Two UK Offshore Wind Farm Extension Projects Sign ‘Good Neighbour Agreement’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The North Falls and Five Estuaries offshore wind projects, both extensions to existing offshore wind farms, have signed what is called a “good neighbour agreement” with regard to their connections to the UK grid.
I have flagged up this article as it shows the benefits that can accrue if infrastructure developers listen to the locals and cooperate with all stakeholders.
This paragraph describes the agreement,
The agreement enables closer liaison, information sharing and joint planning, and is a result of feedback gathered through public consultation, which has shown a preference for more cooperation and coordination between the two projects on the landfall location, onshore corridor route, substation location and stakeholder engagement.
It is probably helpful that RWE is involved in both projects.
North Falls wind farm is a 504 MW wind farm being developed by SSE Renewables and RWE.
Five Estuaries wind farm is under development by RWE and the size doesn’t seem to have been decided yet.
This is all good project management.
Let’s hope ur all goes well!
WES Starts Testing Combined Floating Wind And Wave Energy Models
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Wave Energy Scotland (WES) has started a series of tank tests of floating wind and wave energy structures at the University of Edinburgh’s FloWave facility to explore the potential benefits the synergy between the two technologies could bring.
These two paragraphs introduce the technology.
The tank tests currently being completed by WES use sea states which are representative of one of the future floating wind lease sites on the west coast of Scotland, leased through the ScotWind program and which has an appropriate water depth and wave resource for large-scale wave energy exploitation.
The physical model used for the testing incorporates multiple identical wave energy absorbers mounted onto a semi-submerged, triangular floating platform.
Have we got enough research facilities to test devices like these?
I can find these.
With Edinburgh, that makes five.
First Turbines Up At World’s Biggest Offshore Wind Farm
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The first two wind turbines have been installed at Dogger Bank A, the first of the three phases of the UK’s 3.6 GW Dogger Bank Wind Farm, the world’s biggest offshore wind farm under construction.
It is a good article that documents how a fixed-foundation wind farm is assembled.
The Dogger Bank wind farm will contain these separate wind farms.
- Dogger Bank A – 1235 MW – 95 x 13 MW – Under Construction – Commission in 2023
- Dogger Bank B – 1235 MW – 95 x 13 MW – Pre-Construction – Commission in 2024
- Dogger Bank C – 1218 MW – 87 x 14 MW – Pre-Construction – Commission in 2025
- Dogger Bank D – 1320 MW – Early Planning
- Dogger Bank South – 3000 MW – Early Planning
Note.
- The Dogger Bank wind farms are currently planned to be a shade over 8 GW.
- I have used data from Wikipedia’s List of offshore wind farms in the United Kingdom.
This family of wind farms could provide almost a third of our electricity or as I showed in The Mathematics Of Blending Twenty Percent Of Hydrogen Into The UK Gas Grid, it could provide enough hydrogen to blend 20 % of hydrogen into the UK gas grid.
Conclusion
Dogger Bank will have moved from a joke in the Shipping Forecast to one of our most important natural resources.
Heathrow Southern Rail Link Gets Boost As London Mayor Gives Backing
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
These were the two introductory paragraphs.
The Railway Industry Association has welcomed the backing from London Mayor, Sadiq Khan for the proposed Heathrow Southern Rail Link.
Speaking at the London Assembly recently, Mr Khan said: “I welcome the useful role that a Southern Rail Link to Heathrow could play in supporting a shift to sustainable modes, while transforming access to Heathrow Airport for passengers and staff from south London, Surrey and Hampshire.
I introduced the Heathrow Southern Railway in November 2016 in Why I Like The Heathrow Southern Railway Proposal.
I still like it and we now have more information, which includes this map.
Note.
- The blue line is the Elizabeth Line.
- The yellow line is a direct link from Waterloo to Heathrow.
- The station in a six pointed star is Clapham Junction.
On the Heathrow Southern Railway web site there is a section called Service Opportunities.
It details two routes.
- Heathrow and Waterloo via Staines and Clapham Junction
- Basingstoke/Guildford and Paddington via Woking and Heathrow
These are a few random thoughts.
A ULEZ Avoiding Line
If the Elizabeth Line is extended to Staines, then Heathrow Southern Railway provides a ULEZ avoiding route for Heathrow employees to help get the Mayor out of a hole. A station guy at Staines told me a lot of Heathrow staff take buses to the airport from Staines station.
West London Orbital Railway
I believe that the West London Orbital Railway would make sense to give lots of other routes for Heathrow staff and passengers.
Conclusion
I’ve always liked the Heathrow Southern Railway and I hope this interest from the Mayor moves the project forward.
Cummins Agrees To Integrate Its Hydrogen ICE Technology Into Terex® Advance Trucks
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on H2 View.
These three paragraphs outline the deal.
Cummins and Terex® Advance have signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to integrate hydrogen internal combustion engines (ICE) into Terex’s Commander Series.
The Commander Series trucks are currently powered by Cummins’ diesel engines, but the company will now provide its X15H hydrogen ICE when series production of the technology begins later this decade.
The X15H is based on familiar combustion engine technology, with integration into the truck chassis being straightforward and doesn’t require a major overhaul of vehicle design or business operations.
Note.
This page is the Terex Advance web site.
This page on the Terex web site shows the Terex Advance Commander series.
I think it is true to say to UK and European eyes, these trucks are an unusual design.
In Cummins Fuel-Agnostic X Series Platform, there is a link to a Cummins video, which explains Cummins multi-fuel technology.
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 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?
Conclusion
The article says that integration of the hydrogen technology is straightforward and if you watch the Cummins video, the animation says it is.
But surely the big advantage on construction sites, is that all the workers will not get the dose of pollution, that they would currently get from a diesel cement mixer delivering a load of ready-mixed concrete, that had to be distributed and laid.
I think this could be a very neat application of hydrogen technology and Cummins will be looking for more applications of a similar nature.
German Police Probe ‘Political Motive’ In Railway Fires
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on DW.com.
This is the sub-heading.
A series of fires hit rail infrastructure on the main line between Hamburg and Berlin overnight, leading to widespread train disruptions. Police say they suspect a politically motivated act of sabotage.
This is the first two paragraphs.
German police are investigating a suspected political motive behind an alleged act of sabotage targeting a major train route connecting the port city of Hamburg to the capital, Berlin.
Fire broke out overnight at three locations in the northern Hamburg region, affecting shafts holding railway cables.
This paragraph describes a claim for responsibility.
An anonymous letter published on the far-left website Indymedia claimed responsibility for the incident, describing it as an act of “sabotage.” The letter said it was a protest against “neo-colonial exploitation and earth destroying extraction of raw materials.”
I don’t think we want anything like this in the UK.
Heat And The City
As I do on many Saturdays, I took the bus to Moorgate to have a late breakfast and do some food shopping in the Marks & Spencer department store.
To say it was hot would be an understatement and it must have been over thirty, so I retreated into an air-conditioned restaurant for my brunch, with my son and a friend.
I know that area well and although, I’m normally there on a weekday, I’ve never seen so much display of female flesh, with bare shoulders, cleavage and tummies everywhere. At least some were wearing white, which surely was prudent, but others were suffering in black and other darker colours.
After eating, I did my shopping.
I didn’t need much, but I did need some beer. As I’d miscalculated my consumption in the hot weather, it was a priority.
At home, I generally drink Adnams 0.5% alcohol Ghost Ship, which my body attests to be gluten-free. Normally, the store stocks it, but I couldn’t find any, so I asked an assistant, who was restocking the shelves. She said that they didn’t have any, but they did have the Adnams-brewed M & S own-brand, of which I’ve drunk dozens of bottles and my body also attests is gluten-free. So a couple of bottles, went into my shopping basket.
Interestingly, the assistant was rearranging shelves and it appeared, she was moving zero-alcohol bottles from the floor into the refrigerated end of a large display.
Could the heat be creating a high demand for customers needing to drink something to cool down? And many felt that zero-alcohol beer was acceptable in the heat of the City.
On Monday, I went back to take this picture of the display.
Note the Marks & Spencer own label brewed by Adnams in the middle!
And this was the price label for the beer.
No Alcohol – No Gluten – £1.90 a bottle – What more can a coeliac, who’s on Warfarin after a stroke need?
Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Electric Coach Driveline Coming From Wrightbus
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on RouteOne.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Wrightbus has been awarded up to £534,000 of government funding via the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) for the development, testing and validation of a hydrogen fuel cell-electric coach driveline.
The Ballymena manufacturer will receive the money from an £11 million pot administered by APC as a second round of the Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator scheme (ARMD2), which itself is part of over £50 million of public funding towards 30 “cutting edge manufacturing projects” in the UK.
I have never driven a coach, but I do feel that this project could be a winner.
- From riding in hundreds of their products over the years, I’m sure Wrightbus could produce a coach that satisfies the demands of coach companies and their passengers.
- Long routes like London and Scotland are popular coach routes and are of the order of 400 miles. Would passengers tolerate a thirty minute stop halfway to charge the batteries on an electric coach?
- Through, the experiences of the vehicle leasing company, I owned, I know that finance for quality coaches is not hard to come by and they are a good investment.
I also believe that a hydrogen-powered coach could be a flagship product for the hydrogen-powered transport sector.
We’ve all been on a motorway and seen coaches in the fast lane at 70 mph.
What effect will that have if the coach was emblazoned with “Green Hydrogen Coach – London-Glasgow Non-Stop In 7 Hrs”?
Trying To Watch The Rugby World Cup, But All I Get Is Adverts
At least I could watch the athletics on the BBC, whilst waiting for the match to start.
As all matches would appear to be on ITV, I doubt I’ll be watching many of the matches.
