Category: Technology

Offshore photovoltaics: SolarDuck builds floating PV station

How - you don't have a solar duck for your bathtub yet? Not even for Christmas? Then it's about time - otherwise you'll miss out on the trend! In mid-November, the Dutch-Norwegian company SolarDuck announced plans to build the world's largest photovoltaic power plant off the Dutch coast. The 5 MW demonstrator is due to be connected to the grid in 2026 and will have an innovative energy storage unit. RWE secured the "Hollandse Kust West (HKW) VII" sea area for future energy generation plants in the middle of the year and has now selected SolarDuck as the manufacturer of the plants. Wind turbines and floating panels The hybrid offshore wind and floating panel project will utilise this technology, which has so far been little tested in real...

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Automated kite system as a wind-assisted auxiliary drive

The French company Airseas is trialling an automated kite system for the first time on board a commercial ro-ro cargo ship as propulsion support during an Atlantic crossing. The aim is to validate the design concept and optimise subsystems during ongoing sea operations. Airseas as an offspring of Airbus Airseas was spun off from the industrial giant Airbus in 2015 and has since utilised its specific experience in aviation technology to develop a sailing kite that can be used as a wind propulsion system for large merchant ships. The concept is for the full-size version of the Seawing, a 1000 m2 parafoil, to fly at altitudes of almost 1,000 feet (300 metres), where it captures the more stable high-altitude winds to...

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Gas supply: First special ship reaches Rügen

In order to guarantee its energy supply independently of Russia, Germany is increasingly focussing on liquefied natural gas. Various technical facilities are required to be able to land this gas. One of the intermediate stations from the large LNG tanker to the gas pipeline on land is the conversion from cryogenic liquefied gas to gaseous service gas at ambient temperature. The "Neptune", the first specialised ship for conversion, has now arrived in Germany off Mukran on the island of Rügen. Coming from Wales, the "Neptune" has travelled through the North Sea and Skagerrak to the Baltic Sea over the past two weeks. She was accompanied on the final stretch by the coast guard vessel "Bamberg" (BP 82, Potsdam class). Terminal technology...

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Deep-sea mining: Andrew Forrest, Fortescue Metals, calls for moratorium

Australian iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest has joined the call for a moratorium on deep sea mining, adding his non-profit group to the growing list of organisations opposing the practice. Speaking at the COP27 conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, Forrest echoed the concerns of many marine biologists and conservationists who believe deep-sea mining could cause ecological damage and even the extinction of the near-bottom environment. "The deep seabed is one of the least understood ecosystems on the planet. It is of critical importance to ecological processes that affect our entire ocean, and yet our scientific knowledge of it remains...

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Israeli Navy: C-Dome, the navalised Iron Dome is ready for use

The Israeli navy has completed the integration of the C-Dome short-range defence weapon system with a successful interception test. In February of this year, the first shots were fired from on board the corvette "Magen", the Sa'ar 6-class ship. In the current test, an aerial target was engaged by the C-Dome system on board the second corvette to enter service, the "Oz", in a realistic scenario. C-Dome C-Dome is a navalised Iron Dome. Up to ten C-Dome interceptors can be preloaded in the vertical launch container. Iron Dome is known to be able to intercept up to six approaching objects, including missiles, aircraft, drones and artillery shells, within a radius of seven kilometres.

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