support 10 million European households, and a large number of offshore wind farms are now in the pipeline.
Danish electricity supplier Elsam plans to invest in offshore wind farms in several European countries. Project Investment Director Flemming Thomsen has been involved in the development of renewable energy projects for a long time.
Wind power is now a mature industry with a growing potential to make a significant impact on the energy scene in Europe, he says. At this stage, Elsam plans to develop farms both onshore and offshore in several European countries, such as the UK, Poland and France. The company plans to invest several million Euro per year in wind-power projects over the coming years.
Elsams Horns Rev offshore wind farm in Denmark, which consists of eighty 2 MW wind turbines, is currently undergoing commissioning and testing. This project represents an investment of approximately EURO 250 million.
Thomsen has an optimistic view of the future and expects to see a lot more wind-energy projects. The EU Directive that recently became law states that 22 percent of the EUs electricity consumption should be generated by renewable energy sources by 2010. That equals a ten percent rise compared to today.
With new political incentive schemes being introduced in several European countries, renewable energy sources like wind energy will provide an essential contribution towards fulfilling the commitment to decrease CO2 emissions, says Thomsen.
Both the EU and OECD are moving towards including the cost of pollution in the overall price of electricity. When they do, renewable energy sources will become more competitive.
Wind technology has been developed over the years and has reached a mature stage. The trend now is to develop offshore wind farms. In Europe, nearly a hundred offshore wind farms are currently being planned to come into operation before 2015. Developers of offshore wind farms are often large energy suppliers, such as utility companies or oil and gas companies, as well as pure development companies.
Natural Gas to Fire Nation’s Energy Future
China has a bright future in the natural gas market, according to industry officials at a natural gas forum in the city on March 29.“China will endeavor to explore new natural gas sources and promote the use of the clean energy,” said Wang Jing, an official with the Energy Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission on the First ASEAN+3 Natural Gas Forum.“ China is also seeing greater development of the natural gas pipeline system.” Hang Xin, director general of China National Petroleum Corp’s international department, said China is expected to need up to 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas by 2010, 80 percent of which can be met by domestic production. The gap may translate into a bright future for the natural gas sector, Zhang said. Bai Rongchun, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said in a previous interview that China will need 200 billion cubic meters of natural gas by 2020, 80 billion cubic meters of which will have to be met by imports. Statistics released at the forum show that China’s growth rate for consumption of natural gas will see it account for 27 percent of Asia’s total natural gas demand by 2020. The figure in 2000 was 12 percent. Zhang said he hopes that CNPC, the parent of Petro China Co Ltd, can seek opportunities to cooperate with countries from East Asia to tap the country’s booming natural gas market. Katsuhiko Suetsugu, secretary general of Asia-Pacific Energy Forum, said the most challenging part for China to promote the natural gas
usage may be its relatively high price compared with cheaper but dirtier energy such as coal. China may need to discourage the use of coal by increasing charges for coal and encouraging the use of natural gas, Suetsugu added. Industry officials noted at the forum that though coal remained the largest energy source of Asia, total coal demand is shrinking while the growth for natural gas is surging. The ministry of Commence has recently released a report that China’s coal and oil demands are still rising this year. China is expected to see a crude oil demand of 270 million tons this year, with imports more than 100 million tons. The country imported 91.12 million tons of oil in 2003, an on-year rise of 31.3 percent, China’s customs department said.
New robot with higher capacity up to 250 Kg.
With the success of their ZD range of robots being widely used in palletising and handling applications, Kawasaki Robotics has introduced the new ZD 250S model which extends the loading capability of the robot range from a previous maximum of 130 Kg up to 250 Kg. Robots are becoming extremely important in palletising and handling applications because of their ability to consistently handle and stack pallets, bags, crates and boxes in an accurate and repeatable way. Producers using manual labor are finding that goods that are stacked in an erratic way are unceremoniously rejected by their customers because of the major inefficiency problems that this causes with truck loading and warehouse storage.The robot offers an immediate solution to this problem, as once programmed, will perform its handling tasks 24 hours a day, with consistent and highly accurate product stacking. The new ZD 250S operates in 4 axes, with a working range of 1,800 x 1,600 x 2,200mm, handling up to 850 cycles per hour. Different hands can be fitted to the robot articulated arm to accommodate handling of different containers, bags, boxes, pallets, etc. The robot control system is easily programmed and allows stacking in a variety of patterns including side-by-side or stacked in column, interlock or pinhole.
New Robot Developed in China
Chinese scientists have developed a 1.58-meter and 76-kg robot able to play “Taiji,” traditional Chinese shadow boxing.
The robot named “BHR-1” passed appraisal Saturday as a major project for the Beijing
University of Science and Engineering under China’s High and New Technology Research and Development Program (program 863).
“BHR-1” had 32 joints from head to foot which made it move properly, said Prof. Li Kejie, chief scientist in charge of the project at the university.
It can walk with 0.33 meter steps at a speed of 1 km per hour, he said.
The robot is able to walk and play Taiji without a power cable as it incorporates its own power source.
It can also sense changing ground levels and balance itself.
A robot like this would be able to take over some dangerous jobs from humans, he added.