The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
Interesting article enclosed on Rolls Royce and its new found ability to power aircraft with 100% sustainable fuels. Which set me thinking......who is supplying them with SAF
Rolls-Royce has taken a major green step, announcing that not only has its giant UltraFan demo jet engine been run at full power on 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), but tests have proven all its current civilian engines are compatible with 100% SAF.
With increasing pressure on the aerospace industry to produce technology that's both more efficient and environmentally friendly, it's significant when a major player like Rolls-Royce embraces something like SAF across an entire product range, including its show piece for this decade.
Billed as the largest and most powerful jet engine in the world, the UltraFan has a 140-in (356-cm) fan and can produce 64 MW of power. In static tests, it has generated a maximum thrust of over 85,000 lb and the technology can be scaled to as high as 110,000 lb for narrow-body or wide-body aircraft of the 2030s.
According to Rolls-Royce, some of the technologies developed for the UltraFan can be incorporated into the company's other current engines, but one thing they share in common is that they have all been certified as compatible with running solely on SAF. The latest to be certified is the BR710 business jet engine, which was tested at the company’s facility in Canada. Other engines include the Trent 700, Trent 800, Trent 900, Trent 1000, Trent XWB-84, Trent XWB-97, Trent 7000, BR725, Pearl 700, Pearl 15, and Pearl 10X.
A Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 Dreamliner with Trent 1000 engines is scheduled to make the world's first transatlantic flight fueled entirely by SAF. Currently, international standards only allow a maximum of 50% SAF to be blended with 50% conventional jet fuel. It's hoped that such test flights and static demonstrations the technical hurdles have been overcome could change this.
"We estimate that to reach Net Zero flying by 2050, a combination of highly-efficient, latest-generation gas turbines such as UltraFan operating on 100% SAF are likely to contribute around 80% of the total solution, which is why today’s announcement is such an important milestone for Rolls-Royce and the wider industry," said Simon Burr, Group Director of Engineering, Technology and Safety, Rolls-Royce plc.
OK......so I asked Chat GPT where are Rolls Royce getting their 100% sustainable aviation fuel from ?
The answer came below :-
According to Velocys’ official website, they are a leading developer of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) ) and have been working with Rolls-Royce to develop SAF for the aviation industry .
E-Trucks Europe orders more HyRange 43 hydrogen fuel cell systems from Proton Motor Power
The purchases will be deployed into the company’s waste collection vehicles.
E-Trucks Europe has placed another order from Proton Motor Power (LON stock symbol PPS) for seven more of the HyRange 43 hydrogen fuel cell systems. The idea is to use the fuel cell and electric hybrid technology company’s systems in garbage collection trucks.
This is not the first order E-Trucks Europe has placed from Proton Motor Power for the tech.
The first five hydrogen fuel cell systems E-Trucks Europe ordered from Proton Motor Power occurred back in January 2020. The refuse vehicles that will be equipped with the HyRange 43 equipment are already “fully electrified” garbage trucks, said E-Trucks Europe. Those vehicles have 136 kWh batteries. However, the company is adding the new HyRange systems to act as range extenders. In this way, the hope is to be able to achieve “almost continuous” daily operation, according to a Proton Motor Power announcement of the order.
The E-Trucks H2 powered waste vehicles have been deployed in several cities in the Netherlands, including Best, Breda, Eindhoven, Groningen, and Helmond. Now, a new order will help to expand the use of these types of vehicles and add range to those had been exclusively battery electric.
The hydrogen fuel cell systems contract also involves five years of maintenance services.
The new contract’s terms require Proton Motor Power to deliver the ordered equipment within the next 18 months. On top of that, the companies have also entered into an agreement in which Proton Motor Power will be providing E-Trucks Europe with maintenance services for the next half decade.
“We are delighted with this order which, following E-Trucks Europe’s initial order for five units, confirms the attraction and reliability of Proton’s HyRange extenders in harsh, real life commercial vehicle applications,” said Dr. Faiz Nahab, chief executive officer of Proton Motor Power.
H2 is being viewed as increasingly promising both on its own and as a hybrid with battery electric power, due to its rapid refuelling and long range availability while being a zero emission source of energy.
I wonder if the £1.316,010 raised is to be invested via Serendipity Energy Limited ?
Thanks for answering my question.
Help needed. I am already into AFC, Ilika, ITM, PHE. PPS ,SIMEC and Verditek. Now I am considering the Active Energy Group PLC (AEG) as it is one of the few Alternative Energy companies I am not yet into and it is now showing great promise. Problem is, it is traded on the Aquis Stock Exchange Trading Secondary Market and I have no experience of that market. Could I buy and sell such shares on the HL trading platform ?
Garry, I got into Ilika at 39 pence and they are now trading at 101, so quite happy there.
I am only newly into VLS, bought in at 5.9 pence and they are now 7 plus. Not much experience therefore but I did do a lot of prior research into the Jet Zero Council and VLS were the only waste to energy company invited to this Government sponsored Quango. Boris's subsequent mention of an emission free "Al**** and Brown"jet flight to the US of A had VLS written all over it !!
The ones in my portfolio that I feel have legs would be
AFC
EQTEC (obviously !)
Ethernity Networks (big strides in 5G)
Ilika (electric batteries - partnered with McLaren)
PHE
Proton Motor Power
Velocys
I am already making money on all of these and feel that they all have much further progress to come
Took me three attempts to get my share purchase through with HL
Two of the most exciting areas to invest at the present time are Hydrogen power and Artificial Intelligence. TPG ticks both boxes. This is gradually becoming a very attractive company to invest in. I agree that the market has generally overlooked this company but investors with interests in ITM, PHE and Proton are now looking around for the next company with the potential to emulate their success and I think that TPG meets that criteria.
Protos advise that the Government has set the ambitious 2050 challenge for there to be the first low-carbon industrial cluster by 2030. From this was created the North West Energy & Hydrogen Cluster with the aim of being that first cluster in the country, creating a model which can be replicated elsewhere. There are already sites in the region focused on research and putting high energy-use businesses alongside low carbon energy generators. At Protos, we’ve developed plans for a facility which can use waste plastic to create hydrogen, a clean energy source, and one that was recently consented which will take bio-resources and use them to create a renewable transport fuel.
Lots of different types of solutions are going to be needed to achieve the ambitious Net Zero target, rather than an ‘either/or’ approach. We need to invest more in the renewable energy sources we already have, but also look at the many new types of technologies which could revolution energy creation, such as hydrogen. This is why there’s the potential for so much job creation. In the short term as we transition towards fully renewable or ‘green’ hydrogen we’re also looking at how we can capture the carbon that is released and then store it. In the North West this could mean re-using gas fields in the Irish Sea to store carbon.
The prize is huge; billions of pounds invested, more jobs, and a cleaner planet, and the North West is leading the charge.
Powerhouse Energy, who are setting up within the Protos Energy Park are in the right place, at the right time and have the backing of Peel, who have the reputation of pushing through major developments. I am not sure that the full potential of Protos has been fully understood. See below
Peel Environmental, part of Peel L&P, has started work on a new grid connection at Protos, investing more than £16m as the developer looks to futureproof the £700m strategic energy hub. Planning consent has been secured from Cheshire West & Chester Council allowing work to start on two new substations, and a new grid connection.
The 54-hectare development near Ellesmere Port clusters together innovative technologies in energy generation and resource management alongside energy-intensive businesses. The work will provide essential grid capacity enabling Protos to generate low carbon energy that, in the future, could be supplied directly to industrial and domestic customers. A planning application for a waste plastic to hydrogen facility is also due to be determined in the coming months.
Protos sits within the Energy Innovation District (EID), which includes energy users and network owners alongside the Cheshire & Warrington LEP, Cheshire West & Chester Council, and the University of Chester. Led by the Cheshire Energy Hub, the EID is developing the concept for a smart local energy system that could see energy costs reduced by 20% and a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.