Good read on where electric vehicles are going. Maybe we’ll see less oil and gas offshore, but more seabed mining and wind service jobs on the merchant marine?
I know someone who owns a Mitsubishi plugin hybrid SUV. It does about 30 miles on battery alone meaning many of his trips use no fossil fuels and goes to the pump every 4 to 6 weeks. There is no range anxiety and he can drive as far as a full tank of gas will take him.
What got my interest is it has a 70Kw battery at 600 volts. The problem is that it has less than half the tow capacity for my trailer.
What would get me to the dealer would be a plug in pickup, not full size, but like a Ford Ranger, with for me 240 volt 15 amp outlet but I would accept 10 amp.
During the winter the solar panels don’t do too much and the electrical load is heavier with fan forced heating, lights etc but being able to cope with brief use of the microwave and most importantly the HAIR DRYER would help the peace. None of this would scratch the surface of the capacity of say a 120Kw battery. Changing DC to AC then stepping down from 600V to 240V would be simple enough.
There is a webinar tomorrow morning about North American offshore wind:
Electric and hydrogen fuel cell cars are the future. Hybrid cars will disappear as the “mileage” of electric car range increase and the charging time decreases.
All major car manufacturers are getting in on the act, producing their own brands of Electric and Hydrogen powered cars, buses and even long range trucks.
The worries that electric cars will run out of power on the road because there are no charging point around is no longer valid in many parts of the world.
Hydrogen refueling stations are also becoming more common, but still have some ways to go before it is sufficient to ensure availability everywhere.
The other worry is that the battery efficiency decreases drastically in cold weather. NAF in Norway has performed tests of different EV brands to get the facts about how they fair in cold weather. They also tested rapid charging time 0-80% for the various brands:
In Norway electric cars are already over 50% of all new car sales and from 2025 it is intended that “Zero Emission cars” will be 100% of sales:
What will happen with all the petrol cars that is still on the road?
They will get fuel made from forest waste and biodiesel made from agricultural and household waste:
PS> Even the planes will be powered by fuel from the forest.
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Of course there are also Electric vehicles for the Truck enthusiasts:
Vessels chartered by Orsted. Not much for the American flag.
Atlantic shores doing a little better.
DNV-GL predict rapid growth in US Offshore wind development, which will require a lot of specialized vessels:
That will also raise the demand for US Mariners that have the skills, experience and qualifications to operate them.
Are you ready for the challenge??
Ørsted enter into MOU with US union:
Are they trying to introduce Scandinavian style Employer/Union cooperative relationship into the US??
The European Commission wants to invest 800 billion euros in offshore wind farms in the coming decades. This should lead to a fivefold increase in offshore wind energy capacity by 2030. By 2050, there should be 25 times as many wind turbines in European waters as now.
This is stated in the EU strategy for renewable energy at sea that the European Commission announced on Thursday. The massive investment in offshore wind energy, one bigger than ever, is a crucial part of the European Green Deal, the master plan to make European economies climate neutral by 2050.
According to EU Vice-President Frans Timmermans, the EU is aiming for an offshore wind energy capacity of 60 gigawatts by 2030 and 300 gigawatts by 2050. The current capacity is 12 gigawatts, with which the EU already produces 42 percent of all offshore wind energy in the world. In addition, the EU is also aiming for 40 gigawatts of other forms of renewable energy at sea, such as floating wind and solar parks and wave and tidal power plants.
In the coming decades, the wind farms are to be erected everywhere in European waters, from the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The plan builds on the lead of European wind technology companies and, the Commission hopes, will create many new sustainable jobs. In addition, the interests of nature and fisheries will be monitored.
The Dutch survey vessel Deep Helder has been extented by Oersted off USEC:
Not sure about this one but there are already 2 ABS classed windmill IR vessels built in the US some years ago I was the Chief on both vessels. The vessels are the L/B Robert and Jill previously owned by Montco Offshore and now owned by Seacor Marine. I believe the Robert is in the gulf working in the oilfield and the I know for sure the Jill is in the North Sea doing windmill work. The new company 2nd wind that recently started up is the some owner that owned Montco Offshore and is the best owner I have ever worked for. I was fortunate to have worked both phases of the first US offshore wind farm in of off block Island RI it was very interesting.
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Vinyard Offshore Wind Farm delayed (again):
More wind power generation in the works for mid-Atlantic coast as Avangrid opens Kitty Hawk office.
Is this a blow to the USA wind industry that a company is selling to a European company?
Why would it be a blow to anything? I’m not sure how selling a Europe-based subsidiary with Europe-based CTVs to another European company will have any effect on US wind, other than Seacor will now have more cash if they want to get into US based CTVs. So if anything it sounds like a positive step.
Huisman to deliver a Leg Encircling Crane (LEC) for the first Jones Act compliant Wind Turbine Installation Vessel to be built at Keppel AMFELS for Dominion Energy:
https://www.huismanequipment.com/en/media_centre/press_releases/163-151_Huisman-to-deliver-2-200mt-Leg-Encircling-Crane-for-first-Jones-Act-compliant-installation-vessel-in-the-U-S#:~:text=%2F%20Press%20release-,Huisman%20to%20deliver%202%2C200mt%20Leg%20Encircling%20Crane%20for%20first,installation%20vessel%20in%20the%20U.S.&text=Huisman%20has%20today%20announced%20the,Vessel%20(WTIV)%2C%20Charybdis.
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Just signed on with Foss Maritime as I suspect their east coast division will be moving lots of heavy objects for many of these projects.
“U.S. wind power should mean U.S. jobs,” said OMSA president Aaron Smith. “Our report provides a case study of how far too often wind projects are instead creating jobs for Estonians and Romanians, while capable American mariners sit on the shore. We’ve detailed how a foreign company—by their own admission—used a Chinese-built vessel with foreign crew members to transport cargo within U.S. waters. That’s illegal.”