Ryze Hydrogen Wants To Make The North East Of Scotland A World Leader In Hydrogen
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on H2 View.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Ryze Hydrogen has pledged to work with the Scottish Government and local authorities to make the North East of Scotland a world leader in hydrogen.
I think this is both a laudable and a very sensible aim.
- Large offshore wind farms are being built both around Aberdeen and the Far North of Scotland.
- Production of hydrogen is a sensible way to use spare renewable electricity.
- That area of Scotland is not short of wind.
- Aberdeen will be taking delivery of hydrogen buses later this year.
- With their experience of the oil industry, there would not be a shortage of people with the necessary expertise.
The article also details Jo Bamford’s plans for hydrogen buses.
Norway Announces $384.5m Clean Energy Fund To Aid In Covid-19 Recovery
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Power Technology.
These are the first one-and-a-half paragraphs.
Last week, Norway announced plans to fund a “green transition package”, investing $384.5m into sustainable power and infrastructure to help the country’s economy and productivity post-Covid-19.
The fund will be used to support a range of initiatives, including investments in hydrogen power and battery storage technology, building offshore wind infrastructure, and renovations to new and existing buildings, as Norway looks to reach the Paris Climate Agreement target of limiting global temperature rise to less than two degrees by 2050.
Perhaps we should follow Norway’s lead.
Vietnam Has Potential For ‘160GW Of Offshore Wind’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on renews.biz.
This is the introductory paragraph.
The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) and the Vietnamese Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority are working together on input for a roadmap for offshore wind development in the south-east Asian country that has estimated potential for 160GW.
The report illustrates that windpower, is for all nations.
Floating Wind Swells, Hydrogen On A High And Here Comes The 150-Hour ‘Aqueous Air’ Battery
The title of this post is the same as that of this weekly summary on Recharge.
There are three major stories.
Floating Wind Turbines
A lot more floating wind turbines are under development, by the French, Swedes, South Africans and Japanese.
I do wonder, if these structures have borrowed the work done in Cambridge by Balaena Structures, for which I did the calculations, as I wrote about in The Balaena Lives.
From what I remember of my calculations fifty years ago, I suspect these floating turbines can be massive and places, in areas, where the winds are really strong.
I also believe that some could have built-in hydrogen generators and could be placed over depleted gas fields and connected to the existing gas pipes.
Hydrogen
The article describes how oil giants; BP and Shell are moving towards hydrogen.
Battery Storage
They also talk about Form Energy and their mysterious ‘aqueous air battery, which Recharge covered earlier. I discussed that article in The Mysterious 150-hour Battery That Can Guarantee Renewables Output During Extreme Weather.
Conclusion
This article is a must-read.
Recharge is also a site to follow, if you are interested in the developments in renewable energy.
North Sea Wind Power Hub
I have just found the web site for the North Sea Wind Power Hub.
The Aim
This introductory paragraph details the aim of the project.
A coordinated roll-out of North Sea Wind Power Hubs facilitates an accelerated deployment of large scale offshore wind in the North Sea required to support realizing the Paris Agreements target in time, with minimum environmental impact and at the lowest cost for society (urgency & cost savings), while maintaining security of supply.
There is a lot to read on the site, however this article on the Daily Mail gives a good summary with lots of drsawings.
This is the sub-headline.
The world’s biggest wind farm? ‘Crazy’ artificial power island in the North Sea that could supply renewable energy to 80 million people in Europe is set to open in 2027.
Crazy comes from this paragraph of the article.
In an interview at the time, Torben Glar Nielsen, Energinet’s technical director, told the Independent: ‘Maybe it sounds a bit crazy and science fiction-like but an island on Dogger Bank could make the wind power of the future a lot cheaper and more effective.’
Another quote sums up the engineering problems as the Dutch sea it.
Addressing the engineering challenge ahead, Mr Van der Hage said: ‘Is it difficult? In the Netherlands, when we see a piece of water we want to build islands or land. We’ve been doing that for centuries. That is not the biggest challenge.’
Having spoken to one of the engineers, who planned and developed the Dutch sea defences after the floods of the 1950s, I’ll agree with that statement.
Nuclear Option Has Been Blown Away
The title of this post is the main title of Alistair Osborne’s Business Commentary of today’s copy of The Times.
He is referring to the government’s announcement about new wind farms, that I discussed in Climate change: Offshore Wind Expands At Record Low Price.
I particularly liked his final paragraph.
And nuclear’s not even green: it comes with a vast clean-up bill. True, it brings baseload energy that wind can’t yet match. But storage technology is advancing all the time. So why’s the government persisting with last century tech that comes at a radioactive price? Yes, offshore wind might endanger a seabird that’s forgotten its specs. But, luckily, it’s a bigger threat to another species: nuclear white elephants.
Climate change is so serious, people won’t believe it’s happening and take action unless the medicine is delivered with a spoonful of humour.
Climate change: Offshore Wind Expands At Record Low Price
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on BBC News.
These are the first paragraphs.
A record amount of new offshore wind power has been announced in the UK – at record low prices.
The new projects will power more than seven million homes for as little as £39.65 per megawatt hour.
Compare this price with the £92.50 per MWh for the nuclear Hinckley Point C.
Note that all prices are in 2012 prices.
I have no argument with the engineering of nuclear power stations, but they do have issues that must be addressed.
- They shouldn’t be built in possible earthquake zones.
- They have a very high cost.
- They can be an eyesore in parts of the UK.
But they do provide a good power zero-carbon baseload, once they are constructed.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm
The Dogger Bank Wind Farm would appear to be the centrepiece of the energy developments South of the Scottish Border.
It will be three separate 1.2 gigawatt wind farms developed on the relatively shallow seas around the Dogger Bank.
- Creyke Beck A
- Creyke Beck B
- Teesside A
Wikipedia says this about the first two wind farms.
They would connect to the existing Creyke Beck substation near Cottingham, in the East Riding of Yorkshire.[6] The two sites lie 131 kilometres (81 mi) from the East Yorkshire coast.
Both have an area of around two hundred square miles.
Teeside A is further North and would be connected to a substation near Redcar.
North Sea Wind Power Hub
The three fields I’ve listed are all in UK waters and according to Wikipedia will or could be joined by more wind farms in the same area.
But just across the maritime border between the United Kingdom and the European Union, Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands have plans to develop the North Sea Wind Power Hub.
Wikipedia introduces the project like this.
North Sea Wind Power Hub is a proposed energy island complex to be built in the middle of the North Sea as part of a European system for sustainable electricity. One or more “Power Link” artificial islands will be created at the northeast end of the Dogger Bank, a relatively shallow area in the North Sea, just outside the continental shelf of the United Kingdom and near the point where the borders between the territorial waters of Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark come together. Dutch, German, and Danish electrical grid operators are cooperating in this project to help develop a cluster of offshore wind parks with a capacity of several gigawatts, with interconnections to the North Sea countries. Undersea cables will make international trade in electricity possible.
These points are also made.
- Six square mile islands will be built surrounded by thousands of wind turbines.
- The Dutch have estimated that 110 gigawatts of wind power could be produced at the Dogger Bank location.
- We are not a member of the consortium, but it is hoped that Norway, Belgium and the UK will join.
- The Dutch have suggested converting some of the electricity produced to hydrogen.
- Completion date is set for 2050.
I am excited by this project.
We may not be part of the North Sea Wind Power Hub consortium and in a month or so, we may or may not be part of the European Union, but today’s announcement of new wind power projects in our section of the Dogger Bank is effectively a substantial marker, that compliments the European plan.
Consider.
- We are putting 3.6 GW of wind turbines on the Dogger Bank.
- We are connecting it to the UK electricity grid. at Creyke Beck.
- It would be easy to create another bi-directional electricity interconnector between the UK’s planned and the EU’s possible wind farms.
This is the sort of project that works, whether Brexit happens or doesn’t!
Six Scottish Wind Farms
.There is also a second article on the BBC, which is entitled Six Scottish Wind Farms Awarded Contracts.
These are the first paragraphs.
Six Scottish wind farm projects are set to go ahead after being awarded UK government contracts to sell the electricity they would produce.
The schemes include Forthwind and SSE Renewables’ Seagreen Phase 1, which are both proposed for the Firth of Forth.
Four onshore wind farms – Muaitheabhal and Druim Leathann in Lewis and Hesta Head and Costa Head in Orkney – have also secured contracts.
All farms are expected to be built by 2025 and provide enough energy for 265,000 homes.
Price Summary For Offshore Wind
This page on Offshore Wind gives the strike prices for the six offshore wind farms.
Creyke Bank A – £39.65 per MWh – 1200 MW
Creyke Bank B – £41.61 per MWh – 1200 MW
Teeside A – £41.61 per MWh – 1200 MW
Teeside B (Sophia) – £41.65 per MWh – 1400 MW
Forthwind – £39.65 per MWh – 12 MW
Seagreen Phase 1 – £41.61 per MWh – 454 MW
The size of each farm is also given.
Conclusion
The lights will stay on and we will need to develop more energy storage.
Government Turns Up Power On Offshore Wind
The title of this post, is the same as that of an article in yesterday’s copy of The Times.
This is the first paragraph.
A third of British electricity will be generated by offshore wind farms by 2030 under government plans.
Although Jeremy Corbyn said he would reopen coal mines a couple of years ago, I can’t see a change of Government stopping this.
A few other points from the article.
- Last year offshore wind produced about eight percent of our electricity needs.
- The offshore wind energy industry has said it will raise UK content from 48 to 60 percent.
- The industry has promised to invest £250million in the supply chain.
- There are 1,900 turbines in British waters, which can generate 8GW.
- Another 6GW will come on stream by 2022-23.
- Another 16GW are in the planning stage.
The author feels that as costs are reducing, this is driving the investment.
Conclusion
We have a very windy future.
The Old Order Changeth Yielding Place To New
Two dinosaurs; the Labour Party and the motor industry, got big shocks yesterday.
But both are trying to live in the past with CEOs, who still think that we’re in the 1960s.
This morning, my message read out on Wake Up To Money was this.
I don’t drive any more, but the future is electric and the UK is blessed with a position and a climate to become one of the first countries to power most vehicles with renewables. Vehicle manufacturers must change or die!
Our renewable electricity generation infrastructure is growing apace and in the last few days, the world’s largest offshore wind farm opened, as reported in this article on the BBC, which is entitled First Power From World’s Biggest Offshore Wind Farm.
The Hornsea Wind Farm will have a generating capacity of 6 GW. This is nearly twice as large a capacity as the troubled Hinckley Point C nuclear power station.
But whereas Hinckley Point C will produce continuous power, Hornsea will only produce power when the wind blows.
The National Grid are tasked with keeping the lights on and I agree with them, that energy storage is the solution.
- There are 25,000,000 homes in the UK. If every house in the UK was fitted with a 10 kWh storage battery, that would be a capacity of 250 GWH.
- There are 30,000,000 cars in the UK. If every car in the UK was electric and had a 30 kWh battery, that would be a capacity of 900 GWH.
These are very large numbers and just as the Internet passes data all around the UK and the world, the UK’s National Grid will access all these batteries to store energy, when perhaps the wind is blowing at night and retrieve it when there is a high demand.
On a domestic level, you may have an electric car and a battery in your house, with perhaps solar panels on the roof.
- At night and on sunny days, your batteries will be charged.
- At times of high demand, your stored energy may be sold back to the grid.
- Controlling it all would be an intelligent computer system, which would make sure that your car always had enough charge and you had enough energy for the house.
The problem is that nearly all of our houses and cars don’t fit this model.
The proposed closure of the Honda plant is Swindon, is the first of the many casualties in car manufacturing, that will surely happen.
More by luck, than judgement, when I moved to London after my stroke, I bought a house with the following features.
- Low energy consumption.
- A flat roof, that is now covered in solar panels.
- A garage, that would be suitable for an electric car. Although, I don’t drive, the next owner of this house, probably will.
Millions of houses in this country should be demolished and the land used for new houses that fit the modern age.
The Labour Party is living in the 1960s and Corbyn and McDonell still believe that the Robin Hood approach of stealing from the rich and giving it to the poor, is still the way to go.
But these days, most people want to be responsible for themselves. This is why there has been such a growth in people in the gig economy like Uber, Deliveroo and County Lines.
Everybody wants to take control of their lives and their own micro-economy. That is why I left a safe job at ICI in 1969, at the age of just twenty-two.
Like me, those who start their own successful business don’t want government to come along and use it on pet projects that always seem to fail.
Most politicians and especially Labour ones have never done a real job in their lives and Labour’s defections will hopefully be the first of many from all political parties.
I hope that February 18th 2019, will be remembered as the day when two dinosaurs realised they needed to change their spots.
But they won’t change willingly!
However!
- Companies and individuals will soon be buying electric vehicles in large numbers and only buying diesel and petrol ones, where there is no alternative.
- Voters will not vote for policies that stink of the past, that don’t fit their micro-economy.
There will also be a lot of unsaleable houses and second-hand cars!
The Anonymous Widower 