Government Approval For Large Solar Farm
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
A large solar farm in East Yorkshire has been given the go ahead by the government.
These two introductory paragraphs add more detail.
The 3,155 acre (1,277 hectares) site will be built on land around Gribthorpe, Spaldington and Wressle and Howden.
Its developers said it would produce 400 megawatts of electricity – enough to power 100,000 homes.
Note.
- This solar farm is five square miles or a 2.2 mile square.
- Due to the size of the scheme the planning application was handled by the Planning Inspectorate as it was classed as national infrastructure.
- Ed Miliband may have been involved in the final decision.
- The solar farm would connect to the National Grid at the Drax substation in North Yorkshire.
But the solar farm is not without opposition, as these last three paragraphs indicate.
George McManus, spokesman for East Riding Against Solar Expansion (ERASE), said the approval “brings us a step closer to enormous swathes of agricultural land being blanketed in a million, Chinese manufactured, solar panels.”
He added: “Other projects in the pipeline will see another 20,000 acres disappear under glass.
“The East Riding is being industrialised and people need to wake up to that.”
Nothing is said about where Reform UK’s Mayor for Hull and East Yorkshire sits.
Does Innovation Get Mr. Ed Miliband Better Prices To Doncaster?
The East Coast Main Line has ticketing unlike any other in the UK.
Turn up at any LNER station to go to any station that is served by trains from that station and you will be given a choice of the best prices at the ticket machines or at the booking office.
Effectively, you are sold your choice of the cheapest Advance tickets for your journey, at the time of booking.
In the last few months, I have taken three trips from London to Doncaster. All were priced between £20 and £25, with one trip on each of Grand Central, Hull Trains and LNER.
Some might argue it is because of the three Open Access operators on the route, that good value is available. But I would argue that it is down to the fact that because of the Open Access operators there is more seats on the route.
This ticketing model should be adopted on the West Coast Main Line and the Midland Main Line.
The ticketing has certainly modified my behaviour.
If I want to go to Sheffield, I go to Doncaster, as it’s a lot cheaper, then get a local train between Doncaster and Sheffield.
Ed Miliband Is A Doncaster MP
When he is going between his Doncaster North constituency and London, does he use last minute ticketing?
Eastern Green Link 2 Moves Up A Gear Using Low Carbon Fuel For Material Handling Trucks
The title of this post is the same, as that of this press release from National Grid.
These three bullet points act as sub-headings.
- Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2), a high voltage direct current (HVDC) 436km subsea transmission cable connecting Scotland and England, is being delivered as a joint venture by National Grid Electricity Transmission and SSEN Transmission.
- Project sustainability efforts are accelerating by adopting Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuelled trucks to move materials in Yorkshire.
- The introduction of HVO fuel will deliver up to 90% reduction in direct CO2 emissions.
The use of HVO fuel is good and the carbon dioxide emission savings are to be welcomed, but there is only so much of this HVO fuel available.
If hydrogen-fueled trucks were available, then this would deliver up to 100% reduction in direct CO2 emissions.
This paragraph from the press release talks about where the HVO fuel will be used.
HVO, a low-carbon biofuel made from waste vegetable oils, will be used at the Wren Hall converter station site in North Yorkshire, where 20-tonne construction trucks will transport approximately 370,000 tonnes of quarry stone from a quarry 27 miles away. This switch from conventional diesel to HVO is expected to deliver up to a 90% reduction in direct CO2 emissions and an 80% reduction in other harmful emissions such as particulate matter.
This Google Map shows the location of Wren Hall with respect to Drax power station.
Note.
- The six large cooling towers of the Drax power station are in the North-West corner of the map.
- Google Maps indicate, where they think Wren Hall is, with a red arrow.The lane running North-South to the West of the red arrow is called Wren Hall Lane.
- There is a legend saying BAM Nuttall Ltd Eastern Green Link 2 on the opposite side of the square of lanes to the red arrow.
Click the map to show it to a larger scale.
It looks to me, that if hydrogen could be provided on the Drax site, then the 370,000 tonnes of quarry stone from a quarry 27 miles away could be brought to the site by hydrogen-powered 20-tonne construction trucks.
So how could hydrogen be provided on the Drax site?
- Drax is a 2.6 GW biomass power station, so I’m sure that some electricity could be used to generate hydrogen.
- Drax is a rail-connected site, so hydrogen could be brought in by rail.
- Depending on the amount of hydrogen needed, hydrogen could surely be brought in by road.
I feel that if hydrogen-powered 20-tonne construction trucks were available, this transfer of quarry stone could be performed carbon-free.
Conclusion
This project illustrates a problem with large infrastructure projects all over the UK.
Moving the large amounts of stone, concrete, sand and rubble into and out of construction sites generates a lot of carbon dioxide and pollution from the 20-tonne trucks employed.
If I were to be given Ed Miliband’s job of Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, one of my first actions, would be to say that all new 20 tonne construction and cement trucks would have to be zero carbon.
I suspect, that zero-carbon with trucks this size, will mean hydrogen, as the weight of the battery would destroy the mathematics of the truck.
This would obviously reduce carbon emissions, but more importantly, what would it do for the health of those working on large construction sites?
In MAN Expands Its Zero-Emission Portfolio, I show MAN’s heavy hydrogen trucks.
This is an articulated heavy hydrogen truck.
I’m sure that MAN could build a hydrogen-powered 20-tonne construction truck.
In Cummins Agrees To Integrate Its Hydrogen ICE Technology Into Terex® Advance Trucks, I talk about the solution to the cement truck problem.
This is a side view of the top-of-the-range monster.
Note.
- Front is to the right.
- I suspect the driver doesn’t have to get out of the cab to discharge the concrete.
- The engine is at the rear with vertical exhausts.
- All axles are driven.
You’d certainly notice one of these if they were to be used in the City of London.
And this is the baby of the range.
Three axles is normal for the UK. so I wonder if this machine will ever make it across the pond.
This last paragraph in the original article describes the X15H hydrogen internal combustion engine.
The X15H was showcased at the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in May (2023), along with its hydrogen ICE-powered concept truck. The X15H features a 700-bar pressure 80kg capacity hydrogen storage system and a range of more than 500 miles, with up to 500 horsepower.
Could one of these trucks really deliver ready-mix concrete from London to Manchester and return?
The trucks would appear to be available, so let’s get a few over and try them out.
Incidentally, if someone had told me ten years ago, there would be rear-wheel drive trucks like Volkswagen Beetles, I’d have said they were wrong in no uncertain terms.
The Wren Hall substation would appear to be an ideal trial project for hydrogen-powered construction trucks and cement trucks.
German Far-Right Vows To Tear Down Wind Turbines
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on oilprice.com.
These two paragraphs add detail to the story.
Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has vowed to dismantle wind parks and wind turbines should it win power in the upcoming presidential elections in February, aligning itself with similar sentiments by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. AfD asserts in its election platform that it “rejects the further expansion of wind energy” and has called for cuts to renewable subsidies.
German offshore-wind group BWO has hit back at AfD’s anti-wind policy, saying Putin would be the biggest beneficiary of such a move. AfD chairwoman Alice Weidel has also tried to walk back that position, saying her earlier anti-wind comments referred to a local matter in the state of Hesse.
This could be good for the UK.
This is the first two paragraphs of the Wikipedia entry for Wind Power in Germany.
Wind power in Germany is a growing industry. The installed capacity was 55.6 gigawatts (GW) at the end of 2017, with 5.2 GW from offshore installations. In 2020, 23.3% of the country’s total electricity was generated through wind power, up from 6.2% in 2010 and 1.6% in 2000.
More than 26,772 wind turbines were located in the German federal area by year end 2015, and the country has plans for further expansion. As of the end of 2015, Germany was the third largest producer of wind power in the world by installations, behind China and the United States. Germany also has a number of turbine manufacturers, like Enercon, Nordex and Senvion.
By the end of June 2022, Germany had a total of 30,000 installed wind turbines, with a capacity in excess of over 64 GW.
Large numbers of second-hand wind turbines to plant all over Starmer, Reeves and Miliband’s vision of the UK would go down just fine in the cash-strapped Treasury, but would the British public like them?
So as Starmer and Reeves will talk to anybody to save their skins, are they talking to the AfD?
DCO Decision On 480MW West Burton Solar NSIP Delayed Until 2025
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Solar Power Portal.
The article talks about Island Green Power and their plans to develop three large solar farms in Eastern England.
They appear to be a UK-registered company with international connections.
These are the three projects.
The West Burton Project
This is the introductory paragraph for the West Burton Project.
Solar PV developer Island Green Power has seen a development consent order (DCO) decision delayed by the UK government for its 480MW West Burton project located across Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.
Note.
- The West Burton Project has a web site.
- It will have a capacity of 480 MW.
- The solar farm will use the grid connection of the former coal-powered West Burton power station.
- The project will cover 788 hectares.
The site is a few miles South-West of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire.
The East Pye Solar Project
These are the two introductory paragraphs for the East Pye Solar Project.
This setback comes days after Island Green Power opened a public consultation on early-stage plans for a 500MW solar PV power plant co-located with a battery energy storage system (BESS) that could have up to 500MW output.
The East Pye Solar project will be situated on 1,100 hectares of land south of Norwich and north of Harleston. Solar PV modules would be installed at two points within this area, approximately 6.5km apart.
Note.
- The East Pye Solar Project has a web site.
- It will have a capacity of 500 MW, with a battery with a 500 MW output. The battery capacity is not stated.
- The project will cover 1100 hectares.
- This article on the BBC is entitled New Proposed Solar Farm Could Power 115,000 Homes, gives more details.
- It appears that the solar farm will have a new grid connection to the grid connection between Norwich and Bramford to the West of Ipswich.
- There is also a web site, which is entitled Block The Development of East Pye Solar Farm.
The site is a few miles East of Long Stratton in South Norfolk.
The Cottam Solar Project
These are the two introductory paragraphs for the Cottam Solar Project.
The non-statutory consultation comes after Island Green revealed plans for the development early in September, just one week after energy secretary Ed Miliband granted the developer a DCO for the 600MW Cottam Solar Project.
The 600MW development will comprise four ground-mounted solar PV generating stations in West Lindsay, Lincolnshire, four on-site substations and a BESS across four separate sites, totalling an area of 1,270 hectares.
Note.
- The Cottam Solar Project has a web site.
- It will have a capacity of 600 MW, with a battery, with a battery with a 600 MW output and a 600 MWh capacity.
- The solar farm will use the grid connection of the former coal-powered Cottam power station.
- The project will cover 1270 hectares.
The site is a few miles East of Retford in Lincolnshire.
Island Green
It does appear that Island Green like large solar farms.
- West Burton – 480 MW – 788 hectares
- East Pye – 500 MW, – 500 MW battery- 1100 hectares
- Cottam – 600 MW, 600 MW/600 MWh battery – 1270 hectares
Whether some of their neighbours will is another matter.
But at least two of them have batteries.
What we will be forced to accept from this unscientifically-green Government, I dread to think.
The Electorate Has Changed
Rod Liddle, in a piece in The Sunday Times yesterday started like this.
The British public are not stupid, then. Everybody else, however, is. The politicians, pundits, commentators, psephoologists, me.
He then gives a series of tales of those who got it wrong.
But I think, on the whole the public have thought that the coalition had done a good job in sorting out the mess. So many people, who I would have thought sensible, said to me that they’d wanted a box on the ballot paper for the coalition. Simplistic maybe, but it shows the inherent conservatism (small c) of much of the British public.
The electorate has changed with each generation since mine, being more likely to get a good education and/or go to University. And at University they learn more than their subject. So we’ve probably got the most politically-educated population ever! They also understand about business and economics.
It is also likely that perhaps ninety percent of people in this country, has a close relative, who is well-educated.
Over the last couple of decades, there has been a massive expansion of the self-employed and ideas, and especially ideas disruptive of large monolithic business have proliferated. How many of the children of the so-called working class, are using their brains to earn money, even if as yet it’s not enough?
But many of this educated generation are ambitious and aspire to be rich.
Much of the offerings from politicians didn’t really stand up, but persuasive arguments from nationalists and little-Englanders appealed to some.
But many people looked at the candidates on offer and then voted with their brains rather than their breeding.
I wonder how many life-long Labour supporters, looked at Miliband’s London-centric left-leaning offering, decided it wasn’t for them and voted for someone else.
MacMillan, Wilson, Thatcher and Blair won elections because they gave the people hope that they would have a better life and might even end up well-off by their own efforts.
Miliband’s message to the aspirational for example, was that if you make a fortune by inventing a better mouse-trap, we’ll tax you to the hilt and steal your pension. Well, not quite like that, but he didn’t promise anything worth working hard for.
And to cast everything in stone, was the sort of thing that we might have done at University in the 1960s, to have a laugh in Rag Week.
No wonder Labour lost!
The Heaviest Suicide Note In History
When I first saw the EdStone, I thought Miliband had not only fallen off his trolley, but crashed it in a big way and given himself a serious brain injury.
I have just found this article in the Daily Mail, which has the headline of Do you know where Ed’s stone is? Mail offers reward to person who can tell us where Miliband has hidden ‘heaviest suicide note in history’
Ed Miliband doesn’t have enough common sense to run a whelk stall!
At least the electorate, who on average have a lot more intelligence that Miliband, have consigned him and his leadership of the Labour Party to the dustbin of history.
He may have left the Labour Party in such a state, that no sane and sensible person will ever want to lead it voluntarily.
Does Milband Want To Alienate Voters?
Ed Miliband today launched the Labour party’s manifesto in Manchester.
Knowing Liverpool as I do, I can imagine some of the chat in the pubs in that city. And probably in other cities like Birmingham, Leeds and Newcastle. And certainly, London!
Certainly, this Londoner feels it was not a good idea to launch in Manchester and perhaps the only worse place would be Scotland.
I think that the only policy you’d launch in Manchester would be one that is specific to the area. Surely, that way if you launched specific policies all over the country, you’d get the most good coverage.
Two ‘eads Are Better Than One!
This is an old phrase, but it certainly doesn’t apply to the two Eds trying to think up Labour Party tax policies.
In this article on the BBC, about the taxing of ‘non-doms’, this is said.
Ed Miliband said the non-dom rules were “indefensible” and axing them would raise “hundreds of millions” in tax.
But shadow chancellor Ed Balls was forced to deny contradicting himself after saying in January that scrapping the rule “would cost Britain money”.
How many people will now take everything they say with an awfully large pinch of salt?
I think it illustrates the first law of politics, which is don’t go into it, if you can’t remember everything you’ve done and said, since you first drew breath.
Why Would A Well-Off Person Vote For This Labour Party?
I am 67, single and reasonably comfortably off, but with the exception of my house, pension pot and funds in Zopa, I have no substantial taxable assets. Quite frankly, purchases like expensive cars and art, a second house in the country, buy-to-let investments and vanity purchases like football clubs, just don’t interest me.
My house is probably just below any proposed Mansion Tax limit, but for how long, given the rate of the rise in property values in this area?
Over the years, I’ve acquired a few friends, who are now as financially secure as I am, for the rest of their lives.
What puzzles me, are some of these friends have been serious supporters of the Labour Party in the past. I wonder how many of them, are now less sure in their support, as every day, Miliband and Balls bring in more and more bash-the-rich policies?
The latest policy of abolishing the ‘non-dom’ status as reported on the BBC, may not worry me, but I suspect some of the people I know will be livid. I can think of someone, who is a Project Management professional, who works all the time outside of the UK, which probably gives them an interesting tax problem and being ‘non-dom’ may come into their affairs.
In fact, there are so many high-paid jobs of this type, which because of the Internet and air travel can be done from any reasonable base, so how many of these people would leave if a Labour government took power? In the past C and myself, thought about leaving, if the General Elections of the 1980s and early 1990s had gone the wrong way.
So what is going to be the next crazy bash-the-rich policy floated by this impractical Labour Party?
On the other hand there will be Newtonian reactions.
I think this lurch to the left, will hurt the Labour Party severely in the pocket, as so many of those who supported them in the past, won’t contribute this time.
They will become even more dependent on the Trade Unions for funds.
But I also feel, that anyone, who has a desire to be rich, will think twice about the way they are going to vote!
Luckily for me, what I consider my biggest asset, that has got me out of financial trouble several times in the past; my brain, is untaxable! Unless of course, a government brings in a higher rate of Income Tax for those with a University degree!
The Anonymous Widower 