SOFIA WIND FARM - SIEMENS GAMESA

Siemens Gamesa has received a firm order from RWE to supply wind turbines for the 1.4 GW Sofia wind farm offshore the UK.

Located 195 kilometers off the northeast coast of the United Kingdom on Dogger Bank, Sofia will feature 100 SG 14-222 DD wind turbines.

Under the contract, Siemens Gamesa will also service and maintain the wind turbines for a period of two years.

The installation of the wind turbines is scheduled to start in 2025, Siemens Gamesa said. Final project completion is expected by the fourth quarter of 2026. This is Siemens Gamesa’s first firm order for its largest turbine model in the portfolio.

”The UK is the world’s largest offshore wind market, so it is appropriate that it should be the first to install the world’s largest turbine in production, the SG 14-222 DD,” Marc Becker, CEO of the Siemens Gamesa Offshore Business Unit , said.

”We are proud to be partnering with RWE on another highly significant project, and to bring our industry-leading machine to this huge development. A wind power project of this scale is possible due to the cutting-edge use of technology in the turbines, in their manufacturing, and in installation. Rapid innovation of proven technology has made this leap in generating capacity possible – and with it a leap forward toward the goals of decarbonising energy and achieving Net Zero - Link

RECHARGE - H2 SHIPPING

SPECIAL REPORT | Is hydrogen the best option to decarbonise land transport, shipping and aviation?

Elon Musk believes hydrogen-powered road transport is 'mind-bogglingly stupid', but clean-hydrogen-derived fuels may be needed for ships and planes, writes Leigh Collins - subscribe to RECHARGE - Leigh Collins - link - more like this - link

YANMAR H2 BOAT PROTOTYPE

Last year, Yanmar announced that it was looking at developing a maritime system using hydrogen fuel cells from Toyota's Mirai production line. 

Now a passenger boat prototype has hit the water off the coast of Kunisaki in the Oita Prefecture in Japan.

The Japanese government recently announced a plan to move towards a carbon neutral economy by 2050, and part of that plan is to develop cleaner power and energy technologies.

Indeed, the International Maritime Organization is already looking at ways to get its greenhouse in order and reduce emissions to zero by the turn of the century. One fuel that shows promise is hydrogen, though production will need to shift from mostly dirty to mostly green for maximum benefit.

Japan and Korea are already investing heavily in hydrogen as a fuel source for vehicles, and Yanmar is looking to put Toyota's Mirai fuel cell powertrain to use for maritime applications - Link

TOYOTA AUSTRALIA H2 PRODUCTION FACILITY OPENS

Toyota Australia has unveiled a hydrogen production facility and refuelling station at its decommissioned car factory in Altona, Melbourne, ahead of the arrival in Australia of its second-generation fuel-cell car, the Mirai FCEV.

The facility includes a 200-kilowatt electrolyser powered by an on-site 84-kilowatt solar array and a 100-kilowatt battery.

The electrolyser has the capacity to make 80 kilograms of hydrogen per day, enough to fill only around 14 Toyota Mirais, which will arrive in Australia in April.

The centre also includes a stationary fuel cell that can be used to generate electricity to power the site. The $7.37 million facility was built with a $3.04 million investment from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

Toyota is pitching the centre as the “first commercial refuelling station in Victoria”, and given the scarcity of hydrogen refuelling options, it is under no illusions about demand. Instead, it is promoting it as an early-stage testing ground for hydrogen technology - Link

LOOP ENERGY TO SUPPLY RHEINTAL-TRANSPORTE GMBH

Companies playing in the hydrogen fuel cell space haven’t yet captured the public imagination — but that could change soon.

Few people took notice this week when Vancouver-based Loop Energy Inc. announced that a German freight haulage company may order 20 of its hydrogen fuel cells for use in an electric truck fleet.

The potential order from Germany’s Rheintal-Transporte GmbH & Co.KG, to be spaced out over the next two years, hardly suggests a green energy revolution.

“The numbers are not that massive,” George Rubin, Loop’s chief commercial officer acknowledged to the Financial Post. “You’re talking about 10 trucks here, 20 trucks there.”

But he added, “What you see right now, is sort of the green shoots of this application, the early adopters coming through, and that’s why the numbers are not huge.”

After 20 years of research and development, Loop Energy is finally starting to commercialize its patented eFlow hydrogen fuel cell technology. In February, the company raised $100 million from an initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange that priced shares at $16 apiece - link

MYANMAR ARMED FORCES MURDER 64 IN ONE DAY

Dozens of civilians, including children, were reported killed across Myanmar on Saturday as the military government put on a major show of strength for the annual Armed Forces Day, even as it struggles to quell widespread protests against its rule.

Protesters against the February 1 military coup came out on the streets of Yangon, Mandalay and other towns, defying a military warning that they could be shot “in the head and back” - Link

BOREALIS & TOMRA SORTING NEW FACILUTY

Tomra Sorting Systems and Borealis have started up their state-of-the-art mechanical recycling pilot plant in Germany. It separates post-consumer plastic waste there for the first time and delivers market-ready polymer materials.

"The plant embodies the principles of the platform founded by Borealis to research innovations in the field of circular plastics," explains Lucrèce Foufopoulos, Borealis Executive Vice President Polyolefins, Innovation & Technology and Circular Economy Solutions. 

"We offer brand owners and converters high-quality recycled material that can be used for the most demanding applications."

The facility can recycle both film and solid plastic household waste. And unlike many other recycling plants, it delivers advanced material solutions needed for plastics applications in numerous sectors, such as consumer products and automotive applications. With their high purity, low odor, high product durability and slight color variations, the recycled polyolefins meet customers' quality criteria along the entire value chain.

The purpose of this demo plant is to manufacture products for brand owners and converters and to test and prove their suitability for the demanding applications. Successful technical implementation will form the basis for an advanced commercial-scale recycling facility - Link

WINDPARK FRYSLAN - SIEMENS GAMESA

The first of the 89 Siemens Gamesa 4.3 MW wind turbines has been installed at Windpark Fryslân, the world’s largest wind farm in inland fresh waters.

Located in the IJsselmeer Lake and some six kilometres off the Frisian coast, the Netherlands, the 382.7 MW Windpark Fryslân wind farm is being constructed by the Zuiderzeewind consortium of Van Oord and Siemens Gamesa.

The turbine components are feedered from ships and barges to the Sarens Soccer Pitch, a working platform devised specifically for this project - Link

DOGGER BANK EQUITY SALE

SSE Plc and Equinor ASA plan to put a stake up for sale in what will be the world’s biggest offshore wind farm off the coast of the U.K.

Offshore wind farms, some of the biggest renewable power plants, are in increasing demand from financial investors and energy majors looking to diversify their businesses. 

The utilities have appointed Rothschild and Co. to lead the equity sale and are in the process of raising the debt, Jim Smith, the managing director SSE Renewables, said in an interview.

The 3.6-gigawatt Dogger Bank wind farm will use turbines the size of skyscrapers from General Electric Co. It will provide enough power for 6 million U.K. homes when the project is completed later this decade.

The companies have divided the project into three 1.2-gigawatt sections. The current sale will be for a stake in the final 1.2-gigawatt area known as Dogger Bank C - Link - more like this - link

BULB ENERGY TOPS FT1000 RANKING

While working as a management consultant at Bain, Hayden Wood was sent to one of Britain’s top six energy suppliers. What he witnessed was “quite a shock”. 

“I would come back from a day at work and we would be chatting in the pub and I’d say: ‘You wouldn’t believe what I am seeing . . . some of these software packages are from the early 90s’,” recalls Wood. “I just thought the energy companies could be investing in innovation and new technology and creating better experiences for their customers.” 

So he co-founded Bulb Energy, a UK energy supplier, in 2015. It now tops the latest FT-Statista ranking of Europe’s 1,000 fastest-growing companies, with 2019 revenues of £1.7bn and a 2016-19 compound annual growth rate of 1,159 per cent (Statista calculates revenues according to calendar year; Bulb’s year end is March 31). 

Wood co-founded the company with Amit Gudka — a friend he first met at a music festival in Croatia, who had spent nearly eight years as an energy trader at Barclays. Gudka became Bulb’s chief energy officer and, although he has since left, he retains a seat on the board - Link

HYPOINT NEWS

With airlines and the wider aviation industry announcing their commitment to reach ambitious sustainability goals over the next few decades, hydrogen will feature prominently. 

The element can allow for clean aviation fuel and contains nearly three times as much energy as standard fossil fuels. While the cultivation of hydrogen in air travel is still in its infancy, there have been questions about the timeline of its application. 

However, there have been significant recent breakthroughs achieved by HyPoint, a specialist in the field - Link

1,500 WIND TURBINES

Off the coast of New Jersey these days, surveillance vessels hired by European energy companies are taking measurements of the ocean depths, and underwater research drones are analyzing water temperatures to accumulate data on the Mid-Atlantic "Cold Pool."

Onshore in places like the Port of Paulsboro along the Delaware River south of Camden and Philadelphia, labor unions, port officials and politicians are angling for new marine terminals to build and ship off massive steel monopiles.

And in weekly board meetings, state-appointed officials in charge of the Garden State's public utilities are discussing massive overhauls to the power grid and many miles of new transmission lines.

Billions of dollars will be invested in the next several years — at sea and on land — to erect hundreds of wind turbines miles from the coast in order to bring New Jersey 7,500 megawatts of renewable energy. That's enough to power half of the state's 1.5 million homes.

Eight other states along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States have embarked on similar endeavors, preparing for the arrival of a new era in American energy - Link

TIDAL POWER

Tidal energy: it’s a much discussed, yet significantly underappreciated subject, despite the fact these projects could deliver huge benefits to society, delivering no-carbon power by tapping into the only constant, everlasting renewable our planet has.

Unfortunately, the UK’s tidal power potential remains untapped, and it baffles me why this remains the case, given we enjoy high tidal ranges in the Severn Estuary, the Dee Estuary and the Bristol Channel. This makes our waters ideal for this type of energy generation.

As demand for electricity increases and we strive towards Net Zero 2050, we will need to think more seriously about where our power comes from. Current renewable output is not enough to satisfy the public and businesses’ growing appetite for energy.

Policy makers will be looking for a solution to this and I predict this will spark a resurgent interest in tidal. The market has evolved since Swansea released its plans, and we’re on the cusp of game-changing solutions coming to market which truly deliver, both in terms of performance, value and sustainability - Link - more like this - link

WE'RE DEFINITELY NOT IN THIS TOGETHER

 If ever we needed confirmation that leaving the Fourth Reich was the right thing to do, the EU's incompetence over vaccinating it's citizens is it.

The subservient French government with its history of surrender would rather watch it's proud people suffer and possibly die than go against its German leaders; banning the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine for no other reason than its British.

Now threatening to block delivery of vaccine legally purchased by Britain but made in Europe with the potential outcome of increased British deaths from Covid, the Fourth Reich has laid out its store - we're definitely not in this together - link 

UNDERDOG CARDS FOR SALE

Buy your Smegwell Gold underdog card today - £19.99 from Wilco, Robert Dyas, the Range and F W Wokeworths.

Available to all even if you've totally invented your discrimination, simply play the Smegwell Gold underdog card whenever you like, as often as you like and for no apparent reason and you'll be instantly untouchable with a forcefield around you and enjoy the backing of thousands of likeminded wokers.

You can play as many Smegwell Gold underdog cards as you like at any time in the knowledge that anyone who dares to question you will lose their job; you'll get free media coverage and the support of the BBC.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE: 

The causes of people across the planet who are truly discriminated against because of the colour of their skin, their sexuality, religion or gender are now being lost in a sea of overreaction to comparitively privileged people who either selectively perceive or actively look to be offended after fifteen minutes of fame - being offended is the new celebrity.

Disclaimer - there's no such thing as a Smegwell Gold underdog card and any resemblance to real life events or litigious people is coincidental and I apologise in advance of anyone taking me to court. 

STIG

 

BP H2TEESIDE

Energy group BP has announced plans to build Britain’s largest hydrogen plant by 2030. The facility would treat natural gas to extract hydrogen, and capture the carbon dioxide produced in the process.

BP announced its plans to boost use of hydrogen as a fuel by building a large hydrogen plant in Teesside, in the north of England. The ‘H2Teesside’ plant will have capacity of up to 1GW of ‘blue hydrogen’: a fifth of the UK’s 2030 target of 5GW hydrogen capacity.

‘Green’ hydrogen is produced by splitting water by electrolysis to produce hydrogen and oxygen, requiring a large energy input. Blue hydrogen, however, is produced by splitting natural gas into hydrogen and carbon dioxide through steam methane reforming or autothermal reforming; the carbon is then captured to leave almost pure hydrogen. This does not require additional energy input, although it will require considerable work to develop and implement carbon capture technology effectively.

Although carbon capture and storage technologies are frequently characterised as something of a saviour in the context of decarbonisation strategies, there are only around 20 commercial carbon capture facilities in the world - Link

VORTEX BLADELESS

A Madrid-based green energy company is pioneering the use of bladeless windfarms to harness wind energy.

Created by startup Vortex Bladeless, the 3m-high cylindrical turbines are designed to oscillate within the wind range, generating electricity from the vibration.

The bladeless design recently won the approval of Norway’s state energy company Equinor, which named Vortex on a list of the 10 most exciting startups in the energy sector. It will also offer the firm development support through its tech accelerator programme.

Vortex Bladeless inventor David Yáñez told The Guardian that the firm is “not against traditional windfarms” but its technology “has different characteristics which can help to fill the gaps where traditional windfarms might not be appropriate”.

This could include urban and residential areas where there is limited space to build traditional windfarms and where reduced visual impact would be welcome. According to Yáñez the main benefit of the technology is “in reducing its environmental impact, its visual impact, and the cost of operating and maintaining the turbine” - Link

IRENA URGES GREATER INVESTMENT

Renewable electricity production needs to grow eight times faster than the current rate to help limit global heating, according to a report.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) said urgent action was needed to keep pace with rising demand for electricity, which could require a total investment of $131tn in renewables by 2050.

Francesco La Camera, the director general of Irena, said the “window of opportunity” to achieve the goals of the Paris climate agreement was closing fast.

“The recent trends show that the gap between where we are and where we should be is not decreasing but widening. We are heading in the wrong direction,” La Camera said. “We need a drastic acceleration of energy transitions to make a meaningful turnaround. Time will be the most important variable to measure our efforts.” - Link

FIRST HYDROGEN EXCHANGE-TRADED FUND

A New Way To Invest In The $11 Trillion Hydrogen Boom.

After decades of stagnation and multiple false dawns, the hydrogen economy is now ready for prime time. Investments in hydrogen technologies have skyrocketed over the past two years, with hydrogen being touted as the 'fuel of the future.' 

Meanwhile, industry experts predict that hydrogen could become a globally traded energy source, just like oil and gas, while Bank of America says the industry is at a tipping point and set to explode into an $11 trillion marketplace.

Investors who wanted to gain exposure to the hydrogen have had to mostly rely on fuel-cell makers such as Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG), Bloom Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:BE), and Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ:BLDP).

That is, until now. Defiance ETFs, the creator of a line of next-generation exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has just launched the first-ever hydrogen ETF, Next Gen H2 Fund (HDRO) - Link - picture link

HS2 TO REPURPOSE TURBNE BLADES

HS2 Ltd has announced a pilot project to repurpose worn-out wind turbine blades for use on the high speed rail project.

The innovation, believed to be a world first, will use suitable sections cut from decommissioned wind turbine blades in reinforced concrete instead of steel rebar.

HS2 Ltd estimates that the world-first project will cut carbon production by up to 90%.

The initiative is being taken forward under HS2 Ltd’s innovation programme by Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture, and the UK’s National Composites Centre, part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult.

HS2 Ltd innovation manager Rob Cairns said: “Reusing old turbine blades reduces waste, cuts demand for new steel and reduces the carbon generated during the production of concrete.

“This scheme is a brilliant example of the innovation happening on the whole HS2 project. If our world-first pilot project goes well, we could see a waste product from the energy industry becoming an essential material for the construction sector in the future.” Link

SORRY FOR BEING ME

I feel that I should apologise. 

Why is it acceptable for the media to suggest that being a man I'm dangerous to women and a potential rapist?

Why is it acceptable for the media to suggest that being white I'm a racist enjoying the spoils of slavery?

Why is it acceptable for the media to suggest that being a meat eater I don't care about the environment?

Why is it acceptable for the media to suggest that being straight I'm probably homophobic?

Why is it absolutely OK to continually knock men in the media making us feel that we should be constantly apologising? Picture link

GE TOP TURBINE INSTALLER 2020

General Electric Co. became the top wind turbine installer in the world last year as generous subsidies supercharged the market.

Renewable power developers added a record 96.3 gigawatts of wind turbines in 2020, up 58% from the year before, according to research from BloombergNEF. With solar, wind is becoming one of the cheapest ways to produce electricity and a key part of governments’ efforts to eliminate dependence on fossil fuels.

GE and Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. Ltd. lead the way in the booming U.S. and China markets and were the top two suppliers of turbines globally. The result means Vestas Wind Systems A/S is bumped from the top spot for the first time in five years - Link

AERODELFT PHOENIX PT

AeroDelft has revealed the finished structure of its prototype aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen.

Dubbed Phoenix PT, the new aircraft was revealed in February and brings the team one step closer to achieving sustainable aviation.

AeroDelft said the next step is to take the aircraft to the skies, requiring the internal components that power the propellor, as well as the certification of the plane to be finished,

As the engineers working on these components, such as the hydrogen tank, fuel cell and motor, are rounding up production, the testing phase will commence.

It is hoped that the team will perform the first battery electric flight with the prototype this spring, and in the summer, the first flight on gaseous hydrogen will take place.

Of course, such revolution doesn’t come without its challenges and Covid-19 was definitely one of these for the team as they had to adopt home working, just like many others around the globe - Link

(IAN) OXFORD 146

Woodstock Road - link - more like this - link

PROJECT SAOIRSE

Floating wind turbine technology is just starting to get off the ground, and now suddenly wave energy is coming around to turbo-boost the industry. 

If all goes according to plan, a new floating wind-plus-wave project off the coast of Ireland will demonstrate how nations with a coastline can accelerate the clean energy transition and meet their 2050 net zero carbon goals just in time to thwart catastrophic climate change. You listening, USA?

Floating wind turbines aim at harvesting wind power from offshore sites that are too deep for fixed-platform structures. Attach a tether to something that floats, and you could put a wind turbine just about anywhere.

That greatly expands the opportunities for coastal nations like the US, which is already on track to festoon the relatively shallow waters of the Atlantic coast with offshore wind farms but has yet to dip a toe into the deeper waters of the Pacific (the Gulf of Mexico is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish, more on that later) - Link

INDIA @ 38GW WIND ENERGY CAPACITY

India is the world’s fourth country by cumulative wind energy capacity – currently at 38GW.

Every journey begins with a single step. When Siemens Gamesa (then Gamesa) entered India, a community of business owners in Tamil Nadu, the country’s wind capital in the country’s south west, saw wind turbine generation as an attractive investment. 

In a way, this community pioneered India’s wind sector long before Independent Power Producers (IPPs) emerged. As the company celebrates 10 years in the country, we look at some of the early partnerships that spurred an energy transition in India and Sri Lanka.

India is the world’s fourth largest country by cumulative wind capacity – currently at 38GW, and installations are expected to reach 53GW by 2024. As a top player and current market leader, Siemens Gamesa, has been a major enabler in this journey - Link

TOM TOM CLUB

 

BLUE SEAS TO GREEN HYDROGEN

Saltwater could be used to produce green hydrogen using a system that combines electrochemical water splitting with forward osmosis. 

The approach could allow up-scaling of hydrogen fuel production using the planet’s predominantly salty natural water sources without pre-treatment or purification.

Using solar energy to electrochemically split water into oxygen and hydrogen, akin to how plants photosynthesise, shows much promise for renewable energy. The hydrogen that’s liberated can then be mixed with carbon dioxide to make hydrogen fuels.

However, efficient water splitting depends on catalytic electrodes, which usually require pure water at basic conditions to avoid damage. Scaling up water splitting to ultimately produce hydrogen fuels has, therefore, been limited by the need for costly desalination and purification processes to obtain enough pure deionised water. Meanwhile, most natural water sources are impure. Around 96.5% of the planet’s water is brackish or seawater, containing dissolved salts and organic matter that are corrosive to standard catalysts - link

NIO SALES SURGE

BEIJING — Chinese consumers thinking about whether to buy Tesla’s electric cars or local alternatives have two things at the top of their minds: price and driving range.

That’s according to anecdotes gathered by CNBC — conversations from around the country that do not represent qualitative research. But the comments shed light on what some consumers care about in China, the world’s largest auto market.

U.S.-listed Chinese car start-ups Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto saw deliveries surge last year despite a slump in the overall auto market and the coronavirus pandemic. Shares of the companies soared in 2020, but pulled back slightly this year.

To be clear, Tesla is still the market leader for high-end electric vehicles in China. During a quick check at the start of the evening commute one day, CNBC found 11 Tesla cars passing by, along with two Nio SUVs, one from WM Motor and Xpeng’s latest P7 sedan - link

UNIVERSAL MOTORCYCLE BATTERY

One of the biggest obstacles for industry adoption in the early days of EVs was the plurality of charging options. 

Today, we still have CHAdeMO, CCS, and Tesla’s own proprietary standard all battling it out in the US, with other standards still in play throughout the rest of the world as well. But that’s the car business, and, while it’s very similar to the motorcycle business, it’s different. 

There’s a bit more collaboration, maybe, and (outside of Harley-Davidson‘s “core buyer” group), a little more camaraderie, even. As such, it should probably not be totally surprising to hear that the major motorcycle players have all agreed to a single, shared EV battery standard for their upcoming electric models.

“The worldwide electrification effort to reduce CO2 on a global scale is accelerating, especially in Europe,” says Noriaki Abe, the Managing Officer of Motorcycle Operations at Honda. “For the widespread adoption of electric motorcycles, problems such as travel distance and charging times need to be addressed, and swappable batteries are a promising solution. Considering customer convenience, standardization of swappable batteries and wide adoption of battery systems is vital, which is why the four member manufacturers agreed to form the Consortium.” - Link - more like this - link

WELCON WINS HUGE SIEMENS ORDER

Siemens Gamesa has ordered 140 offshore wind turbine towers for three different projects at Denmark’s Welcon.

78 towers will be manufactured for the 1.5 GW Hollandse Kust Zuid (HKZ) wind farm in the Dutch North Sea, 38 towers for the 342 MW Kaskasi project in the German North Sea, and 24 towers for the 450 MW Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) wind farm off the Fife coast, Scotland.

The first towers for Vattenfall’s Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm will be ready for delivery at the end of 2021, and the remaining units are to be supplied throughout 2022 together with the towers for the Kaskasi and the NnG wind farms.

Expanding to Meet the Demand

The ever-increasing sizes of wind turbines require larger and larger towers. To keep up with this development, Welcon has during the last years made significant investments in the facility in Give, Denmark - Link

THE EUROPA SEAWAYS

Every week, the DFDS ferry shuttles the 480 kilometres between Copenhagen and Oslo, burning 35 tons of oil on its two-day journey, spewing filthy emissions from its smoke stack as it travels. But this is slowly changing. 

By 2027, the Danish shipping firm hopes a new ship, the Europa Seaways, will run that route powered by compressed hydrogen and emitting only clean water in its wake.

The marine industry is one of the dirty secrets of climate change: we hear about cars, the cloud and even cows contributing to emissions, but marine transport emits 940 million tonnes of CO2 annually and is responsible for 2.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to the dirty oil and diesel that's burned for propulsion. 

"If international shipping was a country, it would be the fifth or sixth highest in the world [for greenhouse gases], between Germany and Japan," says Simon Bullock, a researcher at the University of Manchester's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research - Link