Author: David Odejide

New offshore wind farms are coming to the Netherlands, and the Dutch Council of Ministers has approved where the new farms will be built. Bidding for the wind farms will start in 2025.

The Netherlands aims for a 10.7 GW development which would be divided into three new sites; Nederwiek, Lagelander, and Doordewind. Two other areas from the designated list will also get new farms, including the northern part of Ijmuiden Ver and the southern part of Hollandse Kust West.

The whole network of farms will generate nearly 21 GW by 2030. This is almost double the Netherlands target of 11 GW capacity from offshore farms according to the Coalition Agreement and the Climate Agreement of 2019.

TenneT has been tapped to connect the new farms to land, costing €16bn. The company will begin to award the contracts for the individual component even before the final approvals have been granted.

According to the Dutch Minister for Climate and Energy Rob Jetten, “We want to make the North Sea our largest green energy source. That’s a huge job. The construction of a wind farm and the connection to the electricity grid takes several years, during which we constantly pay attention to the ecological impact. In order to achieve our goals for 2030, we are now in a hurry to get the wind farms up and running as quickly as possible.”

Wind generated about 2.5 GW of energy in 2021, according to government records. The country wants to increase it to at least 4.5 GW by 2023 to comply with its Energy Agreement for Sustainable Growth commitment. Offshore wind energy is expected to supply 3.3 percent of the country’s energy needs by that time.

Electric vehicles have taken off, and companies are not afraid to make huge investments in them. Stellantis and Samsung have decided to site a factory that will manufacture EV batteries in Indiana at the cost of $2.5 billion.

While many people know the Galaxy series of Android phones, Samsung has a subsidiary that makes batteries for electric vehicles, known as Samsung SDI. The subsidiary has teamed up with Stellantis to set up a plant in Kokomo, Indiana, to make EV batteries. The facility will create jobs for 1,400 people directly.

Stellantis is the parent company for carmakers like Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler, etc.

The two companies will split the development cost and are willing to spend up to $3 billion on the factory.

Stellantis already has a presence in Kokomo, where it makes castings, transmissions, and engines.

Earlier, Stellantis had revealed it would build another plant for making EV batteries with LG Energy Solution in Windsor, Ontario, at the cost of $4.1 billion. Both projects are part of Stellantis’ push into the growing EV market.

Stellantis wants to sell 5 million electric cars by 2030 across its brands. It announced a detailed plan last year for making its line-up electric. The Chrysler brand will sell only electric vehicles by 2028.

The Kokoma plant is expected to come online in 2025 and will start with an annual capacity of 23 GWh and expand to 33 GWh. The Windsor facility will kick off with a 45 GWh capacity.

Other automakers investing in EV battery production include General Motors, which plans a 140 GWh annual capacity, and Ford, which will build three plants with a combined capacity of 129 GWh per year. Volkswagen is even more ambitious, which a plan for 240 GWh per year capacity from six plants in Europe by 2020.

Electric cars are now a norm, and battery-powered planes may soon become commonplace. The next target for electrification, logically, is water, and Swedish boat maker, Candela, will soon launch a new version of its C-series hydrofoil electric speedboat, the C-8.

The C-8 was announced last August, succeeding the C-7, which had become popular in Europe and the US.

The C-8 is the next-gen and features a groundbreaking design. It uses two computer-controlled hydrofoils that can raise, lower, and make other fine adjustments itself to ensure you and your passengers have the smoothest ride. It can make 100 such adjustments in one second.

This electric speedboat was designed to massively cut down the energy required to glide at high speed and still yield enough riding range. The engineers used an ingenious method to reduce the energy consumption by 75 percent. A typical boat like the C-8, measuring 28 feet, consumes as much energy as 15 family cars. This is why such boats usually have atrocious ranges, and those that offer longer ranges are priced exorbitantly.

Candela made the C-8 fly above the water instead of riding through it. The boat lifts itself automatically after reaching a few knots of speed, which reduces the drag experienced.

You can cruise at a top speed of 30 knots, but another draw of the C-8 is the operating costs. A 2.5 hours cruise will cost you about €8 of electricity, about 90 percent cheaper than an ICE boat of similar size.

There are other benefits, like a smoother ride and quiet operation. There is also minimal maintenance required, as you can get away with a maintenance interval of once a decade, compared to an inspection every 100 hours for a typical gas-powered boat. The boat also leaves no wake, which threatens the buildings along Venice canals.

According to Candela’s founder and CEO, Gustav Hesselskog, “Flying in absolute silence, without any slamming and basically for free — it’s just an amazing experience. Once you’ve tried Candela C-8, it will be hard to go back to traditional powerboats.”

Candela will reveal the boat at the Salone di Nautico Boat Show in Venice, Italy. The C-8 will compete in the show’s E Regetta for electric boats.

The Norwegian city of Bergen has had the honor of hosting the world’s fastest electric car charger. The charger is ABB’s Terra 360 and can add 100 km in just three minutes. ABB and Eviny also collaborated to install the fast charger at a ski resort named Geilo.

The charger in Bergen is available to EV owners at the Oasen Shopping Center and the ski resort.

After these two pilot installations, the duo will undergo a wider rollout in Norway and Sweden.

The Terra 360 can charge two cars simultaneously using dynamic power distribution. The maximum output is 360 kW, meaning it can charge a typical car to 100 percent in just 15 minutes or even less.

ABB says the Terra 360 charger is fast but convenient to use as it doesn’t work differently from the chargers EV owners are used to. The charger also has a smaller footprint and sophisticated lighting to guide the user when it is dark. The cable is 5 m long but light, and the charger is available for people using wheelchairs.

Frank Muehlon, CEO of ABB E-mobility, explains: “Having recently unveiled the Terra 360 to the world, these are truly landmark launches which we are delighted to partner with Eviny on. Norway is setting the global standard when it comes to the e-mobility transition and we are excited to hear the reaction of EV drivers in one of the most advanced nations for EV adoption.”

According to Eviny’s CEO, Jannicke Hilland, “For several years we have been involved in the Norwegian transition into e-mobility. We know how important a reliable fast charging experience is when choosing an electric car over a fossil-fueled car. The e-mobility transition is happening lightning fast here in Norway, and to continue to lead the change, we need the fastest.”

ABB can’t choose a better place to install its new Terra 360 charger as the country is on track to become the first to stop the sales of petrol and diesel cars in its territory by 2025. The majority of new cars purchased in the country are electric.

Eviny has installed more than 400 chargers across Norway at 150 locations. ABB has sold more than 680,000 EV chargers in more than 85 markets.