New York Governor: ‘I Will Not Allow This Federal Overreach To Stand’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Following the order of the US Department of the Interior (DOI) to halt all construction activities on the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she would fight the federal decision.
This fight could get very nasty.
In the green corner, we have the New York governor; Kathy Hochul, Østed, Denmark and probably a lot of workers who thought they’d retrained for a new growing industry.
And in the orange corner, we have Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and all the other useful idiots.
Interestingly, I may have met one of referees to this spat.
In The Lady On The Train, I describe a meeting with one of the most powerful justices in the United States.
As she either sat on the US Supreme Court or the New York State Supreme Court, it will be interesting how she would judge this case, given the liberal scientifically-correct conversation we had a few years ago.
The fight in the Courts would be very hard against a whole bench of formidable adversaries like this lady.
Chinese firm ‘Will Not Bid’ To Run Essex Nuclear Plant
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Sources no longer expect planning applications to be submitted by China General Nuclear Power Group for Bradwell B
These three paragraphs give brief details of the current situation.
Plans for China’s state-run nuclear company to develop and operate a proposed nuclear site in Essex will no longer go ahead, The Times can reveal amid renewed focus on Chinese involvement in Britain’s critical infrastructure.
Bradwell B, the proposed nuclear power station, was earmarked for investment by China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) in 2015. CGN is the majority investor in the proposed development alongside French energy company EDF.
But government and industry sources told The Times and Times Radio they no longer expected planning applications to be submitted by CGN for the site, and EDF will look to take back the lease from the Chinese firm at the earliest opportunity.
So what will happen to the Bradwell Site?
This Google Map shows the Blackwater Estuary to the North of Southend.
Note.
- The Blackwater Estuary is at the top of the map.
- Bradwell Marina and Bradwell-on-Sea can be seen on the map to the South of the Blackwater Estuary.
- Southminster has a rail connection, which was used to handle the nuclear fuel and now has a passenger service to Wickford on the Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street Line.
This second Google Map shows Bradwell-on-Sea and the North of the peninsular in greater detail.
Note.
- The remains of the three runways of the Second World War RAF Bradwell Bay can be picked out.
- The remains of Bradwell A nuclear power station are towards the coast to the North-West of the former runways.
- It is large site.
I wonder, if the site could be used for backup to all the offshore wind farms in the area.
This is a list of all the wind farms, that are planned in the sea to the North and East of the Bradwell site.
- The East Anglia Array is partly operational, but could grow to as much as 7.2 GW.
- Greater Gabbard is 504 MW
- Gunfleet Sands is 172 MW
- London Array is 630 MW
- North Falls is 504 MW
Note.
- That is a total of roughly 9 GW.
- There’s also plenty of space in the sea for more turbines.
All these wind turbines will need backup for when the wind goes on strike.
These are possibilities for backup.
Another Hinckley Point C Or Sizewell C
You can see why the government wants to build a big nuke on the Bradwell site.
The 3.26 GW of a power station, which would be the size of Hinckley Point C would provide more than adequate backup.
But the builders of these power stations haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory!
- Construction of Hinckley Point C started in the late 2010s and first power is expected in 2031.
- Hinckley Point C power station has all the stink of bad project management.
- The Nimbbies would also be out in force at Bradwell.
There are also all the financial problems and those with the Chinese, indicated in The Times article.
A Fleet Of Small Modular Reactors
Hinckley Point C will hopefully be a 3260 MW nuclear power station and Rolls-Royce are saying that their small modular reactors will have a capacity of 470 MW.
Simple mathematics indicate that seven Rolls-Royce SMRs could do the same job as Hinckley Point C.
The advantages of providing this capacity with a fleet of SMRs are as follows.
- Each reactor can be built separately.
- They don’t all have to be of the same type.
- The total 3260 MW capacity could also be built at a pace, that matched the need of the wind farms.
- Building could even start with one of each of the chosen two initial types, the Government has said it will order.
- I also believe that there could be advantages in the sharing of resources.
- The rail link to Southminster would enable the bringing in of the smaller components needed for SMRs by rail.
Hopefully, the power of a big nuke could be added to the grid in a shorter time.
A Number of Long Duration Energy Stores
Highview Power is building 4 x 200 MW/2.5 GWh liquid air batteries for Orsted in the UK ; 2 in Scotland and 2 in England. They are backed by the likes of Centrica, Goldman Sachs, Rio Tinto, the Lego family trust and others.
Each GWh of liquid air needs a tank about the largest size of those used to store LNG. I suspect like LNG tanks they could be partly underground to reduce the bulk.
A Hybrid System
Bradwell is a large site and could easily accommodate a pair of Highview Power batteries, two SMRs, and all the other electrical gubbins, which would total to around 1.5 GW/5 GWh. This should be sufficient backup, but there would be space to add more batteries or SMRs as needed.
Another Headache For Fossil Fuels: Liquid Air Energy Storage
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Clean Technica.
This article is an honest American look at Highview Power’s liquid air batteries and a must-read.
This is the first paragraph.
Whatever happened to liquid air energy storage? The UK startup Highview Power was going to bring its new liquid air system to the US back in 2019, providing the kind of scaled-up and long duration energy storage needed to support more wind and solar power on the grid. Highview switched gears and headed back home where the grass is greener. Our loss is the UK’s gain…
They first wrote about Highview Power in 2011, which shows how long some of these projects take to come to fruition.
The article also has this view on the state of offshore wind in the United States today.
Perhaps it’s just as well that Highview dropped its US plans when it did. Offshore wind stakeholders in the US were just beginning to find their footing along the Atlantic coast when President Trump took office on January 20 and promptly sent the offshore industry into a death spiral.
If I lived in the US today, I’d thinking about leaving given Trump’s barmy energy policies.
This paragraph from Highview Power’s web site, discloses their backers.
The £300 million funding round was led by the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) and the British multinational energy and services company Centrica, alongside a syndicate of investors including Rio Tinto, Goldman Sachs, KIRKBI and Mosaic Capital.
So at least some American companies believe in Highview Power. KIRKBI is the investment vehicle of the family, that invented Lego.
Eastern Green Link 2 Moves Up A Gear Using Low Carbon Fuel For Material Handling Trucks
The title of this post is the same, as that of this press release from National Grid.
These three bullet points act as sub-headings.
- Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2), a high voltage direct current (HVDC) 436km subsea transmission cable connecting Scotland and England, is being delivered as a joint venture by National Grid Electricity Transmission and SSEN Transmission.
- Project sustainability efforts are accelerating by adopting Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuelled trucks to move materials in Yorkshire.
- The introduction of HVO fuel will deliver up to 90% reduction in direct CO2 emissions.
The use of HVO fuel is good and the carbon dioxide emission savings are to be welcomed, but there is only so much of this HVO fuel available.
If hydrogen-fueled trucks were available, then this would deliver up to 100% reduction in direct CO2 emissions.
This paragraph from the press release talks about where the HVO fuel will be used.
HVO, a low-carbon biofuel made from waste vegetable oils, will be used at the Wren Hall converter station site in North Yorkshire, where 20-tonne construction trucks will transport approximately 370,000 tonnes of quarry stone from a quarry 27 miles away. This switch from conventional diesel to HVO is expected to deliver up to a 90% reduction in direct CO2 emissions and an 80% reduction in other harmful emissions such as particulate matter.
This Google Map shows the location of Wren Hall with respect to Drax power station.
Note.
- The six large cooling towers of the Drax power station are in the North-West corner of the map.
- Google Maps indicate, where they think Wren Hall is, with a red arrow.The lane running North-South to the West of the red arrow is called Wren Hall Lane.
- There is a legend saying BAM Nuttall Ltd Eastern Green Link 2 on the opposite side of the square of lanes to the red arrow.
Click the map to show it to a larger scale.
It looks to me, that if hydrogen could be provided on the Drax site, then the 370,000 tonnes of quarry stone from a quarry 27 miles away could be brought to the site by hydrogen-powered 20-tonne construction trucks.
So how could hydrogen be provided on the Drax site?
- Drax is a 2.6 GW biomass power station, so I’m sure that some electricity could be used to generate hydrogen.
- Drax is a rail-connected site, so hydrogen could be brought in by rail.
- Depending on the amount of hydrogen needed, hydrogen could surely be brought in by road.
I feel that if hydrogen-powered 20-tonne construction trucks were available, this transfer of quarry stone could be performed carbon-free.
Conclusion
This project illustrates a problem with large infrastructure projects all over the UK.
Moving the large amounts of stone, concrete, sand and rubble into and out of construction sites generates a lot of carbon dioxide and pollution from the 20-tonne trucks employed.
If I were to be given Ed Miliband’s job of Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, one of my first actions, would be to say that all new 20 tonne construction and cement trucks would have to be zero carbon.
I suspect, that zero-carbon with trucks this size, will mean hydrogen, as the weight of the battery would destroy the mathematics of the truck.
This would obviously reduce carbon emissions, but more importantly, what would it do for the health of those working on large construction sites?
In MAN Expands Its Zero-Emission Portfolio, I show MAN’s heavy hydrogen trucks.
This is an articulated heavy hydrogen truck.
I’m sure that MAN could build a hydrogen-powered 20-tonne construction truck.
In Cummins Agrees To Integrate Its Hydrogen ICE Technology Into Terex® Advance Trucks, I talk about the solution to the cement truck problem.
This is a side view of the top-of-the-range monster.
Note.
- Front is to the right.
- I suspect the driver doesn’t have to get out of the cab to discharge the concrete.
- The engine is at the rear with vertical exhausts.
- All axles are driven.
You’d certainly notice one of these if they were to be used in the City of London.
And this is the baby of the range.
Three axles is normal for the UK. so I wonder if this machine will ever make it across the pond.
This last paragraph in the original article describes the X15H hydrogen internal combustion engine.
The X15H was showcased at the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in May (2023), along with its hydrogen ICE-powered concept truck. The X15H features a 700-bar pressure 80kg capacity hydrogen storage system and a range of more than 500 miles, with up to 500 horsepower.
Could one of these trucks really deliver ready-mix concrete from London to Manchester and return?
The trucks would appear to be available, so let’s get a few over and try them out.
Incidentally, if someone had told me ten years ago, there would be rear-wheel drive trucks like Volkswagen Beetles, I’d have said they were wrong in no uncertain terms.
The Wren Hall substation would appear to be an ideal trial project for hydrogen-powered construction trucks and cement trucks.
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.
Offshore Grid For Irish, Celtic and North Seas Closer To Delivery
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Irish Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Joint development can be ‘key step for Europe’s energy future’ and climate neutrality
These paragraphs add detail.
EirGrid and other leading European power transmission system operators (TSOs) have backed moves to develop an offshore electricity grid for the Irish, Celtic and North seas.
The next stage in a collaboration, being undertaken by nine system operators under the Offshore TSO Collaboration (OTC), was announced at the WindEurope annual conference in Copenhagen on Wednesday.
It followed the initial results of a pilot study evaluating how the grid could be established.
The report supports Europe’s goal of establishing a “green power plant” offshore that will play a crucial role in the Continent securing an independent, affordable and climate-neutral energy supply.
If you open the article, there is an excellent map of the various interconnectors, that will be in place by 2040.
Conclusion
This is all good stuff and can only lead to energy security for the participating countries.
1.2 GW Rampion 2 Offshore Wind Farm Granted Development Consent
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The UK has granted development consent to Rampion 2, the proposed 1.2 GW extension to the 400 MW Rampion offshore wind farm in Sussex. The Development Consent Order (DCO), issued by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero on 4 April, will come into force on 28 April.
Rampion 2 is one of a number of extension wind farms that are listed in this list on Wikipedia.
They include.
- Awel y Môr which is a 500 MW wind farm, that is adjacent to the 576 MW Gwynt y Môr wind farm
- Five Estuaries, which is a 353 MW wind farm, that is adjacent to the 353 MW Galloper wind farm
- North Falls, which is a 504 MW wind farm, that is adjacent to the 504 MW Greater Gabbard wind farm
- Outer Dowsing is a 1500 MW extension to the 194 MW Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farm.
- Rampion 2 is a 1200 MW extension to the 400 MW Rampion wind farm.
- Seagreen 1A is a 500 MW extension to the 1400 MW Seagreen 1 wind farm.
- Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon Extensions, which is a 353 MW wind farm, that is adjacent to the 575 MW Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon wind farms
In total 3780 MW of wind farms are being increased in size by 4406 MW.
A parcel of seven web sites have been more than doubled in size. Is this more efficient to do them this way, as some resources from the previous wind farms can be shared and better use can be made of resources like ships and cranes?
I feel that some serious project management may have been done.
SSE Files Plans For 100 MW Pumped Hydro Scheme
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on reNews.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Proposal aims to convert iconic Sloy Power Station into storage facility by end of 2030
These three paragraphs outline the proposals.
SSE has submitted plans to the Scottish Government for the 100MW Sloy pumped storage hydro scheme.
The plans would see the existing Sloy Power Station – a conventional hydro power station – on the banks of Loch Lomond converted into a pumped storage hydro scheme with a pumping capacity of up to 100MW.
If given the green light, the converted Sloy scheme would be capable of delivering up to 16GWh of long-duration electricity storage capacity.
SSE intend to make an investment decision by late 2027 and this is said about increasing capacity.
As part of the planning application, SSE Renewables is also proposing to upgrade the existing 32.5MW G4 turbine to match its sister units, which would increase the station’s generating output by 7.5MW to 160MW.
This appears to be a world-class example of canny Scottish engineering.
The project would turn the current 152.5 MW hydroelectric power station into a 160 MW/16 GWh pumped storage hydroelectric power station.
Not a bad transformation, that was opened three years after I was born.
Octopus Energy Takes Stake In 714 MW East Anglia One Offshore Wind Farm In UK
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Octopus Energy has acquired a 10 per cent stake in the 714 MW East Anglia One offshore wind farm in the UK, which was fully commissioned in 2020.
These two introductory paragraphs add more details.
Octopus acquired this latest wind farm stake from Macquarie Asset Management on behalf of Vector, Octopus’ offshore wind fund, which invests in fixed and floating offshore wind and pioneering tech to reduce costs.
Owned by ScottishPower Renewables and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group(GIG), the 714 MW wind farm is located 43 kilometers off the coast of Suffolk in the east of England and has been powering Britain with green energy since 2021.
East Anglia One has a web site, that gives a lot more details of the wind farm.
Backing Up The Wind With The Keadby Power Stations
I went to Cleethorpes from Doncaster by train yesterday. You pass the Keadby site, where there are two large gas–fired power stations of 734 MW and 710 MW. A third one ; Keadby 3 of 910 MW complete with carbon capture and storage should join them by 2027.
So that will be nearly 2.5 GW of reliable electricity.
I find it interesting that one of our first gas-fired power stations with carbon capture will be in Lincolnshire, which is famous for growing plants of all shapes, types and sizes. So will we be seeing lots of greenhouses on the flat lands I saw yesterday, growing plants in an atmosphere they like, so that we can generate our carbon dioxide and eat it.
The next power station at Keadby is called the Keadby Next Generation power station, which is intended to be complete by 2030. It is a bit of a puzzle in that it will run on up to 1800 MW of hydrogen and only produce up to 910 MW of electricity.
Note.
- The hydrogen will come from SSE’s hydrogen store at Aldbrough and Centrica’s store at Rough.
- Surely, the amount of hydrogen and electricity should balance.
When I worked in ICI’s hydrogen plant in the 1960s, ICI had no use for the hydrogen, so they sent it to their power station, blended it with coal gas and used it to make steam for other processes.
Could Keadby Next Generation power station be providing zero-carbon steam for the chemical and other processes on Humberside?
Adding the 910 MW of electricity to Keadby’s gas-fired total of 2.5 GW gives 3.4 GW of electricity from Keadby to back up the wind farms.
3.4 GW at Keadby is what I call backup!
It also should be noted, that one of the reasons for building the Mersey Tidal Barrage is to provide backup for all the wind farms in Liverpool Bay.
Conclusion
I believe that SSE could be supplying zero-carbon steam in addition to electricity from the Keadby Hydrogen power station.
The Anonymous Widower 