Good Vibrations Turbo Charge Green Hydrogen Production
The title of this post, is the same as this news item from RMIT University in Australia.
This is the sub-heading.
Engineers in Melbourne have used sound waves to boost production of green hydrogen by 14 times, through electrolysis to split water.
And these are the first two paragraphs.
They say their invention offers a promising way to tap into a plentiful supply of cheap hydrogen fuel for transportation and other sectors, which could radically reduce carbon emissions and help fight climate change.
By using high-frequency vibrations to “divide and conquer” individual water molecules during electrolysis, the team managed to split the water molecules to release 14 times more hydrogen compared with standard electrolysis techniques
I could understand a two or three times increase, but fourteen times is sensational.
Again, Australia seems to have found the gold through innovative green technology.
Other Benefits
Read the last sections of the news item.
- The process allows the use of cheaper silver electrodes instead of platinum and iridium.
- The engineers also feel that their technique could help in this and other process where bubbles are a problem.
Sound waves have been used for decades for various processes and I am surprised that this appears to be the first time, they’ve applied to electrolysis.
Conclusion
I worked in a hydrogen factory around 1970 and have watched developments over the years.
I am now convinced that an individual or a company will come up with an affordable way to make green hydrogen.
Promising technologies in addition to this one include.
- High Temperature Electrolysis. See Nuclear-Enabled Hydrogen – How It Helps To Reach Net Zero.
- HiiROC See Centrica Partners With Hull-Based HiiRoc For Hydrogen Fuel Switch Trial At Humber Power Plant.
- Electrolysis of sea water. See Torvex Energy.
I can see a combination of a couple of methods.
SSE Thermal Charts Path To Green Hydrogen Future With First-Of-A-Kind Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from SSE Thermal.
This is the sub-heading.
SSE Thermal is developing a first-of-a-kind project in the Humber which would unite hydrogen production, storage and power generation in one location by the middle of this decade.
These paragraphs explain the project.
The Aldbrough Hydrogen Pathfinder project will support the evidence base for wider deployment of flexible hydrogen power in the UK’s net zero journey and is a major enabler of SSE Thermal’s wider Humber ambitions.
Located at SSE Thermal and Equinor’s existing Aldbrough Gas Storage site on the East Yorkshire coast, the project is designed to demonstrate the interactions between hydrogen electrolysis, hydrogen cavern storage and 100% hydrogen dispatchable power.
The concept would see green power sourced from grid through Renewable PPAs, in compliance with the Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard. Hydrogen would then be produced via a 35MW electrolyser before being stored in a converted salt cavern and then used in a 100% hydrogen-fired turbine, exporting flexible green power back to grid at times of system need. In future, hydrogen storage will also benefit offtakers in other sectors, for example in industry, heat or transport.
Note.
- The Aldbrough Gas Storage site currently can store the equivalent of 320 GWh of electricity, It is currently being expanded to be one of the largest hydrogen stores in the world according to this page on the SSE web site.
- SSE Thermal are proposing to build a hydrogen-powered power station at Keadby to the South of the Humber. The press release says this power station could have a peak demand of 1,800MW of hydrogen.
- Aldbrough at its current size could keep the Keadby hydrogen-powered power station going for a week. But Aldbrough will be a lot bigger than the current 320 GWh.
- The Hornsea and Dogger Bank wind farms off the coast of East Yorkshire will have a capacity of at least 13.5 GW.
- A 35 MW electrolyser will produce 15.2 tonnes of hydrogen per day.
SSE and Equinor hope to be storing hydrogen by 2025.
Conclusion
It is an enormous project and it will surely grow with more electrolysers and hydrogen-powered power stations.
Vattenfall Boosts Capacity For Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Vattenfall is increasing the capacity for the Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone off the UK from 3.6 GW to over 4.2 GW, meaning that an additional 700,000 homes will be powered by the zone, the energy company said.
This is a sixteen percent increase in capacity.
In this article in the Eastern Daily Press, this is said.
Rob Anderson, project director of Vattenfall’s Norfolk Zones, said that the increase is due to the project using “innovative” technology and being “able to maximise its design”.
Moving from 12 MW to 14 MW turbines would give the planned increase.
This article on offshoreWIND.biz, is entitled Siemens Gamesa Ships Out First Set Of 115-Metre Wind Turbine Blades.
This is said about the two Norfolk Zone wind farms.
The SG 14-236 DD model will be commercially available in 2024 and has so far 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.
It looks to me that Siemens Gamesa have got a success in the making.
It should be noted that the offshore floating wind farm named Ossian could increase from 2.6 GW to 3.6 GW, which I wrote about in Ossian Floating Wind Farm Could Have Capacity Of 3.6 GW.
A similar effect of size increases happened in North Sea Oil and Gas in the 1970s, as the cranes got larger and the techniques got better.
Is history repeating itself?
Ramboll To Develop Offshore Wind-To-Hydrogen Concept
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Ramboll has been selected to investigate the feasibility of producing hydrogen offshore at a multi-gigawatt scale with NortH2 in the Dutch part of the North Sea.
Note.
- NortH2 has a web site.
- There is a very rich About NortH2 page.
- NortH2 is a consortium made up of Equinor, Eneco, Gasunie, Groningen Seaports, RWE and Shell Netherlands.
- The consortium aims to use 4 GW to produce hydrogen by 2030 and 10 GW by 2040.
The world needs more ambitious projects like this.
Offshore Wind Turbines Need To Be Standardised, Energy Transition Industrialised To Reach Targets, Says Siemens Energy VP For Western Europe
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Governments need to move from talking about policies to implementation, the offshore wind industry needs to employ standardisation, and clear rules and regulations need to be set for green hydrogen in order to move faster with large-scale deployment and achieve meaningful progress in limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The guy has a point, as mass production of anything is generally more efficient and creates more units in a given time.
But can a diverse group of politicians, agree on a standard for turbines, fixed foundations, floaters, cables and sub-stations and then make sure all are identical and clip together like Lego? I doubt it!
And how would you fit innovative designs like TwinHub into a standard.
This image shows one of their TwinHub turbine installations being towed into place.
At least it could be built to hold two standard turbines.
Crown Estate Accelerates Celtic Sea Floating Offshore Wind Surveys
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The Crown Estate has announced the awarding of the first contracts for its first major investment in surveys to help with the construction of floating offshore wind farms in the Celtic Sea.
These two paragraphs describe the contracts.
Contracts have now been signed for the initial phase of metocean surveys, which look at wind, wave, and current patterns, to begin in Spring 2023. The Crown Estate is progressing the procurement of the remaining surveys over the coming weeks and months, subject to further commercial discussions.
By investing in these surveys at an early stage and making the data freely available to successful bidders, the Crown Estate is aiming to accelerate the delivery of the projects, making it easier for developers to take early decisions and manage risk while supporting future project-level Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) as part of the planning process.
It looks like a good idea to me, as it could make the bidding process much quicker and bidders with special expertise may be able to get contracts more suited to their expertise.
UK and NSEC Strengthen Offshore Renewables Ties
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Members of the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC), the UK, and the European Commission have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen their cooperation for the development of offshore renewable energy.
The article is based on this article on the European Commission web site, which is entitled North Seas Energy Cooperation And UK Establish Cooperation Framework To Facilitate The Development Of Offshore Renewable Energy.
The full signed text is also in this document on the web site, which is entitled Memorandum of Understanding on offshore renewable energy cooperation.
I have read the MoU and it seems a sensible document for one with eleven signatures.
It lists the following areas of cooperation.
- Hybrid and joint projects
- Maritime and spacial planning
- Support framework and finance
- Best practice in respect of onshore and offshore grid practice
- Sharing of information on new technologies
- Exchange of best practices in relation to the relevant rules, regulations and technical standards
The MoU expects any problems to be resolved by consultations in good faith.
Hyperbat In Multimillion-Pound Deal To Supply Battery Packs For Lotus Supercar
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
Lotus or supercars for that matter, will not be a big market for battery packs, but they will be a high-profile one. The article in The Times may well flush out a few good sales leads from companies who want to decarbonise their products.
Many years ago, I did a consultancy job for Cummins, where my software was used to look for faults in their engine testing system. One of their engineers explained to me that they had a sales and production philosophy that could handle all markets from the large down to small niche ones. He said that we can’t tell which niche markets are going to be successful.
In the last couple of years Cummins have embraced hydrogen very strongly and it looks like they are adopting a similar philosophy.
So in the Cummins engine business model, it looks like the niche market is important.
I suspect that what goes for the diesel engine market will also go for the electric transmission market, with niche markets being nicely profitable and an important part of sales.
It looks to me that Hyperbat are going for that market, backed up by the engineering and battery experience of Williams Advanced Engineering and the manufacturing knowledge and logistics of Unipart.
Note that Williams Advanced Engineering is now owned by Australian billionaire; Andrew Forrest, through his company; Fortescue Future Industries. I wrote about this purchase in Fortescue Buys Williams Engineering In Major Push Into High Performance Batteries.
On the Hyperbat web site, this is said about their manufacturing facility.
The facility is about to double in size to meet current needs, with plans to double again in the next 2 years.
The factory is based on the site of a former exhaust plant and reintroduces manufacturing to the area, with an environmentally sustainable future.
Capacity of the factory is approximately 10,000 packs per year.
I;m sure the company, has enough backing for a very successful future.
ERM To Lead EIA For Salamander Floating Project Offshore Scotland
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
A joint venture (JV) between Simply Blue Group, Ørsted, and Subsea7 has selected ERM Group company MarineSpace to lead the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for its Salamander floating offshore wind project in Scotland.
Note.
- The Salamander floating offshore wind farm is going to be a 100 MW wind farm 35 km. North of Peterhead.
- It is likely to be a pathfinder, in the development of new facilities to build wind farm structures and components in the North of Scotland.
- I talked about the floaters in Ocergy Floaters Selected For 100 MW Project Off Scotland.
- I suspect that it could be an INTOG project.
Salamander seems to be progressing at a decent pace.
Electrolyser System To Linde For Green Hydrogen Production In Niagara Falls, New York
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Cummins.
This is the first paragraph.
Cummins Inc. will supply a 35-megawatt (MW) proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer system for Linde’s new hydrogen production plant in Niagara Falls, New York. Once commissioned, Cummins’ electrolyzer system will power Linde’s largest green hydrogen plant in the U.S., marking significant progress in moving the green hydrogen economy forward.
Note.
- The electrolyser will be powered by hydroelectricity.
- Linde have a strategic investment in iTM Power, who are a British manufacturer of electrolysers.
- ITM Linde Electrolysis is a joint venture between iTM Power and Linde.
Why did Linde choose Cummins over iTM Power?
Is it down to cost, delivery, politics or quality?
The Anonymous Widower 