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Tag: North Sea

  • Dutch declare world first as North Sea offshore wind farms powered down to offer protection to migratory birds

    Wind generators within the North Sea, off the coast of the Netherlands. As extra wind farms are advanced, the interplay between generators and birds will transform an more and more necessary factor.

    Mischa Keijser | Symbol Supply | Getty Pictures

    Offshore wind farms within the North Sea have been not too long ago “close down” in a bid to offer protection to migratory birds and supply them with secure passage, in a transfer described as an “world first” through a Dutch minister.

    Offshore wind farms on the subject of Borssele and Egmond aan Zee have been powered all the way down to a most of simply two rotations in step with minute on Would possibly 13, in step with Dutch government. The four-hour shutdown is a part of a pilot initiative.

    “That is a global first, nowhere on this planet are wind farms at sea close down to offer protection to birds all the way through large chicken migration,” Rob Jetten, the Netherlands’ minister for local weather and effort coverage, mentioned in a Google-translated observation issued on Monday.

    “We need to stay the have an effect on of wind farms on nature as small as imaginable and we do that with this measure, amongst different issues,” Jetten added.

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    In the similar free up, the Dutch executive mentioned it anticipated wind farms to be “close down extra frequently” from q4 onwards, with the intention to supply secure passage for migratory birds flying over the North Sea.

    The initiative makes use of a lot of equipment to resolve when turbine output must be decreased, together with a type advanced through a College of Amsterdam PhD pupil and inputs from mavens in chicken migration. Each supply predictions about when and the place birds can be, two days upfront.

    “The time span of 2 days offers grid operator TenneT time to ensure the steadiness of the high-voltage grid,” government mentioned. “This time could also be used to tell all events concerned and to scrupulously start up the shutdown of the generators.”

    The inside track represents the most recent instance of ways the interplay between wind generators and flora and fauna will transform more and more necessary within the years forward.

    Previous this yr, it used to be introduced that plans for an onshore wind farm in Scotland have been revised, following a lot of issues that incorporated the mission’s have an effect on on golden eagles.

    Brussels-based trade frame WindEurope says the results of initiatives will also be averted “through adequately making plans, siting, and designing wind farms.”

    “The have an effect on of wind farms on birds and bats is terribly low in comparison to the have an effect on of local weather alternate and different human task,” it provides.

  • A submerged buoy-like tool is harnessing the ocean’s ‘epic quantities of power’ in Scottish trial

    The Waveswing tool pictured ahead of it was once put thru its paces in Scapa Go with the flow, Orkney.

    Sea-based trials of a wave power converter weighing 50 metric lots have produced “extremely encouraging effects,” in step with the corporate at the back of its building.

    On Tuesday, Scotland-based AWS Ocean Power stated the common quantity of energy its tool was once in a position to seize “all through a duration of reasonable wave prerequisites” got here to greater than 10 kilowatts, whilst it additionally recorded peaks of 80 kW.

    As well as, AWS stated its Waveswing was once in a position to function in tougher prerequisites, together with Drive 10 gales.

    The piece of apparatus — which has been described as a “submerged wave energy buoy” — has a diameter of four meters and stands 7 meters tall.

    The Waveswing, AWS Ocean Power says, “reacts to adjustments in sub-sea water power brought about by means of passing waves and converts the ensuing movement to electrical energy by way of a direct-drive generator.”

    In comparison to extra established renewable applied sciences, the 16 kilowatt Waveswing is small. Corporations like Denmark’s Vestas, for example, are running on 15 megawatt wind generators.

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    This section of trying out is ready to wrap up ahead of the top of this 12 months, with extra checks set to be performed in 2023.

    When it comes to real-world programs, AWS Ocean Power CEO Simon Gray stated the Waveswing had options that made it “perfect for far off energy programs reminiscent of powering subsea oilfield property and oceanographic tracking.”

    Gray later added that the company additionally anticipated to “increase platforms internet hosting as much as twenty 500 kW devices with a possible capability of 10 MW in keeping with platform.”

    The ocean trials are going down at a Ecu Marine Power Centre trying out website online within the sheltered waters of Scapa Go with the flow, Orkney.

    An archipelago, Orkney is situated north of the Scottish mainland. EMEC, which is founded there, has transform a significant hub for the advance of wave and tidal energy since its inception in 2003.

    Neil Kermode, who’s EMEC’s managing director, stated it have been “nice to peer the Waveswing deploy, live on and function at our check website online this 12 months.”

    “We all know there are epic quantities of power within the seas round the United Kingdom and certainly the arena,” Kermode went on so as to add. “It’s in reality rewarding to peer a Scottish corporate make such development in harvesting this in reality sustainable power.”

    Whilst there may be pleasure about the possibility of marine power, the footprint of wave and tidal circulate initiatives stays very small in comparison to different renewables.

    In information launched in March 2022, Ocean Power Europe stated 2.2 megawatts of tidal circulate capability was once put in in Europe ultimate 12 months, in comparison to simply 260 kilowatts in 2020.

    For wave power, 681 kW was once put in, which OEE stated was once a threefold building up. Globally, 1.38 MW of wave power got here on-line in 2021, whilst 3.12 MW of tidal circulate capability was once put in.

    By means of comparability, Europe put in 17.4 gigawatts of wind energy capability in 2021, in step with figures from trade frame WindEurope.

  • ‘Deeply being concerned’: Liz Truss’ pick out for Britain’s power leader slammed by means of local weather campaigners

    Jacob Rees-Mogg photographed in London on Sept. 7, 2022. The lawmaker not too long ago referred to as for extra fossil gas extraction from the North Sea.

    Carl Courtroom | Getty Photographs Information | Getty Photographs

    LONDON — The U.Ok.’s new secretary of state for industry, power and commercial technique is a lawmaker who not too long ago referred to as for extra fossil gas extraction from the North Sea and described fracking as an “fascinating alternative.”

    Jacob-Rees Mogg, who’s the MP for North East Somerset within the southwest of England, was once showed in his position on Tuesday night time.

    All through a telephone in with radio station LBC again in April, and previous to his place in new Top Minister Liz Truss’ cupboard, Rees-Mogg introduced some perception into how he would possibly glance to form coverage within the months forward.

    “We wish to be enthusiastic about extracting each remaining cubic inch of gasoline from the North Sea as a result of we wish safety of provide,” he stated.

    “However 2050 is a very long time off,” he added, regarding the U.Ok.’s legally binding objective of chopping greenhouse gasoline emissions to net-zero by means of the center of this century.

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    “We aren’t seeking to transform net-zero the next day to come, and we’re going to want fossil fuels in the intervening time, and we must use ours, that we’ve got to be had,” Rees-Mogg stated.

    He later doubled down at the want for fossil fuels, pointing out that “we need to get oil out of the North Sea, we need to get extra gasoline out of the North Sea.”

    And on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, Rees-Mogg stated, “if we are sitting on lots of gasoline, that turns out fairly an enchanting alternative.”

    This kind of perspective stands in stark distinction to the perspectives expressed by means of high-profile figures such because the U.N. Secretary Basic, Antonio Guterres.

    Again in June, Guterres slammed new investment for fossil gas exploration, describing it as “delusional” and calling for an abandonment of fossil gas finance.

    Going nuclear

    In his telephone in with LBC, Rees-Mogg stated he was once “very a lot in want of going nuclear” and “very fascinated by … modular nuclear reactors.”

    Offshore wind, he stated, was once “offering an expanding a part of our provide, and that’s vital, however you do not all the time know the place the wind goes to blow, that’s the downside, while nuclear supplies baseload.”

    Rees-Mogg has additionally gave the impression skeptical in regards to the significance of performing now relating to rolling out renewables and tackling local weather trade. Chatting with ChatPolitics in 2014, for example, he stated he “would really like my constituents to have affordable power fairly greater than I would really like them to have windmills.”

    Requested in regards to the local weather and world warming, he introduced up the next take. “I am all in want of long-term coverage making, however I believe seeking to forecast the local weather for 1000 years and what little steps you are making now with the ability to trade it’s unrealistic, and I believe the price of it’s almost definitely unaffordable. You wish to have to take a look at ameliorating the results of the rest that can occur.”

    Rees-Mogg’s perspectives have already triggered a barrage of complaint from environmental organizations.

    Dave Timms, head of political views at Pals of the Earth, stated hanging Rees-Mogg in command of power coverage was once “deeply being concerned for somebody involved in regards to the deepening local weather emergency, fixing the cost-of-living disaster and retaining our gas expenses down for just right.”

    In other places, Greenpeace UK’s head of politics, Rebecca Newsom, described Rees-Mogg as being “the remaining one who must be in command of the power temporary, on the worst imaginable second.”

    CNBC contacted the Division for Industry, Power & Commercial Technique for remark, however didn’t obtain a reaction forward of this tale’s e-newsletter.

    Power disaster

    Rees-Mogg is a part of the cupboard assembled by means of the U.Ok.’s new Top Minister, Liz Truss.

    Truss is assuming administrative center at a time of important turmoil and uncertainty in power markets, with many Ecu nations making an attempt to wean themselves off Russian fossil fuels following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.  

    All through an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg over the weekend, Truss equipped an perception into her perspectives at the topic.

    “We, in reality, as a rustic, depend reasonably little on gasoline from Russia,” she stated, noting that this was once now not the case in Europe.

    It was once vital, she went directly to argue, “that we increase renewables, we increase nuclear, that we paintings with our Ecu companions to increase choice kinds of power.”

    “It is usually essential we use the assets within the North Sea,” Truss, who was once talking ahead of her victory within the Conservative Birthday party’s management contest was once introduced, stated.

    “There is extra we will do to take advantage of present gasoline fields. I enhance exploring fracking in portions of the UK, the place that may be finished.”

  • A pilot mission within the North Sea will expand floating sun panels that flow over waves ‘like a carpet’

    Floating sun panels within the Netherlands. Quite a few main power companies are taking a look into the potential for combining floating sun with different power resources.

    Mischa Keijser | Symbol Supply | Getty Pictures

    German power company RWE is to spend money on a pilot mission targeted across the deployment of floating sun era within the North Sea, as a part of a much wider collaboration targeted at the construction of “floating sun parks.”

    Set to be put in in waters off Ostend, Belgium, the pilot, known as Merganser, may have a capability of 0.5 megawatt height, or MWp. In a remark previous this week, RWE mentioned Merganser can be Dutch-Norwegian company SolarDuck’s first offshore pilot.

    RWE mentioned Merganser would supply each itself and SolarDuck with “vital first-hand revel in in one of the difficult offshore environments on the planet.”

    Learnings gleaned from the mission would permit for a sooner commercialization of the era from 2023, it added.

    RWE described SolarDuck’s machine as being primarily based round a design enabling the sun panels to “go with the flow” meters above water and experience waves “like a carpet.” 

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    A long run function of the collaboration is for SolarDuck’s era for use in a larger demonstration mission on the but to be advanced Hollandse Kust West offshore wind farm, which RWE is lately tendering for.

    In its remark, RWE mentioned the “integration of offshore floating sun into an offshore wind farm” was once “a extra environment friendly use of ocean area for power technology.”

    The theory of mixing wind and sun isn’t distinctive to RWE. The Hollandse Kust (noord) wind farm, which can be situated within the North Sea, could also be making plans to deploy a floating sun era demonstration.

    CrossWind, the consortium operating on Hollandse Kust (noord), is a three way partnership between Eneco and Shell.

    Previous this month, Portuguese power company EDP inaugurated a 5 MW floating sun park in Alqueva. It described the park, which is composed of just about 12,000 photovoltaic panels, as “the most important in Europe in a reservoir.”

    The mission would allow solar energy and hydroelectric power from the dam at Alqueva to be mixed, EDP mentioned. There also are plans to put in a battery garage machine.

    The entire above initiatives feed into the speculation of “hybridization,” wherein other renewable power applied sciences and programs are mixed on one web page.

    In feedback revealed closing week, EDP CEO Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade mentioned that “the guess on hybridization, by means of combining electrical energy constituted of water, solar, wind and garage” represented a “logical trail of enlargement.”

    EDP would proceed to spend money on hybridization as it optimized sources and enabled the corporate to provide power that was once inexpensive, he added.

  • An enormous offshore wind farm is leaping on a rising business pattern — recyclable turbine blades

    A wind turbine on the Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm, within the Irish Sea. With governments world wide making an attempt to ramp up their renewable power capability, the selection of wind generators international most effective seems to be set to develop, which is able to in flip building up drive at the sector to search out sustainable answers to the disposal of blades.

    Ashley Cooper | Corbis Documentary | Getty Pictures

    A big offshore wind farm being inbuilt waters off the Netherlands is ready to make use of recyclable blades from Siemens Gamesa Renewable Power — the most recent in a line of businesses making an attempt to take on a subject matter that is proved to be a problem for the wind power sector.

    In a observation Thursday, Swedish power company Vattenfall mentioned one of the wind generators on the 1.5 gigawatt Hollandse Kust Zuid facility would use Siemens Gamesa’s RecycableBlades. Those blades, Vattenfall mentioned, use “a resin sort that dissolves in a low-temperature, mildly acidic answer.”

    That, it defined, allows the resin to be separated from different elements throughout the blade — carbon fiber, wooden, fiberglass, steel and plastic — “with out considerably impacting their houses.” The elements can then be recycled and used once more.

    Offshore building on Hollandse Kust Zuid, which is able to use 140 wind generators, started in July 2021. It’s collectively owned by way of Vattenfall, Allianz and BASF and commissioning is deliberate for 2023.

    Trade headache

    The problem of what to do with wind turbine blades when they are not wanted is a headache for the business. That is for the reason that composite fabrics that blades are constituted of will also be tricky to recycle, because of this that many finally end up in landfills when their provider lifestyles ends.

    With governments world wide making an attempt to ramp up their renewable power capability, the selection of wind generators international most effective seems to be set to develop, which is able to in flip building up drive at the sector to search out sustainable answers to the disposal of blades.

    Vattenfall is one among a number of corporations having a look into recycling and reusing wind turbine blades — an purpose that feeds into the speculation of constructing a “round economic system” during which waste is minimized and merchandise repurposed and reused.  

    Previous in June, Spanish power company Iberdrola mentioned it had collectively established an organization with FCC Ambito that plans to recycle elements utilized in renewable power installations, together with wind turbine blades. FCC Ambito is a subsidiary of FCC Servicios Medio Ambiente.

    In a observation on the time, Iberdrola mentioned the corporate, referred to as EnergyLOOP, would increase a blade recycling facility in Navarre, northern Spain.

    “The preliminary goal would be the restoration of wind turbine blade elements — most commonly glass and carbon fibres and resins — and their reuse in sectors reminiscent of power, aerospace, car, textiles, chemical substances and building,” the corporate mentioned.

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  • North Sea inexperienced hydrogen venture to harness offshore wind and use present pipeline

    No-Mad | iStock | Getty Photographs

    German energy company RWE has signed an settlement with Neptune Power to increase a inexperienced hydrogen demonstration venture within the Dutch North Sea, concentrated on an electrolyzer capability of 300 to 500 megawatts.

    In a observation Tuesday, the corporations stated the H2opZee venture can be advanced in two levels. The primary will middle on a feasibility learn about whilst the second one will focal point on implementation. The purpose is for the venture to be advanced ahead of 2030.

    “Hydrogen is a gamechanger within the decarbonisation of energy-intensive sectors, and H2opZee is without doubt one of the international’s first initiatives of this sort and scale,” Sven Utermöhlen, RWE Renewables’ CEO for offshore wind, stated.

    Hydrogen has a various vary of programs and may also be deployed in a variety of industries. It may be produced in a variety of techniques. One approach contains the usage of electrolysis, with an electrical present splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen.

    If the electrical energy used on this procedure comes from a renewable supply corresponding to wind or sun then some name it inexperienced or renewable hydrogen.

    The corporations stated H2opZee would produce inexperienced hydrogen the usage of offshore wind, with an present pipeline used to funnel the hydrogen to shore. The pipeline’s capability levels between 10 to twelve gigawatts, the firms stated.

    “The calories transition may also be quicker, inexpensive and cleaner if we combine present gasoline infrastructure into new methods,” Lex de Groot, who’s managing director of Neptune Power within the Netherlands, stated.

    “This infrastructure is technically appropriate. In consequence … no new pipeline at sea is wanted and no new landfall must be made in the course of the coastal house.”

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    The perception of the usage of present infrastructure to move hydrogen isn’t new. Remaining July, the CEO of calories infrastructure company Snam defined a imaginative and prescient for the way forward for hydrogen, announcing the “good looks” of it used to be that it might be simply saved and transported.

    Talking to CNBC’s “Squawk Field Europe,” Snam CEO Marco Alverà spoke about how present methods can be used to facilitate the supply of hydrogen produced the usage of renewable resources in addition to biofuels.

    “Presently, if you happen to flip in your heater in Italy the gasoline is flowing from Russia, the entire means from Siberia, in pipelines,” he stated.

    “The following day, we can have hydrogen produced in North Africa, within the North Sea, with sun and wind sources,” Alverà stated. “And that hydrogen can commute in the course of the present pipeline.”

    Whilst there may be pleasure in some quarters about inexperienced hydrogen’s attainable, nearly all of hydrogen era is these days in accordance with fossil fuels.

    Not too long ago, some trade leaders have spoken of the problems they felt have been going through the rising inexperienced hydrogen sector. In Oct. 2021, as an example, the CEO of Siemens Power informed CNBC there used to be “no business case” for it at this second in time.

    The Ecu Fee has laid out plans to put in 40 GW of renewable hydrogen electrolyzer capability within the Ecu Union through the 12 months 2030.