We also reported this week how the part-scale prototype of floating wind pioneer X1Wind’s PivotBuoy concept
is afloat off the Spanish island of Gran Canaria awaiting installation in the Atlantic Ocean, as plans for development of a first full-size array using the next-generation design take shape.
Floating wind is spurring technical innovation beyond the turbine platforms themselves. Siemens Energy
said it will supply grid stabilisation technology to the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) ahead of deployment of the 1.4GW Green Atlantic @ Moneypoint project that will see floating wind replace a major coal-fired plant.
A pandemic, rocketing steel prices, logistical jigsaw puzzles and the Suez Canal blockage – it wasn’t exactly a straightforward first quarter for wind giant Vestas (or, to be fair, anyone else in the business of making large engineered products and shipping them around the world).
Carbon capture technology may be essential for the world to stay within the 2°C warming target outlined by the Paris Agreement. Although the deployment of this technology has begun to pick up in recent years, it is still a long way from the levels of scale-up needed to have a meaningful impact on climate change. Current technology for stripping CO2 from industrial gas streams or directly from the atmosphere remains costly and energy-intensive, and existing carbon capture facilities have struggled with downtime, keeping to CO2 capture targets, and managing costs.
In this climate, there are significant research efforts aiming to boost the effectiveness of CO2 capturing technology and facilitate deployment of what could be a vital technology in the fight against climate change. Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) 2021-2040 is a new report from IDTechEx analyzing the technical and commercial factors that could be key to the long-term success of carbon capture technolo
On Tuesday, Mainspring Energy, an energy technology startup in the emerging field of onsite power generation, announced that it has received a Series D venture capital round of $95 million. The investment round was led by Devonshire Investors, the private equity firm affiliated with Fidelity Investments parent company FMR LLC, along with Princeville Capital, 40 North Ventures, and Chevron Technology Ventures. Existing investors Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, ClearSky, AEP, KCK, and Equinor re-upped for the Series D.
The new funds will be used to accelerate the rollout of Mainspring’s core product, the Mainspring Linear Generator, to a broader range of commercial, industrial, microgrid, and utility customers, by scaling its manufacturing operations, hiring more staff, and consolidating its position in the U.S. market. To date, the company has raised $228 million in venture capital.
The joint developers behind the Scottish floating wind project Salamander have signed an agreement with US outfit Ocergy to evaluate its platform technology.
Simply Blue Energy in partnership with Subsea 7 has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ocergy to evaluate how its foundation technology can be deployed for the “stepping-stone” project.
Last month, Simply Blue Energy announced it had joined forces with Subsea 7 to form a joint venture to develop the Salamander floating offshore wind project off the north-east coast of Scotland.
The aim of the project is to provide a “stepping-stone” to bridge the gap between current demonstrator projects and the future commercial projects leased in the ScotWind process.