Sepp Blatter Eviscerates Gianni Infantino Over Trump, Ronaldo And Saudi Arabia
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Daily Telegraph.
This is the first paragraph.
Sepp Blatter can no longer bring himself to say Gianni Infantino’s name. Instead, the Swiss administrator – who ran Fifa from 1998 to 2015 until he left amid an enormous corruption scandal – refers to Infantino only as “my successor” and “the leader” as he takes his adversary to task ahead of Friday’s World Cup draw.
The article is worth a full read and the video is worth watching.
I’m Watching The World Cup Draw With A Sick Bucket
Here’s the bucket, which is an ideal accompaniment to when Trump appears on television.
Note.
- I have seen a number of American presidents and Trump isn’t even worth rating.
- As Putin and Mohammed bin Salman’s friend and apologist he certainly doesn’t deserve any form of Peace Prize.
- And who was the strumpet in the lizard costume?
- I thought Robbie Williams had more sense than to provide entertainment.
- Who’s this black guy in a red hat?
- Rio Ferdinand seems to be doing a good job.
But then everybody has a realistic price.
I actually suspect, I won’t watch much of the World Cup, as I can find better things too do. I certainly won’t watch any matches, where Trump is present.
A Thought On Trump v The BBC
Nearly twenty years ago, I shared a train journey between Cambridge and London, with a delightful black lady, who was probably in her seventies. It turned out she was a New York State Supreme Court Judge, who was doing a bit of week-end sight-seeing, whilst at a legal conference at Cambridge University.
One of the big regrets in my life, is that I didn’t exchange cards with this wonderful lady, as it would be so revealing to ask her opinion of Trump v. The BBC.
But, I also feel it is too late, as my research indicates, that she might be now giving judgments in a higher court.
But if that lady is typical of the quality of US Supreme Court justices, at both Federal and State level, then I am fairly sure, that anybody who appeals to their court will get a fair hearing according to the law.
Could that be a difficulty for someone with Trump’s personality?
Does Injecting Disinfectant Cure Covid?
I wrote this post to test one of Trump’s most famous pieces of advice.
I asked the question of Google AI and received this answer.
No, injecting disinfectant does not cure COVID-19 and is extremely dangerous, potentially lethal. The idea is a harmful myth that was widely debunked by medical and scientific experts during the pandemic.
The language is fairly clear too.
Venezuelan Democracy Activist María Corina Machado Wins Nobel Peace Prize
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub heading.
Machado congratulated by exiled opposition candidate
These are three introductory paragraphs, that add more details.
Edmundo González, who replaced Machado in running for leadership and was then sent into exile, congratulates his ally.
Machado threw her weight behind him during the lead up to last year’s elections.
In a post on X, González writes that the prize is “well-deserved recognition for the long struggle of a woman and of an entire people for our freedom and democracy”.
Reading the rest of the BBC article, she seems a very brave lady, who is summed up by this last paragraph.
She has been continuing to campaign from hiding and has refused to leave the country even though the Maduro government has repeatedly threatened her with arrest.
Let’s help the Nobel Peace Prize galvanises the world to back her against the corrupt dictator; Maduro.
The project management software, that I wrote; Artemis, was big in Venezuela because of the oil industry and I was told some amazing corruption stories about the country.
Ørsted Raises EUR 7.98 Billion In Oversubscribed Rights Issue
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Ørsted has completed its rights issue, raising DKK 59.56 billion (approximately EUR 7.98 billion) with a subscription rate of approximately 99.3 per cent, the company said on 6 October.
These two introductory paragraphs add more details.
Existing shareholders were offered new shares at DKK 66.60 (EUR 8.92) each. The demand for shares not taken up via the rights issue was “extraordinarily high,” according to the developer’s announcement of the Rights Issue results, and allocations were capped per application, meaning no subscriptions were required under the underwriting bank syndicate.
As reported in August, the company appointed a syndicate of BNP PARIBAS, Danske Bank A/S and J.P. Morgan SE as Joint Global Coordinators, next to Morgan Stanley & Co International, to jointly underwrite the rights issue for the approximately 49.9 per cent that would not be subscribed to by Ørsted’s majority shareholder, the Danish state (50.1 per cent).
I dread to think what spiteful punishment that Trumpkopf will inflict on Ørsted.
But the oversubscribed Rights Issue may be good news for the UK.
Ørsted has only one major project under development or construction in the UK.
But it is the large Hornsea Three wind farm, which has this opening paragraph on its web site.
Hornsea 3 Offshore Wind Farm will deliver enough green energy to power more than 3 million UK homes. An £8.5 billion infrastructure project, Hornsea 3 will make a significant contribution toward UK energy security, as well as the local and national economy.
Note.
- Ørsted are raising £7.98 billion and spending £8.5 billion, which must do something for the UK’s economy.
- Hornsea 3 will have a generating capacity of 2.9 GW.
- Ørsted are now delivering the world’s single largest offshore wind farm.
- Hornsea 3 will connect to the National Grid at Swardestone in Norfolk.
In Grid Powers Up With One Of Europe’s Biggest Battery Storage Sites, I describe how the 300 MW/600 MWh Swardestone BESS will be built, where Hornsea 3 connects to the grid.
As Swardestone will have 2.9 GW from Hornsea 3 and a powerful battery, I would expect someone will be looking to site a data centre or something with a need for a lot of stable electricity at or near Swardestone.
In Opportunity For Communities To Have Their Say On National Grid Proposals For Norwich To Tilbury Project, I talk about a line of pylons between Swardestone and Tilbury and show this map of the route.
This page on the National Grid web site has an interactive version of this map.
Note.
- The mauve line indicates the route of the Norwich to Tilbury project.
- Swardestone is at the Northern end of the project a few miles South of Norwich.
- Tilbury is at the Southern end of the project on the Thames estuary.
- The project connects Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester and Chelmsford to Hornsea 3 at Swardestone.
- I suspect the project will connect to Ipswich at the Bramford substation.
- The Sizewell nuclear site is to the North-East of Woodbridge and connects to the grid at the Bramford substation.
I know East Anglia well and I would suspect that Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea could support one or more data centres.
Conclusion
I asked Google AI, who owns Hornsea 1 and received this reply.
Hornsea 1 is owned by a partnership including Ørsted, Equitix, TRIG, GLIL, Octopus, and Brookfield, with Ørsted also providing the operational management. A 2018 agreement between Ørsted and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) originally established the 50/50 joint venture for the project.
I then asked Google AI, who owns Hornsea 2 and received this reply.
The ownership of the Hornsea 2 wind farm is shared between several entities, including a 37.55% stake held by Ørsted, a 25% stake each by AXA IM Alts and Crédit Agricole Assurances, and a 12.45% stake held by Brookfield. The wind farm is located offshore in the UK’s North Sea, approximately 89 km off the Yorkshire coast.
In November 2019, I also wrote World’s Largest Wind Farm Attracts Huge Backing From Insurance Giant.
It does seem to me that Ørsted are past masters of developing a wind farm, then selling it on and using that money to develop the next wind farm.
The Rights Issue just makes that process easier.
Official Quits After Dispute Over Trump’s Eisenhower Sword Gift To King Charles
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
The director of the Dwight D Eisenhower Presidential Library has stepped down after a dispute with the Trump administration over gifting a sword in its collection to King Charles, according to the BBC’s US partner, CBS News.
These three paragraphs add more detail to the story.
Todd Arrington, the head of the library in Kansas, resigned on Monday after declining to remove an original sword from the library’s collection to give to the King during President Donald Trump’s visit to the United Kingdom last month, CBS reported, citing anonymous sources.
Charles was instead gifted a replica during Trump’s UK visit, Buckingham Palace said at the time.
In an interview with CBS News, Arrington said he was told to “Resign – or be fired”.
Trump had better watch himself, as the United States has armies of lawyers and I’m sure that the unfortunate Mr. Arrington will have some legal offers, he will find great advantage in accepting.
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.
Ørsted In Talks To Sell Half Of Huge UK Wind Farm To Apollo
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
The US investment giant is eyeing a 50 per cent stake in the Danish energy company’s £8.5 billion Hornsea 3 project off the Yorkshire coast
These are the first three paragraphs, which add more detail.
An American investment giant is negotiating a deal to buy half of what will be the world’s largest off-shore wind farm off the coast of Yorkshire from the troubled Danish energy company Ørsted.
New York-based Apollo, which oversees assets of about $840 billion, is in talks with Ørsted about acquiring a 50 per cent stake in Hornsea 3, an £8.5 billion project that started construction in 2023 and will be capable of powering more than three million UK homes.
A transaction would be a boost for Orsted, which has come under pressure in recent months from rising costs and a backlash against renewables in the United States by President Trump. Orsted started the process of selling a stake in Hornsea 3 in 2024 and said last month that it had an unnamed preferred bidder for the asset, which the Financial Times first reported was Apollo.
I have written several times about Ørstedregularly building a large wind farm and then selling it, so they must be doing something right.
In World’s Largest Wind Farm Attracts Huge Backing From Insurance Giant, I wrote about how Aviva bought Hornsea 1 from Ørsted.
One of the guys at Aviva explained that these sort of investments gave the right sort of cash flow to fund insurance risks and pensions.
Now that Trump has attempted to give his kiss of death to wind power in the United States, will US funds be looking for quality investments like Hornsea 3 in the UK and other large wind farms in France, Germany, Norway, Japan and Korea?
Already, Blackrock are investing billions to build a massive data centre at Blyth, where there are Gigawatts of offshore wind power and an interconnector to Norway, so that UK and Norwegian wind can be backed up by UK nuclear and Norwegian hydropower.
Highview Power And Ørsted
I wrote Highview Power, Ørsted Find Value In Integrating Offshore Wind With Liquid Air Energy Storage in November 2023.
I would have thought, that by now a battery would have been announced in one of Ørsted’s many projects.
I asked Google AI if Highview Power and Ørsted were still talking about liquid air energy storage and received this reply.
Yes, Highview Power and Ørsted are still actively involved in Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES), having completed a joint study in late 2023 on combining LAES with offshore wind to benefit the UK grid, and the findings were presented to the government for its long-duration energy storage (LDES) consultation. They believe LAES can reduce wind curtailment, increase energy productivity, and support grid resilience, with potential projects aligned with offshore wind farm timelines.
Perhap’s Ørsted are getting their finances aorted first?
Conclusion
The Times They Are A-Changing!
Offshore Construction Work Resumes On Revolution Wind After US Judge’s Ruling
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
A US judge in Washington has cleared the way for work to resume on the 704 MW Revolution Wind offshore wind farm after granting a temporary injunction that lifted the federal stop-work order imposed in August.
These two paragraphs add details to the post.
On 22 August, the US Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a stop-work order halting all offshore construction activities on the 704 MW project, which is already 80 per cent completed, according to its developers, Ørsted and Skyborn Renewables.
A few days later, the joint venture challenged the stop-work order in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, while Connecticut and Rhode Island filed their own lawsuits against the decision on the same day.
I’ve written about this project before in ‘This Has Nothing To Do With National Security’ | Revolution Wind Halt Leaves Connecticut Leaders Demanding Answers
The Anonymous Widower 