By Julian Singer The need for electricity storage has produced a bewildering array of different companies using different techniques. There are many ways in which they can be classified, one of which is by their capacity to store electricity. Small cells, such as lithium-ion, can of course be duplicated but generally become uneconomical beyond a [...]
By Julian Singer On 20 January Dr Matthew Trewhella, managing director of Kensa Contracting, a division of the KenslaGroup, gave a stimulating talk on the past, present and future of heat pumps as part of the Oxford Energy series. Kensa is based near Truro and claims to be the only British manufacturer of ground source [...]
By Julian Singer Donald Sadoway is a professor of chemistry at MIT. He has been known for his animated lecturing style for a number of years, but more recently he has given several entertaining talks promoting electricity storage using liquid metal batteries[1]. These talks focus not so much on the technology but on how to [...]
By Julian Singer A new Contracts for Difference (CfD) round is due to be launched this month. It will the fourth such round with the first one being finalised in 2015 and the most recent in October 2019. In the CfD scheme renewable energy projects bid for contracts in which they will provide a certain [...]
By Julian Singer In a talk on 16 November 2021 that was part of the Oxford Energy series Mike Mason showed how ammonia could become the key fuel of the future. His argument starts from the observation that enough solar energy reaches the earth’s surface to satisfy our needs but that too much of it [...]
By Julian Singer In a trading update released on 21 October 2021 Bushveld Minerals, the South African miner of vanadium ore, reported production of 2629 mtV (metric tonnes of vanadium) for the nine months to 30 September, down 2 per cent from the same period in 2020 even though the latter was reported to have [...]
By Julian Singer Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage is usually associated with large systems and high costs. The number of £1 billion is frequently quoted, for example in the UK government’s CCS competition (cancelled in 2015), the Energy White Paper of December 2020 and Shell’s CCUS Infrastructure Fund. Large systems progress slowly even if there [...]
By Julian Singer On 1 October the government issued a Green Paper while launching a consultation on the regulatory framework for fusion energy. As a method of producing energy, it is well known that nuclear fusion is much safer than nuclear fission, but it does still present some hazards. It is also being developed by [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yxn5qnmemg By Julian Singer Ambri, a Massachusetts-based company founded by researchers at MIT, has designed a battery that is a promising contender for storing electricity. It is a liquid metal battery, which initially consists of solid Calcium and Antimony electrodes separated by Calcium Chloride (a type of salt). These elements are all readily and cheaply [...]
By Julian Singer On 17 September Proton Motor Power Systems (PPS) announced its unaudited interim results for the six months to 30 June 2021. They showed sales of £0.9 million versus £1.1m for the first six months of 2020 and £1.9m for the whole of 2020. Sales have thus been almost constant over the last [...]