Chenab Bridge - Suomalaisten suunnittelema huikea silta Intiassa

The bridge is one of the last major elements of the new 272-kilometer Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railroad that will connect the Kashmir Valley with India's national network at a point north of the city of Jammu. Started more than 20 years ago, the USBR includes around 900 bridges of various types and more than 110 km of tunnels.

The bridge's design/build contract was awarded to Chenab Bridge Project Undertaking (CBPU) in 2004. For overall design, CBPU hired the small Finnish firm Consulting KORTES Ltd., which has since been acquired by WSP Group. Germany’s Leonhardt, Andrä and Partner became the subconsultant handling the bridge's detail and erection designs. For bridge information modeling, WSP adopted Finland-based Tekla Structures.

The whole fascinating ENR story can be found here (6p, 0.95MB).

SÄHKÖN KULUTUS KASVAA NOPEAMMIN KUIN PÄÄSTÖTTÖMÄN SÄHKÖN TUOTANTO

IEA: Electricity demand growth will require more fossil fuel production. 

The demand for global electricity is growing faster than renewable energy capacity and therefore will require more power to be generated from fossil fuels. That’s according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which found renewable energy is not expanding quickly enough to meet the strong rebound. [emp] 

VAPAAVUORI KERRANKIN OIKEALLA ASIALLA

 Olen vuosien varrella monesti kirjoittanut raidemaniasta, joka lähinnä punavihreän ideologian myötä esiintyy kolmena oikoratana, Jäämerenratana, Tallinnan tunnelina ja Helsingissä Pisaratana ja Kruunusiltoina. Näistä viimeksimainittu on kallis pelkästään ratikoille (ja kevyelle liikenteelle) tarkoitettu usean sillan hanke. Kun asiasta päätettiin 4-5 vuotta sitten oli hankkeen kustannusarvio 430 MEUR. Nyt kun rakentamisen pitäisi alkaa kustannukset ovatkin tuplaantuneet lähes 800 MEURoon.

Pormestarikautensa viime hetkillä on Jan VAPAAVUORI pannut alulle selvityksen asiasta; selvityksen tekee KPMG. Hyvä niin!

UK USKOO FUUSIO-VOIMAAN

 The United Kingdom will start work to create a regulatory framework for supporting research and development of nuclear fusion technology to enable the delivery of clean and safe energy, the government said on Tuesday in response to a report from an independent expert committee on regulations.

The Regulatory Horizons Council (RHC) published on Monday a report in which it recommends that the UK champion the way for a non-fission

nuclear approach by setting out and consulting on a vision of how the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Environment Agency could develop current regulations and put the best framework in place for the technology to flourish.

Although nuclear fusion has been long recognized as totally carbon- and by-product-free and the source atoms in hydrogen are abundant on Earth, replicating fusion energy generation on Earth has been a challenge. That’s because this fusion needs to take place at extremely high temperatures that create hot plasma and because researchers have struggled to obtain more energy from those plasmas than the energy input to run them.

The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) is building the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), a prototype fusion power plant, which it hopes will be the world’s first prototype fusion power plant by 2040. Private industry is also developing concepts and securing commercial investment.

“The Government agrees with the RHC that the lower intrinsic hazard of the fusion process when compared to fission is an incredibly important factor in considering the regulatory framework for fusion,” Amanda Solloway, the UK Minister for Science, Research, and Innovation, said.

Last week, the UKAEA announced a possible breakthrough in nuclear fusion technology, in which an experiment in the UK achieved at least a tenfold reduction in the heat on materials on the key fusion machine components. An innovative exhaust system was found to handle the intense heat during the fusion reaction, which would allow components to last much longer and potentially make compact fusion power plants commercially viable, the UK government said. [emp]

KHO HYLKÄSI ÖSTERSUNDOMIN KAAVAN!

Helsinkimafian vetäjien Jan Vapaavuoren & Jussi Pajusen Matti Vanhasen tuella läpiajama Sipoon kaappaus 2007 päättyi nyt totaaliseen fiaskoon. Kaapatulle 44.5 km2 alueelle piti tulla 80,000 - 100,000 asukasta ja 15,000 - 40,000 työpaikkaa ja vielä metrokin. Mitään ei tullut.

Nyt Hesan toimialajohtajan Mikko Ahon mukaan voimavarat keskitetään 2016 kaapatun Malmin lentokentän alueen suunnitteluun asuinkäyttöön. Odotettavissa on toinen yli 10 vuoden kamppailu, josta Hesalle jää luu käteen.

Väylävirasto: TURUN TUNNINJUNA KANNATTAMATON & 300 miljoonaa turhaan oikoratojen suunnitteluun

Olen vuosien varrella usein kirjoittanut ratamanian typeryydestä ja mahdottomista tavoitteista. Väylävirasto on tehnyt selvityksen Helsinki-Turku -radan kannatavuudesta kolmen eri vaihtoehdon pohjalta. Seuraavassa näytetyt kannatavuusluvut perustuvat vaihtoehdon yhteiskuntataloudelliseen kannattavuuteen; jotta hanke olisi kannattava, luvun pitäisi olla >1.

Rantaradan parantaminen: Kannattavuus 0.70

Oikorata Lohjan kautta: Kannattavuus 0.44
Rantaradan kaksiraiteistaminen: Kannattavuus 0.04

Siis mikään vaihtoehto ei ole edes kansantaloudellisesti kannattava liiketaloudellisesta kannattavuudesta puhumattakaan. Välille Helsinki-Turku ei yksinkertaisesti ole tarpeeksi liikennettä. Vaikka rata saisikin 60 MEUR EUn tukirahaa, ei kannattamaton oikorata siitä muuksi muutu. Vielä selvitys sanoo, että oikoradan vaikutus liikenteen päästöjen vähentämiseksi on vähäinen. Seuraavasta löytyy Väyläviraston hankearviointi Helsinki-Turku - Nopea junayhteys (114 p, 5.39 MB).

Samaan aikaan kuitenkin tuhlataan veronmaksajien rahaa min Timo Harakan viikolla 9 tvn A-Studiossa sanoman mukaan 300 MEUR kolmen oikoradan suunnitteluun!

HIENO SILTA VALMISTUMASSA LOS ANGELESIIN

The new Sixth Street Viaduct, when completed next year, will be hard to miss. Ten pairs of continuous arches will create a sinuous profile as the 933 meter-long, 30 meter-wide viaduct soars over the 101 Freeway, several railroads, the LA River and the downtown Los Angeles arts district. [enr]

Hiilidioksidin vähentäminen nostettava 5-kertaiseksi!

A new research report by the accounting firm PwC estimates the world needs to reduce carbon intensity five times faster to hit the 1.5° Paris Agreement target. 

A rapid decarbonisation rate of 11.7% is needed every year, according to the analysis, which estimates that the current global rate reached 2.4% for 2019.

UK holds the ‘highest decarbonisation rate’ in the world for the 21st century so far. The nation decreased carbon dioxide emissions by 3.7% every year, according to the same report. The UK has the highest long-term reduction in greenhouse gas output in the world over the course of the 21st century. The report reveals that the country decreased its consumption of coal, natural gas and oil while expanding the production of renewable energy, particularly wind power. However, the study suggests the UK will need to continue investing around £400 billion in green infrastructure and renewable energy to deliver on its net zero emissions target.

Panaman kanavasta vesi loppumassa

 The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is seeking bids from contractors for an estimated $2 billion of water-supply infrastructure projects to help solve low water levels attirbuted to climate change that are affecting operations despite conservation measures and new fees. The program is intended to meet the canal’s water needs and local drinking water supply requirements for 50 years.  

UK: Merituulivoimalan sähkön hinta yhä alemmaksi

UK can have "negative-subsidy" offshore wind online in couple of years

The UK’s contracts for difference (CfD) auctions in September 2019 will likely bring the world’s first "negative-subsidy" offshore wind farms, according to a study led by Imperial College London (ICL) researchers.

A number of tenders in Europe have contracted “subsidy-free” offshore wind energy, but the UK may be the first country to get offshore wind that would actually reduce the electricity bills of homes and businesses, the international team behind the analysis says.

Looking at likely future electricity price trends, the researchers concluded that the price for offshore wind power achieved in the third CfD auctions round is “very likely” to be below the UK wholesale price for electricity over the lifetime of the wind farms. This means that these power plants at sea will be paying money back to the government.

Offshore wind projects with almost 5.5 GW of capacity, to be brought online in the mid-2020s, secured CfDs in the 2019 auctions. The list includes projects like Seagreen 1 and Sofia. The strike prices in the auction arrived at around GBP 40 (USD 51.4/EUR 44) per MWh, or 30% below these reached in the CfD auction held in 2017, and two-thirds lower than the offshore wind strike prices in 2015.

“This amazing progress has been made possible by new technology, economies of scale and efficient supply chains around the North Sea, but also by a decade of concerted policymaking designed to reduce the risk for investing in offshore wind, which has made financing these huge billion-pound projects much cheaper,” said Dr Iain Staffell from the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial.

A fourth CfD auction round is planned for 2021.  [emp]