Surbiton Station To Benefit From £6.7m Upgrade
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
So I went to Surbiton station to take a few pictures.
It has far too many steps for my liking, although it is a Grade II Listed Building, that opened in 1937.
Shetland Blasts Off Into Space Race As Britain’s First Rocket Launch Pad Skyrora
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This second paragraph, explains what Skyrora are doing.
Skyrora, a technology company with its headquarters in Edinburgh, has agreed a deal for scores of rocket launches over the next decade from a site on Unst, the most northerly of the Shetland islands.
This Google Map shows the most Northerly part of Unst.
There’s not really much there, except birds, trees and the most northerly house in Britain.
Enlarging to the West of the house, gives this second Google Map.
Note the Remote Radar Head Saxa Vord, which has a Wikipedia entry as RAF Saxa Voe.
- It is now a fully-operational radar station again, after closure in 2006.
- It is at the same latitude as St. Petersburg and Anchorage.
- In 1992, it measured a wind speed of 197 mph, before the equipment blew away.
The Wikipedia entry is worth a read, as it gives a deep insight into radar and its tracking of Russian intruders in the Cold War.
This third Google Map shows a 3D closeup of the radar.
No staff are based at Saxa Vord, although maintenance staff do visit.
According to The Times, the space port will be at Lamba Ness, which is to the East of the most northerly house in Britain.
The peninsular in the South-East is marked Lamba Ness.
It may seem a very bleak place, but it could have one thing, that rocketry will need – rocket fuel!
In Do BP And The Germans Have A Cunning Plan For European Energy Domination?, I introduced Project Orion, which is an electrification and hydrogen hub and clean energy project in the Shetland Islands.
The project’s scope is described in this graphic.
Note
- Project Orion now has its own web site.
- A Space Centre is shown on the Island of Unst.
- There is an oxygen pipeline shown dotted in blue from the proposed Sullom Voe H2 Plant to the Fish Farm and on to the Space Centre.
- I suspect if required, there could be a hydrogen pipeline.
The Space Centre on Unst could be fuelled by renewable energy.
Who Are Skyrora?
They have a web site, which displays this mission statement.
Represents a new breed of private rocket companies developing the next generation of launch vehicles for the burgeoning small satellite market.
The Times also has this paragraph.
At the end of last year, the company also completed trials of the third stage of its Skyrora XL rocket, including its orbital transfer vehicle which, once in orbit, can refire its engines 15 times to carry out tasks such as acting as a space tug, completing maintenance or removing defunct satellites.
The company seems to have big ambitions driven by innovation and a large range of ideas.
Conclusion
I shall be following this company.
The Dalston Junction Crossing At Night
This picture shows the diagonal light-controlled crossing at Dalston Junction station at night.
This Google Map shows the junction.
Note.
- The North-South Road is Kingsland High Street.
- The Road going East is Dalston Lane, where my grandmother was born on the North side of the road, about a hundred metres along.
- On the South side of Dalston Lane is Dalston Junction station, with a West-facing bus-stop in front.
- The Road going West is the Balls Pond Road of Beyond Our Ken and Round The Horne fame.
- The building at the West of the junction is the solicitors shown in the first picture.
- On the North side of the Balls Pond Road is an East-facing bus stop, which is paired with the one by the station. A bus at the stop can be seen in the first picture.
The diagonal light-controlled crossing can seen crossing between the two sides of the junction between the yellow meshes of the box junction.
The junction has had this layout for a few years now and it works.
- I live about a kilometre to the West of Dalston Junction and regularly take a bus to stop on the West side of the junction before crossing diagonally to catch the Overground.
- Coming home, I catch a bus from just outside the station
- As buses are generally about once every ten minutes, I generally don’t wait long.
- The crossing has made a big improvement to the junction, as it connects the two stations and the Kingsland Road.
How many other busy junctions could be improved by a similar diagonal crossing?
It should also be noted that since the crossing has been installed, Dalston has gained an Aldi, a Co-op. a Marks and Spencer Simply Food Spencer Simply Food, a Pret, a Premier Inn and several better fast food places.
The improvement of the walking routes has certainly brought more people up the junction and to the two stations.
Who Stole All The M & S Gluten-Free Food?
Over the last few weeks, certain gluten-free lines in Marks and Spencer have started getting difficult to find.
Some of the things, I like that have been difficult have included.
- Ginger snap biscuits.
- Gluten-free pies
- Scones
- Bloomer slices
- Gluten-free muesli
Note that my supper is usually something I cook myself from scratch or one of the many M & S ready meals, that contain no gluten. It is usually washed down by a bottle of Adnams low-alcohol beer and followed by some fruit. Tonight, the fruit will be one of my favourites, which are strawberries and bananas.
I did think that the shortage of the lines I mentioned was due to a supply problem.
But then, there have not been shortages of other lines, that I buy, that are not specifically gluten-free.
So is it some gluten-free suppliers are having problems? Possibly.
But!
Regular readers of this blog will know that I believe that those coeliacs on a long-term gluten free diet seem to be unlikely to suffer a severe dose of the dreaded covids. There was no battle with the second dose!
I know for a start that my immune system gives short shift to any viral invaders, as it did with the AstraZeneca vaccine before they came to a truce.
So have others, including some with more medical knowledge than myself, come to the same conclusion about coeliac disease, the immune system, gluten and the covids and have gone gluten-free for safety?
For example, I’ve heard that those suffering from long covid have been tested for coeliac disease.
I’d love to be able to analyse the sales of gluten-free food.
Tesla Batteries Power UK Energy Storage Plan
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
Britain’s energy problems could be alleviated by a new scheme to build power-storage sites across the UK using batteries produced by Tesla, the electric carmaker.
Six sites will be built by Harmony Energy Income Trust.
- The trust intends to raise £230 million in a stock market listing.
- The trust was registered on the 1st October 2021.
- The batteries will be built in rural locations.
- The sites will use Tesla Magapack batteries and Autobidder software.
- These batteries charge up in two hours and provide energy for two hours.
- The sites are “shovel ready”
- All planning permissions and contracts have been signed.
It would appear that everything is ready to go.
This is a paragraph in The Times article.
The trust is a spin-off from developer Harmony Energy, which found the six sites and obtained the permissions for construction. The developer will retain a minority stake after the listing.
It is also said in the article that two sites at Holes Bay in Dorset and Contego in West Sussex, have already been developed using Tesla batteries.
The Harmony Energy web site lists fifteen wind projects and thirteen battery projects.
- The average size of the battery projects is an output of 44 MW.
- If they can supply that for two hours, the average capacity would be 88 MWh.
The company does appear to be developing smaller batteries than the two established energy storage funds; Gore Street and Gresham House. But then everyone can use their own plan.
UK National Grid In Talks To Build An Energy Island In The North Sea
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the New Scientist.
This is the first paragraph.
UK company National Grid has revealed it is in talks with two other parties about building an “energy island” in the North Sea that would use wind farms to supply clean electricity to millions of homes in north-west Europe.
These are my thoughts.
An Artificial Island on the Dogger Bank
The idea of the North Sea Wind Power Hub in the area of the Dogger Bank has been around for a few years and has a comprehensive Wikipedia entry.
Wikipedia says that it would be an artificial island on the Dutch section of the Dogger Bank and the surrounding sea could eventually host up to 110 GW of wind turbines.
North Sea Wind Power Hub Programme
The Dutch and the Danes seems to have moved on and there is now a web site for the North Sea Wind Power Hub Programme.
The home page is split into two, with the upper half entitled Beyond The Waves and saying.
The incredible story of how the Netherlands went beyond technical engineering as it had ever been seen before. Beyond water management. To secure the lives of millions of inhabitants.
I have met Dutch engineers, who designed and built the Delta Works after the North Sea Floods of 1953 and I have seen the works all over the country and it is an impressive legacy.
And the lower half of the home page is entitled North Sea Wind Power Hub and saying.
Today, climate policy is largely national, decoupled and incremental. We need a new approach to effectively realise the potential of the North Sea and reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. We take a different perspective: harnessing the power of the North Sea requires a transnational and cross-sector approach to take the step-change we need.
Behind each half are two videos, which explain the concept of the programme.
It is a strange web site in a way.
- It is written totally in English with English not American spelling.
- The project is backed by Energinet, Gasunie and TenneT, who are Danish and Dutch companies, that are responsible for gas and electricity distribution networks in Denmark, Ger,many and The Netherlands.
- There are four sections to the web site; Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and North Sea.
It is almost as if the web site has been designed for a British company to join the party.
Hubs And Spokes In North Sea Wind Power Hub Programme
If you watch the videos on the site, they will explain their concept of hubs and spokes, where not one but several energy islands or hubs will be connected by spokes or electricity cables and/or hydrogen pipelines to each other and the shore.
Many electrical networks on land are designed in a similar way, including in the UK, where we have clusters of power stations connected by the electricity grid.
The Dogger Bank
The Dogger Bank is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about 100 kilometres off the east coast of England.
Wikipedia says this about the geography of the Dogger Bank.
The bank extends over about 17,600 square kilometres (6,800 sq mi), and is about 260 by 100 kilometres (160 by 60 mi) in extent. The water depth ranges from 15 to 36 metres (50 to 120 ft), about 20 metres (65 ft) shallower than the surrounding sea.
As there are Gunfleet Sands Wind Farm and Scroby Sands Wind Farm and others, on sandbanks in the North Sea, it would appear that the engineering of building wind farms on sandbanks in the North Sea is well understood.
The Dogger Bank Wind Farm
We are already developing the four section Dogger Bank Wind Farm in our portion of the Dogger Bank and these could generate up to 4.8 GW by 2025.
The Dogger Bank Wind Farm has its own web site, which greets you with this statement.
Building the World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm
At 4.8 GW, it will be 45 % larger than Hinckley Point C nuclear power station, which is only 3.3 GW. So it is not small.
The three wind farms; Dogger Bank A, B and C will occupy 1670 square kilometres and generate a total of 3.6 GW or 0.0021 GW per square kilometre.
If this density of wind turbines could be erected all over the Dogger Bank, we could be looking at nearly 40 GW of capacity in the middle of the North Sea.
Interconnectors Across The North Sea
This Google Map shows the onshore route of the cable from the Dogger Bank Wind Farm.
Note.
- Hull and the River Humber at the bottom of the map.
- The red arrow which marks Creyke Beck sub station, where the cable from the Dogger Bank Wind Farm connects to the UK electricity grid.
- At the top of the map on the coast is the village of Ulrome, where the cable comes ashore.
The sub station is also close to the Hull and Scarborough Line, so would be ideal to feed any electrification erected.
I would assume that cables from the Dogger Bank Wind Farm could also link the Wind Farm to the proposed Dutch/Danish North Sea Wind Power Hub.
Given that the cables between the wind farms and Creyke Beck could in future handle at least 4.8 GW and the cables from the North Sea Wind Power Hub to mainland Europe would probably be larger, it looks like there could be a very high capacity interconnector between Yorkshire and Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands.
It almost makes the recently-opened North Sea Link to Norway, which is rated at 1.4 GW seem a bit small.
The North Sea Link
The North Sea Link is a joint project between Statnett and National Grid, which cost €2 billion and appears to have been delivered as planned, when it started operating in October 2021.
So it would appear that National Grid have shown themselves capable of delivering their end of a complex interconnector project.
Project Orion And The Shetlands
In Do BP And The Germans Have A Cunning Plan For European Energy Domination?, I introduced Project Orion, which is an electrification and hydrogen hub and clean energy project in the Shetland Islands.
The project’s scope is described in this graphic.
Note that Project Orion now has its own web site.
- Could the Shetlands become an onshore hub for the North Sea Power Hub Programme?
- Could Icelink, which is an interconnector to Iceland be incorporated?
With all this renewable energy and hydrogen, I believe that the Shetlands could become one of the most prosperous areas in Europe.
Funding The Wind Farms And Other Infrastructure In The North Sea
In World’s Largest Wind Farm Attracts Huge Backing From Insurance Giant, I described how Aviva were funding the Hornsea wind farm.
I very much believe that City of London financial institutions will be able to finance a lot of the developments in the North Sea.
After all National Grid managed to find a billion euros in a sock drawer to fund their half of the North Sea Link.
Electrifying The North Sea: A Gamechanger For Wind Power Production?
The title of this section, is the same as that of this article on Engineering and Technology Magazine.
This article in the magazine of the IET is a serious read and puts forward some useful facts and interesting ideas.
- The EU is targeting offshore wind at 60 GW by 2030 and 300 GW by 2050.
- The UK is targeting offshore wind at 40 GW by 2030.
- The article explains why HVDC electricity links should be used.
- The major players in European offshore wind are the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark.
- The foundations for a North Sea grid, which could also support the wider ambitions for a European super-grid, are already forming.
- A North Sea grid needs co-operation between governments and technology vendors. as well as technological innovation.
- National Grid are thinking hard about HVDC electrical networks.
- By combining HVDC links it can be possible to save a lot of development capital.
- The Danes are already building artificial islands eighty kilometres offshore.
- Electrical sub-stations could be built on the sea-bed.
I can see that by 2050, the North Sea, South of a line between Hull and Esbjerg in Denmark will be full of wind turbines, which could generate around 300 GW.
Further Reading
There are various articles and web pages that cover the possibility of a grid in the North Sea.
- National Grid – Interconnectors
- The Guardian – National Grid In Talks Over Plan For Energy Island In North Sea
- The Times – National Grid Planning ‘Energy Island’ In North Sea
I shall add to these as required.
Conclusion
I am coming to the conclusion that National Grid will be joining the North Sea Wind Power Hub Programme.
- They certainly have the expertise and access to funding to build long cable links.
- The Dogger Bank wind farm would even be one of the hubs in the planned hub and spoke network covering the North Sea.
- Only a short connection would be needed to connect the Dogger Bank wind farm, to where the Dutch and Danes originally planned to build the first energy island.
- There may be other possibilities for wind farm hubs in the UK section of the North Sea. Hornsea Wind Farm, which could be well upwards of 5 GW is surely a possibility.
- Would it also give access to the massive amounts of energy storage in the Norwegian mountains, through the North Sea Link or Nord.Link between Norway and Germany.
Without doubt, I know as a Control Engineer, that the more hubs and spokes in a network, the more stable it will be.
So is National Grid’s main reason to join is to stabilise the UK electricity grid? And in turn, this will stabilise the Danish and Dutch grids.
Vivarail To Unveil 80mph Super-Class 230 At COP26
The title of this post, is the same as that as of this article on Rail Magazine.
This is the first paragraph.
Vivarail intends to show off a new design of battery-powered zero-emission Class 230 unit at next month’s COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow.
Features of the train include.
- 80 mph operating speed, as opposed to 60 mph of the mph of the current Class 230 train and 45 mph of the original London Underground D78 Stock.
- Two driver cars and a trailer car in between.
- Ten minutes to fully charge the batteries.
- The two driver cars have three battery packs.
I doubt the designers of the train at Metro-Cammell, envisaged this future development.
Fortescue Future Industries Invests In Dutch Thin-Film Solar And H2 Firm HyET
I missed this article, when it was published, so I’m publishing it now!
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Renewables Now.
These two paragraphs outline the deal.
Australia’s Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) has taken a 60% stake in Dutch company High yield Energy Technologies (HyET) Group to assist in its ambition to supply 15 million tonnes of green hydrogen globally by 2030.
The green energy company of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) has also provided the majority of financing for the expansion of the Dutch solar photovoltaic (PV) factory of HyET Solar.
Andrew Forrest certainly seems to be splashing the cash.
I first wrote about the hydrogen innovation of the HyET Group in December 2020 in New Device Separates Hydrogen From Natural Gas When The Two Gases Are Blended In Pipelines.
I finished that post, with this simple sentence.
This invention could change the world!
In the UK, there is a project called HyDeploy, which aims to blend twenty percent hydrogen into the UK’s natural gas.
- At this level, all boilers, appliances and processes would work without major changes.
- A significant amount of carbon emissions would be saved.
- Gas imports would be reduced.
Could HyET’s technology be used to piggyback a hydrogen delivery network alongside the UK’s gas network?
It might even be possible to attach hydrogen filling stations direct to the gas network.
The Route Map Of The East West Main Line
This image shows a schematic map of the East West Main Line.
Note.
- There is a lot of detail at the Eastern end. Is that the East Anglia influence in the Partnership?
- Bury St. Edmunds has been missed out. Is that the Ipswich influence in the Partnership?
- Of the four new stations only Winslow is not in Cambridgeshire. Is that the Cambridge influence in the Partnership?
It should also be noted that there are two links at the East, to the two ports of Freeport East; Felixstowe and Harwich.
Conclusion
This map makes a bold statement.
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