Thermal Energy Storage The Key To Reducing Agricultural Food Pollution
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on EurekAlert.
These two paragraphs, introduce the article and give the aim of the project.
University of South Australia thermal energy researcher Professor Frank Bruno has been awarded almost $1 million by the Federal Government to find a solution to agricultural pollution in Australia and India.
Prof Bruno, South Australian Energy Chair at UniSA’s Future Industries Institute, will lead a collaborative project with India’s biggest private university, LPU, to develop a renewable energy-driven food processing and drying system which alleviates both pollution and landfill issues in both countries.
The big problem in India is air pollution, a lot of which is caused by farmers burning rice husks. By collecting solar energy, which will be stored as heat and used to dry crops, there is hope that this pollution can be reduced.
The whole article is very much a must-read.
Conclusion
This very much sounds like a good way to cut pollution in areas with lots of solar energy.
Limach And Hyperdrive Partner On Electric Machines
The title of this post, is the same as that as of this article on International Rental News.
This second deal from Hyperdrive Innovation is with Dutch excavator manufacturer Limach.
This paragraph from the article is important.
The construction industry is responsible for 40% of European carbon emissions, making it an urgent priority for decarbonisation to meet net zero targets.
That is a lot of carbon.
Multi-Million-Pound Battery Partnership Announced
The title of this post, is the same as that as of this article on Eureka magazine.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Hyperdrive Innovation, the UK’s leading designer and manufacturer of lithium-ion battery technology, today announces a new multi-million-pound 4-year supply agreement with Moffett, part of Hiab and world leading forklift truck manufacturer, to supply state-of-the-art battery packs for zero-emission machinery.
This seems to be a big deal for the Sunderland-based manufacturer, who are also working with Hitachi to provide battery packs for Hitachi’s Regional Battery Train.
Hyperdrive Innovation certainly must be developing some of the best battery technology available.
This Material Can Store The Sun’s Energy For Months, Maybe Even Years
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Anthropocene.
This is the sub-title.
Thin coatings of the material could soak up sun in summer months and provide heat to buildings in winter, all without using fuel or electricity.
This sounds like something to file under Too Good To Be True.
But the research does come from the University of Lancaster and uses a type of material called a metal-organic framework.
Conclusion
Increasingly, it seems to me, that we’re seeing lots of outstanding chemistry coming to the fore.
Work Begins On New Substation For World’s Longest Electricity Cable Between Denmark and Lincolnshire
The title of this post, is the same as that, of this article on Lincolnshire Live.
This is the sub-title.
Britain and Denmark will be able to share enough clean energy to power 1.5 million homes.
The Viking Link is a 1400 MW at 525 KV electricity interconnector between Bicker Fen in Lincolnshire and Revsing in Jutland, Denmark.
This Google Map, shows the location of Bicker Fen, about halfway between Boston and Sleaford.
This second map shows an enlarged view of the Bicker Fen area.
Note.
- The village of Bicker in the South-East corner of the map.
- In the North-West corner of the map is Bicker Fen Wind Farm.
This third map shows the wind farm.
Note the thirteen wind turbines between the two sub-stations full of wo electrical gubbins.
This sentence from the Wikipedia entry for Bicker, gives more details of the wind farm and the future plans for the area.
North of the main line of 400 kV pylons is the Bicker Fen windfarm consisting of 13 turbines producing 26 MW (2 MW each), enough for 14,000 homes. The construction of the windfarm met some local objection. The windmills sit north from Poplartree Farm and were built in June 2008 by Wind Prospect for EdF. They are of the type REpower MM82, made in Hamburg. Bicker Fen substation is also the proposed landing site for a 1,400 MW power cable from Denmark called Viking Link, as well as the proposed offshore wind farm Triton Knoll.
Triton Knoll is a big wind farm, with a planned capacity of 857 MW and should start producing electricity in the next couple of years.
Conclusion
The Viking Link and Triton Knoll are obviously a good fit, as the UK will be able to exchange energy as required.
But it would appear that there’s one thing missing from this setup – energy storage.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a large battery built at Bicker Fen. Something, like one of Highview Power‘s CRYOBatteries might be ideal.
Battery Life: The Race To Find A Storage Solution For A Green Energy Future
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Financial Times.
It is a long article, that gives a good review of the technologies available to store energy from wind and solar power.
It gives a lot more details and an image of the Siemens Gamesa hot rock energy storage system in Hamburg.
- It uses a thousand tonnes of volcanic rock.
- It can store 130 MWh of electricity.
The system has apparently been designed to re-use the turbines from closing coal-fired power stations, which is an innovative idea.
Long-Duration Energy Storage Milestones Achieved By Lockheed, Eos And Form Energy
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Energy Storage News.
Lockheed
I find it significant that Lockheed Martin have developed a new redox flow battery, which is a 500kW / 2.5MWh system.
Last year, the company had revenue of nearly sixty billion dollars, with a net income of over six billion dollars. They certainly have the resources and the name to make a big impression on the long-duration storage market.
Their GridStar Flow technology is also detailed on this page on the Lockheed Martin web site.
The page lists these features.
- Optimized for 6+ hours of flexible discharge
- Flexibility to switch between products to maximize revenue
- 100 percent depth-of-discharge with minimal degradation
- A design life of 20 years
- Ability to size energy and power independently
- Mildly alkaline, aqueous electrolytes that are safe (nonflammable, noncorrosive, stable)
- Competitive total cost of ownership
It looks impressive.
EOS Energy
EOS Energy can’t be doing badly, as they’re preparing to list on NASDAQ.
Form Energy
Form Energy are also reported to have had a $70 million investment.
Conclusion
It appears long duration energy storage is doing well across the pond.
My money would be on Lockheed to produce the most successful product.
M&G To Invest £150m In UK Battery Start-Up Zenobe
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Financial Times.
Good to see M & G getting involved in funding batteries.
Holy Grail Of Energy Storage Receives Two Grants
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Off Grid Energy Independence.
This is the introductory paragraph.
RheEnergise is one of only a select handful of businesses to have been awarded grants under both the Sustainable Innovation Fund & the Small Business Research Initiative.
So what have RheEnergise developed?
The home page of their web site, is surprisingly detailed, unlike those of some other companies with new ideas, and not just energy storage companies!
This is the first paragraph on their home page.
RheEnergise is bringing innovation to pumped hydro storage. We call our new solution High-Density Hydro ™.
I think that is a good start, as although pumped hydro storage is well proven and the UK has the 1,728 MW Dinorwig Power Station, which has a storage capacity of 9.1 GWh, building new large pumped storage systems is fraught with difficulties and the technology has seen only modest innovation in the last few decades.
The next paragraph on their home page describes their innovation.
HD Hydro ™ uses our proprietary HD Fluid R-19 ™, which has 2.5x the density of water. R-19 gives RheEnergise projects 2.5x the power and 2.5x the energy when compared to water.
This means that for the same size of pumped hydro storage power station, you get 2.5 times the amount of energy storage.
Alongside a diagram of the system, the advantages of their systems is stated.
Projects can be installed on hills 2.5x lower than a project using water and still achieve the same power – for example, there are so many more hills at 150m than at 375m.
2.5x smaller, by volume, meaning dramatically lower construction costs, faster build times, easier reinstatement and easier landscaping – projects can be entirely hidden.
A very simple innovation has greatly increased the possibilities of pumped hydro storage.
The home page also gives a typical capacity.
RheEnergise projects provide 10MW to 50MW power and 2 to 10 hours of storage capacity.
These systems are in the same range as those of Highview Power, who are building a 50 MW system, with a five hour capacity at Carrington near Manchester, that I wrote about in Highview Power Breaks Ground on 250MWh CRYOBattery Long Duration Energy Storage Facility.
Both have the advantage, that they are easily scalable.
With RheEnergise’s HD Hydro ™, the size of the upper reservoir would need to be increased and with Highview Power’s CRYOBattery, more tanks for the liquid air would need to be added.
The Technology
I certainly agree with the principle behind ReEnergise, both mathematically and practically.
My interest scientifically, is what is the fluid they use?
- Pure water has a specific gravity of one and everything else is measured with respect to this.
- So aluminium, which has a specific gravity of 2.7, is 2.7 times as heavy as water.
- Many of us will be familiar with mercury, which is a metal, that is liquid at room temperature.
- Mercury has a specific gravity of 13.56.
It puzzles me, how someone has created a liquid, almost as heavy as aluminium, that can be pumped and handled like water, as it would need to be, to make a pumped storage system work.
Highview Power Breaks Ground on 250MWh CRYOBattery Long Duration Energy Storage Facility
The title of this post, is the same as that of this News page on the Highview web site.
The page shows this picture of diggers doing, what they do.
Note the two towers in the background of the image on the right. They look like the towers of Carrington power station, which are shown on this page on the FK Group web site, who built the 884 MW CCGT power station.
This Google Map shows the site of the power station.
On a larger scale map, you can pick out the towers from their shadows and it looks to me, that Highview’s 250MWh CRYOBattery is being built on the vacant site to the South of the power station.
Consider.
- The vacant site looks large.
- I’ve read somewhere that Highview’s CRYOBatteries are expandable by adding more tanks.
- They certainly have space to add lots of extra tanks and a 884 MW power station on the doorstep to fill them.
- All the heavy equipment and components to build Carrington power station were brought in by barge using the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal. Will this method be used again?
This seems to be a site that would be ideal for a very large battery.
The Anonymous Widower 