Denmark has given the green light for the Russia-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to pass through its waters. Copenhagen’s delay in granting permission has been the main hurdle to completing the project on time.
Pipeline expected to be operational before the end of this year.
[rt.com] – Full stream ahead! Denmark removes final hurdle for Russian gas pipeline to Europe
[spiegel.de] – Dänemark erteilt Genehmigung für Nord Stream 2
The startup DENS originated from the student Team FAST of the Technical University of Eindhoven. Their mutual aim is to explore the possibilities of formic acid as a potential hydrogen carrier, to be used as sustainable energy fuel. DENS researches stationary applications, like generators. Their first product is the DENS X2 Formic Acid 25 kW Generator.
If this were to happen the hydrogen-fuel proponents would lose a major argument in favor of their trade.
The reason why charging is so slow is to prevent damage to the batteries, keyword “lithium plating”. Short story:
[researchers] have now found that if the batteries could heat to 60C (140F) for just 10 minutes and then rapidly cool again to ambient temperatures, lithium spikes would not form and heat damage would be avoided.
The battery design they have come up with is self-heating, using a thin nickel foil which creates an electrical circuit that heats in less than 30 seconds to warm the inside of the battery.
The rapid cooling that would be needed after the battery is charged would be done using the cooling system designed into the car.
Research: Wuhan/China, Stanford/USA.
[dailymail.co.uk] – Charge your electric car in just TEN MINUTES: Engineers develop new fast-charging technique that will allow drivers to add 200 miles to the range of their vehicles in the time it takes to get a cup of coffee and use the toilet
[sciencedirect.com] – Design of Red Phosphorus Nanostructured Electrode for Fast-Charging Lithium-Ion Batteries with High Energy Density
Lithium plating is the formation of metallic lithium around the anode of lithium-ion batteries during charging. Plating, also called deposition, can cause these rechargeable batteries to malfunction over time.
[voltachem.com] – Driving on CO2: VoltaChem scales up sustainable production of formic acid
[voltachem.com] – Power-2-Hydrogen
[dutchmobilityinnovations.com] – Showing The Potential of Hydrozine as a Sustainable Energy Carrier
Presentation from 2017. Ambitions have become slightly more modest since.
The ambition of Fast to develop a bus range-extender finally failed as too ambitious. Despite support from a local bus producer VDL, the hydrozine installation was considered too frail to be attached behind a bus, vibrations and all. Energetically/chemically it could have worked, it was the mechanical engineering that the limited the enterprise. The ambitions have been lowered towards developing stationary solutions like generators. Yet the intention remains alive to someday apply a more mature hydrozine technology to automotive.
Team Fast meanwhile morphed into a startup DENS (Dutch Energy Solutions) and found a new home at the Automotive Campus in Helmond, where they are working on standalone generators for festivals, building sites and the like. Apparently the principle was interesting enough to attract 500,000 euro risk money.
[ed.nl] – ‘Mierenzuurmotor’ uit Helmond krijgt flinke injectie
[automotivecampus.com] – Studententeam ‘Team Fast’ wordt startup DENS
[dens.one] – Startup site
At least this small prototype did work on a formic acid fuel cell:
Energy density formic acid: 6.4 MJ/liter (1.78 kWh/liter) of 5.3 MH/kg (1.47 kWh/kg)
[pure.tue.nl] – Carbon Dioxide Hydrogenation to Formic Acid using Supported Gold Nanoparticles
The first monopile has been ramned into the seabed of the 1.5 GW offshore wind park Borssele I-V, that is to be the largest of the world when completed in 2021. Borssele I-II will be realized by the Danish energy giant Ørsted. Borssele III-IV by Shell, van Oord, Mitshubishu and Vestas.
[renewablesnow.com] – First monopile up at 731.5-MW Dutch offshore wind park
[windtech-international.com] – First Borssele III & IV monopile in place
[renews.biz] – Van Oord starts Borssele 3&4 foundation job
[pzc.nl] – Bouw windpark Borssele 1 en 2 begint in december
[4coffshore.com] – Events on Borssele 3 and 4 – Blauwwind
[nl.wikipedia.org] – Windpark Borssele
Scientists have identified 530,000 sites worldwide suitable for pumped-hydro energy storage, capable of storing more than enough energy to power the entire planet…
None of the potential sites are located inside national parks or urban areas, and each one has the potential capacity to hold 2-150 GWh of energy…
The scientists say sites like the ones they’ve identified can operate at maximum power for between 5 and 25 hours…
“Pumped hydro accounts for 97 percent of energy storage worldwide, has a typical lifetime of 50 years and is the lowest cost large-scale energy-storage technology available.”
[sciencealert.com] – Huge Global Study Just Smashed One of The Last Major Arguments Against Renewables
[re100.eng.anu.edu.au] – Global pumped hydro atlas, project site
[deepresource] – World-Record Pumped-Hydro Storage for Scotland?
[deepresource] – Overview Pumped Hydro Facilities in Europe
[deepresource] – Pumped Hydro Storage for Flatlanders
[deepresource] – Pumped Hydro Storage in Belgium, Luxemburg and Germany
[deepresource] – Doggerbank Pumped Hydropower Storage
[deepresource] – Unconventional Pumped Hydro Storage
Unlike the countries bordering the North Sea, Portugal is not blessed with shallow waters. Here floating wind turbines have to come to the rescue. The installation of the largest of those to date in Europe has begun.
• Turbines: Vestas V164-8.4 MW
• Number of Turbines: 3
• Project Capacity: 25 MW
• Location: Portugal, Viana do Castelo, Northern Region
• Distance From Shore: 20 km
• Sea Depth: 100 metres
DeepResource 