Metocean Measurement Campaign To Start At 1 GW Scottish Floating Wind Farm Site
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Partrac will soon deploy a floating LiDAR Buoy at the site of the Buchan floating wind project offshore Scotland, which is being developed by Floating Energy Allyance (FEA), a consortium comprising BW Ideol, Elicio, and BayWa r.e.
It appears, that the Buchan floating wind farm is the first of the floating Scotwind Leasing round of projects to get going in a meaningful way.
The article details some of the design details of the wind farm.
- The site is located some 75 kilometres to the northeast of Fraserburgh on the Aberdeenshire coast,
- The Floating Energy Allyance consortium plans to build a floating offshore wind farm with a capacity of approximately 1 GW, whose wind turbines will be installed on BW Ideol’s Damping Pool floating foundations.
- This page on the BW Ideol web site describes their Damping Pool technology.
- The patented square barge-like floats can be used for offshore wind turbines, substations and hydrogen electrolysers.
BW Ideol appear to be a French company with projects in France, Japan, Taiwan and now Scotland.
The home page of the BW Ideol web site opens with a promotional and explanatory video of their technology.
Cummins Is Charging Towards Green
If ten years ago, you’d asked any green activist to name companies, that would be ruined by or fail to adjust to global warming by decarbonising their product line, I’m sure most big diesel engine manufacturers, like Cummins, would have been on their list.
But Cummins have successfully moved on as their latest press releases about their technology show.
- October 13th – Cummins Drives Gigawatt Electrolyzer Manufacturing Plant Forward in Spain, Expanding Its Global Clean Energy Footprint.
- October 10th – Cummins Drives Domestic Green Hydrogen Economy Forward With First U.S. Electrolyzer Manufacturing Facility.
- October 6th – Atura Power Selects Cummins To Design, Manufacture 20 MW Electrolyzer System For Niagara Hydrogen Centre.
- October 5th – Cummins’ Second Largest Solar Farm Goes Live at Rocky Mount Engine Plant.
- September 22nd – Destination IAA: Cummins Unveils New Technology For Zero-Emissions Power Solutions.
- September 20th – Cummins QSK95 Engine Proven Fully Compatible With Renewable Diesel.
- September 15th – Cummins Advocating for Racial Equity (CARE) Supports Mobile Grocery Markets in Communities Across the U.S.
- September 15th – Destination IAA: Cummins Debuting Electrified Meritor Powertrains For The First Time Since Acquisition.
- September 8th – Cummins Advocating for Racial Equity (CARE) Invests in a Sustainable Future Through Private Equity Partnership.
- September 8th – Cummins Scaling Belgium Electrolyzer Manufacturing Capacity To 1 Gigawatt Through IPCEI Support.
- September 7th – Werner Enterprises Signs Letter of Intent Planning to Secure 500 X15H Engines from Cummins.
- August 31st – Transport Enterprise Leasing Planning to Integrate Cummins’ X15H into Heavy Duty Truck Fleets.
These can be summarised as follows.
- Green Solutions – 4
- Electrolysers for green hydrogen – 3
- Decarbonisation of diesel engines – 3
- Community Support – 2
- Electric Powertrains – 1
- Solar Power – 1
According to Google, the Cummins share price has risen thirty percent in the last five years.
They must have done something right!
Bank’s New Moving Walkways Seem Busy
I have used Bank station’s new moving walkways a few times now and they seem to be busy.
Note.
- These pictures were taken at 14:00 on a Sunday afternoon. I wouldn’t have thought that would be a busy time.
- I’m fairly certain, that I’ve only seen one person walking in the middle.
- Perhaps, the wide moving walkways encourage walkers to walk on the moving surface and save more time?
- There were no travellers coming towards me, as I timed the pictures, so no-one could be easily recognised.
The number of users makes you wonder, if some travellers are taking this route for the novelty?
Or do travellers just like to go as fast as possible?
Have I Lived All My Life With A Leaky Heart Valve?
A few days ago, whilst looking for an old post, I came across this post called Medical Progress.
This was a paragraph.
On Wednesday the stroke doctor had told me that I had a leaky valve. Now sometimes I think I can tell when it starts to leak. Or am I imagining things. I just push myself too hard and then I get a bit breathless, but if I get a rhythm going, I can pedal for over an hour. Especially in Holland, where they have abolished hills by law.
Normally, I remember most of the posts I have written, but as it was twelve years ago, I think I can be excused forgetting it.
A couple of years ago, I had some heart scans that appear to be puzzling doctors, or at least one, who sent me a copy of an internal mail.
I wonder whether you could arrange a stress echo for this gentleman who transthoracic echo results are confusing. One GP echo suggested mild/moderate AS with a vmax which was inconsistent with this and a Barts echo suggested severe AS by valve area (0.9) but again a low vmax. It was suggested that this was low flow AS but the LV function is only mildly down so this does not really hang together. He does seem to have moderate MR on his most recent echo and a history of AF (on Warfarin).
He has no symptoms attributable to Aortic Valve disease.
Would a stress echo help here and if so would you be able to do this please. I’d value your opinion.
The outcome was that I went for the stress test. It was confirmed, that I had a leaking valve, but it wasn’t that serious and I didn’t have the stress test. It’s described in My Cardiac Echo Stress Test.
Conclusion
I am tempted to believe, that I’ve always had the leaky valve. Is that possible?
But then my medical history is a bit strange. Read My Unusual Body for a bit of background.
New Escalators And Moving Walkways Between The Central And Northern Lines At Bank Station – 29th October 2022
This important link in the Bank Station Upgrade opened yesterday.
So this afternoon, I went and took these pictures, as I walked from the Central to the Northern Line interchange plaza at the Monument end of the station.
Note.
There is only a short bank of escalators between the Central Line and the moving walkways.
A good-sized landing for the escalators has been squeezed in at the top of the escalators between the two Central Line platforms.
At the bottom of the escalators, there is a generous space to accommodate the ninety-degree turn to and from the moving walkway.
The moving walkway appears wider than others on the Underground and is very well-lit.
At its Southern end, the moving walkway connects to the spacious interchange plaza, I wrote about in New Escalators At Bank Station Between The Northern Line And The DLR and showed in these pictures.
The interchange rule at the Bank/Monument station complex appears to be make for the interchange plaza and moving walkway and follow the signs.
- The Central Line is at the Northern end.
- The Northern Line is on either side.
- The DLR is underneath the plaza.
- The District/Circle Lines are at the Southern end.
I was surprised to see, that there were no staff in the interchange plaza.
Or would one of the Lizzie Line signposts be a good idea?
It could also have a clock.
Countdown To Swiss Record Attempt: Assembling A 1.91-kilometre Train
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on RailTech.com.
The article explains all the things that they do to achieve this ultra-long train, but they do leave out the why!
I can only assume, that they want to test the train software in the most extreme of circumstances and they feel that this is the best they can do!
Knoydart Renewables – The Power of Knoydart
The BBC has been showing a film all day about the Knoydart area of the Scottish Highlands and their community-owned hydroelectric power system.
The title of this post, is the same as that of this page on the Knoydart Foundation web site.
This paragraph introduces the system.
Knoydart is not connected to the National Grid and generates all of its own electricity. Other than some small run-of-burn micro-schemes in outlying hamlets, by far and away the the main producer and distributer of electricity on Knoydart is Knoydart Renewables Ltd. that supplies electricity around Inverie Bay.
Note.
- The system is based on a 280 kW turbine and generator.
- The turbine is fed over a kilometer by steel and plastic pipe from a man-made loch with an estimated storage capacity of at least 74 MWh.
- There is a back-up diesel generator.
- 120 residents in 90 properties are supplied with electricity.
It sounds like a very professional system for a community with a convenient hill and water supply.
The system is being expanded and connected to the grid.
The whole page is a must read for anyone, who wants to put in a small hydroelectric power station for their house, castle or community.
X1 Wind – Disrupting Offshore Wind
The X1 Wind web site talks about disrupting offshore wind.
On the home page, they have this statement.
Oceans Contain The Largest Energy Resource On The Planet, Which Remains Untapped
They back it up with this reference.
We estimate the total global technical potential of offshore wind as 71 TW (World Bank, 2021), of which 70% is in deep waters, suited to floating wind.
The home page also has a continuous video of their floating wind turbine, which they call a PivotBuoy.
- The wind turbine is mounted on a triangular float.
- The turbine nacelle is supported on a tripod.
- The turbine faces downwind.
- The float is held in place by a single point mooring.
The float and the turbine automatically align with the wind.
This article on offshoreWIND.biz is entitled X1 Wind Installs Downwind Floating Prototype and gives more details of the turbine.
It’s certainly different.
Centrica Re-Opens Rough Storage Facility
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Centrica.
It has this sub-heading.
Rough Operational For Winter And Increases UK’s Storage Capacity By 50%.
On the face of it, this sounds like good news and these two paragraphs give more details.
Centrica has announced the reopening of the Rough gas storage facility, having completed significant engineering upgrades over the summer and commissioning over early autumn.
The initial investment programme means the company has made its first injection of gas into the site in over 5 years and is in a position to store up to 30 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas for UK homes and businesses over winter 2022/23, boosting the UK’s energy resilience.
Note.
- The Rough gas storage facility has been able to hold up to 100 billion cubic feet of gas in the past.
- Rough is a complex field with two platforms and thirty wells transferring gas to and from the facility.
- Additionally, there is an onshore gas-processing terminal at the Easington Gas Terminal, where it connects to the UK gas network.
It appears to be a comprehensive gas storage facility, that should get us through the 2022/3 winter.
These two paragraphs from the press release, which are the thoughts of the Centrica Chief Executive are significant.
Centrica Group Chief Executive, Chris O’Shea, said “I’m delighted that we have managed to return Rough to storage operations for this winter following a substantial investment in engineering modifications. Our long-term aim remains to turn the Rough field into the world’s biggest methane and hydrogen storage facility, bolstering the UK’s energy security, delivering a net zero electricity system by 2035, decarbonising the UK’s industrial clusters, such as the Humber region by 2040, and helping the UK economy by returning to being a net exporter of energy.
“In the short term we think Rough can help our energy system by storing natural gas when there is a surplus and producing this gas when the country needs it during cold snaps and peak demand. Rough is not a silver bullet for energy security, but it is a key part of a range of steps which can be taken to help the UK this winter.”
Note.
- Effectively, in the short term, Rough is a store for gas to help us through the winter.
- In the long-term, Rough will be turned into the world’s largest gas storage facility.
- It will be able to store both methane (natural gas) and hydrogen.
Having worked with project managers on complex oil and gas platforms and chemical plants, I wouldn’t be surprised to find, that when the design of this facility is released, it will be something special.
Centrica certainly seem to have upgraded Rough to be able to play a significant short term role this winter and they also seem to have developed a plan to give it a significant long-term role in the storage of hydrogen.
Aldbrough Gas Storage
A few miles up the coast is SSE’s and Equinor’s Aldbrough Gas Storage, which is being developed in salt caverns to hold natural gas and hydrogen.
Blending Of Hydrogen And Natural Gas
I believe that we’ll see a lot of blending of hydrogen and natural gas.
- Up to 20 % of hydrogen can be blended, without the need to change appliances, boilers and processes.
- This cuts carbon dioxide emissions.
I wrote about this in a post called HyDeploy.
It might be convenient to store hydrogen in Aldbrough and natural gas in Rough, so that customers could have the blend of gas they needed.
With two large gas stores for hydrogen under development, the HumberZero cluster is on its way.
Why BMW Chair Oliver Zipse Says Hydrogen Cars Will Be The “Hippest Thing” On The Road
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
This is the introductory paragraph.
BMW Chair Oliver Zipse recently spoke at an interview in Goodwood, England, underscoring that hydrogen cars will soon be the most desirable zero-emission passenger vehicles to drive, not battery electrics.
He made these points and predictions.
- Electric vehicles will hit their peak in about ten years, then H2 will take over.
- After the electric car, which has been going on for about 10 years and scaling up rapidly, the next trend will be hydrogen.
- When it’s more scalable, hydrogen will be the hippest thing to drive.
I agree with him, but I do find anybody called Zipse to take seriously, because of the character in the Tom Sharpe novel; Porterhouse Blue.
The Anonymous Widower 