Centrica Secures Investment Stake In Gasrec Helping Boost UK Bio-LNG Ambitions
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Centrica.
This is the sub-heading.
Centrica has secured a minority stake in Gasrec, the UK’s largest dual provider of bio-LNG (bio-Liquified Natural Gas) and bio-CNG (bio-Compressed Natural Gas) to the road transport sector,
These first two paragraphs give more details.
Gasrec says the investment will drive the next phase of its infrastructure ambitions, with plans to open a UK wide network of open-access refuelling stations supplying renewable bio-LNG for the decarbonisation of heavy goods vehicles.
Centrica is taking a 16% stake and becomes one of three major shareholders in Gasrec, alongside global integrated energy company bp and private family office 44 North.
I have some thoughts.
Does Running A Truck On bio-LNG or bio-CNG. Reduce Carbon Emissions?
This paragraph from the press release, gives the thoughts of Chris O’Shea, who is Group Chief Executive, Centrica.
Chris O’Shea, Group Chief Executive, Centrica plc, said: “Demand for bio-LNG for transport is growing fast as more HGV operators make the switch – drawn by a clean, ready-to-use fuel which slashes CO2 emissions by up to 85 per cent in comparison to diesel*. This investment in Gasrec enhances our collaboration with the leading company in the sector, and puts us in a strong position to energise a vital sector of the industry on its journey to net zero.”
As Centrica is a public company, with shareholders, who would take a dim view of Mr. O’Shea telling porkies, I suspect we can assume that the following is true.
Drawn by a clean, ready-to-use fuel which slashes CO2 emissions by up to 85 per cent in comparison to diesel.
The asterisk in the full quote, refers to this note.
Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, Innovate UK and Office for Low Emission Vehicles, Low Emission Freight & Logistics Trial (LEFT), Key Findings, November 2020. Using specific feedstocks CO2 reductions of 200% are achievable.
Centrica could be being conservative with their claims.
Decarbonising Buses, Locomotives And Trucks
Despite what Elon Musk, would have us believe, electric trucks will not dominate the future of freight transport.
An electric truck would be the vehicle equivalent of asking Usain Bolt to run a hundred metres with a large refrigerator on his back.
Trucks are going to need a fuel without a weight penalty and with a long range.
I asked Google for information about Cummins diesel, natural gas and hydrogen engines and received this AI Overview.
Cummins offers engines powered by diesel, natural gas, and hydrogen. While diesel engines are well-established, Cummins is also developing both natural gas and hydrogen engines, particularly focusing on hydrogen as a pathway to zero-carbon solutions for various applications. Cummins utilizes a fuel-agnostic platform, meaning a common base engine can be adapted for different fuel types, including diesel, natural gas, and hydrogen.
Recently, GB Railfreight purchased thirty Class 99 locomotives from Stadler.
- They can use electrification, where it exists.
- Where electrification doesn’t exist, they can use an onboard Cummins diesel engine, which is built in Darlington.
- In electric-mode, they have 6.2 MW of power, and are the most powerful locomotives ever to run on UK railways.
- In diesel-mode, they have 1.8 MW of power, which is more than enough to haul a large container train in and out of Felixstowe.
I had thought that at some future date, Cummins would convert these locomotives to electro-hydrogen.
But now that Gasrec is providing bio-LNG and bio-CNG, GB Railfreight, have the option of converting both hydrogen and biomethane.
Similar logic can be applied to Wrightbus’s Streetdeck Ultroliner, one version of which is fitted with a Cummins engine, that can be converted to electric, hydrogen or natural gas, which of course includes biomethane. This page on the Wrightbus web site describes the bus.
Wrightbus are also going back into coach manufacture, as I wrote about in Wrightbus Goes Back To The Future As It Relaunches The Contour Coach. As with the Streetdeck Ultroliner, Cummins seem to be providing one of the power units.
It seems to me, that the zero- and low-carbon revolution in transport will generate a need for the availability of biomethane, hydrogen and natural gas fuel for transport all over the country.
Gasrec with around twenty biomethane fuelling points around the country, seem well-placed to supply the biomethane in bio-LNG or bio-CNG form.
Could Gasrec Deliver Hydrogen?
Various bus companies in the UK, have had difficulty getting the fuel for their hydrogen buses.
I believe that delivering hydrogen would be very similar to delivering LNG and if Gasrec can deliver LNG successfully and safely, they probably have the technology to do the same for hydrogen.
Centrica Seem To Be Assembling An Interesting Consortium
These are some deals, that I have reported on this blog, that involve Centrica.
- Centrica, along with Hyundai, Kia, Siemens and others have backed Hull-based hydrogen start-up; HiiROC, who can produce affordable hydrogen from any hydrocarbon gas including natural gas, where it is needed.
- Centrica have invested in Sizewell C. Will they be using their share of the electricity to make affordable pink hydrogen using HiiROC?
- In Centrica And Ryze Agree To Develop Hydrogen Pathway, I talked about how Centrica and Ryse were aiming to bring hydrogen to the masses.
- In Recurrent Energy’s Middle Road Project Sold To Centrica, I talked about a Centrica investment in solar power.
- In Aberdeen’s Exceed Secures Centrica Rough Contract, I talked about how Centrica were redeveloping the Rough gas storage site for hydrogen.
- In Lhyfe And Centrica To Develop Offshore Renewable Green Hydrogen In The UK, I talked about developing offshore hydrogen.
- In Centrica Announces Hydrogen Ready Combined Heat And Power Partnership With 2G, the title says it all.
- In Centrica Signs UK Biomethane Agreement With Yorkshire Water And SGN Commercial Services, Centrica appear to be sourcing biomethane from Yorkshire Water.
- In Centrica Invests In Renewable Energy Storage Capabilities To Boost UK’s Energy Security And Accelerate Transition To Net Zero, I talk about Centrica, Goldman Sachs and others, investment in liquid-air energy storage company; Highview Power.
- In British Gas Owner Mulls Mini-Nuke Challenge To Rolls-Royce, I talk about rumours that Centrica might invest in SMRs.
Note.
- A lot of these deals are are about hydrogen production.
- Some of these deals are about biomethane production.
- None of these deals talk about getting hydrogen and biomethane to customers.
It appears to me, that Gasrec have a model that works to get hydrogen, methane and biomethane from production and storage to the end customers.
Developing A Rural Hydrogen Network
In Developing A Rural Hydrogen Network, I talked about supplying all those millions of off-gas grid properties with hydrogen for heating, agricultural and industrial purposes, in the countryside of the UK.
Gasrec have the technology to decarbonise the countryside.
Conclusion
Gasrec would appear to be a very useful partner for Centrica.
Global Offshore Wind Capacity Reaches 83 GW, 100 GW More To Be Awarded in 2025-2026, New Report Says
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
According to a new market report from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), there are now 83 GW of offshore wind capacity installed globally, with 48 GW more in the construction phase worldwide as of May this year.
The first paragraph is a quote from Rebecca Williams, Deputy CEO at GWEC.
Our report finds that there is now already 83 GW of offshore wind installed worldwide, keeping the lights on for 73 million households, and powering countries’ economic development. There is currently a further 48 GW of offshore wind [under] construction worldwide. With its unique position in the marine space, and ability to produce large amounts of reliable, homegrown power, nations around the world are pushing forward the technology to enhance their energy independence and autonomy
I doubt Ms. Williams will be on the Donald Trump’s Christmas card list.
The article is worth a full read, as it contains some interesting statistics.
This is the last paragraph of the article.
Global Wind Energy Council’s 2024 global offshore wind outlook for total additions in the 2025-2029 period was 156.72 GW, which has now been downgraded to 118.56 GW.
These are my estimates for the amount of offshore wind in the UK.
- Currently Installed – 16, 035 MW
- To Be Installed in 2025 – 1,235 MW
- To Be Installed in 2026 – 4,907 MW
- To Be Installed in 2027 – 5,750 MW
- To Be Installed in 2028 – 480 MW
- To Be Installed in 2029 – 1,363 MW
The UK should be installing 13,735 MW, which would.
- Lift total offshore wind capacity to 29.8 GW.
- This is an 86 % increase in capacity from July 2025.
- As I write this, we are using 29.3 GW.
- We would be adding 11.6 % of the global additions for 2025-2029, which isn’t bad for such a small country.
All this wind will need to be backed up, for when the wind doesn’t blow.
So I asked Google AI how much electricity storage we will have by 2029 and got this AI Overview.
In 2029, the UK is expected to have a significant amount of battery energy storage capacity, with estimates ranging from 27 to 29 GW, according to the House of Commons Library and Cornwall Insight. This capacity is crucial for supporting the UK’s transition to a clean energy system and ensuring a stable electricity supply.
Obviously, Google AI isn’t that intelligent, as it made the mistake made by many electricity storage companies of just giving the output of the battery, as it sounds better, rather than both the output and the storage capacity.
Consider.
- Most Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) can provide two hours of output.
- Highview Power’s big batteries are 200 MW/2.5 GWh, so will provide 12.5 hours of output.
If I assume that the average storage is just two hours, that means the available storage will be at least 54 GWh.
Given that we also had 16 GW of solar power in June 2024 and if this increases at a similar rate to offshore wind power, it will certainly be able to help fill the energy storage, I think we’ll have enough renewable energy to play a big part in the next election.
About The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC)
I asked Google AI for a summary about GWEC and got this AI Overview.
The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has its global headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal. Additionally, they have offices in Brussels, Belgium; Singapore; and London, UK.
GWEC’s presence is not limited to these locations, as they have a global network of experts working across different continents, according to the organization’s website. Their flagship report, the Global Wind Report, is launched annually in London. For example, the 2025 report launch took place in London.
Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t mention an office in the United States.
The report, which forms the basis of this post, can be downloaded from the GWEC web site.
Centrica And PTT Sign Heads Of Agreement For Long-Term LNG Supply
The title of this post, is the same as that as this press release from Centrica.
These two paragraphs add details to the deal.
Under the agreement, PTT will supply LNG to Centrica for a 10-year period across a range of destinations in Asia, with deliveries expected to begin in 2028.
This agreement marks a significant step forward in Centrica’s strategic efforts to grow its LNG portfolio. The agreement provides access to diverse markets in Asia, whilst deepening Centrica’s relationship with PTT, an important partner in Asia. For PTT, this deal represents its first, long-term, international LNG sale.
I wonder if this is a much wider deal than it first appears.
There are a lot of small nations in Asia and it looks as the press release talks about a range of destinations in Asia, that Centrica are setting themselves up as a major supplier of LNG to the smaller nations in Asia.
Centrica are also building up a portfolio of products, that they could offer to these small nations.
- LNG terminals from their own engineering resources.
- Domestic client management software.
- Hydrogen production from HiiROC, which they have backed.
- Carbon black for soil improvement from HiiROC.
- Liquid Air energy storage from Highview Power, which they have backed.
- Gas-fired power stations perhaps based on Rolls-Royce mtu diesel engines running on natural gas or hydrogen.
Countries could get these products and services from China, but at what price?
Could A Highview Power CRYOBattery Provide Backup Power For A Large Data Centre?
I asked Google AI how much power does a data centre need and got this answer.
The power requirements for an average data center vary greatly depending on its size and purpose, ranging from 1-5 MW for small facilities to 20-100 MW or more for large hyperscale centers. Small data centers, typically with 500-2,000 servers, might need 1-5 MW of power, while large or hyperscale data centers, housing tens of thousands of servers, can consume 20-100 MW or even more.
As Highview Power are currently building four 200 MW/2.5 GWh CRYOBatteries for the UK, I am fairly sure the answer is in the affirmative.
Earba 1.8GW Pumped Storage Hydro Project Secures Approval
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Solar Power Portal.
These three paragraphs introduce the article.
Gilkes Energy has been awarded planning consent for its Earba Pumped Storage Hydro (PSH) scheme.
The Earba PSH scheme is set to be the largest project of its kind in the UK, with an installed capacity of 1.8GW and a storage capacity of 40GWh, meaning that it can provide 22 hours of storage at full power. The planning application for the project was submitted to the Scottish government in early March 2024.
The project will be located at Loch Earba in the Scottish central Highlands. Gilkes Energy states that this location was chosen because the area has an ideal combination of geology and topography, which the firm states will make it one of the most economically viable PSH projects under development in the UK.
In Gilkes Reveals 900MW Scottish Pumped Storage Plan, I said that Loch Earba was a 900 MW/33 MWh PSH scheme, but now it appears a it is 1.8 GW/40 GWh scheme, which will probably put it in the largest twenty PSH schemes in the world.
It will be one of four PSH schemes under development in Scotland.
- Coire Glas – 1.3 GW/30 GWh
- Loch Earba – 1.8 GW/40 GWh
- Loch na Cathrach (formerly known as Red John) – 450 MW/2.8 GWh
- Loch Sloy – 160 MW/16 GWh
In addition.
- Cruachan is being extended to 1 GW/7 GWh.
- Highview Power are planning to build two 200 MW/2.5 GWh of their liquid air batteries in Scotland.
Everything totals up to 5.1 GW/100.8 GWh, which compares with a UK electricity production as I write this article of just under 29.5 GW.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see some high-energy industries moving to Scotland because of all this renewable and hopefully reliable power.
Chinese firm ‘Will Not Bid’ To Run Essex Nuclear Plant
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Sources no longer expect planning applications to be submitted by China General Nuclear Power Group for Bradwell B
These three paragraphs give brief details of the current situation.
Plans for China’s state-run nuclear company to develop and operate a proposed nuclear site in Essex will no longer go ahead, The Times can reveal amid renewed focus on Chinese involvement in Britain’s critical infrastructure.
Bradwell B, the proposed nuclear power station, was earmarked for investment by China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) in 2015. CGN is the majority investor in the proposed development alongside French energy company EDF.
But government and industry sources told The Times and Times Radio they no longer expected planning applications to be submitted by CGN for the site, and EDF will look to take back the lease from the Chinese firm at the earliest opportunity.
So what will happen to the Bradwell Site?
This Google Map shows the Blackwater Estuary to the North of Southend.
Note.
- The Blackwater Estuary is at the top of the map.
- Bradwell Marina and Bradwell-on-Sea can be seen on the map to the South of the Blackwater Estuary.
- Southminster has a rail connection, which was used to handle the nuclear fuel and now has a passenger service to Wickford on the Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street Line.
This second Google Map shows Bradwell-on-Sea and the North of the peninsular in greater detail.
Note.
- The remains of the three runways of the Second World War RAF Bradwell Bay can be picked out.
- The remains of Bradwell A nuclear power station are towards the coast to the North-West of the former runways.
- It is large site.
I wonder, if the site could be used for backup to all the offshore wind farms in the area.
This is a list of all the wind farms, that are planned in the sea to the North and East of the Bradwell site.
- The East Anglia Array is partly operational, but could grow to as much as 7.2 GW.
- Greater Gabbard is 504 MW
- Gunfleet Sands is 172 MW
- London Array is 630 MW
- North Falls is 504 MW
Note.
- That is a total of roughly 9 GW.
- There’s also plenty of space in the sea for more turbines.
All these wind turbines will need backup for when the wind goes on strike.
These are possibilities for backup.
Another Hinckley Point C Or Sizewell C
You can see why the government wants to build a big nuke on the Bradwell site.
The 3.26 GW of a power station, which would be the size of Hinckley Point C would provide more than adequate backup.
But the builders of these power stations haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory!
- Construction of Hinckley Point C started in the late 2010s and first power is expected in 2031.
- Hinckley Point C power station has all the stink of bad project management.
- The Nimbbies would also be out in force at Bradwell.
There are also all the financial problems and those with the Chinese, indicated in The Times article.
A Fleet Of Small Modular Reactors
Hinckley Point C will hopefully be a 3260 MW nuclear power station and Rolls-Royce are saying that their small modular reactors will have a capacity of 470 MW.
Simple mathematics indicate that seven Rolls-Royce SMRs could do the same job as Hinckley Point C.
The advantages of providing this capacity with a fleet of SMRs are as follows.
- Each reactor can be built separately.
- They don’t all have to be of the same type.
- The total 3260 MW capacity could also be built at a pace, that matched the need of the wind farms.
- Building could even start with one of each of the chosen two initial types, the Government has said it will order.
- I also believe that there could be advantages in the sharing of resources.
- The rail link to Southminster would enable the bringing in of the smaller components needed for SMRs by rail.
Hopefully, the power of a big nuke could be added to the grid in a shorter time.
A Number of Long Duration Energy Stores
Highview Power is building 4 x 200 MW/2.5 GWh liquid air batteries for Orsted in the UK ; 2 in Scotland and 2 in England. They are backed by the likes of Centrica, Goldman Sachs, Rio Tinto, the Lego family trust and others.
Each GWh of liquid air needs a tank about the largest size of those used to store LNG. I suspect like LNG tanks they could be partly underground to reduce the bulk.
A Hybrid System
Bradwell is a large site and could easily accommodate a pair of Highview Power batteries, two SMRs, and all the other electrical gubbins, which would total to around 1.5 GW/5 GWh. This should be sufficient backup, but there would be space to add more batteries or SMRs as needed.
Another Headache For Fossil Fuels: Liquid Air Energy Storage
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Clean Technica.
This article is an honest American look at Highview Power’s liquid air batteries and a must-read.
This is the first paragraph.
Whatever happened to liquid air energy storage? The UK startup Highview Power was going to bring its new liquid air system to the US back in 2019, providing the kind of scaled-up and long duration energy storage needed to support more wind and solar power on the grid. Highview switched gears and headed back home where the grass is greener. Our loss is the UK’s gain…
They first wrote about Highview Power in 2011, which shows how long some of these projects take to come to fruition.
The article also has this view on the state of offshore wind in the United States today.
Perhaps it’s just as well that Highview dropped its US plans when it did. Offshore wind stakeholders in the US were just beginning to find their footing along the Atlantic coast when President Trump took office on January 20 and promptly sent the offshore industry into a death spiral.
If I lived in the US today, I’d thinking about leaving given Trump’s barmy energy policies.
This paragraph from Highview Power’s web site, discloses their backers.
The £300 million funding round was led by the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) and the British multinational energy and services company Centrica, alongside a syndicate of investors including Rio Tinto, Goldman Sachs, KIRKBI and Mosaic Capital.
So at least some American companies believe in Highview Power. KIRKBI is the investment vehicle of the family, that invented Lego.
AI Forecast To Fuel Doubling In Data Centre Electricity Demand By 2030
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
International Energy Agency predicts that artificial intelligence could help reduce total greenhouse gas emissions
These are the first two paragraphs.
Data centres will use more than twice as much electricity by 2030 than they do today as artificial intelligence drives demand, the International Energy Agency predicts.
The agency forecast that all data centres globally will use about 945 terawatt-hours of electricity each year by 2030, roughly three times as much as the UK’s total annual demand of 317 terawatt-hours in 2023.
I am very much an optimist, that here in the UK, we will be able to satisfy demand for the generation and distribution of electricity.
- Our seas can accommodate enough wind turbines to provide the baseload of electricity we will need.
- Roofs and fields will be covered in solar panels.
- SSE seem to be getting their act together with pumped storage hydro in Scotland.
- I am confident, that new energy storage technologies like Highview Power with the packing of companies like Centrica, Goldman Sachs, Rio Tinto and others will come good, in providing power, when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.
- Hopefully, Hinckley Point C and Sizewell C will be online and soon to be joined by the first of the new small modular nuclear reactors.
- Hopefully, Mersey Tidal Power will be operating.
- There will be innovative ideas like heata from Centrica’s research. The economical water heater even made BBC’s One Show last week.
The only problem will be the Nimbies.
Europe’s Biggest Battery Storage Project Goes Live In Scotland
The title of this post, is the same, as this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Zenobe’s site at Blackhillock can store surplus generation for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine
These are the first two paragraphs.
Europe’s biggest battery storage project has entered commercial operation in Scotland, promising to soak up surplus wind power and prevent turbines being paid to switch off.
Zenobe said the first phase of its project at Blackhillock, between Inverness and Aberdeen, was now live with capacity to store enough power to supply 200 megawatts of electricity for two hours. It is due to be expanded to 300 megawatts by next year.
I believe we can do better, than install large lithium-ion batteries.
We need to get the pumped storage like Coire Glas, the liquid air like Highview Power and the gravity batteries like Gravitricity going as fast as we can.
They are more environmentally friendly than Tesla’s lithium ion tiddlers and a second generation liquid air battery appears to be 200 MW and 2.5 MWh, so they can supply 200 MW for 12.5 hours.
The Blackhillock battery can do just two hours.
Two of them working as a pair, with a 1 GW wind farm, are as big as a small modular nuclear reactor, so could do the same job, with respect to power supply, using machinery and tank designs, that have been used for decades.
I suspect, that like 1960s coal-fired power stations, they would keep running for fifty years and be simply recycled as steel, copper and other scrap.
Highview Power could make Bishops Stortford famous!
UK Government Sets 8-Hour Minimum For LDES Cap-And-Floor Sheme
The title of this post, is the sa,e as that of this article on Energy Storage News.
This is the sub-heading.
The UK government has published a Technical Decision Document confirming crucial aspects of its long duration electricity storage (LDES) cap-and-floor scheme, which includes increasing the minimum duration required from six hours to eight
These paragraphs give full details.
The document, released by regulator Ofgem on 11 March, details the final overarching rules and requirements for the scheme as well as how it will be implemented, though significant detail still remains to be worked out.
The scheme will provide a cap-and-floor revenue protection for 20-25 years that will allow all capital costs to be recoverable, and is effectively a subsidy for LDES projects that may not be commercially viable without it. Most energy storage projects being deployed in the UK today are lithium-ion battery energy storage systems (BESS) of somewhere between 1-hour and 3-hour in duration (very occasionally higher).
One of the most significant new details of the scheme is that, following industry feedback, the minimum duration for projects to qualify has been increased from six hours to eight hours of continuous rated power.
The ‘continuous rated power’ aspect prevents shorter duration projects from bidding in a smaller section of their MW capacity in order to act like an 8-hour system.
Another interesting detail pointed out by several commentators is that the cap is a ‘soft’ one, meaning it will allow extra revenue to be shared between developers and consumers. Exact details on the ratio are yet to be determined.
As a Graduate Control Engineer from Liverpool University in the 1960s, I hope that the move from a six to eight hours minimum duration is feasible.
I wasn’t dealing with power systems, but with multi-vessel chemical plants.
These are my thoughts.
The biggest project, I was dealing with a few years later in the 1970s, was the modeling of all the the reservoirs and pipelines by the Water Resoures Board.
As the supply side of the water industry hasn’t had too many issues with the volume of water supplied, I feel that the main modelers must have done a reasonable job.
Six To Eight Hours Of Continuous Operation
The article says this about uprating from six to eight hours of continuous operations.
All the systems that have been proposed for cap-and-floor operation, seem to have some form of physical storage.
- Energy Dome appears to have tents of carbon dioxide.
- Energy Vault uses stacks of heavy weights.
- Form Energy has tanks of rust.
- Gravitricity has huge weights in disued mine shafts.
- Highview Power has large tanks of liquid air.
- Pumped storage hydro has two lakes, that hold water.
- Rheenergise has two large tanks, of a water-based slurry.
So to go from six to eight hours will hopefully just need some more storage.
Highview Power appears to use similar gas tanks to those used to store natural gas or hydrogen.
This image clipped from Highview’s web site, shows large tanks for liquified gas storage.
With tanks like these, which can hold GW-equivalents of liquid air, Highview could be building batteries with storage to rival the smaller pumped storage hydroelectric power stations. They are already talking of 200 MW/2.5 GWh systems, which would have a 12.5 hour continuous rating and would probably need two to three tanks.
Coire Glas Pumped Storage
I’ll use Coire Glas pumped storage hydro electric power station as an example.
As currently planned SSE’s Cioire Glas pumped storage hydroelectric power station is 1.5 GW/30 GWh, so it has a a 20 hour continuous rating.
In The UK’s Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity, I gave a rough estimate of the pumped storage hydroelectricity systems in operation or planed as nearly 11 GW/224GWh.
The Soft Cap
The article says this about a soft cap.
Another interesting detail pointed out by several commentators is that the cap is a ‘soft’ one, meaning it will allow extra revenue to be shared between developers and consumers. Exact details on the ratio are yet to be determined.
I seem to remember that when I was modeling a larger multi-vessel chemical plant at ICI, I was using sharing between vessels, to get the system to operate on a PACE-231R analog computer.
So I suspect a soft cap is possible.
The Anonymous Widower 