British Gas Introduce Hydrogen-Powered Van Trials
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Centrica.
This is the sub-heading.
British Gas is piloting the use of a hydrogen-powered van to help decarbonise their fleet, marking a significant step in their commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2040
These two paragraphs add some details.
The partnership with Ryze Power, the suppliers of clean hydrogen and alternative fuels and energy, will provide British Gas with access to the green hydrogen to power the Vauxhall Vivaro van over the two-month trial. The van is being put through its paces by a British Gas engineer in Birmingham, accessing Ryze’s refueling station at Tyseley during their working day.
The journey to Centrica, parent company of British Gas, reaching its 2040 net zero target includes achieving a net zero fleet by 2030, which is where this initiative supports the business in its vital next steps. Water vapour is the only emissions from the hydrogen vans, which include a battery a fraction of the size of that in an EV, meaning less requirement for mining precious metals.
I have written about this van before in Vauxhall Begins UK Customer Trials Of Hydrogen Vans.
Scotch Whisky Is In A Unique Position
Scotland has so much zero-carbon energy now, let alone in a few years, that Scotch whisky would not be the most difficult of industries to make completely zero-carbon, which could marketing-wise completely trump any tariffs, that Trummkopf might impose.
- Already some small distilleries are using hydrogen to distill the whisky.
- Some glass bottles are already made using hydrogen instead of natural gas to make zero-carbon malt whiskies.
- I’m sure Cummins in Darlington, JCB in Rocester and Ricardo in Sussex will be pleased to help make farm machinery, mechanical handling and road transport zero carbon.
- Soft fruit like raspberries are already used to absorb the carbon dioxide from the distillation process in some areas of Scotland. I’m sure dealing with more quality raspberries would not be a problem.
- A large electrolyser is planned for Kintore in the North of Scotland. Think of the good publicity for say Centrica or SSE, if they built the world’s largest hydrogen plant to help make zero-carbon whisky.
These are some more thoughts.
Taste Is Everything
As only the method of providing heat and electricity will have been changed, I can’t see there will be any change to the taste.
It’s Already Happening
This page on the Annandale Distillery web site is entitled Annandale Distillery Pioneers Zero-Carbon Whisky Production with EXERGY 3 Project.
The Kintore Electrolyser
These figures summarise the Kintore Electrolyser.
- Total Electrolyser Capacity – 3 GW
- First Phase – 500 MW
- Hydrogen – 200 kTonnes per year
Explore the Kintore Hydrogen web site.
Marketing Advantage
Scotland, is probably, the only country, where the main ingredients for whisky come together in abundance ; barley, energy, tradition and water.
It also is all produced in a single country in many different brands and types, which could all be produced in a zero-carbon manner.
Conclusion
Let’s give Trump a beating and the planet a kiss.
British Gas Partners With heata On Trial To Reuse Waste Heat From Data Processing
The title of this post, is the same as that of this news item from Centrica.
This is the sub-heading.
British Gas has partnered with sustainable cloud computing provider, heata, on an innovative trial to explore how harnessing waste heat generated by computer servers can save households money on their bills.
These two paragraphs describe heata’s system.
heata’s innovative model distributes cloud computing workloads to servers in homes. In a data centre, the heat generated during processing is a waste product, and energy-intensive cooling systems are required to stop the servers from overheating.
To overcome this, heata has created a ‘virtual data centre’ – a network of servers distributed in people’s homes. Each server is attached to the home’s hot water cylinder, and as they process data, the heat they generate is transferred into the water. This reduces the energy needed to heat water in the home, and as this is typically provided by gas boilers, it reduces the amount of gas used, lowering the carbon impact as a result. heata pays for the electricity the heata unit uses, which means the household pays less to heat their hot water.
Note.
- I would expect that future systems would also heat the house.
- I would be an ideal system for my house, as I have an unusual skin, that is better with a daily bath.
- I also wash my eyes most days with clean warm water, as they are often full of sleep.
- heata has a web site.
- heata has an about page, which describes the company and the technology.
- heata is supported by British Gas, Innovate UK and Sustainable Futures.
- Thermify is a similar system.
These three paragraphs describe the trial.
As part of a three-month trial, 10 heata units will be installed in the homes of British Gas employees, and the energy provider’s computing workloads will be processed on these units. As a result British Gas will be providing free hot water for its own employees as a byproduct of their own cloud compute.
The trial will provide feedback around performance and customer experience, as well as demonstrating the associated CO2 and energy cost savings to further co-develop customer propositions in 2025.
According to heata, the devices can provide up to 4kWh of hot water per day, with the technology expected to save households up to £340 per year when offsetting electrically heated hot water, and up to £120 when offsetting gas heated hot water.
I shall certainly think about fitting one.
North Sea Oil Group Equinor Scales Back Investment In Renewables
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Equinor, which is attempting to develop one of the largest untapped oilfields in UK waters, also raised its fossil fuel production targets
This is the first paragraph.
The Norwegian state-backed oil company that is attempting to develop one of the largest untapped oil fields in UK waters, has dramatically scaled back its investment in renewables and raised its fossil fuel production targets, becoming the latest of the world’s energy giants to row back on the push towards green power.
A quiet revolution is happening that will change our use of natural gas very much for the better.
- In Rhodesia, which is a suburb of Worksop, a 24 MW Rolls-Royce mtu diesel peaker power plant, that runs on natural gas, but is also hydrogen-ready, has been installed to boost the electricity supply. The diesel engine is fitted with carbon capture and produces food-grade CO2, which is sold for food and engineering uses.
- Most of the excellent British tomatoes and soft fruit, we have been eating this winter, is grown in greenhouses, heated by natural gas-powered combined heat and power units, where the CO2 produced is captured and fed to the plants.
- HiiROC is a start-up from Hull, who are backed by Centrica, who use a plasma process to split any hydrocarbon gas including waste gas from a chemical plant, biomethane from a sewage works or natural gas into pure hydrogen and carbon black, which is needed to manufacture tyres and other products, and also to improve soil.
- In the last few months, a HiiROC device has been installed at Brigg power station, to generate zero-carbon electricity from natural gas.
- Imagine a housing or factory estate, a farm or perhaps a large country house, that wants to decarbonise. The gas feed to the property would be fitted with a HiiROC device and all gas appliances and boilers would be converted to hydrogen.
- I also believe that houses and other premises could have their own hydrogen pumps to fill up cars, ride-on mowers and other vehicles.
- Avnos is a company from the US, that captures CO2 from the air. What makes Avnos unique is that for every ton of CO2 it captures, it captures five tons of pure water.
More ideas like these are being developed.
What is wrong in using natural gas, to generate heat and electricity, if it doesn’t emit any CO2 into the atmosphere?
I suspect, that Equinor believe there will be a market for natural gas for years, as more and more clever ways to use it and turn it into hydrogen are developed.
I’ve Just Come Across Avnos
I feel we should take into account any possibilities of second use of oil or gas structures, that once held hydrocarbons.
An article in a magazine called Carbon Herald pointed me to a company called Avnos, who are developing Direct Air Capture of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. If systems like that of Avnos do work, we may need somewhere to put the carbon dioxide.
Centrica are storing the hydrogen in the Rough gas field, which was previously used for storing natural gas and now some depleted gas fields are being used to store captured carbon dioxide.
On the subject of carbon capture, Avnos do it differently, in that for every tonne of CO2, they capture from the air, they capture five tonnes of distilled water. And they do it without using any heat.
This is their web site.
This is their mission statement on the front page of the web site. There is also a video.
Carbon Negative. Water Positive
Avnos is commercializing the most advanced technology in the Direct Air Capture of CO2
Our proprietary Hybrid Direct Air Capture (HDAC) solution inverts the water paradigm in DAC, producing water, eliminating heat consumption and reducing costs compared to other forms of DAC.
It sounds too good to be true!
But I have experience of the positive financial results of fluid dynamics in this area.
Thirty years ago, two guys approached me with an idea for an aerosol valve that used nitrogen as a propellant.
At the time, I lived in the house, where Osborne Reynolds, the great Victorian fluid dynamicist of Reynold’s number fame had been brought up.
The guys succeeded and the device was sold on to J & J.
They were then asked to develop a metered dose inhaler for asthma drugs, which is now sold as Respimat, which is sold by Boehringer Ingelheim.
Afterwards, I researched Reynolds at Manchester University, where he was the first Professor of Engineering and I found that he had done some marvelous things with fluids. He was a true genius and undergraduates are still taught on his Victorian apparatus.
I suspect that Avnos may have been exploring in the same area and are using another of Reynold’s useful properties.
Cold Snap Leaves Britain With Less Than A Week’s Worth Of Gas
The title of this post, are the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
The closure of Russian pipelines through Ukraine and recent weather conditions have left gas stores ‘concerningly low’
These are the first two paragraphs.
Britain has less than a week of gas supplies in storage, the country’s largest supplier has warned after plunging temperatures and high demand.
Centrica, the owner of British Gas, said the UK’s gas storage was “concerningly low” after coming under pressure this winter.
The two largest gas storage facilities in this country are both in the Humberside area.
- Aldbrough is in salt caverns North of Hull and is owned by SSE.
- Rough is under the North Sea and is owned by Centrica
Both are being converted to store hydrogen.
Some might thing that is a bit stupid if we’re short of storage, but we need the hydrogen storage for four reasons.
- To store hydrogen created by electrolysers on Humberside, which will enable heavy gas users in the area to decarbonise.
- The hydrogen will also be burnt in a 1 GW hydrogen-fired power station at Keadby to back up the wind turbines, with zero-carbon electricity.
- The hydrogen will also be sold to the Germans to replace Putin’s blood-stained gas. It will be sent to Germany in a pipeline called AquaVentus, which will also deliver Scottish hydrogen across the North Sea. Hopefully, the Germans will pay a good price for the hydrogen.
- The hydrogen will be used for transport.
The mistake the Government is making is not to develop smaller gas fields, so that domestic gas users can continue to use natural gas, until the technology to replace it with zero-carbon sources is fully developed.
Start-Up’s Plan To Convert Food Waste Into Green Fuel
The title of this post, is the same as that, of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Dark Green wants to build biogas production plants to supply local authorities and businesses
These three paragraphs give some detail to the plans.
A Nottingham-based start-up wants to become the first company to build a fleet of plants that would convert food waste into green energy in urban centres across Britain, producing an alternative fuel for businesses and local authorities attempting to shrink their carbon footprints.
Dark Green expects to submit planning applications for six biogas production plants, including one each in Birmingham and Huddersfield, with a further six in the pipeline.
The facilities, which are more usually sited on farms, will be capable of handling 60,000 tonnes of organic waste a year, saving the same amount of carbon dioxide as taking 65,000 cars off the road, the company estimates, and will produce seven megawatts of energy, capable of powering around 6,000 homes.
I have a feeling that Dark Green fit a theme, that this blog has been following for a couple of years now.
I have been commenting on a company called HiiROC.
- I first became aware of HiiROC and their new method of generating hydrogen in this news item from Centrica, which is entitled Centrica And HiiROC To Inject Hydrogen At Brigg Gas-Fired Power Station In UK First Project.
- HiiROC is a Hull-based startup-up, that is backed by Cemex, Centrica, Hyundai, Kia, Siemens and other big names.
- HiiROC can take any hydrocarbon gas from something like chemical plant off-gas, through biomethane to natural gas and split it into hydrogen and carbon black.
- HiiROC call their process thermal plasma electrolysis.
- The carbon black has uses in the manufacture of tyres and rubber products, anodes for lithium-ion batteries and other materials and in agriculture, it can be used to improve soils.
HiiROC claim that their method uses a fifth of the energy to create hydrogen, than electrolysis.
It looks to me that if you pipe Dark Green’s methane-rich gas into one of HiiROC’s thermal plasma electrolysers, you’ll get two valuable products; hydrogen and carbon black.
Centrica have also been active with an energy storage company called Highview Power recently, in the company of Goldman Sachs and Rio Tinto.
Centrica seem to have a cunning plan!
Is Dark Green going to be part of it?
British Gas Partners With Strata And Daikin To Launch Eco-Tech Low Bill Homes
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Centrica.
This is the sub-heading.
British Gas is set to supercharge sustainable living across the UK with the launch of Low Carbon Homes – a ground-breaking pilot in partnership with Strata and heat pump manufacturer, Daikin.
These are the first four paragraphs, which fill out a bit of detail.
In anticipation of The Future Homes Standard, customers will move into new build homes which have been fitted with a full range of the latest low-carbon technology at no extra cost to the housebuilder or owner. The homes will be equipped with a 6-8 kWh Daikin air source heat pump, 4 kWh solar panels, 5 kWh battery storage, Hive electric vehicle charger and thermostat. These items will be integrated into Hive’s award-winning app, providing customers with one-stop visibility and control of their energy usage.
The first trial phase will launch at a Strata’s “Breathe” development site in Kiveton, Rotherham. As a thank you for participating in the pilot, British Gas is giving homeowners access to a fixed rate tailored British Gas tariff. Participants in the trial will also have access to a dedicated British Gas energy manager to help them optimise the technology and keep bills as low as possible, while still meeting their desired comfort levels.
Each home will be fitted with a Hive hub, which connects to the WIFI network and acts as the home’s operating system, integrating all the sustainable technology. The customers energy and heat schedules and budget will be optimised by the Hive Hub for further savings.
When the customer connects to Hive’s app they will be able to control and maximise efficiency by setting schedules and spending budgets and allowing the Hub to help them reduce their bills.
Note.
- As a Control Engineer, this to me is a good start.
- I suspect that a 6-8 kWh Daikin air source heat pump, 4 kWh solar panels and 5 kWh battery storage will keep the average house warm.
- I would expect that the three companies have optimised the ratios between the sizes of the components to give the best performance.
It is amazing to think that it was in the early seventies, that in the two sections, where I worked at ICI, engineers had just started controlling and optimising flows, pressures and temperatures in complex chemical plants.
If you’d asked any of us, when our houses heating systems would be as fully controlled, we’d have given twenty years at most.
What kept the world so long?
I have a few thoughts.
Could The Housing Have Gas For Cooking??
Yes! Centrica owns a big share with Hyundai, Kia and others of a start-up company called HiiROC.
- This is the HiiROC web site.
- HiiROC can take any hydocarbon gas and split it into green hydrogen and carbon black.
- Green hydrogen is obviously useful and the carbon black can be used for making tyres for vehicles, anodes for lithium-ion batteries and in agriculture for soil improvement.
- Waste off-gas from a chemical plant can be split into green hydrogen and carbon black.
- Biomethane from a sewage plant can be split into hydrogen and carbon black. Could a sewage plant on an estate be used to create biomethane for cooking and feeding to the HiiROC plant? Yes!
- Could green hydrogen produced on the estate be used to drive vehicles like cars, vans and ride-on-mowers. Yes! If the manufacturer of the vehicle allows it!
- How convenient would it be to have Hydrogen-at-Home?
How Much Does A British Gas Hive Save On My Energy Bill?
I asked Google and I got this answer from Home Hive.
£119. A smaller carbon footprint and a smaller bill – our award-winning smart thermostat could cut your energy bills by up to £170 a year. Join Hive Plus to boost your thermostat’s savings – and get exclusive access to £60 bill credit with any fixed British Gas dual fuel tariff.
At present, I have no intention of changing my energy supplier, but come the summer or if my health or energy circumstances change, I might see what is available.
Will British Gas Develop A Hive For a Smaller Dwelling?
I suspect in ten years, if I’m still of this world, I shall be living in the following circumstances.
- Alone.
- In a two bedroom house, cottage or flat.
- Some form of probably electric central heating or perhaps even hydrogen.
- No car.
- A short walk to the bus stop and/or train station.
- Communal gardens to sit in.
- An Ocado style delivery for food, groceries and other essentials.
- A local gluten-free cafe.
- Full Wi-Fi
Perhaps, British Gas and others will develop a community for people like me?
Large Scale Hydrogen Storage Sites Could Reduce Customer Energy Costs By £1bn Per Year
The title of this post, is the same as this press release from Centrica.
These four paragraphs summarise the report.
Centrica and FTI report finds that hydrogen storage would help balance the UK’s energy system and reduce bills.
A net zero scenario including large scale hydrogen storage – specifically, a redeveloped Rough gas storage facility – would reduce energy costs by an additional £1bn per year by 2050.
Report also finds that a UK energy system focused on renewable generation risks high levels of intermittency without an established hydrogen market. By 2050, electricity generation from renewables could exceed total demand around 15% of the time.
Electricity generation from renewables could also rise or fall by as much as 100GW over the course of a single day. More than twice current levels of peak demand on winter evenings and the equivalent energy output from over 30 Hinkley Point C nuclear power stations.
Note.
- Hydrogen Central entitles their article about the Centrica press release Centrica Says Hydrogen Can Reduce Household Bills by £35 a Year. That’s almost a bottle of my favourite Adnams beer a week!
- I talked about the redevelopment of the Rough facility into hydrogen storage in Aberdeen’s Exceed Secures Centrica Rough Contract.
- Generating hydrogen from excess electricity and storing it until it is needed, must be an efficient way of storing electricity or powering industrial processes that need a lot of energy, if storing hydrogen makes £1bn per year!
- It should be noted that Centrica have a large interest in HiiROC, who are developing an efficient way to generate hydrogen from any hydrocarbon gas from chemical plant off-gas through biomethane to natural gas. In a perfect world a HiiROC system in a sewage works could capture the biomethane and split it into hydrogen and carbon black. The hydrogen could be used to refuel vehicles and the carbon black would be taken away to someone, who has need of it.
In some ways, it is surely sensible to have enough energy in a store, if the renewables fail. As Rough is already there and functioning, it is surely one of the easiest routes to redevelop Rough, so that it is in top-quality condition.
It should also be noted, that Rough is not far from the Aldbrough Gas Storage, which SSE are converting to a second massive hydrogen store.
So Humberside will have two of the largest hydrogen stores in the world, which Centrica and SSE will use to maxise energy security in the wider Humberside and East Yorkshire area, and I suspect to maximise their profits as well.
This video shows the structure of AquaVentus, which is a pipeline system, that the Germans are building to bring much-needed hydrogen to German industry from electrolysers in the North Sea and other countries like Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and the UK.
I clipped this map from the video.
Note how a branch of AquaVentus makes landfall around the Humber estuary at a UK label.
Will Centrica and SSE be trading hydrogen from Rough and Aldbrough with the Germans through AquaVentus? You bet they will, as the Germans are short of both hydrogen and hydrogen storage.
Bord Gáis Energy Acquires Leading Irish Solar PV Installer Swyft Energy
The title of this post, is the same as that of this news item from Centrica.
This is the sub-heading.
Bord Gáis Energy today announced the acquisition of Swyft Energy, a leading solar PV provider in Ireland for an undisclosed sum.
Note.
- Bord Gáis Energy is a subsidiary of Centrica.
- Swyft Energy has this web site.
These three paragraphs give more details of the acquisition.
Bord Gáis Energy already operates in the solar PV market: directly to residential customers, and through its partnership with Irish Farmer’s Association delivering solar PV to farms across Ireland, helping farmers transition to green energy. The acquisition of Swyft Energy now brings deeper solar PV capability to residential as well as business and farming customers of Bord Gáis Energy, as the company transitions to a green energy business.
Swyft Energy, a technology-led solar PV and boiler installation company, brings over six years of experience in delivering customer-focused solutions using a digital-first platform. This acquisition enhances Bord Gáis Energy’s highly skilled workforce and strengthens its customer proposition.
With a target of 10,000 installations over the next 5 years, this will allow Bord Gáis Energy to compete better for the growing demand for solar energy in residential, commercial and agricultural sectors. Customers can save an average of 50-70% on their electricity bills with the installation of rooftop solar panels.
The deal certainly looks a good fit between two ambitious companies, who are operating in similar areas of the Irish market.
I have my thoughts and observations.
Are Bord Gáis Energy And Swyft Energy Stronger Together?
Do both companies feel, that by working together, they will be stronger from a financial point of view?
It wouldn’t be unusual for this to be a reason behind a deal like this.
Centrica Are Making Lots Of Deals At The Present Time
Centrica are also continuing, the tendency to expand, that they’ve shown in recent weeks.
These are some of the deals I have noted.
- Aberdeen’s Exceed Secures Centrica Rough Contract
- HiiROC Partners With Siemens To Boost Clean Hydrogen Production
- Centrica Strikes 200MW Lithuanian Green Power Deal
- Centrica And Coterra Energy Announce Natural Gas Sale And Purchase Agreements
- Centrica And European Energy Sign Agreement On Måde Green Hydrogen Facility
- Recurrent Energy’s Middle Road Project Sold To Centrica
- Team GB And ParalympicsGB Athletes Find New Career Pathway At Centrica
- UK Infrastructure Bank, Centrica & Partners Invest £300M in Highview Power Clean Energy Storage Programme To Boost UK’s Energy Security
Centrica certainly have been busy expanding.
Energy Storage In The Island Of Ireland
It is generally accepted, that if you have a lot of renewable energy, then you need a lot of energy storage, to bridge the gaps in wind and solar.
In the Wikipedia entry for Energy In Ireland, there is a section called Energy Storage.
It seems to me, that Ireland could be short on energy storage, so is it likely that the enlarged Bord Gáis Energy will look for possibilities for energy storage.
Recently, Centrica formed a business relationship with Highview Power, who are developing environmentally-friendly liquid-air batteries. These smaller and more affordable batteries might be suitable for the island of Ireland.
Conclusion
There’s more to this deal, than at first meets the eye.
The Anonymous Widower 