Rolls-Royce’s new 2.5-megawatt hybrid-electric propulsion system delivered more than a megawatt of power only a few weeks after its first tests, a press statement reveals.
The iconic British engineering firm is developing the Power Generation System 1 (PGS1) demonstrator powertrain to test the technology for clean aircraft of the future.
The Chinese private spaceflight company Galactic Energy has made the second flight of its Ceres-1 rocket, carrying five satellites into orbit, including a satellite known as Golden Bauhinia-1–03. The launch took place at 04:12 UTC on Tuesday, December 7th (12:12 Beijing time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
The Ceres-1 is a four-stage rocket, using three solid-fueled stages with a hydrazine-fueled fourth stage to complete orbital insertion and refinement. Ceres-1 is capable of launching a payload of up 400 kilograms to low Earth orbit, or up to 230 kilograms into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometers.
Also known as Gushenxing-1, Ceres-1 was developed by Galactic Energy, one of several Chinese companies currently fielding or testing small solid-fueled satellite launchers. The first Ceres-1 launch was conducted successfully on November 7, 2020, making Galactic Energy the second private Chinese company to launch a satellite into low Earth orbit.
One of the world’s largest battery-based energy storage systems, powered by Tesla’s utility-scale Megapack batteries, began operating in the Australian state of Victoria on Wednesday.
Large energy storage systems based on lithium-ion batteries have the potential to prevent blackouts and let utilities store and use more energy generated from renewable but intermittent sources, like solar or wind.
Paris-based renewable energy giant Neoen developed the facility with partners Tesla Energy and AusNet, with some construction by Cimic Group’s UGL. It has enough capacity to power one million homes for half an hour, according to the web site for the project.
Electric Sky says it’s begun building its first transmitter for providing tightly focused wireless power to drones in flight, thanks to funding from DARPA.
A startup called Electric Sky says it’s begun building its first Whisper Beam transmitter for providing tightly focused wireless power to drones in flight, thanks to a $225,000 award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Electric Sky will use the six-month Phase I award, granted through DARPA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, to explore ways to adapt its wireless architecture to power a swarm of drones.
The first phase of the project calls for building and testing a lab-bench demonstration system that would operate at short distances. Those experiments are expected to supply data that can be used to upgrade the system for higher power and longer distances.
It is true that renewables have an immense road ahead, but we already know the destination, Net Zero, in all areas of life, so why keep throwing good money after bad with fossil fuels.
I show exactly where we are with renewables and storage, and indeed it is woefully short, but I also show how we could take the initiative and the right decisions to clean our energy supply as early as 2030.
There is big money trying to wring out every last penny of profit from their declining empires, and using politicians on their pay to do their dirty work, but we can decide where we spend our money, and we can harass the companies to do more and faster, and we can make a better future for all of us.
#ClimateCrisis #cleanenergy
Neoen reveals plans for another big battery in South Australia which could be even bigger than the Victorian Big Battery opened on Wednesday.
French renewable energy and battery storage developer Neoen, fresh from the formal opening of the Victorian Big Battery – the biggest in Australia to date – has revealed plans for a potentially even bigger battery in South Australia.
Neoen is due to hold a community open day on Thursday for the Blyth battery, which will be sized up to 300MW and 800MWh, trumping the 300MW/450MWh capacity of the newly opened VBB near Geelong.
The Blyth battery will be located west of the town of Blyth, north of Adelaide, and alongside the existing Blyth West sub station, which have now become prime sites for aspiring battery storage developers.
British utility SSE and Norwegian energy giant Equinor announced late last week that they have secured financing to proceed with the construction of the $3.98 billion Dogger Bank C offshore wind farm off England’s northeast coast.
Dogger Bank C offshore wind farm, along with Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B, is due to become the largest offshore wind farm in the world upon completion, with an installed capacity of 3.6 gigawatts (GW). Each phase is 1.2 GW.
Dogger Bank C will generate around 6,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity a year when completed in 2026.
There are many types of rocket fuel. Some are more useful on a particular planet. And some can be created by bacteria.
The FlyZero aircraft is one of a range of aircraft being designed by the FlyZero program. The new concept will store hydrogen in cryogenic fuel tanks, keeping them at a temperature of minus 250°Celsius (minus 418°Fahrenheit). Two cryogenic tanks will be placed at the rear of the plane, while two smaller “cheek” tanks will be placed near the front of the plane to keep the aircraft balanced. The mid-size aircraft will have a wingspan of 54 meters, each of which will have a turbofan engine attached.
“These designs could define the future of aerospace and aviation,” said U.K. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in the ATI’s statement. “By working with industry, we are showing that truly carbon-free flight could be possible, with hydrogen a frontrunner to replace conventional fossil fuels.”
In its statement, the ATI estimates that “highly-efficient hydrogen-powered aircraft” will “have superior operating economics compared to conventional aircraft from the mid-2030s onwards.” The ATI has received £1.95 billion ($2.6 billion) in funding since it was founded in 2013. The FlyZero concept program, which received £15 million of that funding, promises to allow travelers to fly with the same speed and comfort provided by airliners today.
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The 279-seater could fly from London to San Francisco without refueling. A U.K. government-backed research firm, Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), revealed a new liquid-hydrogen-powered airliner concept called FlyZero.
Alinta unveils plans to build 1,000MW offshore wind farm near Portland to help deliver 100 per cent renewable energy supply to local aluminium smelter.
Alinta Energy is proposing a 1,000MW wind farm off the coast of Portland in Victoria that could help power the Portland aluminium smelter with up to 100 per cent renewables, and inject green energy into the country’s main grid.
The $4 billion Spinifex offshore wind project, first flagged by Alinta CEO Jeff Dimery in an interview on RenewEconomy’s weekly Energy Insiders podcast in October, would be sited about 10km off the coast of Portland.
Spinifex would connect to the grid via the smelter’s switchyard – which accounts for more than 10 per cent of the state’s electricity demand – and make the site among Australia’s first smelters to be powered by up to 100 per cent renewables.
