Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4 creates the opportunity for at least 7 GW of new offshore wind projects in the waters around England and Wales by the end of the decade. That’s enough to power more than six million homes and deliver a step-change in the UK’s journey to net zero by 2050.
Round 4 has the potential to further strengthen the UK’s world leading offshore wind sector, create jobs and investment, and deliver green, reliable, affordable energy to millions more homes. It’s part of our commitment to supporting the UK’s low-carbon future while ensuring we maintain our healthy, biodiverse seas.
The projects identified through this process will join a strong pipeline of UK offshore windfarms already in operation, construction and planning, and will help put the UK on track to meet the government target for 40GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.
Eindhoven in the Netherlands is a high-tech center with enormous potential. Some see it as the potential successor of Silicon Valley. Core competence is not software, but hardware. ASLM is the de facto global monopolist of machines that produce micro-chips. Everybody has heard of Intel, AMD, Samsung, Apple, HP and what not, but ASML is the technological real deal.
According to a global university ranking from Singapore, the Technical University Eindhoven meanwhile ranks #5, world-wide. It is obvious that a project needs to be initiated that underlines the new prominent high-tech status of the Eindhoven “Brainport” region.
The province of Noord-Brabant, where Eindhoven is situated, has the ambition to create an autonomous driving public transport facility, The Brainport Line, connecting all the rapidly growing high-tech R&D campuses: High Tech Campus, ASML Campus, Eindhoven Airport, Brainport Industrie Campus, Philips Health Care Campus, Technical University and Eindhoven center train station, with autonomous driving busses:
Initially, the buses will drive on their own free lanes. The project should become operational by the end of this decade. Participants in the project are: automotive campus Helmond, chipmanufacturer NXP, the VDL-group, DAF, Siemens, TNO and the Technical University Eindhoven. The final decision for a go-ahead is still pending, depending on a decision by the Dutch government about how they are going to allocate 20 billion euro on sustainable projects. The Brainport project, costing 1 billion, has made it into the final round. Eindhoven can point at the export potential for the region of complete autonomous public transportation systems, centered around manufacturing company VDL.
[agconnect.nl] – Brabant wil 1 miljard voor zelfrijdend ov-systeem Eindhoven
[forbes.com] – Eindhoven most patent-dense city in the world
[wikipedia.org] – VDL Groep
[vdlgroep.com] – VDL secures a mega order: 80 automated guided vehicles for Singapore
[vdlautomatedvehicles.com] – 102 electric buses to Oslo: VDL’s largest electric bus fleet to date
[ab-mediacommunication.com] – Why the Netherlands is the new Silicon Valley: Eindhoven
Floating offshore wind illustrated with a French example
Data in short:
Name project Emerald.
Location: 35 km out of the cost near Cork, Southern Ireland.
Power: 300 MW initially, option for 1 GW.
Operational: 2028.
Nr. of turbines: 12-25 (that would be turbines between 12-20 MW)
Conclusions:
– Shell is getting real serious about reinventing itself as a renewable energy company.
– Offshore wind now gets a deep water option, vastly expanding the potential applications. Think Japan, China, US, Ireland, Norway and many others.
The first of in total 72, 8 MW turbines is in place at Kriegers Flak offshore wind park, and will be the largest in Denmark at completion, later this year. The wind park will be connected to both the Danish and German grids.
Name project: European Battery Innovation-project. Purpose: decreasing dependency on China. The money is intended as a lever to attract additional €9B funding from private sources. Target: EU home-grown battery production, sufficient for 6 million cars per year. Participants: funding will come from France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Finland, Greece, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.
[ec.europa.eu] – EU Announcement
[businessinsider.com] – EU green light for $3.5 billion pan-European battery project
[nu.nl] – EU-landen geven bijna 3 miljard euro steun voor Europese accupakketten
[reuters.com] – EU looks to Tesla, BMW and others to charge $3.5 billion battery project
[electrive.com] – EU approves second large battery project ‘European Battery Innovation’ – which includes Tesla
89 windturbines of 4.3 MW each will constitute wind park Fryslan, currently under construction and to be completed later this year. The wind park will generate 382 MW and be the largest inland waterway wind park in the world.
Operational later this year. It will be the largest pv-plant in the world.
Jinko Solar’s annual output will triple from 10 to 30 GW. Jinko Solar also achieved an AAA-credit rating, underlining the trust and solidity in the renewable energy industry and renewable energy transition in general.
[wikipedia.org] – Jinko Solar
[Google Maps] – Chuxiong, Yunnan Province, China
[ir.jinkosolar.com] – JinkoSolar Ranked as Top Solar Brand used in Debt Financed Projects and Most “Bankable” PV Manufacturer by Bloomberg New Energy Finance
The Israeli company Augwind is building a CAES air battery to the tune of 120 MW. The battery is said to operate at an overall efficiency of 75-81%. Energy input will come from pv-solar.
A significant milestone has been reached in Europe, where the share of renewables has overtaken that of fossil fuel in electricity generation. Fossil fuel fell to 37%, renewables rose from 34.6% in 2019 to 38.2% in 2020. Covid-19 no doubt was a great help.
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