Crown Estate To Spend £1.5bn On New Laboratories
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
These three paragraphs introduce the Crown Estate’s plan.
The Crown Estate is to spend £1.5 billion over the next decade building more laboratories nationwide and will start by redeveloping the old Debenhams store in Oxford city centre.
The King’s property company, which looks after the royal family’s £16 billion historic land portfolio, will invest £125 million to buy the former department store and will turn it into laboratory space.
The building has been empty for omore than three years, having closed down in early 2021 after Debenhams collapsed during the pandemic. The Crown has bought a long leasehold of the store from DTZ Investors, the freeholder, which is keeping the street-level retail units. Subject to planning, construction is expected to start at the site next year, with the labs expected to be fully operational in 2027 or 2028.
This looks very much like a smaller version of British Land’s plan for the Euston Tower, which I wrote about in British Land Unveils Plans To Transform London’s Euston Tower Into A Life Sciences And Innovation Hub.
These are my thoughts.
Helping Start-Ups
I have been involved with perhaps half a dozen start-up ventures. Two were very successful and the others generally scraped along or just failed.
One common theme, was the lack of small convenient premises, where perhaps up to a dozen people could work.
- I don’t know Oxford well, but I would assume that the Debenhams site, is good for public transport and cycle parking.
- I also hope there’s a good real ale pub nearby, for some productive group thinking!
If this venture from Crown Estate helps start-ups to get over the first difficult hurdle, then it will be a development to be welcomed.
Location, Location, Location
It has been said, that the three most important things in property development are location, location and location.
This 3D Google Map shows the approximate location of the Debenhams building.
Note.
- The red arrow indicates a pub called the Wig and Pen , which is on the opposite side of George Street to the Debenhams building.
- The railway with its excellent connections runs North-South down the Western edge of the map.
- I estimate that walking distance to the station is about 500-600 metres.
I shall be going to Oxford in the next couple of days to take some pictures of the building and the walk.
We Can’t Have Too Many Laboratories
The British and the sort of people we attract to these isles seem to be born innovators and inventors.
My father’s male line is Jewish and my paternal great-great-great-grandfather had to leave his home city of Königsberg in East Prussia for the sole reasons he was eighteen, male and Jewish. As both Königsberg and London, were on the trading routes of the Hanseatic League, he probably just got on a ship. As he was a trained tailor, he set up in business in Bexley.
My mother’s male line is Huguenot and somewhere in the past, one of her ancestors left France for England. My grandfather was an engraver, which is a common Huguenot craft. Intriguingly, my mother had very French brown eyes.
Why did my ancestors come here?
It was probably a choice between escape to the UK or die!
This Wikipedia entry, which us entitled History of the Jews in Königsberg, gives a lot of detail.
Note.
- My ancestor left Königsberg around 1800.
- He probably brought my coeliac disease with him.
- In 1942, many of the Jews remaining in Königsberg were sent to the Nazi concentration camps.
- About 2,000 Jews remain in Königsberg, which is now Kaliningrad in Russia.
I am an atheist, but some years ago, I did a computing job for a devout Orthodox Jewish oncologist and he felt my personal philosophy was very much similar to his.
This Wikipedia entry, which is entitled Huguenots, gives a brief history of the Huguenots.
Whatever you’re attitude to immigration, you can’t deny these facts.
- Immigration increases the population.
- As the population increases, we’re going to need more innovation to maintain a good standard of living.
- Just as we need more places to house immigrants, we also need more places, where they can work.
- Immigration brings in those with all types of morals, sexualities and intelligences.
- Like the Jews and Huguenots of over two centuries ago, some emigrants will dream of using their skills and intelligence to start a successful business.
- It is likely, that some immigrants, who came here to study, might also want to stay on and seek employment here, using the skills they’ve learned and acquired. Some may even start successful businesses.
I also wonder, if immigration is difficult, does this mean, that the intelligent and resourceful are likely to be successful migrants. I heard this theory from a Chinese lady, who started her immigration to the UK, by swimming from mainland China to Hong Kong.
I feel, that unless we are prepared to ban immigration completely, not allow students to come here and study and be prepared to accept our current standard of living for the future, then we will need more laboratories and suitable places for entrepreneurs to start new businesses.
Conclusion
The Crown Estate appears to be getting more entrepreneurial.
In UK Unveils GBP 50 Million Fund To Boost Offshore Wind Supply Chain, I describe how they6 are using funds to accelerate the building of wind farms in theCetic Sea.
Has the King changed the boss or the rules?
Or have they employed a world-class mathematical modeller?
It is my experience, that modelling financial systems, can bring surprising results.
UK Onshore Wind Capacity Hits 15GW
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on reNEWS.BIZ.
This is the sub-heading.
Milestone reached after 30MW West Benhar project entered operations.
These are the first three paragraphs.
RenewableUK has revealed the UK has installed 15,000MW of operational onshore wind capacity.
The project which enabled the UK to cross the threshold was EDF Renewables UK’s 30.1MW West Benhar onshore wind farm in North Lanarkshire, consisting of seven turbines.
The UK now has 2631 operating onshore wind schemes.
These are my thoughts.
I Am Surprised At The Total Of Onshore Wind
The title says it all.
But 15 GW is almost the same power as five big nuclear power stations, the size of the running-late Hinckley Point C.
Should Some Strategically-Placed Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Be Added?
Some wind farms have been built with wind farms and I very much feel, that with some mathematical modelling some excellent BESS sites could be found.
We should also use batteries, so that no wind farm is ever shut down, because too much wind is being generated.
Where Is West Benhar?
West Benhar wind farm has a web site, where this is the sub-heading.
West Benhar is a 7 turbine wind farm capable of powering up to 18,000 homes located near Shotts in North Lanarkshire.
It was opened on 28 February 2024.
This Google Map shows the location of West Benhar between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
West Benhar is North-East of Shotts and just South of the M8.
There’s More Onshore Wind To Come
These onshore wind farms appear to have Contracts for Difference, but have not been completed.
- Arecleoch Wind Farm Extension – 72.8 MW – Completion 2024/25
- Broken Cross – 48 MW – Completion 2024/25
- Chirmorie – 81.6 MW – Completion 2024/25
- Cumberhead West – 126 MW – + 40 MW BESS – Completion 2024/25
- Douglas West Extension – 78 MW – Completion 2024/25
- High Constellation – 50 MW – Completion 2024/25
- Kilgallioch Windfarm Extension – 51.3 MW – Completion 2024/25
- North Kyle – 206 MW – Completion 2024/25
- Stornoway – 200 MW – Completion 2024/25
- Stranoch – 84 MW – Completion 2024/25
- Viking – 443 MW – Completion 2024
All of these are in Scotland.
But that’s another 1,440.7 MW of onshore wind.
Community Wind Funds
Scotland seems to be continuing to build onshore wind farms.
Could it be that communities have seen the benefits of Community Wind Funds?
This is said about the fund at Stronach.
When operational, EDF Renewables will provide a community benefit fund in line with the Scottish Government Good Practice Principles for Community Benefits from Onshore Renewable Energy Developments. The fund value for the community benefit fund would be £5,000 per megawatt for the lifetime of the wind farm. In the coming months we will begin to form a Community Liaison Group with local interested parties to decide how the funds will be disseminated once the wind farm becomes operational.
If the fund is yearly, then £420,000 is not money to be sneezed at!
Conclusion
It looks like in Scotland that Community Wind Funds promote the building of onshore wind.
UK Set To Provide Record GBP 800 Million Support For Offshore Wind Projects
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The UK government has revealed the budget of over GBP 1 billion (approximately EUR 1.2 billion) for this year’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round 6 (AR6) with the majority of it, GBP 800 million (around EUR 936 million), earmarked for offshore wind.
These three paragraphs explain the three pots.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) confirmed that over GBP 1 billion will be set aside for the budget, divided into three pots.
Within the overall budget, GBP 120 million is designated for established technologies like solar and onshore wind in Pot 1, while GBP 105 million is set aside for emerging technologies such as floating offshore wind and geothermal in Pot 2.
According to DESNZ, following an extensive review of the latest evidence, including the impact of global events on supply chains, the government has allocated a record GBP 800 million for offshore wind, making this the largest round yet, with four times more budget available to offshore wind than in the previous round.
I am glad to see the support for geothermal energy.
Whilst, these three paragraphs explain the pricing.
This follows the increase in the maximum price for offshore wind and floating offshore wind in November and will help to deliver the UK’s ambition of up to 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030, including up to 5 GW of floating offshore wind, according to the government.
Last year, CfD Round 5 attracted no investors with the former maximum strike prices set at GBP 44/MWh for offshore wind with fixed-bottom foundations, which was too low for the developers who were facing the consequences of inflation and supply chain challenges. The maximum bid price for floating wind was GBP 114/MWh.
Now, the maximum price available for offshore wind projects with fixed-bottom foundations has risen by 66 per cent, from GBP 44/MWh to GBP 73/MWh. The maximum strike price for floating offshore wind projects increased by 52 per cent, from GBP 116/MWh to GBP 176/MWh ahead of AR6 which will open on 27 March.
Prices have certainly risen, but this paragraph explains a limiting mechanism, which is straight out of the Control Engineer’s Toolbox.
The funding for the support will be sourced from energy bills rather than taxation. However, if the price of electricity surpasses the predetermined rate, additional charges will be applied to wind power, with the excess funds returned to consumers.
I would hope that extensive mathematical modelling has been applied to test the new pricing structure.
First Look Inside £2.2bn Silvertown Tunnel
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
These are the first five paragraphs.
For the first time, Transport for London has invited journalists inside what is one of the most controversial infrastructure projects in the capital.
The Silvertown Tunnel is 1.4km (just under one mile) long and stretches from Silvertown in Newham to the Greenwich Peninsula.
Inside the tunnel, it is extremely wide. A lot bigger than other tunnels like the supersewer or Crossrail. Boring was finished a few weeks ago.
Transport for London (TfL) says the scheme will address queues at the Blackwall Tunnel and reduce pollution. But it has faced fierce opposition from those who think it will do the total opposite and increase pollution and congestion.
And the big question is – even with mitigation – can a road tunnel ever be green?
Note.
- There is a good picture, showing the width of the tunnel.
- It is very wide and can’t be much narrower than the four-lane Queensway Tunnel, which was opened under Mersey in 1934.
These are my thoughts.
I Am Against The Tunnel Being Built
My main reason I am against the Silvertown Tunnel is that Transport for London’s mathematical modelling of and rerouting of buses past my house has been some of the worst I’ve seen. I talk about the bus problems I now have in Is The Nightmare On The Buses Going To Get Worse?
So until the two tunnels; Blackwall and Silvertown are complete and open with tolling, I won’t trust any of Transport for London’s pronouncements.
I also feel that as the Silvertown Tunnel will allow trucks to pass though, there will be times, when they will cut through the East End to get to the Motorways going North.
But now, it’s more or less finished, we will probably need to use it.
How Is The Tunnel Being Paid For?
The Wikipedia entry for the Silvertown Tunnel has a section called Costs, where this is said.
In 2012, the cost was stated to be £600m. A consultation in 2015 stated that the cost of construction was estimated to be £1bn. In March 2020, the cost was increased again, to £1.2 billion. Operation, maintenance and financial costs of the tunnel over 25 years is expected to cost another £1bn.
The £2.2 billion will be repaid by tolls on both tunnels. Effectively, it’s a Private Finance Initiative or PFI.
Can A Road Tunnel Ever Be Green?
This is the question the BBC asked in the last paragraph of my extract.
Although, I am very much against this tunnel, I do believe this tunnel can be green.
- Suppose, the tunnels were made free for zero-carbon vehicles, that were powered by batteries, hydrogen or possibly ammonia.
- This might nudge vehicle owners and operations to go zero-carbon.
This extra number of zero-carbon vehicles would help to clean up London’s air.
I wonder which will be the preferred route for trucks associated with construction to go to and from sites in Central London?
- These trucks are major polluters in Central London.
- There are sensible moves to make construction sites zero-carbon.
If the Silvertown Tunnel didn’t have tolls for zero-carbon trucks, then surely this would nudge, this sizeable group of trucks to go zero-carbon to the benefit of everyone in Central London.
The only problem with making zero-carbon vehicles toll-free, is that it probably ruins the finances of the tunnels, from the point of view of the investors.
Conclusion
I can see lots of conflict starting over the operation of this tunnel.
The Economic Case For Hydrogen In Domestic Heating
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Chemical Engineer.
The Wikipedia entry for The Chemical Engineer has this introductory paragraph.
The Chemical Engineer is a monthly chemical engineering technical and news magazine published by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE). It has technical articles of interest to practitioners and educators, and also addresses current events in world of chemical engineering including research, international business news and government policy as it affects the chemical engineering community. The magazine is sent to all members of the IChemE and is included in the cost of membership. Some parts of the magazine are available free online, including recent news and a series of biographies “Chemical Engineers who Changed the World”, although the core and the archive magazine is available only with a subscription. The online magazine also has freely available podcasts.
It is a source on the Internet, where anything non-scientifically correct will be unlikely to appear.
The article has two introductory sub-headings.
Despite its thermodynamic disadvantages, global energy technology specialist Thomas Brewer believes hydrogen has an economic and efficient role in domestic heating. It forced him to deviate from his usual mantra of ‘efficiency above all else’ to get there, though
The work of decarbonisation by chemical engineers is about how we can cost effectively enable our organisations’ transition away from fossil fuels. This requires foresight. A decision chemical engineers make on a project with a 20-year lifespan will still be operational in 2045, when in most global locations, internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles will probably be in the minority and grid electricity will be mostly renewable.
This is the first actual paragraph.
It is unsurprising, therefore, that chemical engineers are researching and debating the prospects of the future of energy availability from renewables, and the likely role and cost of hydrogen. There is much public noise surrounding the conversation about heat pumps vs hydrogen for domestic heating. I have noticed how few articles are written from an unbiased perspective, how very few reports talk about the whole solution, and authors avoid quantifying the financial impact of their proposed solution. I couldn’t find an unbiased study with any financial logic, so, I built a model to assess the options, for my own interests. I found the results so intriguing that I wanted to share them.
In other words, let the data do the talking and accept what it tells you.
These are some extracts from the article.
On Curtailment
The article says this on curtailment of wind energy, because you are generating too much.
Efficient electrical energy storage is expensive, which has traditionally led renewable system designers to include curtailment as a part of their design. Curtailment involves oversizing the wind supply to be higher than the grid connection to reduce the need for as much energy storage, and deliberately wasting the occasional electrical excess. The system design becomes an economical balance between oversizing the renewable generation and paying for additional electrical storage. Within the UK grid in 2023, curtailment is a small factor. As electrification and wind power become more mainstream, the financial decision between investing in excess wind vs electrical storage will lead curtailment to become a more significant factor.
Curtailment is to me a practice, that should be consigned to the dustbin of history.
To eliminate it, as much storage as is needed storage must be provided.
Eliminate Naked Flames In The Kitchen
The article says this about eliminating naked gas flames (natural gas or hydrogen) in the kitchen.
Figure 1 shows that the recommended standard of hydrogen gas installation if removing kitchen gas cooking would result in less injuries than the existing natural gas installation if cooking were converted to induction heating. Kitchen leaks are more likely than boiler leaks due to the number of valves and connections, regardless of the gas type. NOx emissions in the home because of naked flames in the kitchen are also of concern to the health of the occupants and hydrogen naked flames have a higher NOx emission than natural gas; another reason to eliminate naked flame cooking.
When I was financing the development of what became the Respimat inhaler, I did my due scientific diligence and found research from a Russell Group University, that naked flames (including smoking) were a cause of asthma, especially in children.
My recommendation is that, at an appropriate time in the near future, you replace your gas cooker with an electric one. My ginger-haired Glaswegian friend, who is a chef, who’s had Michelin stars would recommend an electric induction cooker.
Pumped Storage
The article says this about building more pumped storage.
The pumped storage assumption is based on the SSE proposal for Coire Glas, a 30 GWh £1.5bn storage system in Scotland which will more than double the UK’s current pumped storage capacity. The capital cost of this pumped storage system is about £50/kWh which will be delivered at about 80% efficiency. Pumped storage is a good balance between low cost and high efficiency. However, it requires natural resources. The Mott MacDonald report, Storage cost and technical assumptions for BEIS (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) suggests the equivalent of four Coire Glas-scale installations in the UK by 2050. The model optimistically assumes that ten more similar additional Coire Glas-size pumped storage schemes could be installed.
This page on the Strathclyde University web site, gives these GWh figures for the possible amounts of pumped-storage that can be added to existing hydroelectric schemes.
Strathclyde’s total for extra storage is over 500 GWh.
Distributed Batteries
The article says this about distributed batteries.
A distributed battery assumption could be configured with multiple 10 kWh batteries which typically cost about £3,000 installed, near or in homes with a heat pump. This could be coupled with larger battery storage systems like the £30m Chapel Farm 99 MWh battery installation near Luton, commissioned in 2023. The small battery systems at each home are similar to the proposed virtual power plants using electric vehicle battery capacity to help balance the grid. Placing these batteries at locations with grid limitations could reduce the costs of upgrading the grid system. This is a more expensive energy storage scheme than pump storage and for the purposes of the model it is assumed that battery storage schemes are limitless. In both cases cited, the cost is £300/kWh. Battery efficiency varies significantly with temperature, and typically ranges from about 90% to 97%. As the system design needs to be focused on the coldest periods, the model is optimistically assuming 93% efficiency, which would require many of the batteries to be in a heated environment.
New lower-cost alternative batteries are also being developed.
Hydrogen Generation
The article says this about hydrogen generation.
Alternatively, the electricity generated from wind energy could be used in the electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen. While the fully installed electrolysis equipment costs about £2,100/kW, hydrogen storage in specially built cylinders is relatively cheap at about £23/kWh. The model, however, assumes salt mine storage which the US DoE in their report, Grid Energy Storage Technology Cost, calculate at a total system cost for hydrogen of $2/kWh. Electrolysis is the least efficient energy storage option, with a conversion efficiency of 75%, including compression. The waste heat from this conversion loss is useful for industrial heating, or in a district heating system. This has been ignored for simplicity.
Pumped storage, distributed batteries and hydrogen electrolysers distributed all over the UK, will mop up all the spare electricity and release it to heat pumps and for charging cars as necessary.
The hydrogen will be used for heating, to decarbonise difficult-to-decarbonise industries and provide fuel for hydrogen-powered vehicles, railways and shipping.
Curtailment will be a thing of the past.
The UK Offshore Wind Potential
The article says this about the UK offshore wind potential.
The UK government target for wind generation by 2030 is 50 GW. The UK offshore wind potential is reliable and available and has been estimated to be as high as 2,200 GW. There are, however, a few low wind periods that can last for several days.
I am not going to argue with 2,200 GW, but I will say that a lot of that will be used to generate hydrogen offshore.
Conclusions
This is the article’s main conclusion.
A wind-based supply for heating will mean that large quantities of potentially unused electricity will be available for more than 90% of the year, for potentially very low cost. While this could appear wasteful, it provides further synergistical opportunities for the decarbonisation of other interruptible energy duties, such as production of hydrogen for road transport or supplying heat via heat pumps for interruptible industries.
The sensitivity analysis shows that these conclusions are robust even with significant variation in the assumptions on equipment cost, efficiency, and other electricity source options.
This is also said about the most cost-effective solution.
A cost-effective national heat pump-only solution is about £500bn (50%) more expensive than a hydrogen-only boiler solution. The most cost-effective system is a combination of the two, £100bn cheaper than the hydrogen-only solution, and £600bn cheaper than the heat pump-only solution.
A cost-effective national heat pump-only solution has a system efficiency 40% lower than the hydrogen-only solution, requiring more than 750 GW of installed wind capacity. A hydrogen boiler solution requires less than 500 GW but the most efficient system, however, is a combination of the two.
The conclusions mean that everybody will be able to use the most appropriate solution for their circumstances for both heating their housing or powering their vehicles, as there will be massive supplies of affordable electricity and hydrogen.
How Will Everything Be Paid For?
Just as Germany and others built its industry on cheap Russian gas, it will now choose to use the plentiful and reliable UK electricity and hydrogen to rebuild its industry.
Octopus Energy Creates GBP 3 Billion Offshore Wind Fund
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Octopus Energy’s generation arm has launched a dedicated fund with Japan’s Tokyo Gas to invest GBP 3 billion (approximately EUR 3.5 billion) in offshore wind globally by 2030.
This is the first paragraph.
The fund, set up with a GBP 190 million (about EUR 217 million) cornerstone investment from Tokyo Gas, will invest in the development, construction, and operational stage offshore wind farms, as well as companies creating new offshore wind, with a focus on Europe, said Octopus Energy.
It’s almost as if Octopus Energy are planning to do for offshore wind power, what Gore Street and Gresham House Energy Storage Funds have done for battery storage.
It strikes me that a detailed purpose-built financial model, as I have built several times could give a lot of insight into the wind farms and their financing.
There is also a lot of technology coming on stream, that will help this sort of wind fund.
- In-farm energy storage will happen and this will be the obvious place to use energy storage to smooth out the power from offshore wind farms.
- Floating wind farms are becoming mature technology and appear to offering higher capacity factors.
- Floating wind farms may offer lower maintenance costs.
- Multi-Purpose Interconnectors are starting to be installed and will allow power to be sent to more than one destination in different countries.
- Wind farms are increasingly being linked to battery storage to smooth out the power from offshore wind farms.
- Electrolysers are being built offshore.
- Data analysis is playing its part in improving operational efficiency.
Now could be the time to take the plunge and build that offshore wind farm.
Rolls-Royce Considering Switching From BEV To Hydrogen For Future Models
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on INSIDEEVs.
This is the sub-heading
The luxury carmaker’s CEO rules out hydrogen combustion, but fuel cells are on the table.
This is the first paragraph.
Rolls-Royce is considering ditching all-electric powertrains in favor of fuel cell technology for its future zero-emissions models once the technology is mature enough and can be scaled to meet its demands, according to Autocar, quoting the luxury car brand’s CEO, Torsten Müller-Ötvös.
As the Rolls-Royce Spectre has a kerb weight of almost three tonnes, I suspect that the handling might make someone like Alec Issigonis, Colin Chapman or Stirling Moss have a good laugh.
But the smaller battery that the fuel cell technology would require, might give a better balance between acceleration, handling and performance.
It would be good fun to model the dynamics of such a heavy car.
I do think though that it is these dynamics, that have suggested a move to hydrogen.
Or Torsten Müller-Ötvös, may have made the statement to find out, what the sort of people, who would buy this car, might think!
Can ‘Enhanced Rock Weathering’ Help Combat Climate Change?
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
In a quarry surrounded by the din of heavy machinery Jim Mann crouches down and picks up a handful of tiny black rocks.
These three sentences introduce Jim and his magic dust.
“This is my magic dust,” he says with a smile, gently rubbing them between his fingers.
He’s holding pieces of basalt. It’s a hard volcanic rock that is neither rare nor particularly remarkable.
But through a process known as ‘enhanced rock weathering’ it could help to cool our overheating planet.
This Google Map shows Orrock Quarry, where the basalt is mined.
The article then gives a simple explanation of enhanced rock weathering.
When one of the companies, I’d backed won a green design award it was presented by David Bellamy. I remember having a very radical conversation with him, about some of the projects, where he’d been an advisor.
Some might have dismissive views about Jim Mann’s work as being too good to be true, but when I see the chemistry, I suspect,I’ll find it to be sound.
It would be a very interesting process to mathematically model!
SeaTwirl, Kontiki Winds To Explore Powering Oil & Gas Assets With Floating Wind
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
The Sweden-headquartered SeaTwirl has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kontiki Winds to identify and discuss the opportunities to electrify oil and gas assets and other offshore applications, with the use of SeaTwirl’s floating wind turbines.
And this is the first paragraph.
Under the MoU, the two companies will explore new opportunities in the market to implement offshore wind into new and existing oil and gas assets and microgrid applications such as the powering of fish farms, desalination plants and/or other small-scale applications that currently are based on fossil fuel electricity generation.
Note.
- The current turbines are only 1 MW.
- They appear to be mounted on a long monopole foundation.
- My mathematical modelling experience suggests to me, that these could be very stable devices.
- I suspect they could be built into specialist equipment like a buoy with a light to mark something.
I suspect that there will be large numbers of applications, especially if the manufacture and installation of Sea Twirl’s turbines is an efficient process.
Irish Floating Wind Tech Developer Unveils Pilot Project In Portugal
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Dublin-based floating wind technology company Gazelle Wind Power (Gazelle) has partnered with the Portuguese renewable energy developer WAM Horizon to accelerate the development of a pilot project in Aguçadoura, Portugal, which will use Gazelle’s floating wind platform.
And this is the first paragraph.
Within the partnership, WAM will provide Gazelle with strategic advisory to implement the pilot project.
There is also a picture, which does not look like any other float for a wind turbine, that I’ve seen.
Gazelle Wind Power’s home page, has a series of pictures and an explanation of how it works.
The web site claims the technology is Light, Agile and Fast and gives a few details in this paragraph.
Introducing Gazelle’s hybrid attenuated mooring platform, an evolutionary step-change in the design of floating platforms. Lighter, smaller and more agile than current designs, the Gazelle delivers unmatched stability and capacity. Moreover, our design benefits from modularisation, time-tested manufacturing processes, and can easily be assembled at port facilities worldwide.
From my experience of modelling floating structures in the 1970s, I believe that there a lot more permutations and combinations of components, that will work as floats for wind turbines.
Gazelle Wind Power’s design, is one of the first of a new generation of designs.
If anybody comes up with an unusual design and needs someone to criticise or model its floating behaviour, I’d be happy to help.
The Anonymous Widower 