SNP Ban On ‘Munitions’ Funds Puts Scottish Shipbuilding On The Line
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
The president of Rolls-Royce submarines says plans for a world-class welding centre on the Clyde are at risk of being cancelled within days
These three paragraphs add more details to the story.
Ambitious plans to reverse a historic decline in Scottish shipbuilding are at risk after a £2.5 million taxpayer grant was axed due to an SNP ban on “munitions” funding.
A plan to build a specialist welding centre on the banks of the Clyde is now in grave doubt after Scottish Enterprise, the national economic development agency, was accused of reneging on a pledge to fund a building for the world-class facility.
Rolls-Royce, which is ready to support the project by providing £11 million worth of specialist equipment, expressed “dismay” at the news, saying the project had been classified as a “munitions” scheme solely on the basis that it would “support the construction of naval vessels”.
Given the experience of the Scottish Government in building ferries is documented in this Wikipedia entry, which is entitled Scottish Ferry Fiasco, the SNP must know something about how not to build ships.
The comments from readers of the Times Article are scathing, with many coming from those with Scottish names.
Welding And Nuclear Power
It doesn’t mention the other big use for welding in this article and that is in the manufacture of nuclear reactors. In fact one of the members of the Rolls-Royce consortium, that will build their small modular nuclear reactors is The Welding Institute – No prizes for guessing what they do!
Does that mean that Scotland won’t have anything to do with small modular nuclear reactors? Either in their manufacture or use.
This article in New Civil Engineer is entitled UK Plans New Nuclear Plant In Scotland Despite Scottish Government Opposition.
So if the Scottish Government wants nothing to do with making expensive, quality vessels for the nuclear industry, Rolls-Royce would surely be better building the welding centre in an area of the UK that would appreciate it.
Scots In High Positions Of Power
I like Scotland and the Scots and possibly, at one time, with all the North Sea Oil and Gas, I could have thought about relocating North of the Border. But I’m very glad I didn’t!
It does seem to me though, that when some Scots get to high positions of power, that they lose all sense of reason.
I would nominate.
- Fred the Shred
- The SNP
- That half-Scot, who was lucky enough to be elected US President twice.
There must be a few others.
Would A Train Manufacturer Save CrossCountry’s Iconic Aberdeen And Penzance Route?
The article in The Times about the cancelling of CrossCountry’s iconic Aberdeen and Penzance route was entitled After 104 Years UK’s Longest Train Route Is Cancelled For Ever, I gave my post the same name and both received a number of nostalgic comments, from those, who had ridden the route or wished they had.
The Characteristics Of The Line
This article on the BBC is entitled We Had To Be On Last Run Of UK’s Longest Train Route.
This is said in the BBC article.
The connection – first established back in 1921 – is 775 miles (1,247km) long.
But electrification is rather thin on the ground.
Between Leeds and Edinburgh stations is electrified and I suspect that some of the route through Birmingham New Street and Bristol Parkway stations are also electrified, so perhaps, a battery-electric train could get a top-up on the way.
But as Leeds and Edinburgh is around 220 miles, there’s about 550 miles of the route or 70 % without electrification.
Battery Power, Hydrogen Power Or Both?
If diesel is ruled out on environmental grounds, it means that only battery or hydrogen power could be used for the route.
Despite some of the progress made by battery-electric trains in the last few years, I feel that unless the route has a large number of charging stations, then battery-electric trains will not be a practical solution.
This is a paragraph from The Times article.
Rail bosses said one of the reasons for ending the train was the difficulty keeping such a long journey on time. The fact that most customers made only short journeys along the route was also a consideration.
And this is another.
As an “express” service it was severely challenged, partly because of the long waits at a number of stations along the way, including 14 minutes at both Edinburgh Waverley and Bristol Temple Meads, and seven minutes at Birmingham New Street and Exeter St Davids.
Stopping regularly to charge the batteries, is going to make timekeeping more difficult and will probably end up with irritable passengers, after all the waiting.
So I suspect, hydrogen would be the ideal power for such a long service over a route with such sparse electrification.
But the trains, would be fitted with regenerative breaking to battery, so that kinetic energy is conserved as much as possible in the station stops.
I believe, that the trains should effectively be tri-mode or hydrogen-hybrid trains, but then many drivers praise the frugality of their hybrid cars.
Would Efficient Hydrogen-Hybrid Trains Attract More Passengers?
Consider.
- All the battery and hydrogen trains and buses, with one exception, that I have ridden on, have been mouse-quiet.
- The exception was a German hydrogen train, that had a very noisy mechanical transmission.
- I also would expect that the trains would be capable of keeping up a cruising speed of 100 mph or perhaps even 125 mph.
- This would enable them to handle the current timetable, which is written for 125 mph Class 222 diesel trains.
An efficient, unobtrusive, reliable and speedy service would surely attract passengers.
What’s In It For The Manufacturer?
Consider.
- There are not many 775 mile routes in the UK.
- But, there are many long rail around the world, that need decarbonising or even creating.
- Some countries, like China, India and France are creating more electrified high speed long-distance lines.
- Others countries, like Australia and the United States are planning and building high speed long-distance lines.
Perhaps, what is needed is a drop-in solution to decarbonise and/or create new high speed long-distance railways.
Could Aberdeen and Penzance be an ideal test bed to trial and demonstrate, your drop-in hydrogen solution?
I am reminded of a story, told to me, by a guy, who was selling an expensive air traffic control radar to an Arab state.
The initial presentations were done in the company’s offices in London.
The only working radar was installed at Prestwick Airport and had been working successfully for a couple of years, so the Arabs would be taken on a visit.
As they were very important clients, the salesman was told, that he was entitled to borrow the chairman’s executive jet for the trip.
The flight to Scotland was uneventful, but as they left the plane, the pilot said to the salesman. “There’s no finer view, than the Scottish Highlands at this time of year, I could fix it, that I gave them the view of a lifetime on the way home.”
After thinking about it for a few seconds, the salesman asked the pilot to fix it.
When they returned to the plane after a successful demonstration, the pilot said. “It’s on if you want it?”
The tale had a very happy ending, in that the Arabs bought an Air Traffic Control radar.
To return to the hydrogen trains; What better route is there to show off the capabilities of your high speed hydrogen-hybrid trains?
- There is the spectacular scenery of the North of Scotland, The Pennines and Cornwall.
- The Firth of Forth is crossed on the Forth Rail Bridge.
- There is running on the wires between Edinburgh and Leeds.
- There is the spectacular views of Durham and York from the train.
- There will be several hours of running on hydrogen.
- The Saltash Bridge is crossed.
What better route is there to sell trains?
Could CrossCountry Customer Service Be Improved?
I’ve never done a long journey on CrossCountry.
But surely, if the trains were designed for the route and the manufacturer was showing them off, the trains could have a top-of-the-range specification and high-quality service?
If you’re going to be stuck on a train for over a dozen hours the service must be good.
Conclusion
Get everything right and the train service would be an unquestionable asset to the UK and extremely good for the manufacturer.
More Trains For Fife As ScotRail Enhance Leven Services In May 2025 Timetable
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from ScotRail.
This is the sub-heading.
ScotRail is set to introduce significant timetable improvements from Sunday, 18 May 2025, with a major focus on enhancing rail connections for Fife.
This first paragraph gives more details of the improvements to services.
The new timetable will include more frequent services to and from Leven, improving access to and from Edinburgh, and better connecting communities throughout Fife. Additional carriages are also being added to some trains at the busiest times to provide more seats for customers.
It sounds to me, that services to Leven have got a bad case of London Overground Syndrome, which I define in this post, which unsurprisingly is called London Overground Syndrome. I define it like this.
This benign disease, which is probably a modern version of the Victorian railway mania, was first identified in East London in 2011, when it was found that the newly-refurbished East London Line and North London Line were inadequate due to high passenger satisfaction and much increased usage. It has now spread across other parts of the capital, despite various eradication programs.
It keeps appearing across the UK and I suspect it happens in other countries too!
As ScotRail had a severe dose of London Overground Syndrome, when they reopened the Borders Railway, you’d have think that they’d have been prepared this time.
Judge Rules Scottish Schools Must Provide Single-Sex Lavatories
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Parents win legal fight after head teacher dismissed concerns over only gender-neutral facilities
This reminds me of a lecture I went to at Emmanuel College in Cambridge given by the retiring Head of Projects at Unicef. The lecture told what Unicef had done during International Women’s Year.
One story was about why girls tended to leave school at an early age in India.
Unicef didn’t know why, although they thought it could be arranged marriages. Then someone produced a peer-reviewed paper from the University of Delhi, which blamed the fact that boys and girls shared the same toilets.
Unicef set up a program with Hari Krishna to segregate the toilets and it worked.
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.
SSE Files Plans For 100 MW Pumped Hydro Scheme
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on reNews.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
Proposal aims to convert iconic Sloy Power Station into storage facility by end of 2030
These three paragraphs outline the proposals.
SSE has submitted plans to the Scottish Government for the 100MW Sloy pumped storage hydro scheme.
The plans would see the existing Sloy Power Station – a conventional hydro power station – on the banks of Loch Lomond converted into a pumped storage hydro scheme with a pumping capacity of up to 100MW.
If given the green light, the converted Sloy scheme would be capable of delivering up to 16GWh of long-duration electricity storage capacity.
SSE intend to make an investment decision by late 2027 and this is said about increasing capacity.
As part of the planning application, SSE Renewables is also proposing to upgrade the existing 32.5MW G4 turbine to match its sister units, which would increase the station’s generating output by 7.5MW to 160MW.
This appears to be a world-class example of canny Scottish engineering.
The project would turn the current 152.5 MW hydroelectric power station into a 160 MW/16 GWh pumped storage hydroelectric power station.
Not a bad transformation, that was opened three years after I was born.
Zenobē Lands Financing For 400MW Eccles Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Solar Power Portal.
This is the sub-heading.
Battery energy storage system (BESS) developer/operator Zenobē has announced that it has successfully financed its Eccles BESS project in Scotland, in one of the biggest finance rounds in European history.
These two paragraphs add more details.
The total debt raised for the 400MW/800MWh project was £220 million, which the company says is one of the largest finance raises for a standalone BESS project ever made in Europe. The funding was provided by a group of lenders organised by National Westminster Bank and KKR Capital Markets Partners LLP. Additionally, Zenobē has announced that construction on the Eccles BESS—the company’s largest battery project to date—has begun.
The Eccles BESS is the final part of the firm’s £750 million investment in Scotland. Zenobē’s Blackhillock BESS, a 200MW/400MWh project located near Inverness, recently began commercial operations, and is set to expand to 300MW/600MWh later this year.
Zenobe seem to be able to finance these projects, without too much difficulty.
Construction seems to have started. But then, I suspect there are wind turbines in the vScottish Borders already lined up to use the batteries.
This Google Map shows an Eccles substation.
Note.
- The Eccles substation is marked by the red arrow.
- The town at the East edge of the map is Coldstream.
- The England-Scotland border is clearly marked.
This second Google Map shows a closer view of the Eccles substation.
Note.
- t looks to be a substantial substation.
- There would appear to be plenty of space for a large battery.
- It is close to the A 597 road for the delivery of heavy equipment.
I suspect this substation could be the location of the battery.
It’s also right in the heart of Scottish onshore wind territory.
It is also according to the Solar Power Portal a £220 million project.
A project of this size will deliver substantial benefits in terms of work to the local community.
It will likely have a community benefit fund or something similar.
So you would expect the project would be welcomed into the local area.
But you would be wrong, if this article on the BBC, which is entitled Village ‘Heart Ripped Out’ By Battery Site Plans, is typical of the feeling about the batteries.
This is the sub-heading.
A rural community in the Borders is warning that Scotland’s renewable energy revolution is coming at a cost.
These three paragraphs add more detail.
Residents of Leitholm – a village between Coldstream and Greenlaw – claim the heart is being ripped out of their community with the arrival of battery storage facilities.
If all six proposed facilities are approved, more than 200 acres of farmland will be turned over to concreted compounds within a three-kilometre radius of their village.
Retired nursery owner Seonaid Blackie said: “This is not the place it used to be – people are worried sick.”
The residents view is balanced by industry expert Professor John Irvine, from St Andrew’s University, believes energy storage has a vital role to play in reaching net-zero targets.
My view is what is needed is an energy storage system, that can be built substantially underground.
If you look at large Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), they are best described as container parks.
We need energy storage systems, that fit in a single tennis court, rather than thirty football pitches.
Gravitricity is one possibility, who are also Scottish, who store energy using weights in disused mine shafts.
The French system; DELPHY is also a vertical system for storing hydrogen in a custom-built hole.
Practically, I believe the solution adopted will be to spread the batteries out and spend money on surrounding them with trees and other camouflage.
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!
Scotch Whisky Is In A Unique Position
Scotland has so much zero-carbon energy now, let alone in a few years, that Scotch whisky would not be the most difficult of industries to make completely zero-carbon, which could marketing-wise completely trump any tariffs, that Trummkopf might impose.
- Already some small distilleries are using hydrogen to distill the whisky.
- Some glass bottles are already made using hydrogen instead of natural gas to make zero-carbon malt whiskies.
- I’m sure Cummins in Darlington, JCB in Rocester and Ricardo in Sussex will be pleased to help make farm machinery, mechanical handling and road transport zero carbon.
- Soft fruit like raspberries are already used to absorb the carbon dioxide from the distillation process in some areas of Scotland. I’m sure dealing with more quality raspberries would not be a problem.
- A large electrolyser is planned for Kintore in the North of Scotland. Think of the good publicity for say Centrica or SSE, if they built the world’s largest hydrogen plant to help make zero-carbon whisky.
These are some more thoughts.
Taste Is Everything
As only the method of providing heat and electricity will have been changed, I can’t see there will be any change to the taste.
It’s Already Happening
This page on the Annandale Distillery web site is entitled Annandale Distillery Pioneers Zero-Carbon Whisky Production with EXERGY 3 Project.
The Kintore Electrolyser
These figures summarise the Kintore Electrolyser.
- Total Electrolyser Capacity – 3 GW
- First Phase – 500 MW
- Hydrogen – 200 kTonnes per year
Explore the Kintore Hydrogen web site.
Marketing Advantage
Scotland, is probably, the only country, where the main ingredients for whisky come together in abundance ; barley, energy, tradition and water.
It also is all produced in a single country in many different brands and types, which could all be produced in a zero-carbon manner.
Conclusion
Let’s give Trump a beating and the planet a kiss.
1.1 GW Inch Cape Wind Farm Entering Offshore Construction Phase
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
ESB and Red Rock Renewables have reached a financial close on the 1,080 MW Inch Cape offshore wind farm in Scotland, and the project will now progress into its offshore construction phase.
Inch Cape will be a 1.1 GW wind farm, which as this web site/data sheet shows could be capable of generating enough green energy to power more than half of Scotland’s homes.
Highlights from the data sheet include.
- Represents an around £3 billion investment in the UK’s electrical infrastructure
- Will contribute significantly to the UK Government’s target of 50 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind installed capacity by 2030
- Constitutes 10% of the Scottish Government’s ambition of 11 GW of offshore wind installed by 2030
- As at Q1 2025, has already invested almost £300 million with 300 UK companies (more than £100 million in Scotland with 120 Scottish companies)
- Is set to spend a further (approx.) £700 million with UK supply chain (and create associated direct and indirect jobs)
- Efficient re-use of a brownfield site in East Lothian (of former coal-fired power station) including existing grid capacity and established transmission infrastructure
- The offshore substation is being built by Siemnens and Smulders at Wallsend on Tyneside.
- On track to deliver at least 50% UK content over life cycle of the project
- Will mean large investment in a new facility in the Port of Montrose and more than 50 long-term skilled local jobs
- Once operational the wind farm will reduce carbon emissions by 2.5 million tonnes per year compared to using fossil-fuels.
I like this project.
- It has a capacity of 1.1 GW.
- The turbines are 15 MW Vestas units.
- The connection to the grid is at the site of the demolished Cockenzie coal-fired power station.
- 50 % of the content of the £ 3 million project is British, spread among three hundred companies. That is certainly spreading the money around.
- I calculate that, when the turbines are fully turning, the Inch Cape wind farm will generate £ 44, 201.38 per hour or just over a million pounds per day.
I suspect we will be seeing lots more wind farms like this in the next thirty or forty years.
These are currently under construction.
- Neart Na Gaoithe – Scotland – 450 MW
- Sofia – England – 1400 MW
- Dogger Bank A – England – 1235 MW
- Dogger Bank B – England – 1235 MW
- Dogger Bank C – England – 1218 MW
- Moray West – Scotland – 882 MW
- East Anglia 3 – England – 1372 MW
- Total – 7792 MW
These are pre-construction.
- Hornsea 3 – England – 2852 vMW
- Inch Cape – Scotland – 1080 MW
- Total – 3932 MW
These are proposed wind farms – Contracts for difference Round 4
- Norfolk Boreas – Round 1 – 1380 MW
- Total – 1380 MW
These are proposed wind farms – Contracts for difference Round 6
- Hornsea 4 – England – 2400 MW
- East Anglia 2 – England – 963 MW
- Greeen Volt – Scotland – 400 MW
- Total – 3763 MW
These are proposed wind farms – Early Planning
- East Anglia 1 North – England – 800 MW
- Rampion 2 Extension – England – 1200 MW
- Norfolk Vanguard East – 1380 MW
- Norfolk Vanguard West – 1380 MW
- Dogger Bank South – England – 3000 MW
- Awel y Môr – Wales – 500 MW
- Five Estuaries – England – 353 MW
- North Falls – England – 504 MW
- Dogger Bank D – England – 1320 MW
- Berwick Bank – Scotland – 4100 MW
- Seagreen Phase 1A – Scotland – 500 MW
- Outer Dowsing – England – 1500 MW
- Morecambe – England – 480 MW
- Mona – England – 1500 MW
- Morgan – England – 1500 MW
- Morven – England – 2907 MW
- Ossian – Scotland – 3610 MW
- Bellrock – Scotland – 1200 MW
- CampionWind – Scotland – 2000 MW
- Muir Mhòr – Scotland – 798 MW
- Bowdun – Scotland – 1008 MW
- Ayre – Scotland – 1008 MW
- Broadshore – Scotland – 900 MW
- Caledonia – Scotland – 2000 MW
- Stromar – Scotland – 1000 MW
- MarramWind – Scotland – 3000 MW
- Buchan – Scotland – 960 MW
- West of Orkney – Scotland – 2000 MW
- Havbredey – Scotland – 1500 MW
- N3 Project – Scotland – 495 MW
- Spiorad na Mara – Scotland – 840 MW
- MachairWind – Scotland – 2000 MW
- Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon Extensions – England – 719 MW
- Llŷr 1 – Wales – 100 MW
- Llŷr 2 – Wales – 100 MW
- Whitecross – England – 100 MW
- Total – 48262 MW
- Grand Total – 57337 MW
57337 MW would have enough electricity left over to replace Germany’s gas.
The Anonymous Widower 