ around 140 RWE staff by 2027, as well as create approximately 60 new locally sourced jobs through the development of the CCR and ongoing offshore operations.

Note.

  1. Does RWE’s new UK Centralised Control Room control all their UK offshore wind farms?
  2. I have added them all up and there are almost 12 GW around our shores.
  3. I’ve read somewhere, that RWE are the UK’s largest power generator. From these figures, that would not surprise me.

This Google Map shows the location of RWE’s facilities in Grimsby.

Note.

  1. The bright red arrow at the top of the map indicates RWE Generation UK in Grimsby Docks.
  2. There is another RWE location to the right of the bright red arrow.
  3. There is a line of stations along the coast, which from left-to-right are Stallingborough, Healing, Great Coates, Grimsby Town, Grimsby Docks, New Clee and Cleethorpes.
  4. Cleethorpes is not shown on the map.
  5. Doncaster and Cleethorpes are 52.1 mile apart, which is within the range of a battery-electric Hitachi and other trains.
  6. Charging would be at Doncaster, which is fully electrified and at Cleethorpes, by a short length of electrification.

This OpenRailwayMap shows the layout of and the railways around Grimsby Dock.

Note.

  1. Cleethorpes station is indicated by the blue arrow, in the South-East corner of the map.
  2. Cleethorpes station has four platforms, but no electrification.
  3. Grimsby Docks are to the North of the railway to Cleethorpes.
  4. This Wikipedia entry for Cleethorpes station, shows other railways and light railways served the area. Some were even electric.

These are a few of my thoughts on the development of railways between Sheffield and Cleethorpes.

RWE Will Be A Large Driver Of Employment In Grimsby

Earlier I wrote.

  • Does RWE’s new UK Centralised Control Room control all their UK offshore wind farms?
  • I have added them all up and there are almost 12 GW around our shores.
  • I’ve read somewhere, that RWE are the UK’s largest power generator. From these figures, that would not surprise me.

It’s a long time, since I’ve added resources to a large project, so I asked Google AI, “How many people are needed to support a 1 GW offshore wind farm in the UK?”, and received this answer.

Based on data from large-scale UK offshore wind projects, a 1 GW (1,000 MW) offshore wind farm generally requires between 300 and 600+ people to operate and maintain, depending on whether the staff count includes direct operations, service vessel crews, and long-term supply chain partners. 
Operational Staffing: Ørsted’s 1.2 GW Hornsea 1 and 1.3 GW Hornsea 2 projects are supported by an East Coast Hub in Grimsby, which maintains a workforce of over 600 people.

Direct & Indirect Support: For a large-scale project, this often breaks down into approximately 100–150 direct, permanent, high-skilled roles (technicians, engineers, management) and hundreds more in indirect, contracted, or supply chain roles (vessel crews, port operations, logistics).

Industry Average: Studies suggest that for operations and maintenance (O&M), around 50–100 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs are generated per GW of installed capacity in terms of direct, permanent staff.

Key Takeaways for a 1 GW Farm:

  • Direct Technicians/Operators: ~100–200+ (working on-site, turbines, or in control rooms).
  • O&M Support Services: ~300–400+ (vessel operators, port logistics, supply chain).
  • Total Operations Personnel: 300–600+ people. 

Google AI appeared to have borrowed the figure from Ørsted and Hornsea 1 and 2.

So if it’s correct, there will be a total of 7,200 personnel supporting RWE’s wind farms in the UK. Even if only a third were employed in Grimsby, that is still a lot of people to accommodate and who will need to travel to work.

I also think a lot of personnel will come in by train, as the station is close to RWE’s locations.

Will Grimsby Have An Aberdeen-Sized Office-Shortage Problem?

One of the biggest problems, I was always hearing in the 1970s, was the shortage of offices in Aberdeen for the use of the oilmen.

In RWE Goes For An Additional 10 GW Of Offshore Wind In UK Waters In 2030, I talked about RWE’s plans for the future and published this table of new wind farms.

  • Sofia – 1,400 MW
  • Norfolk Boreas – 1380 MW
  • Norfolk Vanguard East – 1380 MW
  • Norfolk Vanguard West – 1380 MW
  • Dogger Bank South – 3000 MW
  • Awel y Môr – 500 MW
  • Five Estuaries – 353 MW
  • North Falls – 504 MW

Note.

  1. Sofia is nearly complete.
  2. Only the three Norfolk and the Dogger Bank South wind farms  are on the East side of England and suitable to be serviced from Grimsby., but they still total 7,140 MW.

Has Grimsby got the office-space for all the people needed?

Could The Cleethorpes And Liverpool Lime Street Service Be Run By Battery-Electric Rolling Stock?

The various sections of this route are as follows.

  • Cleethorpes and Doncaster – No Electrification – 52.1 miles
  • Doncaster and Meadowhall – No Electrification – 15.2 miles
  • Meadowhall and Sheffield – No Electrification – 3.4 miles
  • Sheffield and Dore & Totley  – No Electrification – 4.2 miles
  • Dore & Totley and Hazel Grove – No Electrification – 29.2 miles
  • Hazel Grove and Stockport – Electrification – 3.3 miles
  • Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly – Electrification – 5.9 miles
  • Manchester Piccadilly and Deansgate – Electrification – 0.8 miles
  • Deansgate and Liverpool South Parkway -Not Electrified – 28.2 miles
  • Liverpool South Parkway and Liverpool Lime Street – Electrified – 5.7 miles

Adding the sections together gives.

  • Cleethorpes and Hazel Grove – No Electrification – 104.1 miles
  • Hazel Grove and Deansgate – Electrification – 10 miles
  • Deansgate and Liverpool South Parkway -Not Electrified – 28.2 miles
  • Liverpool South Parkway and Liverpool Lime Street – Electrified – 5.7 miles

Note.

  1. To cover the 104.1 miles to Hazel Grove battery-electric trains would probably need to leave Cleethorpes with full batteries.
  2. Doncaster is a fully-electrified station and passing trains may be able to have a quick top-up.
  3. In South Yorkshire Now Has Better North-South Connections, I calculated that Doncaster is a very busy station with 173 express trains per day calling at the station or one every 8.5 minutes.
  4. Will trains be able to stop for a long period to charge batteries?
  5. It may be prudent to electrify between Meadowhall and Sheffield, under the Midland Mainline Electrification.
  6. Sheffield and Dore & Totley is shown that it will be electrified, under the Midland Mainline Electrification.
  7. Do we really want to have electrification marching along the Hope Valley Line?
  8. I believe that hydrogen-hybrid locomotives will be a better solution for freight trains on scenic lines like the Hope Valley, as they are zero-carbon, powerful and with a range comparable to diesel.

I believe CAF, Hitachi and Siemens have off the shelf rolling stock and factories in this country, who could build trains for the Cleethorpes and Liverpool Lime Street route.

How Would You Charge Battery-Electric Trains At Cleethorpes?

This picture shows Cleethorpes station

Note.

  1. The four long platforms without  electrification.
  2. The platforms have recently been refurbished.
  3. The train in Platform 2 is a TransPennine Express Class 185 Siemens Desiro diesel train.

The simplest way to electrify the station would be to put up enough 25 KVAC overhead wires, so that battery-electric trains needing a charge could put up a pantograph and have a refreshing drink.

In Technology Behind Siemens Mobility’s British Battery Trains Hits The Tracks, I wrote about Siemens Rail Charging Converter.

This is a visualisation of a Siemens Rail Charging Converter in action.

Note.

  1. The track is electrified with standard 25 KVAC overhead electrification.
  2. The train is a standard Siemens electric or battery-electric train.
  3. Siemens Rail Charging Converter, which is the shed in the compound on the left is providing the electricity to energise the catenary.
  4. I suspect, it could power third rail electrification, if the Office of Rail and Road ever allowed it to be still installed.
  5. The Siemens Rail Charging Converter does have one piece of magic in the shed. I suspect it uses a battery or a large capacitor to help power the electrification, as it can be powered from any typical domestic grid supply.
  6. I also wonder, if it has safety devices that cut the power outside the shed if track workers or intruders are detected, where they shouldn’t be?
  7. It could even cut the power, when trains are not running to save power and increase safety.

This looks to me, that a Siemens Rail Charging Converter could be a superb example of out-of-the-box thinking.

Could The Cleethorpes And Barton-on-Humber Service Be Run By Battery-Electric Rolling Stock?

This OpenRailwayMap shows the railways of North-East Lincolnshire.

Note.

  1. Cleethorpes is in the South-East Corner of the map.
  2. Barton-on-Humber is in the North-West corner of the map and marked by a blue-arrow.
  3. Stations from South to North would be New Clee, Grimsby Docks, Grimsby Town, Great Coates, Healing, Stallingborough, Habrough, Ulceby, Thornton Abbey, Goxhill, New Holland and Barrow Haven.
  4. The line is double track.
  5. Cleethorpes and Barton-on-Humber is just 22.8 miles.
  6. A round trip would be under fifty miles, which would be well within range of a full-charge at one end.
  7. Service is one train per two hours (tp2h), which would only need a single train, shuttling between Cleethorpes and Barton-on-Humber.
  8. Two trains could provide an hourly service.

I would expect, that well-designed, solid and reliable German engineering could build a Siemens’ Rail Charging Connector that could charge four trains per hour (tph) at Cleethorpes station.

At present services are.

  • TransPennineExpress – 1 tph to Liverpool Lime Street.
  • East Midlands Railway – 1 tp2h to Barton-on-Humber
  • East Midlands Railway – 1 tp2h to Matlock via Lincoln and Nottingham
  • Northern Trains – 1 train per day (tpd) Sheffield via Brigg.

That is probably only about two tph.

Could The Cleethorpes And Sheffield Service Be Run By Battery-Electric Rolling Stock?

This is a description of the current Cleethorpes and Sheffield service.

  • It is run by Northern Trains.
  • The morning train leaves Sheffield at 09:54 and arrives in Cleethorpes at 11:40.
  • The afternoon train leaves Cleethorpes at 13:20 and arrives in Sheffield at 15:10.
  • The train is a Class 150 diesel train, which is a bit of a Joan Collins of a train – Of a certain age, but still scrubs up extremely well!
  • Intermediate stations are Worksop, Retford, Gainsborough Central, Kirton Lindsey, Brigg, Barnetby and Grimsby Town
  • The route length is 71.6 miles
  • Trains take about 45-50 minutes.

It is also a parliamentary train.

The Wikipedia entry for parliamentary train gives this description of the Cleethorpes and Sheffield service.

Via Kirton Lindsey & Brigg. Became a parliamentary service when weekday services were withdrawn in 1993. Regular trains have operated between Gainsborough and Sheffield for most timetable periods since. Suspended January 2022 by Northern, who cited COVID-19 and staffing issues , but the service was reinstated in December 2022. Changed in May 2023 to be one return journey on weekdays only.

In the 1950s and 1960s I lived in Felixstowe part of the time and in the 1970s and 1980s I lived near Woodbridge and I observed first hand the development of the Port of Felixstowe and the effects it had on the surrounding countryside.

The development of the Port of Felixstowe, has brought the following.

  • Improved roads and railways.
  • Ipswich is now an hour from London by train.
  • Ipswich is now a University town.
  • New housing and other developments, both in Ipswich and Felixstowe and the surrounding countryside.
  • Employment also has increased considerably, both in the Port and in surrounding towns.
  • Ipswich’s football team is very much respected all over Europe and has won the English top division, the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup.

When you consider the jobs that RWE could create in the Port of Grimsby, I believe that this could have similar effects in Grimsby and Cleethorpes, as the Port of Felixstowe had in East Suffolk.

Already, the following are being talked about.

  • A direct rail link between Cleethorpes and Grimsby to London.
  • Battery-electric trains between Cleethorpes and Grimsby and Doncaster, Manchester and Liverpool Lime Street.

I believe that an improved rail link between Cleethorpes and Sheffield could be the catalyst for much needed housing along the route, which would be to the benefit of Cleethorpres, Grimsby, Sheffield and all the intermediate towns and villages on the route.

and the affects this will have on the countryside around the town, I believe that a strong case can be made out for a more frequent service between Cleethorpes and Sheffield.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 16, 2025 Posted by | Artificial Intelligence, Design, Energy, Sport, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

AI Forecast To Fuel Doubling In Data Centre Electricity Demand By 2030

The title of this post, is the same as that as this article in The Times.

This is the sub-heading.

International Energy Agency predicts that artificial intelligence could help reduce total greenhouse gas emissions

These are the first two paragraphs.

Data centres will use more than twice as much electricity by 2030 than they do today as artificial intelligence drives demand, the International Energy Agency predicts.

The agency forecast that all data centres globally will use about 945 terawatt-hours of electricity each year by 2030, roughly three times as much as the UK’s total annual demand of 317 terawatt-hours in 2023.

I am very much an optimist, that here in the UK, we will be able to satisfy demand for the generation and distribution of electricity.

  • Our seas can accommodate enough wind turbines to provide the baseload of electricity we will need.
  • Roofs and fields will be covered in solar panels.
  • SSE seem to be getting their act together with pumped storage hydro in Scotland.
  • I am confident, that new energy storage technologies like Highview Power with the packing of companies like Centrica, Goldman Sachs, Rio Tinto and others will come good, in providing power, when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.
  • Hopefully, Hinckley Point C and Sizewell C will be online and soon to be joined by the first of the new small modular nuclear reactors.
  • Hopefully, Mersey Tidal Power will be operating.
  • There will be innovative ideas like heata from Centrica’s research. The economical water heater even made BBC’s One Show last week.

The only problem will be the Nimbies.

April 11, 2025 Posted by | Artificial Intelligence, Computing, Energy | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A Funny Sunday Morning

I didn’t sleep that well and I got up about 05:45.

But by 06:30, I’d completed and entered the Sunday Times Prize Sudoku, as I always do.

The odds of winning must be exceedingly long, as I complete it every week and have not won anything yet.

I had my bath and flushed the sleep from my eyes in the hot water as I always do and by 10:15, I was sitting in Leon at the Angel having my usual gluten free Full-English breakfast.

I also went round the corner to the Marks and Spencer to buy a few items I needed.

  • Bananas – I can never have too many
  • British Strawberries – Strawberries are rich in magnesium and coeliacs can be low, so when I see quality strawberries I usually buy.
  • Liver and Bacon Ready Meal for One – I have one a week to keep up my B12 levels and Ocado didn’t have any yesterday.
  • Packet of Chocolate Cakes – I am slightly addicted.

The strawberries were from Dyson Farming, which I would have thought was the wrong side of the political spectrum for Islington.

My left knee also had a funny turn, which I was looking for the liver. Was it just reminding me that, if it didn’t get its B12, it would play up something rotten or was my brain using my knee to signal that it was low in B12 after the superb work on the sudoku?

Thirteen years ago I had a serious stroke and two or three serious doctors have said I’ve made a remarkable recovery.

From what I can gather on the Internet in the United States, I would have been given B12 injections for my stroke.

But then I am, as I am coeliac and Addenbrooke’s prescribed the injections, when I was diagnosed as coeliac in the 1990s. So is that behind my excellent recovery from stroke or did the Chinese doctors in Hong Kong diagnose my stroke as worse than it was?

Since I swapped to Ocado for my food purchases about two months ago, I have found it easier to buy the Marks and Spencer’s Liver and Bacon. I now eat one every week to top up my B12 and the arthitis, I occasionally get in my joints has reduced.

So I asked Dr. Google if arthritis gets worse after a stroke.

They pointed me to this paper on the National Library of Medicine. They also helpfully gave me this AI-derived answer to my question.

Yes, arthritis can worsen after a stroke:

Osteoarthritis

A common type of arthritis that can worsen after a stroke. This can be due to spasticity that develops after a stroke. Osteoarthritis can also make it harder for stroke patients to recover during rehabilitation.

Rheumatoid arthritis

Patients with RA may experience worse functional outcomes after a stroke due to pain and swelling in their extremities. RA patients may also have an increased risk of ischemic stroke.

Other types of pain that can occur after a stroke include: Headaches, Tingling sensations, Shoulder pain, and Central post-stroke pain.
Pain after a stroke can range from headaches that resolve on their own to chronic, severe joint pain.

Ic like the answer, as it fits my symptoms. Is artificial intelligence going to do some doctors out of a job?

I certainly get the tingling sensations.

I’ve just prescribed myself Liver and Bacon for a late lunch.

I’ll report back later!

Note, that I’m eating in front of the computer with the new keyboard.

January 12, 2025 Posted by | Artificial Intelligence, Food, Health | , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

£10bn Investment In AI Data Centre Confirmed

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

This was the sub-heading.

A £10bn investment in a new artificial intelligence data centre will create about 4,000 jobs, the government has said.

These two paragraphs add more details.

The site in Cambois, near Blyth, Northumberland, will become one of Europe’s biggest AI data centres.

The land was bought by private equity giant Blackstone earlier this year, after the collapse of Britishvolt which had planned to build an electric car battery factory on the site.

In My First Trip On The Northumberland Line – 18th December 2024, I said this after my first trip to the line.

The Blyth Valley Is Well Supplied With Electricity

Several high-capacity connections to wind farms and Norway are planned to come ashore at Blyth and it appears from the pictures  that the area is well connected to the grid.

This must have nudged Britishvolt to put their battery plant at Blyth.

But no matter for those jobs, as with a rail service to Greater Geordieland and lots of electricity, there must be other energy-hungry businesses like datacentres or small modular reactor factories, who would want the site.

The Long Platforms

I am fairly sure that some of the platforms have been sized to take a five-car Hitachi Class 80x train, which are only 130 metres long and can carry around 400 passengers.

This must enable the ability to use the Northumberland Line as a diversion for the East Coast Main Line.

Some services could perhaps stop at Blyth for the large factories and/or Northumberland Park for the Metro.

It looks to me, that the Northumberland line was designed for large factories or businesses with lots of workers, that needed lots of electricity.

January 6, 2025 Posted by | Artificial Intelligence, Computing, Energy | , , , , , | 1 Comment

Petition Calls Made To Scrap Blackwall And Silvertown Tolls

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

This is the sub-heading.

A petition containing more than 37,000 signatures calling for proposed tolls on the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels to be scrapped has been presented at City Hall.

These four paragraphs give more details.

Toll charges of up to £4 per journey through the soon-to-open Silvertown Tunnel and the neighbouring Blackwall Tunnel were announced by Transport for London (TfL) on 26 November.

The Silvertown Tunnel will open next spring and will provide a new road crossing under the Thames between Silvertown and the Greenwich Peninsula.

The charges are “designed to manage levels of traffic using the tunnels”, TfL has said.

A TfL spokesperson added that without the tolls, “traffic would increase in both tunnels causing delays and congestion, which contribute to poorer air quality”.

Note.

  1. 37,000 is a large petition.
  2. If Transport for London wanted to reduce pollution, they could encourage greater use of hydrogen.

I have done some simple modeling using Excel.

  • There are six vehicle crossings; Dartford Bridge, Dartford Crossing, Woolwich Ferry, Silvertown Tunnel, Blackwall Tunnel and Rotherhithe Tunnel.
  • Matters are complicated by each crossing being a different size.
  • There are several reliable rail crossings and a number of foot crossings, which offer alternatives, for those travellers on foot.
  • Currently the worst disruption occurs, when more than one route is out of action at the same time.

It is a very complex river crossing,

I feel strongly that we aren’t going to get a true picture of traffic flow through the two new tunnels, until we see serious disruption on the Dartford Crossing.

But what worries me most, is that in the last few years, TfL have made decisions, where they must have done extensive mathematical modelling and they seem to have come up with answers, that are wide of the mark.

Congestion Prediction

I believe that we now have enough data, that by the use of modern computing, advanced vehicle detection  techniques and a liberal dollop of artificial intelligence we should be able to accurately predict the traffic flow over the Thames between Dartford and Silvertown, better than we have done in the past.

But will this just mean, that everybody just takes the least-congested route?

December 8, 2024 Posted by | Artificial Intelligence, Design, Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Could Liverpool Develop A Massive Zero-Carbon Data Centre?

There is an article in The Sunday Times today, which is entitled Google Signs Nuclear Deal To Power AI Data Centres.

These are the first three paragraphs of the article.

Google has struck a deal with a nuclear power start-up to provide low-carbon energy for its data centres and AI operations, marking a world-first in the tech industry.

The California-based company said the agreement to buy energy from multiple small modular reactors developed by Kairos Power could help spur a nuclear revival in America.

The first reactor is scheduled to come online in America by 2030, followed by additional deployments through 2035.

I am not against nuclear-powered data centres, but could Liverpool build a massive zero-carbon data centre?

This Google Map shows Liverpool Bay, which is a vast expanse of water that stretches along the North Wales coast to Anglesey and all the way to the Isle of Man.

Note.

  1. The Isle of Man in the North-West corner.
  2. Liverpool, Birkenhead and the River Mersey in the South-East corner.
  3. Anglesey in the South-West corner.
  4. Blackpool with Morecambe Bay to its North in the North-East corner.

Liverpool Bay could be one of Europe’s zero-carbon energy powerhouses.

Wind Farms In Liverpool Bay

At the present time, these wind farms are producing electricity or planned in Liverpool Bay.

  • Barrow – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2006
  • Burbo Bank – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2007
  • Burbo Bank Extension – 258 MW – Commissioned in 2017
  • Gwynt y Môr – 576 MW – Commissioned in 2015
  • North Hoyle – 60 MW – Commissioned in 2003
  • Ormonde – 150 MW – Commissioned in 2012
  • Rhyl Flats – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2009
  • Walney – 367 MW – Commissioned in 2010
  • Walney Extension – 659 MW – Commissioned in 2018
  • West if Duddon Sands – 389 MW – Commissioned in 2014
  • Awel y Môr – 500 MW – Planned
  • Morecambe – 480 MW – Planned
  • Mona – 1500 MW – Planned
  • Morgan – 1500 MW – Planned

Note.

  1. 2509 MW has been commissioned.
  2. 3980 MW is being planned.
  3. That is a total of 6489 MW

I suspect more space in Liverpool Bay could be developed with wind farms.

Mersey Tidal Power

The Mersey Tidal Power project has a web site.

If it is built, it will probably be built by the South Korean company; K-Water and use some of the design principles of the Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station.

It will likely have an output of around 1 GW and take ten years to build.

In the 1970s, I did some project management consultancy for Frederick Snow and Partners, and they showed me their plans for a Severn Barrage.

Their futuristic vision for the Severn Estuary was never built, as the Prime Minister of the time; Harold Wilson, felt coal was the future. See Last Of The Many!

I suspect that the Mersey Tidal Power project will be another variation on a proven theme.

Morecambe Bay Bridge And Tidal Barrage Proposal

In the Wikipedia entry for Morecambe Bay, there is a proposal for a bridge and tidal barrage across the bay, where this is said.

In 2004, a proposal was made to build a bridge across the bay flanked by wind turbines and using tidal power. Proposals from Northern Tidal Power Gateways in 2019 outlined a tidal barrage with a road running along on top.

If the Mersey Tidal Power project is a success, then why wouldn’t one across Morecambe Bay, be one too?

500 MW of zero-carbon tidal power would do nicely!

Nuclear Sites At Calder Hall, Heysham And Wylfa

These three nuclear stations have supplied electricity to the North-West of England.

  • Calder Hall was the original Magnox site, which the Wikipedia entry says had a nameplate capacity of 240 MW and was decommissioned in 2003, after running for 47 years.
  • Heysham is a powerful site which the Wikipedia entry says has a nameplate capacity of 2452 MW and will be decommissioned in 2028.
  • Wylfa is an older, smaller Magnox site which the Wikipedia entry says had a nameplate capacity of 1190MW and was decommissioned in 2015.

As the sites are cleared, I am sure that we’ll see more nuclear power stations built on the sites.

How Much Electricity Does A Data Centre Use?

I found this paragraph in an NESO document.

Regardless of this, if we were to use existing market data and modelling projections, this could point to annual data centre electricity consumptions of between 3.6 TWh in 2020 to as much as 35 TWh by 2050.

Dividing by the hours in a year, indicates that an individual data centre could use between 0.4 and 4 GW of electricity.

Using my rough figures here from wind, tidal and nuclear, I suspect that the power on the Mersey will generate enough power for at least one data centre.

Liverpool Is On The Right Side Of The Country For Cables To North America

Cables will go straight out of Liverpool Bay, pass to the North of Ireland and across the Atlantic to somewhere like Puget Sound.

Liverpool has a superb location for a Transatlantic data centre, that connects to networks on both sides of the pond.

Could Underwater Data Centres Be Developed In Liverpool Bay?

This page on the Microsoft web site is entitled Microsoft Finds Underwater Datacenters Are Reliable, Practical And Use Energy Sustainably

These three paragraphs detail the research.

Earlier this summer, marine specialists reeled up a shipping-container-size datacenter coated in algae, barnacles and sea anemones from the seafloor off Scotland’s Orkney Islands.

The retrieval launched the final phase of a years-long effort that proved the concept of underwater datacenters is feasible, as well as logistically, environmentally and economically practical.

Microsoft’s Project Natick team deployed the Northern Isles datacenter 117 feet deep to the seafloor in spring 2018. For the next two years, team members tested and monitored the performance and reliability of the datacenter’s servers.

I would assume that Microsoft have continued the research, as with something like this you can’t be too careful.

But it would appear, that data centres and their servers could be submerged under the waters of Liverpool Bay.

London And Liverpool Will Be Under Two Hours By Train Within A Year

New Class 807 trains, which will be delivered within a year, will improve the train service between the two cities.

  • Train times will be brought to around or even below two hours.
  • , The extra trains will allow a second hourly service to be added.
  • The extra service will additionally stop at Liverpool South Parkway station, for the airport.
  • High Speed Two is claiming one hour and fifty minutes, between London and Liverpool.

Liverpool already has one of the best rail terminals in the North of England, as these pictures show.

With these service improvements, it will have a service to London and the South, that will be second to no other Northern station.

Liverpool Has A Refurbished Partly-Underground Suburban Railway With New Trains

Liverpool’s Metro is one of the best in Europe for a medium-sized city.

The Metro is also expanding with new routes and stations.

These pictures show the new Headbolt Lane station, which is swerved by the UK’s first battery-electric trains.

Liverpool Has Easy Access To Two International Airports

There are two international airports close by; Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester International.

  • For Liverpool Airport, it’s a bus from Liverpool South Parkway station or an express bus from Liverpool city centre.
  • For Manchester Airport, it’s a train from Lime Street station.

I am fairly sure, that a hydrofoil could connect Liverpool’s Waterfront and the Tidal Barrier to the airport.

North-West England Has A Rich University Tradition

Liverpool, Manchester and the surrounding area has several world-class universities and research establishments.

Some like The Pandemic Institute would be able to find uses for all the computing power and artificial intelligence on offer at a powerful data centre.

Liverpool Is A World City

Liverpool is a World City, where there is plenty of sport, entertainment and things to do.

Conclusion

Liverpool is installing the power infrastructure for a very large data centre, that will be able to handle the world’s largest and most difficult problems.

 

October 21, 2024 Posted by | Artificial Intelligence, Computing, Energy | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

A Manifesto For Liverpool City Region

The title of this post is the same as that of this document from the Heseltine Institute of Public Policy, Practice and Place.

The Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place. describes itself like this on its home page on the University of Liverpool web site.

An interdisciplinary research institute focusing on the development of sustainable and inclusive cities and city regions.

The main sections of the document are as follows.

  • How Can We Reduce Health Inequalities?
  • How Do We Meet Our Net Zero Goals?
  • How Can We Address The Cost Of Living Crisis?
  • How Can We Deliver Sustainable Mobility?
  • How Can We Address The Challenges And Meet The Opportunities Of Artificial Intelligence?
  • How Do We Build Enough New Homes In The Right Places?
  • How Should We Care For The Most Vulnerable In Society?
  • How Can We Maintain A Vibrant And Inclusive Cultural Life?
  • How Do We Restore Trust In Democracy?

These are nine very important questions and the document is worth a good read.

 

April 18, 2024 Posted by | Artificial Intelligence, World | , , , | Leave a comment

Google Starts Building £790m Site In Hertfordshire

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

This is the sub-heading.

Google has invested $1bn (£790m) to build its first UK data centre

These are the first four paragraphs.

The tech giant said construction had started at a 33-acre site in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, and hoped it would be completed by 2025.

Google stressed it was too early to say how many jobs would be created but it would need engineers, project managers, data centre technicians, electricians, catering and security personnel.

The prime minister said it showed the UK had “huge potential for growth”.

The project marked the latest investment by a major US tech firm in Britain, after Microsoft announced it would invest £2.5bn to expand data centres for artificial intelligence (AI) across the UK.

Note.

  1. By “completed by 2025” do they mean completed before 2025 or completed by the end of 2025. Judging by the time they took to build their London HQ, its the latter.
  2. Rishi is right about the UK having a huge potential for growth! Especially, if the nihilists of the United States vote in the Big Orange!
  3. Judging by the total spend of £2.5 billion on data centres and the £790 million for this one, this looks to be the first of three.

But where is this data centre going to be built?

This article on EssexLive is entitled Google To Move Into Waltham Cross With £788m Data Centre To Support ‘AI Innovation’, where this is said.

The new data centre will go on land at Maxwell’s Farm, next to the A10 Great Cambridge Road and around one mile from the M25 junction 25. Debbie Weinstein, Google vice president and managing director in the UK and Ireland, set out the decision in a blog post on Thursday, January 18 – the fourth day of the World Economic Forum’s Davos 2024 in Switzerland.

This is a Goggle Map of that area, when I searched for Maxwell’s Farm.

Note.

  1. The red arrow indicates the result of my search, which Google interpreted as A.J. Maxwell.
  2. The dual-carriageway road running down the East side of the map is the A10 between London and Cambridge.
  3. The A10 road joins the M25 at Junction 25.
  4. The arrow to the South-West of the roundabout indicates the new studios; Sunset Waltham Cross, which is being built.
  5. At the other side of the studio site, there is a label saying New River and this important piece of London’s water infrastructure can be traced to the top of the map.
  6. The other dual-carriageway road is the B198 or Lieutenant Ellis Way.
  7. A quick calculation shows that 33 acres is roughly a 365 metre square.

I would suspect that the data centre will lie somewhere between the A10, the B198 and the New River.

This Google Map shows the South-East corner of the site.

Note.

  1. There appears to be a lane running East-West, that crosses over both the A10 and the New River.
  2. Theobalds Lane appears to have some housing and possibly a farm.
  3. The smaller field by the roundabout appears to have some animals using it as grazing.
  4. The field between the East-West lane and Theobalds Lane appears to have a good crop of cereal.

The East-West lane would appear to be a possible Southern border of the site.

This Google Map shows where the East-West lane goes.

Note.

  1. The lane leads to Queen Mary’s High School.
  2. The school also has access from Lieutenant Ellis Way.
  3. The New River appears to form, the Eastern boundary of the school site.
  4. There are sports pitches between the New River and the school.

The New River looks to be the Western boundary of the Google site.

This Google Map shows around the red arrow from the Google search that led me to this area.

Note.

  1. A.J. Maxwell is identified by the red arrow in the Theobalds Enterprise Centre.
  2. The New River can be seen at the West of the map.
  3. A hedge runs roughly East-West to the North of the Enterprise Centre.
  4. North of the hedge are a number of football pitches, which appear to belong to the Affinity Academy at Goffs Churchgate.

The hedge could be the Northern boundary of the Google site.

This Google Map shows the area between the South of the Enterprise Centre and the East-West lane I picked out earlier.

A crude measurement indicates it could be around 33 acres or slightly more.

This picture is used in nearly all the news reports about the Data Centre.

Note.

  1. Could that be the gentle curve of the New River on the left?
  2. With the high fence, the New River forms an almost-mediaeval defence against trespassers.
  3. There looks to be a dual-carriageway road running down the other side of the site, which would be the A10.
  4. Between the A10 and the site, there appears to be loots of dark areas, which I take to be car parks.
  5. Are the car-parking spaces in the front of the picture marked for those, who are disabled? There certainly appear to be chargers on some spaces.

I have a few thoughts.

The Relative Locations Of Google’s Data Centre And Sunset Studios?

This Google Map shows the two sites to the West of the A10.

Note.

  1. St. Mary’s High School is in the North-West corner of the map.
  2. Cheshunt Football Club is in the North-East corner of the map.
  3. The dual-carriageway A10 runs North-South on the map.
  4. I believe that Google’s Waltham Cross Data Centre will be located in the field to the West of the A10, at the top of the map.
  5. The A10 connects to the M25 at Junction 25, which is in the centre at the bottom of the map.
  6. In The Location Of Sunset Studios In Broxbourne,  Sunset Studios are placed to the North West of the Junction 25 roundabout.
  7. Just as the A10 forms the Eastern boundary of both sites, the New River forms the Western boundary.

The two sites are close together between the A10 and the New River, separated by the dual-carriageway Lieutenant Ellis Way.

Will Google’s Data Centre Be Storing Data For Sunset Studios?

I’ve never worked in the production of films, but these days with digital electronic cameras, CGI, motion capture and other techniques, producing a film must need huge amounts of data storage.

  • So have Sunset Studios outsourced their data storage needs to Google?
  • Perhaps too, Sunset Studios found the local authority welcoming and this attitude was recommended to Google.
  • Both sites will need local services like electricity, gas, sewage and water.

I suspect that there would be cost savings in construction and operation, if the two sites shared the utilities.

Providing Electricity And Heat For Both Sites

Consider.

  • I estimate from information given in the Wikipedia entry for Google Data Centres, that a data centre needs between 10 and 12 MW.
  • There is no obvious power source like offshore wind or a nuclear power station nearby.
  • There is the 715 MW Rye House gas-fired power station, which is a few miles away.
  • In Google Buys Scottish Offshore Wind Power, I talked about how Google had signed a Corporate Power Purchase Agreement to buy 100 MW from the Moray West offshore wind farm.

Google and Sunset Studios would also want an electrical and heat supply that is at least 100 % reliable.

Liverpool University had the same problem on their hundred acre campus in the centre of Liverpool.

  • The University decided to build their own 4 MW Combined Heat and Power Unit (CHP), which is described in this data sheet.
  • It is fired by natural gas.
  • On their web site, Liverpool University state that their CHP can be adapted to different fuel blends. I take this includes zero-carbon fuels like hydrogen and carbon-neutral fuels like biomethane.

But given their location in Waltham Cross close to the Lea Valley, CHP units may have a use for their carbon dioxide.

This Google Map shows between Junction 15 of the M25 and Tomworld.

Note.

  1. Junction 25 of the M25, where it joins the A10 is in the South-West corner of the map.
  2. The sites of Google’s Data Centre and Sunset Studios can be picked out with reference to the previous map.
  3. Tomworld is in the North-East corner of the map.
  4. So why should Tomworld need a lot of carbon-dioxide?

This Google Map shows Tomworld.

Note.

  1. This web page indicates what Tomworld do.
  2. They have 44 acres of glass growing tomatoes, about five miles to the North-East of Google’s Data Centre.
  3. The map has lots of other greenhouses.

I know of a guy, who has a large greenhouse, that grows tomatoes for the supermarkets.

  • He heats the greenhouse with a gas-fired Combined Heat and Power Unit (CHP).
  • The electricity produced runs his business.
  • Any surplus electricity is fed into the grid.
  • The carbon dioxide is fed to the plants in the greenhouse, which helps them grow quality tomatoes.

I just wonder, if carbon dioxide from CHP units at Google’s Data Centre and Sunset Studios could be used by the multitude of greenhouses in the Lea Valley.

Could A Carbon Dioxide Pipeline Be Built Along The M25?

This Google Map shows the Northern section of the M25, South of Waltham Cross.

Note.

  1. The M25 running East-West across the bottom of the map.
  2. Junction 25 of the M25 in the South-West corner of the map.
  3. The A10 running North-South at the West of the map.
  4. Google’s data centre and Sunset Studio are to the West of the A10.
  5. The River Lee, which has numerous water courses is at the East of the map.

I wonder, if a carbon dioxide pipeline could be built along the M25 to connect the producers to those who could use it?

  • It would not be a dangerous pipeline as carbon dioxide is a fire extinguisher.
  • It wouldn’t be a huge pipe.

I think it would be possible.

Google’s Commitment To Being Zero-Carbon

This blog post on the Google web site is entitled Our $1 Billion Investment In A New UK Data Centre, has a section, which has a sub-title of 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy By 2030, where this is a paragraph.

Additionally, we’re also exploring new and innovative ways to use the heat generated by data centres, and this new facility will also have provisions for off-site heat recovery. Off-site heat recovery presents an opportunity for energy conservation that benefits the local community, as it allows us to capture the heat generated by the data centre so that it can be used by nearby homes and businesses. The data centre is also set to deploy an air-based cooling system.

If they are  using off-site heat recovery, it would be logical to use waste carbon dioxide from CHPs to provide carbon dioxide for the local horticultural businesses.

Will Google Be Building A Vertical Farm Nearby?

In Schneider Electric: Vertical Farming – The Next Yield In Data Centre Sustainability, I noted that some data centres are paired with vertical farms to increase their sustainability.

Could Google be doing that in Waltham Cross?

  • They will have a lot of waste heat.
  • They will have a fair bit of carbon dioxide, which could be used to help plants grow.
  • The local workforce probably contains a lot of experience of market gardening.

I like the idea of pairing a data centre and a vertical farm.

Public Transport Access

Consider.

  • Increasingly, the cost of electric vehicles, medical problems and the UK economic situation are causing people to adopt a car-free lifestyle.
  • After my stroke, my eyesight deteriorated such, that I am no longer allowed to drive.
  • Others may live in one-car families and it may not be their’s to use every day.
  • Or your car may just break down on the way to work.

For these and probably lots of other reasons, any large site employing a lot of employees, must have a valid way of getting there by public transport.

The nearest rail station to Google’s Data Centre and Sunset Studios is Theobalds Grove station.

This Google Map shows the roads between the sites and the station.

Note.

  1. The Sunset Waltham Cross label in the South West corner.
  2. Google’s Data Centre will be just off the map to the West of the A10.
  3. Theobalds Grove station is marked by the TfL roundel in the North-East corner of the map.
  4. There would appear to be no bus stops on Winston Churchill Way or the A10.

I walked South from the station to Winston Churchill Way, where I took these pictures.

Note.

  1. At that point, I gave up because of the cold and pollution.
  2. It was also a Saturday morning about midday.

The route I took is certainly not an alternative route to get to Google’s Data Centre or Sunset Studios.

A Possible Station At Park Plaza North

This article on the BBC is entitled Broxbourne: Two New Stations Planned.

This is the sub-heading.

Two new train stations could be built in Hertfordshire if plans to tighten planning policies are adopted.

This is the first paragraph.

Broxbourne Borough Council said stops at Park Plaza North – between Turkey Street and Theobalds Grove London Overground stations – and Turnford on the London to Bishop’s Stortford route would be subject to a consultation.

Later the BBC say that Park Plaza North station will be South of the A121 Winston Churchill Way near Waltham Cross

This Google Map shows the area South-East of the roundabout, where Winston Churchill Way meets the A10.

Note.

  1. The green patch of land to the South-East of the roundabout where Winston Churchill Way meets the A10 appears to be ripe for development.
  2. Looking at the green patch with a higher resolution, the land is little more than high class scrub beloved of newts.
  3. The London Overground line to Cheshunt runs down the East side of the site.
  4. To the North, the London Overground crosses Winston Churchill Way to get to Theobalds Grove station.
  5. To the South, the London Overground crosses the M25 to get to Turkey Street station.
  6. There is a lane running East-West along the South edge of the site, which crosses the railway in a level crossing.

This picture clipped from Google StreetView shows the level crossing.

This is certainly one, that drivers dread.

This GoogleMap shows the level crossing and a stretch of the London Overground.

Note.

  1. The level crossing is in the South-East corner of the map.
  2. There isn’t much space to put a London-bound platform on the East side of the tracks, South of the Park Road circle.
  3. There is plenty of space to put a Cheshunt-bound platform on the West side of the tracks.
  4. North of the Park Road circle, there would appear to be space for two platforms.

It will need a lot of ingenuity to provide a safe and efficient solution to the problems of the level crossing and fitting a station in this limited space.

The first thing I’d do, would be to dig an underpass for pedestrians and cyclists to connect the two halves of Park Lane.

 

 

 

 

January 21, 2024 Posted by | Artificial Intelligence, Computing, Energy, Food, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

AI Tech Tracking Seabirds At Aberdeen Bay Offshore Wind Farm

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

This is the sub-heading.

Vattenfall, Norwegian AI technology start-up Spoor, and British Trust for Ornithology have teamed up on a project that will test AI technology in tracking 3D flight paths of seabirds flying near the wind turbine blades at the Aberdeen Bay Offshore Wind Farm in Scotland.

This is the first paragraph.

The project has already started, with four cameras already installed and collecting data on birds’ 3D flight paths throughout the wind farm and in the immediate vicinity of the turbine blades. Data on seabird movements has already started coming in and validation trials have been completed both offshore, with an observer present, and onshore, with a drone, according to Vattenfall.

This looks like a very neat piece of technology, that hopefully will solve how birds interact with wind turbines.

From my experience of landing and taking off light aircraft at the old Ipswich Airport, where there were a lot of seabirds, my money would be on that birds will learn to use their AI (Avian Intelligence) to avoid the blades of wind turbines.

September 14, 2023 Posted by | Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Environment | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tiny Data Centre Used To Heat Public Swimming Pool

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

This is the sub-heading.

The heat generated by a washing-machine-sized data centre is being used to heat a Devon public swimming pool

These three paragraphs outline the story.

The computers inside the white box are surrounded by oil to capture the heat – enough to heat the pool to about 30C 60% of the time, saving Exmouth Leisure Centre thousands of pounds.

The data centre is provided to the council-run centre free of charge.

Start-up Deep Green charges clients to use its computing power for artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Note.

  1. Deep Green has a web site.
  2. thermify do something similar for homes.

I find both of these interesting applications.

March 14, 2023 Posted by | Artificial Intelligence, Computing, Energy | , , , , , | Leave a comment

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