Equinor And Partners Consider 1 GW Offshore Wind Farm Off The Coast Of Western Norway
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Equinor.
This is the first paragraph.
Equinor and its partners Petoro, TotalEnergies, Shell and ConocoPhillips in the Troll and Oseberg fields, have initiated a study and are looking into possible options for building a floating offshore wind farm in the Troll area some 65 kilometres west of Bergen, Norway.
This second paragraph describes the production and use of the electricity.
With an installed capacity of about ~1 GW and an annual production of ~4.3 TWh, with a startup in 2027, Trollvind could provide much of the electricity needed to run the offshore fields Troll and Oseberg through an onshore connection point. The Bergen area already serves several of these installations with power – and needs more input to its electricity grid. The plan is that the partnership will buy as much energy as the wind farm can produce at a price that can make the project possible.
The press release includes a map of the wind farm, the oil and gas fields and Bergen.
This is not the first time, I’ve heard of plans to use wind-generated electricity to power offshore oil and gas fields.
It could be argued that if the gas is sold to the UK or Germany, then that country is responsible for the carbon emissions.
I doubt that Vlad the Mad’s bloodstained gas is produced using a carbon-free process.
Green Hydrogen Magnate Forrest Sanctioned By Russia After Calling Putin A ‘Murderer’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Recharge.
Andrew Forest’s reply or the part that can be printed included.
You’re not worth talking to unless you’ve been sanctioned
I think that to many experts, Forrest’s plans for green hydrogen are one of the biggest threats to Russia’s oil industry.
Monte To Purchase 100 FC Aircraft Drives From ZeroAvia
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on electrive.com.
This is the first paragraph.
ZeroAvia and Monte Aircraft Leasing will jointly market hydrogen-powered aircraft to regional operators. Under an agreement now signed between the companies, Monte will purchase up to 100 ZA600 hydrogen-electric powertrains from ZeroAvia to be installed on existing and new 5- to 20-seat aircraft.
Monte look to be an interesting company from their web site, which has this title.
Supporting The Transition Of The Regional Aviation Industry To Net Zero Carbon Emissions
The business model appears to be a well-proven and it is not that far removed from the one, colleagues and myself used to sell the project management system; Artemis.
In our case we took proven Hewlett-Packard computers and and other hardware, added our Artemis software and a custom-made desk and leased the systems to those who wanted to do project management, with as much support as our clients required. Customers just had to supply operators, printer paper and a thirteen amp socket.
Finance was obtained by various innovative methods, often through a bank manager, who was a bit of a rogue. But he was a rogue, who was on the side of the angels.
Later he became a firm friend of mine, before he sadly died within a few days of my wife.
Monte Aircraft Leasing’s model would appear to take a proven aircraft like a Cessna Caravan, Dornier 228 or Dash 8, replace the turboprop engines with a zero-carbon powerplant and then lease the aircraft. Often this will just be an additional lease to the existing operator.
The great advantage of this approach, is that the reengined aircraft does not need to be fully re-certified. It can fly under a Supplemental Type Certificate, which is described like this in Wikipedia.
A supplemental type certificate (STC) is a civil aviation authority-approved major modification or repair to an existing type certified aircraft, engine or propeller. As it adds to the existing type certificate, it is deemed “supplemental”. In the United States issuance of such certificates is under the purview of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Monte seem to have found a good way to make money from going net-zero.
2.7M Tonnes Of Co2 Could Be Saved Per Year If UK Domestic Flights Went Electric
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Simple Flying.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Analysing over 100 domestic routes within the UK, researchers have uncovered some significant Co2 reductions upon the inevitable switch to electric.
It is an excellent summary of the state and potential of electric airliners in the UK.
The article gives this example of the sort of carbon savings, that can be achieved.
One of the shortest domestic flights in the United Kingdom, a 38-minute hop between Belfast International and the Isle of Man, uses around 36kg of carbon dioxide per passenger. In 2019, the route served approximately 20,000 passengers – with a switch to electric aviation, 752 tonnes of carbon dioxide could be cut on the 76-mile flight.
The article says this about one of the more developed electric aircraft; the ES-19 from Heart Aerospace.
One manufacturer, in particular, is seeing a significant surge in interest; Swedish electric aircraft startup, Heart Aviation. Currently holding letters of interest from United Airlines and Finnair, Heart’s 19-seat ES-19 is set to be the first all-electric regional aircraft, boasting a 400km range with a full-charge time of just 40 minutes. The first flight is planned for 2024, with an anticipated 2026 start date.
Airports within a 400 km range from London would include.
- Anglesey
- Blackpool
- Exeter
- Guernsey
- Jersey
- Leeds/Bradford
- Liverpool
- Manchester
- Newquay
- Norwich
- Paris
- Schipol
Dublin, Isle of Man and Newcastle are just over 400 km.
Note.
I also suspect that Dublin, Edinburgh, Leeds and Liverpool would make excellent hubs for electric aircraft.
I used Free Map Tools to get the distances.
Clean Air Power Adds Hydrogen To Class 66 Fuel Mix
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the International Rail Journal.
This is the first two paragraphs.
Fuel injection technology developed by Clean Air Power that enables a class 66 locomotive to run on a combination of diesel, biogas and hydrogen has successfully completed nine months of trials with British freight operator Freightliner.
This is the first time that the injection technology has been tested by the rail freight sector and, according to Clean Air Power, paves the way for reducing the emissions of other class 66 locomotives.
Note.
- There are 450 Class 66 locomotives in service in the UK, with more in service in Europe.
- Freightliner was Clean Air Power’s main project partner.
- Nothing was disclosed about carbon savings.
- The trial was backed by £400,000 of Government money.
- The locomotive has completed a nine month trial.
This would appear to be a good professional start to decarbonisation of rail freight.
It’s also rather ironic, that this successful trial of a diesel-saving locomotive was announced on the day of Vlad the Mad’s big parade.
Royal Mail Rolling Back The Years To Put More Post On Trains
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Daily Telegraph.
This is the sub-title.
Post transported by train will treble under plan to ditch planes and lorries.
These are some points from the article.
- They are in discussion with Network Rail.
- Roughly 4pc to 5pc of Britain’s mail is transported on the railways.
- Keith Williams is executive Chairman of Royal Mail and also was the independent chair of the recent Government-supported Rail Review.
- One of the aims of the strategy is to rescue the share price.
- Royal Mail are building some fully-automated parcel-hubs, with the first two at Warrington and Northampton.
I have some further thoughts.
The Warrington Parcel Hub
This appears to be at the Omega Business Park on the closed RAF Burtonwood airfield.
This Google Map shows Warrington.
Note.
- The M62 running across the map in an East-West direction.
- The two junctions on the M62 are 8 and 9, with junction 8 to the West and junction 9 to the East.
- The Omega Business Park is on both sides of the M62 to the West of Junction 8.
- Royal Mail appear to have three sheds to the South of the motorway.
- Amazon, Asda, Hermes, The Hut Group and others have sheds in the Omega Business Park.
- The red arrow indicates the location of Royal Mail’s Warrington Rail Terminal, where mail services between London and Scotland call.
This second Google Map shows Royal Mail’s Warrington Rail Terminal in more detail.
Note.
- The West Coast Main Line runs North-South to the West of the terminal.
- It looks to be a cramped site.
- I doubt that Royal Mail would want to transfer parcels between the rail terminal and the parcel hub, because of the number of trucks involved and the carbon they will generate.
- They could use Hydrogen or battery trucks, but that would be a considerable expense.
Perhaps the best thing to do, would be to bore a tunnel.
- It’s about six kilometres.
- Electric shuttles would be zero-carbon.
- Everything could be highly-automated.
- No drivers would be needed.
It would probably cost less to run.
Royal Mail At Northampton
Where the Northampton Loop Line meets the West Coast Main Line between Rugby and Northampton, there is a massive logistics park, which is shown in this Google Map.
Note.
- There are at least three Royal Mail sites here.
- One at the top of the map is labelled Royal Mail NDC NEW SITE.
- One at the bottom of the map is labelled Royal Mail National Distribution Centre.
- There is a rail connection.
This must be a very large investment for Royal Mail.
Further Parcel Hubs
No further hubs are mentioned in the article. But I’m sure, that the systems at Warrington and Northampton could be replicated.
The East Coast, Great Western And Midland Main Lines
I suspect, when these lines are fully electrified, they could be brought into the system.
A Hub At Calais
Why not?
Conclusion
It looks a good plan and one that can be realised.
Siemens Mobility and Deutsche Bahn Present New Hydrogen Train
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Global Railway Review.
This is the sub-title.
Deutsche Bahn and Siemens Mobility have presented the newly developed Mireo Plus H and a newly designed mobile hydrogen storage trailer.
It seems that Deutsche Bahn and Siemens Mobility have put together a well-thought out plan to use hydrogen on a lot of unelectrified lines.
The Germans have given the project, the catchy name of H2goesRail.
How does that translate into German?
A Massive Task For Ukraine?
After the Russians are thrown out of Ukraine, it will be a massive task to rebuild Ukraine.
But one of Ukraine’s traditional industries can also be used to transform the world.
The Transformation Of Energy Production To Floating Offshore Wind
I believe that over the next few years, we will see an enormous transformation of zero-carbon energy to floating offshore wind.
- The floating offshore wind industry is planning to use the next-generation of larger wind turbines of up to 20 MW.
- These turbines are too large and intrusive to install onshore.
- Floating wind turbines generally have a higher capacity factor of over 50 %, than onshore turbines.
- Each wind turbine will be mounted on a substantial semi-submersible float, which is built out of large-diameter steel tubes
- The wind turbines are of the same design, as those installed onshore.
- There are several designs for the floats and they are usually based on designs that have worked in the oil and gas industry.
The world will need millions of floating turbines and an equivalent number of floats to fully decarbonise.
Could The Ukrainians Build The Floats?
Consider.
- The Russians have destroyed Mariupol, whilst the Ukrainians have defended the city in the steelworks.
- Mariupol used to have a large shipbuilding industry.
- Ukraine is in the world’s top ten of iron ore producers.
- There is a lot of scrap steel available in the Ukraine, that the Russians have left behind.
- The Ukrainians probably have a lot of workers, who have the skills to build the floats.
I’m sure something could be arranged for the benefit of everybody.
Will Twiggy Save The World?
This article on the Sydney Morning Herald is entitled ‘No One’s Married To Coal’: How Forrest Is Taking On The World To Save The Climate.
The article is the story of Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest’s Damascene conversion to hydrogen.
These three paragraphs sums up Andrew Forrest‘s vision and ambitions.
Forrest’s companies, including its mining arm, Fortescue, and its green energy arm, Fortescue Future Industries, would be net zero by 2030. This would necessitate inventing and then developing hydrogen-powered trucks, trains and ships. This way the mining operation would avoid burning up to a billion litres in diesel a year.
The project would include the construction of vast solar and wind power stations in the Pilbara that would create green hydrogen to first fuel the trains, trucks and ships of the iron ore empire and then for export to a clean-energy starved world. The electrolysers needed to make the hydrogen for the early phases of the plan would be built by a vast new factory in Queensland, that itself would double the global supply of the machines.
Hydrogen would soon become the world’s largest shipborne trade. The Fortescue revolution would occur at a blistering pace set by the demands of addressing global warming, and it would be done for profit, to remove the excuses of governments and businesses that objected to ambitious climate action.
Note.
- How many other companies are intending to be net-zero by 2030?
- Certainly not many Chinese, German or Russian companies.
- And how many companies have planned to achieve net-zero at a profit?
If Forrest achieves his ambitions, the world will be a much better place.
The Anonymous Widower 