The Anonymous Widower

UK And Germany Will Face Threats Together, Says Burnham In Berlin

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.

This is the sub-heading.

The UK and Germany will face threats together, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said as he reaffirmed a series of defence and security partnerships

These two paragraphs add some more detail.

On his first official European trip, apart from visits to Ukraine, Burnham met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and was greeted with military honours in Berlin.

Speaking to reporters at the German capital’s Federal Chancellery, the prime minister said both countries were facing hybrid attacks “on a regular basis” and “it makes sense” to take them on together.

I am surprised that the article doesn’t mention energy, as it is a problem for both Germany and the UK.

Germany’s problems include.

  • They are short of both green electricity and gas.
  • They produce about a fifth of their electricity from coal.
  • They have weaned themselves off Russian gas and nuclear power.
  • They have poor electricity storage.

Their strengths include.

  • Siemens is the second-largest European wind turbine manufacturer.
  • 29 wind farms in the UK, have been built around Siemens wind turbines.
  • RWE is a major German developer of wind farms.
  • RWE is the largest generator of electricity in the UK.
  • RWE own or part-own thirteen wind farms in the UK.

Germany also has good plans to solve their problems.

  • AquaVentus is a series of pipes and wires to bring green electricity and hydrogen from Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Aberdeen and Humberside in the UK. to Wilhelmshaven in North-West Germany.
  • H2ercules is a plan to deliver hydrogen around Germany to power industry.

In New Study Shows How North Sea Offshore Wind Can Yield More While Costing Less, I found this “It appears from the text in this must read report, that the Germans might develop as much as 20 GW in neighbouring countries.”

The UK’s problems include.

  • High electricity and gas prices.
  • Not enough electricity storage.
  • Poor connections to the grid.

Our strengths include.

  • A large amount of solar and wind power is being developed.
  • We will generate more electricity than we need.
  • Geographically, we generate more electricity on the East side of the UK, so our electrons are ideally placed in invade Germany.
  • We shall be able to send electricity and hydrogen to Germany using the AquaVentus system.
  • We are developing at least three 2 GW/30 GWh pumped storage systems in Scotland to store electricity and back up AquaVentus.
  • Rough and Aldbrough are gas storage reservoirs on Humberside, that could be converted to store hydrogen, so we could keep Germany supplied.
  • HiiROC is affordable hydrogen production technology being developed in Hull, which is five times more efficient, than traditional methods.

Centrica is backing HiiROC and is developing a stable of British ideas.

The UK’s Biggest Advantage

This map shows the The Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) around the UK.

Note.

  1. Undoubtedly, the rules by which EEZs were drawn, favoured the UK, and countries like Belgium and Germany didn’t do as well.
  2. The area of the UK’s EEZ is twenty-three times that of Germany’s EEZ.
  3. Belgium doesn’t do well compared to The Netherlands.
  4. There is a substantial area between the UK and Ireland, which can deliver energy to where it is worth more.
  5. Great Britain and Ireland are surrounded by a large area, that must be worth developing.
  6. There is a convenient corridor, that runs North-West from the German EEZ to the UK EEZ, which could be used to deliver energy to Germany.

Didn’t the UK (and the Irish) do well!

I believe that there are joint actions that the UK and Germany can take to both their own advantages.

Find A Way To Keep Rough Operational

If we keep Rough operational, then.

  •  It can usefully act as hydrogen storage for the Germans, with a connection to AquaVentus.
  • We can also use it as a store for hydrogen created from excess energy, when we have too much.
  • It can also supply hydrogen to companies like INEOS on Humberside.
  • Hydrogen could also be exported from the Port of Hull in small coastal liquid hydrogen tankers.
  • Companies that need a lot of zero-carbon energy could move to Humberside.

I suspect John Healey will make an announcement in the 2026 Budget.

AquaVentus And Energy Storage

AquaVentus, the pumped storage hydro in Scotland and the hydrogen storage on Humberside could make a big difference to the cost of UK energy, as instead of paying wind farm operators to turn off their wind farms, the excess electricity be handled in one of these ways.

  • It can be sent to Germany using AquaVentus as electricity.
  • Electricity can be stored in the pumped storage hydro in the Highlands.
  • It can be used to create hydrogen which can be stored in Rough and Aldbrough.
  • Hydrogen can be sent to Germany using Aquaventus.
  • Electricity waste is minimised, which saves the UK money.
  • Germany gets a more reliable supply of green hydrogen.

The UK should get a cash flow from Germany for the energy, that is delivered.

AquaVentus Could Be Combined With National Grid’s Eastern Green Links Project

Consider.

  • AquaVentus will bring energy from Aberdeen and Humberside to Wilhelmshaven.
  • National Grid are building five Eastern Green Links along the East Coast of the UK to move electricity to where it is needed.
  • EGL1 will link Murton, Co Durham and Torness.
  • EGL2 will link Drax, Yorkshire and Peterhead.
  • EGL3 will link Anderby Creek and Peterhead.
  • EGL4 will link Anderby Creek and Westfield, Fife.
  • EGL5 will link Anderby Creek and Peterhead.
  • All willhave a capacity of 2 GW.

The Eastern Green Links have a Wikipedia entry.

This Google Map shows the location of Wilhelmshaven with respect to the UK.

Wilhelmshaven is marked by the red arrow.

  • It looks to me, that between Lincolnshire and Scotland AquaVentus and EGL1-5 will be following a similar route up the East Coast of the UK, which would surely make construction easier, faster and less costly.
  • Provision could easily be made to provide a link to the Sizewell nuclear site, which has a total capacity of 4.4 GW.
  • NeuConnect is a 1.4 GW interconnector between the Isle of Grain and Wilhelmshaven, that is under construction and will be 725 kilometres long.
  • On the Isle of Grain is the 1.32 GW gas-fired power station, that is owned by RWE.
  • BritNed is a 1 GW interconnector between the Isle of Grain and Rotterdam.
  • Nemo Link is a 1 GW interconnector between Kent and Zeebrugge.
  • LionLink is a proposed 1.8GW HVDC electrical interconnector to link offshore wind farms in the North Sea to the electrical grids in both Great Britain and the Netherlands.
  • In National Grid, TenneT Germany Launch GriffinLink, A First Of A Find Project To Maximise Offshore Wind, I talk about GriffinLink, which will run between the UK and Germany.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a tidying-up of the electrical connections between England, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany.

Are the Danish And German Grids Connected Under The North Sea?

I asked Google AI this question and received this answer.

The Danish and German electricity grids are connected through undersea and land infrastructure, though direct grid-to-grid interconnections under the North Sea itself are currently expanding rather than existing as a direct bilateral link between the two countries’ mainland grids.

Current and Planned Connections

Land Boundary: The primary connection between Denmark and Germany is a shared 146-kilometer land border across the Jutland peninsula, which carries high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) power lines linking the two national transmission systems.

North Sea Undersea Cables (Indirect/Transit): The COBRAcable, a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine link operated by TenneT and Energinet, connects the electricity grids of the Netherlands and Denmark, running through the German sector of the North Sea.

North Sea Hybrid Projects: German and Danish transmission system operators (such as Amprion and Energinet) have signed agreements and memoranda—including joint declarations from the North Sea Summit—to examine and develop future hybrid offshore wind interconnectors and energy hub links in the North Sea.

Baltic Sea Connections: In contrast, direct cross-border grid and hybrid wind connections between Denmark and Germany are more established or actively deploying in the Baltic Sea, such as through the Kriegers Flak and Bornholm Energy Island projects.

It looks like what is happening between England and Germany has already been developed between Germany and Denmark.

Does Germany Want To Put Wind Farms In Other Countries EEZs And Bring The Energy To Germany?

Google AI gave this answer to my question.

Yes, Germany is moving toward integrating and allowing cross-border and radial offshore wind projects located in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of neighboring countries—such as Denmark—to connect directly to the German grid.

Rather than “renting” areas unilaterally, Germany is accomplishing this through joint cross-border European partnerships and bilateral agreements.

Key Details

Regulatory Changes: Germany has proposed amendments (such as via drafts integrating “international offshore connection lines” into its WindSeeG legislation) to explicitly cover radial lines from an offshore farm outside the German EEZ connected exclusively to the German grid.

Counting Toward Targets: These proposed rules allow cross-border radial offshore wind projects to count directly toward Germany’s national offshore wind targets (such as its 70 GW offshore wind goal).

Cross-Border Cooperation: Strategic frameworks—such as between Denmark and Germany—are being established to link projects in foreign waters (like Danish waters) to German converter platforms (e.g., the OST-2-4 platform in the German EEZ).

Research and Industry Push: Studies (including analysis by Fraunhofer IWES) and industry voices (such as Örsted) have argued that shifting or sharing some offshore build-out into neighboring waters like Denmark and Sweden can optimize output, lower costs, and reduce the risk of regionally weak wind conditions. This is also part of broader European agreements like the North Sea Summit declarations scaling up cross-border infrastructure.

Note.

  1. The UK and German EEZs join via a corridor, that would surely be bideal for a large capacity cable, which is clearly visible on then EEZ map.
  2. The UK has more than enough space for wind farms.
  3. The primary source of the UK’s offshore energy could shift to wind farms to the West and North-West of Great Britain.
  4. Eastern British would probably play a large part in the construction and service of German wind farms to the East of Great Britain.

There would appear to be winners all round.

  • Germany gets the energy it needs.
  • The UK gets the affordable energy it needs.
  • The UK gets paid for the energy created in and exported from its waters.
  • British jobs will be created in the construction and support of the German wind farms.

This could be the start of something very big for Germany and the UK.

 

 

 

 

October 17, 2026 Posted by | Energy, Energy Storage, Hydrogen | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

RWE To Build Large-Scale Storage At Hambach Mine

The title of this post is the same as that of this press release from RWE.

These four bullet points act as sub-headings.

  • 236 megawatts capacity and 470 megawatt-hours storage capacity
  • First battery containers have been delivered; commissioning is planned for 2027
  • Large-scale storage system balances fluctuations in the electricity grid in fractions of a second
  • RWE currently constructing around 1.7 Gigawatts of battery storage capacity in Germany

This first paragraph gives some more details.

RWE is continuing to expand its battery storage portfolio and is constructing a new large-scale storage facility on the site of the Hambach opencast mine. The battery storage facility is being built near the village of Niederzier in the district of Düren. Preparatory work on a three-hectare site began at the end of 2025. The first of a total of 128 lithium-ion battery containers have already been delivered. The large-scale storage facility will have a capacity of 236 megawatts (MW) and a storage capacity of 470 megawatt-hours (MWh). The facility is scheduled to come on stream in 2027.

Note.

  1. According to the Wikipedia entry for the Hambach opencast mine, it was used to mine lignite or brown coal.
  2. The battery will be a two-hour battery.
  3. The site was originally the Hambach Forest, of which only ten percent remains, as the rest has been cut down because of the mining.
  4. The pit is 500 metres deep.
  5. Full cessation of lignite mining planned by 2030 as part of Germany’s coal phase-out.

The site is being gradually transformed into a reclaimed landscape, including the future Hambach lake.

It is well-worth reading the whole Wikipedia entry for the Hambach opencast mine.

 

August 3, 2026 Posted by | Energy, Energy Storage, Environment | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Poland Receives Its First Electricity from Offshore Wind As Baltic Power Starts Delivering

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.

This is the sub-heading.

Electricity generated by the Baltic Power offshore wind farm has entered Poland’s national power grid, marking the first time the electricity generated by offshore wind turbines is added to the country’s energy mix.

This first paragraph gives more details of the project.

54 of 76 turbines have already been installed at Poland’s first offshore wind farm, with the first now generating electricity. Construction is scheduled for completion this autumn, ORLEN and Northland Power, the owners of the project, said.

When complete, the Baltic Power wind farm will generate up to 1.2 GW.

How Much Offshore Wind Does Poland Have Planned?

I asked Google AI, the question in the title of this section and received this reply.

 

Poland has massive offshore wind plans in the Baltic Sea.

The country targets 5.9 GW by 2030 and 18 GW by 2040. To meet these goals, the government is pursuing two primary development phases to transition the national grid away from coal.

A breakdown of Poland’s offshore wind rollout includes:

Phase I (Advanced Projects): Includes 5.9 GW of capacity.

Baltic Power: Poland’s first offshore wind farm (1.2 GW), developed by Orlen and Northland Power, officially connected to the national grid in July 2026.

Bałtyk 2 & 3: Equinor and Polenergia have finalized financing for an additional 1.4 GW, slated for commercial operation around 2028.

Phase II (Auction-Backed): Poland recently allocated over 3.4 GW in new capacity through competitive offshore wind auctions, pushing development well into the next decade.

Long-Term Outlook: Industry groups estimate the total technical potential in Poland’s portion of the Baltic Sea could reach up to 33 GW.

Will Poland Be Welcoming Any Invading Germany Wind Farms?

In New Study Shows How North Sea Offshore Wind Can Yield More While Costing Less, I talked about how Germany doesn’t have enough sea in which to place the wind farms it needs to generate the green electricity and hydrogen it needs.

This map from Wikipedia shows Exclusive Economic Zones in the North Sea, but it also shows who has control of the sea in the Baltic.

Note.

  1. Yellow is France.
  2. Mauve is Belgium, who drew the short straw.
  3. Light Blue is The Netherlands.
  4. Black is Germany, who despite their large land area, don’t have as much sea as the UK.
  5. Red is Denmark.
  6. Dark Blue is Norway.
  7. Green is The UK.
  8. Germany and Poland seen to share the Southern Baltic.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Germany and Poland co-operating to maximize the wind power capacity of the Southern Baltic.

 

A Visit To Poland’s Coal Capital

On one of my trips to Poland, I went to Katowice, which is in Poland’s coal-mining region. I wrote about it in An Excursion In Katowice.

Google AI produced this snapshot of Katowice.

Katowice is historically known as the “Polish Coal Capital” and served as the absolute backbone of the region’s heavy industry. First transforming into an industrial powerhouse in the mid-19th century due to rich local coal and metal reserves, the city’s economy and rapid growth were entirely reliant on coal mining and steel.

While coal and heavy industry historically anchored its identity, the city of Katowice has aggressively transformed into a modern cultural, technological, and business hub. The wider Silesia region remains heavily tied to coal mining, but the municipality itself has shifted its focus to avoid reliance on it.

My visit to Katowice was an excellent pit-stop on a train ride between Krakow and Prague, when I did my Home Run From Krakow.

If you like your food and like me, you’re coeliac, I would certainly recommend Poland for a few days away.

Strangely, the language is not a problem, as if you get three Poles together, one will speak English better than what you do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 10, 2026 Posted by | Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Food, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

At Least 90 Dead In Chinese Coal Mine Explosion, State Media Reports

The title of this post, is the same as that as this article on the BBC.

This is the sub-heading.

At least 90 people have been killed in a coal mine blast in northern China, according to the country’s state media.

These two paragraphs add more detail.

The gas explosion happened at the Liushenyu Coal Mine, run by the Tongzhou Group, in Shanxi Province.

Hundreds of rescuers have been sent to the site. Footage from state media showed paramedics carrying stretchers at the site, with ambulances in the background. More than 100 people are said to have been taken to hospital, with rescue work at the site still under way.

It does seem that if you deep mine coal, you are going to get accidents. Does Opencast Coal Mining Have Less Accidents?

I asked Google AI, my question in the previous line and received this answer.

Yes, opencast (or open-pit) coal mining generally experiences significantly fewer fatal accidents than underground mining.

The primary reasons for this include better natural ventilation, better visibility, easier evacuation routes, and the absence of high-risk confined-space hazards like cave-ins, roof collapses, and toxic gas accumulations.

However, while fatal and catastrophic accidents are rarer, opencast mining introduces its own set of occupational risks:

Heavy Machinery Incidents: The use of massive excavators and haul trucks means that collisions, vehicle rollovers, and reversing accidents are leading causes of injuries.

Slope and Bench Failures: Unstable pit walls or overburden dumps can collapse, resulting in severe equipment damage and worker injuries.

Blasting Hazards: Routine use of explosives carries inherent risks, such as accidental detonation and flying rock (flyrock).

Environmental & Dust Exposure: Workers in open-cast mines can be heavily exposed to respirable silica and coal dust, which poses long-term respiratory health risks like pneumoconiosis.

It appears to me, that if you want to work in mining, you’re best option is probably to work for someone like JCB making mining equipment.

Conclusion

But then some countries put a lower value on human life than others.

I believe that what finished deep coal mining in the UK was the Aberfan Disaster in 1966, which is described in this Wikipedia entry. This is the first paragraph.

The Aberfan disaster (Welsh: Trychineb Aberfan) was the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on 21 October 1966. The tip had been created on a mountain slope above the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, and overlaid a natural spring. Heavy rain led to a build-up of water within the tip which caused it to suddenly slide downhill as a slurry, killing 116 children and 28 adults as it engulfed Pantglas Junior School and a row of houses. The tip was the responsibility of the National Coal Board (NCB), and the subsequent inquiry placed the blame for the disaster on the organisation and nine named employees.

Let the Aberfan Disaster be a warning from the Welsh Valleys of the dangers of coal mining.

It is the sixieth anniversary of the Aberfan Disaster this year, so should an appropriate international ceremony be held to press home to the world, that coal mining is a disaster for the whole human race and all the other species we share our planet with.

 

 

 

May 23, 2026 Posted by | Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Environment | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Liquid Air Alternative To Fossil Fuels

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC Future Web Site.

It is also one of the best articles, I’ve read on the economics of liquid-air energy storage.

This is the sub-heading.

An overlooked technology for nearly 50 years, the world’s largest liquid air energy storage facility is finally set to power up in 2026. It’s hoping to compete with grid-scale lithium batteries and hydro to store clean power, and reduce the need to fall back on fossil fuels.

These three introductory paragraphs add detail to the project.

As the world’s use of renewable electricity soars, surpassing coal for the first time, the need to store that energy when the Sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing is growing in step. While some turn to grid-scale lithium batteries and others to pumped hydro, a small but growing industry is convinced there’s a better solution still: batteries that rely on air.

Near the village of Carrington in north-west England, the foundations are being laid for the world’s largest commercial-scale liquid air energy storage facility, one of the first of its kind. The site will eventually become an array of industrial machinery and a number of large storage tanks, filled with air that has been compressed and cooled so much it has become a liquid, using renewable energy surplus to demand. The stored energy can be discharged later when demand exceeds supply.

If the project succeeds, more will follow. The site’s developers Highview Power are confident that liquid air energy storage will make it easier for countries to replace fossil fuels with clean renewable energy – though at present, the technology is expensive. But as the need for clean energy storage surges, they’re betting the balance will tip in favour of liquid air.

The BBC article, seems to have been written with input from Shaylin Cetegen, a chemical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who studies energy storage systems.

Topics discussed include.

  • The intermittency problem of renewables and how this gives problems for the stability of electricity grids.
  • The switchable nature of fossil-fuel power generation.
  • A big part of the solution is to store the surplus energy so that it can be released when it’s needed. Think of it like an electricity deposit account!
  • For decades, the main form of energy storage has been pumped hydro. In 2021, the world had 160 GW of pumped hydro capacity. The UK has a total of just 3 GW in Scotland and Wales! But more is on the way!
  • Recently, large-scale battery storage systems have risen to the challenge and installed capacity has risen from 55.7 GW in 2023 to 150 GW / 348 GWh in 2025.
  • The liquid air solution is then explained.
  • A grid-scale stop-gap, that is the 30 MW/300 MWh Manchester hybrid liquid-air battery, is then described.
  • In August 2026, the battery is set to begin operating.
  • An alternative way of stabilising the grid will be provided.
  • It will come online in two stages, says Highview Power CEO Richard Butland.
  • Then in 2027 the liquid air storage is expected to begin fully operating.

Highview Power will make money by trading electricity, as pumped storage operators do.

The penultimate section of the article looks at the bottom line and comes to these conclusions.

Instead, she says governments could support the technology. In her study, subsidising the initial capital costs to set up the systems “could be a viable approach to achieve economic viability in the short term”, she says.

Furthermore, faster uptake of renewables would increase energy price volatility, making energy storage more economically viable.

Cetegen makes a final point in favour of liquid air energy storage: it’s cheap. Energy storage technologies are often assessed using a metric called the “levelised cost of storage”, which estimates how much each unit of stored energy costs over the lifespan of the project. For liquid air, this can be as low as $45 (£34) per megawatt-hour – compared to $120 (£89) for pumped hydro and $175 (£130) for lithium-ion batteries.

“While none of these storage methods are likely economically viable right now without policy support, liquid air energy storage stands out as a particularly cost-effective option for large-scale storage,” Cotegen says.

Ultimately, Butland expects electricity grids to rely on a mix of storage technologies. Pumped hydro is extremely effective and works for decades, but it’s location-dependent because it needs a water supply. Meanwhile, batteries are highly efficient and can be placed anywhere, but need to be replaced after about 10 years. Liquid air has the advantage that it can store energy for longer than batteries, with minimal losses.

As any country enters the green transition, its electricity grid needs to be remodelled to cope. “We’re rebuilding all grids globally, based on new generation,” says Butland. And that could well mean a lot of liquid air energy storage.

 

March 21, 2026 Posted by | Energy, Energy Storage | , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Was South Wales Once The World’s Largest Coal Exporter?

I asked Google AI, the title of this post and received this answer.

Yes, South Wales was once the world’s largest coal-exporting region and home to the busiest coal-exporting ports in the world. During its peak in 1913, the South Wales coalfield supplied almost one-third of total global coal exports, with Cardiff and Barry leading the world as the top coal ports.

Key details regarding the coal boom in South Wales:

Peak Production: In 1913, the region produced 57 million tons of coal, with more than half exported.

Top Export Ports: In 1913, Barry was recognized as the world’s largest coal-exporting port, closely followed by Cardiff.

The “Coal Metropolis”: Cardiff became the world’s leading coal and shipping metropolis, with the Cardiff Coal Exchange setting the global price for steam coal.

Economic Impact: The boom drove massive population growth in the South Wales Valleys and created tremendous wealth for cities like Cardiff, Barry, and Newport.

Global Demand: Welsh coal was highly sought after for its high quality, fueling steamships, railways, and industries across the world, from Russia to South America.

By 1920, the industry employed over 270,000 miners, but it saw a steep decline thereafter due to economic depression, international competition, and the exhaustion of accessible reserves.

March 13, 2026 Posted by | Energy, Uncategorized | , , , , | 2 Comments

America’s Looming Electricity Crisis Is Trump’s Achilles’ Heel

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in the Telegraph.

This is the sub-heading.

Culture war banter and point-scoring have left Maga facing a self-inflicted energy shortage

These are the first three paragraphs.

The US is in danger of losing the global AI race for the most banal and careless of reasons: it is critically short of electricity.

The country is sitting on a neglected pre-modern grid that cannot meet surging power demand for data centres, cryptocurrencies, the reshoring of semiconductor plants and the proclaimed revival of the American industrial base.

Nor can it meet the needs for air conditioning through hotter and more humid summers. While we all talk about AI, the chief cause of rising electricity use last year was for cooling. Bitcoin mining took another 2pc of US power, for no productive purpose.

It looks like we can add simple arithmetic to the skills the Trump Administration lacks.

The Telegraph article and myself have some other thoughts.

The Planned Increase In Electricity Is A Fifth Of What’s Needed

This is a paragraph from the Telegraph.

The US Energy Department said in its Resource Adequacy Report in July that the planned increase in firm electricity supply is a fifth of what is needed by 2030.

In Renewable Power By 2030 In The UK, I stated that by 2030, the UK would add nearly 59 GW of offshore wind.

Surely, using the population size difference of four times, 240 GW of offshore wind, would do the USA nicely?

But, Trump doesn’t like wind turbines.

Texas Has A Shortage Of Electricity

These are two paragraphs from the Telegraph.

The Texas grid operator Ercot expects peak power demand in its region to soar from 87 gigawatts (GW) this year to 138 GW by 2030. This is physically impossible.

Texas passed a law in June giving the state emergency authority to cut off power to data centres. Ercot is already having to deploy “mobile generation plants” at exorbitant cost to avert blackouts even today.

It sounds pretty desperate.

Texas needs another 51 GW by 2030, which is less than we intend to delivery from just offshore wind.

If Little Great Britain can do it, then surely Texas can? After all, Texas is three almost times larger than the UK.

I get the idea, that someone isn’t doing any planning.

The United States Needs A Lot Of Transformers

These are three paragraphs from the Telegraph.

The National Infrastructure Advisory Council (Niac) says the average age of America’s 60 million large power transformers is 38 years. Many are beyond their design life.

The US supply chain is not capable of delivering the 12 million new transformers needed each year to keep the show on the road. The backlog has risen to four years. The cost of transformers has jumped 80pc since the pandemic.

There is an acute shortage of electrical steel needed to make them. This comes mostly from China, Japan, Korea or Germany. In his infinite wisdom, Trump has imposed 50pc tariffs on steel, aluminium and copper. That cost shock has yet to feed through.

The Niac says it is a similar tale for “other critical grid components such as conduit, smart meters, switchgear and high-voltage circuit breakers”.

It looks like, there’s another fine mess, you’ve got us in, Donny!

Maga Wants More Coal

These are three paragraphs from the Telegraph.

The quickest way to generate more power is to roll out wind and solar. Trump is actively intervening to obstruct this. Maga wants coal instead.

This week the administration announced $625m of taxpayer subsidy to “expand and reinvigorate” the coal industry. It will open new federal lands, slash the royalty fees for extracting coal, and lift curbs on mercury pollution.

“In addition to drill, baby drill, we need to mine, baby, mine,” said Doug Burgum, the interior secretary.

When it should be spin, baby, spin.

Conclusion

Read the article in full.

We certainly, don’t want anybody, with an energy policy like Trump, influencing the UK’s energy policy.

If Trump carries on like this, he’ll end up in a terrible mess.

 

October 3, 2025 Posted by | Energy | , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Visiting The Consultation For Ferrybridge Next Generation Power Station At Knottingley

Yesterday, I visited the first meeting for the consultation on Ferrybridge Next Generation Power Station, which was held in the old town hall at Knottingley.

This Google Map shows the power station in relation to Knottingley.

Note.

  1. The meeting was held in the Knottingley Town Tall Community Centre, which is marked by the red arrow.
  2. I had arrived by train from Wakefield at Knottingley station and I was lucky enough to be able to get a taxi to the Town Hall.
  3. Knottingley station is marked on the map about  a twenty-minute walk to the West of the Town Hall.
  4. The Ferrybridge power station site is in the North-West corner of the map and appears to be bordered by the B6136 road.
  5. The A1 (M) and the M 62 motorways run North-South past the power station site.
  6. The A (M) motorway continues North-South to Newcastle and Scotland, and London respectively.
  7. The M62 motorway continues West-East to Liverpool and Manchester, and Hull respectively.
  8. The well-appointed Moto Ferrybridge services is accessible from both motorways.

This OpenRailwayMap shows the rail lines in the area.

Note.

  1. The A 62 and A 1(M) motorways running down the West side of the map.
  2. Knottingley station is on the Pontefract Line, and is marked by a blue arrow.
  3. The Pontefract Line could have connections from both East and West to the Ferrybridge power station site via Ferrybridge Power Station junction.
  4. The loop, where the merry-go-round coal trains turned, appears to be still intact at the North of the power station site.

Will these rail lines be any use in the building and operation of the new power station?

These are my thoughts.

Fuel For The Power Station

The brochure for the consultation says this about the fuel for the Ferrybridge Next Generation Power Station.

Ferrybridge Next Generation Power Station will be designed to run on 100% hydrogen, natural gas or a
blend of natural gas and hydrogen.

The brochure has an informative section, which is entitled Natural Gas Pipeline Corridors.

Additionally, I should say, that I lived within a couple of hundred metres of a major gas pipeline in Suffolk, for over twenty years and it was the most unobtrusive of neighbours.

The brochure also says this about hydrogen safety.

As with all of our sites, appropriate measures will be
in place to ensure safe operation. Hydrogen is not
inherently more dangerous than other fuel sources.

Hydrogen is flammable and must be handled with care,
just like other flammable fuels. To ignite, hydrogen
must be combined with an additional oxidising agent,
such as air or pure oxygen, in a specific concentration
and with an ignition source (a spark).

It is nearly sixty years ago now, since I worked as an Instrument Engineer, in ICI’s Castner-Kellner works at Runcorn, where hydrogen, chlorine and caustic soda were produced by the electrolysis of brine.

The plant was an unhealthy one, as it used a lot of mercury and my main task, was to design instruments to detect mercury in air and operators’ urine.

The Wikipedia entry for the Castner-Kellner process is a fascinating read and explains why it is being replaced by much better modern mercury-free processes.

I asked Google AI, if the Castner-Kellner process is still used and received this reply.

No, the Castner-Kellner process, a type of mercury cell for producing chlorine and caustic soda, is now largely obsolete due to occupational health and mercury pollution concerns, though a few plants may still operate globally. Modern chlor-alkali processes primarily use safer diaphragm cell and membrane cell technologies to produce chlorine and other chemicals from brine electrolysis.

I suspect that countries, where life is cheap, still use this process, which is very dangerous to those that work on the plant.

INEOS now own ICI in Cheshire and they still produce a large proportion of the hydrogen, chlorine and caustic soda, that the UK needs, but in a much safer way.

The question has to be asked about how hydrogen will be delivered to the Ferrybridge site.

Consider.

  • SSE are developing a large hydrogen store at Aldbrough.
  • Centrica are developing a large hydrogen store at Brough.
  • Both of these stores could be connected to the German AquaVentus system, as the Germans are short of hydrogen storage.
  • There is an East Coast Hydrogen Delivery Plan, which could probably have an extension pipeline to the Ferrybridge site.
  • The East Coast Hydrogen Delivery Plan, talks of a hydrogen capacity of 4.4 GW.

I don’t feel, that this is the sort of project, that will be delivered until the mid-2030s, at the earliest.

There is also one other important development, that will require hydrogen at Ferrybridge.

I asked Google AI, if there will be hydrogen-powered coaches by 2030 and received this reply.

Yes, there will be hydrogen-powered coaches and buses by 2030, particularly in the UK and EU, with government strategies and funding promoting their deployment, especially for routes requiring high range and quick refueling where battery-electric models may be less suitable. For example, the EU’s CoacHyfied project is developing fuel cell coaches, and the UK government envisions hydrogen playing a role in its transport decarbonization by 2030, with potential to accelerate its zero-emission bus goals.

The nearest you can get to a hydrogen-powered coach in England, is to take an upmarket Wrightbus upmarket hydrogen-powered bus between Sutton station and Gatwick Airport.

That journey convinced me of the superiority in many ways of a hydrogen bus or coach over its diesel cousins.

I believe that this superiority will see large growth in hydrogen-powered long-distance coaches in the next few years.

But I also feel that some specialist transport, like horse transport, will go the hydrogen route.

As there are services at Ferrybridge, where two important motorways cross, I can envisage that the services will need to be able to refuel passing hydrogen buses, coaches trucks and other heavy vehicles, as well as the occasional car.

So would it be possible to supply hydrogen for the motorway services, by the same route as the power station?

I believe that the hydrogen could come from Saltend to the East of Hull, so I gave Google AI the phrase “Saltend zero-carbon hydrogen” and received this reply.

Saltend is home to several initiatives for producing and utilizing zero-carbon hydrogen, most notably the H2H Saltend project by Equinor, which aims to build the world’s largest hydrogen production plant with carbon capture capabilities by 2026 to supply industrial users at the Saltend Chemicals Park. Additionally, a new green hydrogen facility is planned for the park by Meld Energy with a target operation in early 2027, and a separate low-carbon hydrogen plant by ABP, HiiROC, and px Group is also being developed to meet local industrial demand. These projects collectively contribute to the broader Zero Carbon Humber initiative, which seeks to significantly reduce industrial emissions in the region.

Note.

  1. Saltend will certainly have enough zero-carbon hydrogen for everybody who wants it.
  2. Delivery dates in a couple of years are being talked about.
  3. Local industrial demand could be satisfield using specialised trucks, just as ICI used in the 1960s.
  4. As the Germans want to connect their AquaVentus system to Humberside, any excess hydrogen, could always be sold across the North Sea.
  5. OpenRailwayMap shows that Saltend is rail-connected.

But how do you get hydrogen between Saltend and Ferrybridge?

I am sure, that hydrogen could be delivered by truck from Saltend to Ferrybridge, but would the locals allow a stream of hydrogen trucks on the roads.

On the other hand, both Saltend and Ferrybridge are both rail-connected, so would it be possible to deliver the hydrogen by rail?

Google AI says this about railway wagons for hydrogen.

Railway wagons for hydrogen transport include liquid hydrogen tank cars (tankers) for transporting cryogenic liquid hydrogen and compressed gas tank cars for carrying hydrogen in its gaseous state or bound within carrier mediums like ammonia or methanol. Hydrogen fuel cell technology is also being developed for use on trains themselves, with a hydrogen fuel cell generator wagon providing power for main-line, non-electrified freight routes.

I believe that it will be possible to develop  trains of an appropriate length to shuttle hydrogen between where it is produced  and where it is used.

Such a specially-designed shuttle train would be ideal for moving hydrogen between Saltend and Ferrybridge.

  • Once at Ferrybridge, the train would be connected to the local hydrogen system feeding the power station, the motorway services and any local businesses that needed hydrogen.
  • The trains could be hydrogen fuel cell powered, so they could use any convenient route.
  • Like hydrogen powered buses, I suspect they could be mouse quiet.
  • The trains would be sized to perhaps deliver a day’s hydrogen at a time.
  • There could only be minor changes needed to the rail system.
  • If required, the trains could could deliver their cargo in the dead of night.

It could even be based on the contept of the TruckTrain, which I wrote about in The TruckTrain.

 

 

 

September 23, 2025 Posted by | Energy, Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Back To The Dark Ages In West Virginia?

This article on WBOY is entitled West Virginia Senators Aim To Revitalize Coal Industry.

These are the introductory paragraphs.

If you’re tired of rising utility bills, you are not alone. West Virginia senators say they share the same feelings and believe the answer is right under our feet.

Revitalizing West Virginia’s coal industry and bringing down utility costs for customers is the goal of two pieces of legislation originating in the Senate.

A resolution known as the Coal Renaissance Act aims to keep current coal operations running as well as open up new opportunities for the industry, expanding mining in West Virginia.

According to Senators in support of the act, the optimum capacity factor for coal plants to run at is 69%. Currently, industry leaders say that number is down to around 30% to 40%.

A new bill known as the Reliable and Affordable Electricity Act incentivizes utility companies to rely on West Virginia coal.

There is also going to be a Senate bill, that will abolish tax breaks for wind farms.

In the UK, it is my belief, that coal died with the Aberfan disaster in 1966, which is described in this first paragraph of the disaster’s Wikipedia entry.

The Aberfan disaster (Welsh: Trychineb Aberfan) was the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on 21 October 1966. The tip had been created on a mountain slope above the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, and overlaid a natural spring. Heavy rain led to a build-up of water within the tip which caused it to suddenly slide downhill as a slurry, killing 116 children and 28 adults as it engulfed Pantglas Junior School and a row of houses. The tip was the responsibility of the National Coal Board (NCB), and the subsequent inquiry placed the blame for the disaster on the organisation and nine named employees.

I do have memories of coal mining in my brain.

  • As a young child, I can remember being driven past the Kentish collieries and seeing the blackened landscape of the Garden of England.
  • Newspapers of the 1950s and 1960s published, their share of mining disasters.
  • In the 1980s, I drove through coal mining country in the United States and was appalled at all the fumes and smoke from the coal-fired power stations and the trucks delivering coal. Nothing as civilised as a merry-go-round train was used.
  • In 2015, I visited Katowice and wrote An Excursion In Katowice. The air was thick with coal smoke from the coal-fired power stations.

I also remember at the Jobs Fair, when I left Liverpool University in 1968, seeing the recruiter from the National Coal Board sitting there alone, as if he’d got the plague. Graduates had decided, that no way, were they going to work in the coal industry.

The West Virginia senators, should be certified, if they want to bring back coal.

March 15, 2025 Posted by | Environment, World | , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Brazilian President Enacts Offshore Wind Law, Vetoes Fossil Energy-Related Additions

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.

This is the sub-heading.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has signed into law the bill recently passed by the Brazilian Senate that establishes regulations on allocating and permitting offshore wind development areas. The Brazilian president has vetoed provisions related to fossil fuels in the final version of the legislation which were added while the bill was in the Chamber of Deputies.

It looks like President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has just struck himself off Trumkopf’s Christmas card list.

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January 13, 2025 Posted by | Energy | , , , , | Leave a comment

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