Monthly Archives: September 2021

Tiffany Acosta| New Mexico State University

LAS CRUCES - DoeunChoebelieves the goal of her research should always result in helping society. And the civil engineering assistant professor in New Mexico State Universitys College of Engineering has received a 14-month, $121,331 grant from the National Science Foundation to research challenges facing floating offshore wind turbine technology.

Floating offshore wind turbines have been regarded as one of the most promising alternatives to access energy resources with vast available space and fewer restrictions and regulations.

I started working on the floating offshore wind turbine because I believe this will give my kids and future generations fresh air and sustainable energy resources to live, Choe said. And I further believe that securing sustainable energy is a critical component to offer the quality life for every current and future generation, as we all know that the current fossil fuel is limited and will end at some point.

More from NMSU: NMSU, DACC partnership continues technology career mentoring program

Choes project will identify the uncertainties involved in floating offshore wind turbine structures including those within the ocean environmental loading, hydrodynamics, and the structural and material properties, which threaten the reliability and the feasibility of floating offshore wind turbines. According to National Renewable Energy Laboratory, floating offshore wind turbines can collect an estimated four times the wind energy than onshore wind turbines. But the technology of floating offshore wind turbines requires significant research efforts to be economically viable.

I intend to help people to harvest more green energy resources with my engineering expertise through this research, hoping this energy eventually helps people to sustain a quality life, Choe said.

We are very pleased with Dr. Choes early success as a new faculty member at NMSU and are looking forward to her future contributions, said College of Engineering Dean Lakshmi N. Reddi. Renewable energy is a big focus of research programs in several of our departments and this is a very novel and exciting project to expand this focus. Its very heartening to have ongoing research that will benefit future generations.

Additionally, undergraduate, community college and high school students can assist on this project. Choe, who joined the NMSU faculty in January 2021, said she believes high school and undergraduate students can contribute to the literature reviews and simple steps of the wind turbine modeling and help with the research project presentation.

While the research project is focusing on complicated mathematical modeling of its uncertainty, that is not all, Choe said. They also can participate in the outreach activities, letting the community understand the importance of green and sustainable energy.

More from NMSU: NMSU graduate helped produce Emmy award-winning documentary 'Secrets of the Whales'

This project is a small part of supporting physical sustainability of our society, Choe said. However, we need more understanding and help in all aspects of the sustainability including the fields of social, human and engineering to support the sustainability of our future needs.

Eye on Research is provided by New Mexico State University. This weeks feature was written by Tiffany Acosta of Marketing and Communications. She can be reached attfrank@nmsu.edu.

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NMSU professor awarded grant to study the uncertainties in floating offshore wind turbines - Las Cruces Sun-News

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas plans to cease production at its factories in Viveiro, Spain, and Esbjerg, Denmark, as well as the onshore wind factory in Lauchhammer, Germany.

Vestas said that the move is part of the companys integration of its onshore and offshore business started after Vestas acquired a 100 per cent stake in MHI Vestas from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

The factory in Esbjerg employs approximately 75 people who manufacture power conversion modules for the V164 and V174 offshore turbines.

As demand for these modules will gradually shift to markets primarily outside of Europe and be delivered via more localised manufacturing facilities, Vestas expects to conclude the production of power conversion modules in Esbjerg during the first half of 2022.

The company will explore opportunities to relocate employees currently working at the factory in Esbjerg to other Vestas sites in Denmark.

The Viveiro factory employs approximately 115 people who manufacture generators for the 2 MW onshore platform as well as control panels for the V164 offshore turbine for markets outside of Spain.

Due to both the decrease in demand for the 2 MW platform and the need to optimise offshore manufacturing, it is no longer sustainable to continue activities in Viveiro, Vestas said.

Based on current plans, Vestas expects to finalise production in Viveiro end of 2021 and will offer opportunities to relocate employees currently working in Viveiro to other Vestas sites in Spain.

Todays fast-moving energy transition, rapid introduction of new products and recent integration of our onshore and offshore business require us to further mature and evolve our supply chain network and manufacturing footprint, said Executive Vice President and COO Tommy Rahbek Nielsen.

While Vestas will sustain a strong footprint in Europe across manufacturing and service activities, its always hard to make decisions that negatively affect our good, hardworking colleagues at Vestas. I would like to emphasise that we are deeply committed to explore opportunities to relocate our colleagues, who unfortunately will be impacted by the cease of production at our factories in Lauchhammer, Viveiro and Esbjerg.

Where required by local law, Vestas will now initiate legal proceedings and negotiations with workers representatives and the local work councils for all affected employees. The total cost of this adjustment of Vestas manufacturing onshore and offshore footprint will depend on specifics related to the outcome of negotiations with work councils, sale of buildings, etc. As indicated in Vestas guidance for 2021, the total cost will be booked as special items related to the integration of the offshore business and will be recognised in the third quarter of 2021.

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Vestas to Close Offshore Wind Factories in Denmark and Spain - Offshore WIND

Air Quality (as of 12:00AM)GOOD for all reporting stations

WEATHER STORYFlow turns offshore in the wake of Sundays cold front. This will likely lead to warmer, sunnier, and dry conditions as we head into the work week. Fire danger increases, especially to our north where offshore winds will be stronger through the morning hours. Eventually, low level flow switched back onshore by mid-week, cooling off coastal areas. There is uncertainty late in the week as a cut-off area of low pressure tries to sneak into southern California. Its eventual position could mean a lot of different things for our area.***RED FLAG WARNING*** for the DIABLO RANGE in Santa Clara County through 8 pm Monday

Dry northerly offshore winds will push into the Napa hills around 11 pm Sunday night and then gradually spread over the North and East Bay hills. The initial burst of winds will occur while humidity values remain fairly moist. However the dry offshore winds will begin a rapid drying of the atmosphere with humidity values dropping quickly by Monday morning. Continued moderate offshore winds on Monday as humidity values drop into the teens. Offshore winds will ease by sunset Monday night. Little or no humidity recovery Monday night into Tuesday morning but with only light offshore winds.

Initial burst of gusty offshore winds overnight to mid-morning Monday. Drier conditions but lighter winds Monday daytime. Offshore winds ease Monday night with continued poor humidity recovery.

-Winds northeast 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. Local gusts up to 50 mph over the highest peaks.

- Humidity initially 30-45% tonight drying to 15-30% on Monday with little or no recovery Monday night.

Any fire starts would likely see rapid spread due to dry fuels, low humidity and gusty winds in areas that did not receive wetting rains over the last 24 hours.A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now or will shortly. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures cancontribute to extreme fire behavior.

Overnight: A few low clouds/patchy fog possible near the coast. Otherwise clear with lows in the 40s-50s. Dry northerly winds pick up in the northern mountains overnight.Monday: Sunny and warm with highs in the 70s-80s on the coast and 80s to low 90s inland. A light sea breeze will kick in in the afternoon.

Tuesday: Another sunny and warm(er) day with the possibility of some coastal fog late. Expect highs in the 70s-80s on the coast and 80s-90s inland.

Extended:Temps will begin to cool on Wednesday and will likely stay seasonable through the end of the week. There is forecast uncertainty once Saturday rolls around. Stay tuned.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------This week's normal temperatures:--COASTAL CITIES--LOW: 54FHIGH: 72F--INLAND CITIES--LOW: 51FHIGH: 85F

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center for September 27th October 3rd calls for the likelihood of ABOVE normal temperatures and near normalprecipitation.-ElNio/LaNiaSTATUS: Neutral-Forecast into Winter: La Nia Watch

-Area drought status:Extreme Drought for the entire viewing area with the far southeastern corner of Monterey County and far eastern San Benito County considered Exceptional Drought

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Offshore Wind Threat KION546 - KION

Offshore wind holds great promise as a source of clean, domestic, renewable energy that can meet the needs of communities along the nations coastlines. And according to the Offshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition, written by a team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) the U.S. offshore wind industry made gale-force gains in 2020 and early 2021. The offshore wind pipeline grew 24% in that time period, with 35,324 megawatts (MW) now in various stages of development.

And that is not all. Increased industry interest, combined with theBiden administrations goal to deploy 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power by 2030, may propel the offshore wind energy industry to greater heights in the coming years.

Released on Aug. 30, 2021,the report highlighted that:

This report shows that the offshore wind market is on an upward curve, both nationally and globally, said Walt Musial, an NREL principal engineer and the lead report author. Maturing technology and falling costs have driven that curve for several years, and today, were seeing a continuation of those trends. Here, in the United States, federal and state support are also adding momentum.

NREL and DOE began working in offshore wind energy research in 2003 to address the growing interest in offshore wind power technology and innovation, both domestically and in Europe. Since then,NRELs work in offshore wind energyhas included:

Looking to the future, we expect offshore wind energy in the United States to expand beyond the North and Mid-Atlantic into the Pacific, Great Lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico, Musial said. That expansion means abundant energy at lower costs, job growth, and progress toward decarbonization. NREL will continue to leverage its expertise, world-class facilities, and industry, research, and commercial partnerships to help the United States lead the charge forward.

TheOffshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Editionprovides detailed information about the U.S. and global offshore wind energy industries to inform policymakers, researchers, and analysts about technology and market trends. The report covers the status of more than 200 globally operating offshore wind projects through Dec. 31, 2020, and provides details and analysis on a broader global pipeline of projects in various stages of development. To deliver the most up-to-date discussion about this evolving industry, the report also provides a deeper assessment of domestic offshore wind energy developments and events through May 31, 2021.

The report is a companion to theLand-Based Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition, prepared by DOEs Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and theDistributed Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition, prepared by DOEs Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. These three reportsoffer unbiased, independent, public reporting of the current state of the wind energy industry and provide insight into multiyear trends.

Offshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition: Full Report

Offshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition: Executive Summary

Offshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition: Summary Slides

Offshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition Data

Article courtesy of NREL.

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U.S. Offshore Wind Industry Has Electrifying Future - CleanTechnica

The tropics are still busy, but really there arent any official systems as I write this. It actually makes me wonder if talking about tropical disturbances (non-organized clusters of thunderstorms in a lower pressure area) is helping to numb people to taking in other important tropical information. Hmmm. Having said that Nicholas has fallen apart. It is no longer a tropical system, but rain showers are continuing to fall across the deep south. There are 2 tropical disturbances in the eastern Atlantic that could form over the next few days. (One is likely to do that).

Then there is the tropical disturbance that is a couple hundred miles to our southeast. This is the feature that we will be watching closely over the next 24-36 hours. It is likely to stay offshore, but it will probably throw a few showers back our way during that time. It is also going to elevate our risk for rip currents. As I write this the disturbance is still basically just a disorganized cluster of thunderstorms.

The weak low will move northward today. It will throw a few showers up our way. Weve already had a few over the Outer Banks. There is also a cool front falling apart just to our west.

There will be a few showers and storms in the western sections of the viewing area this afternoon closer to the front. There will also be scattered rain showers along the Outer Banks closer to the low. In Hampton Roads (between these features) well have a handful of rain showers.

The forecast track models all keep the center of the low offshore.

The Euro does have it to our east/northeast tomorrow. It does have some rain coming in from the ocean, but the stronger winds are definitely offshore.

Our Future Trak model is leaner with the rain tomorrow, but it does have a few showers.

For now Im calling for mostly cloudy skies Friday with some scattered showers and isolated tstorms. Also, the wind will be out of the north at 10-15mph. That will be a cool breeze. So Im going with high temps in the upper 70s to near 80. The low will move away from our region during the day Friday. Then well have nice weather next weekend. Highs will be in the 80s with less humidity.

There are 2 tropical disturbances in the eastern Atlantic. One still has a high chance of formation over the next few days as it moves to the west/northwest. The other one (more easterly disturbance) has a low chance in the next couple of days.

Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler

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Blog: Nicholas Falls Apart. Tracking The Offshore Low. - WAVY.com

Evergrande Plaza in Chengdu, China. This photo was taken in April 14th, 2017

Asian equities were largely higher as Hong Kong outperformed led by internet stocks. Investors appeared to be in good spirits in advance of the long weekend as Mainland China, Japan, and Taiwan will be closed Monday. However, there was precious little to speak of from a news perspective.Meanwhile, regional volumes were driven higher by the FTSE Russell rebalance and Quad Witching (the expiration of options contracts).

The PBOCs injection of $14 billion worth of liquidity into the financial system helped soothe investor concerns about Evergrande. However, the move was likely driven by the need for cash before the long weekend.

A Peoples Daily editorial claimed that Evergrande is not too big to fail. However, we now know that it is. A few years ago, insolvent companies including HNA Group, Anbang Insurance, and Fosun were going to implode China, according to the media narrative. But, the companies were broken up, their debt was distributed, and life went on. China will not let the first domino, which could be Evergrande, fall. CNH, the version of Chinas currency that trades during US market hours, shows little worry. CNHs volatility is very low, indicating that the market is not concerned.

There were several interesting sector moves overnight. Healthcare absolutely ripped, driven by BeiGenes positive drug recommendation from the EU. Meanwhile, lithium stocks were hit again, bringing down miners and other metal plays. The lithium space, along with coal and steel, has outperformed recently so some profit-taking is not that surprising. Positive remarks from the National Development and Reform Commission on clean energy and the Ministry of Transportation on electric vehicle (EV) usage increasing, both of which helped the broader cleantech space including EV, wind, and solar names. Energy names took it on the chin as crude prices eased a touch overnight.

Both Northbound and Southbound Stock Connect were closed today in advance of Chinas market holidays on Monday and Tuesday. Tencent bought back another 230,000 shares overnight.

Country performance

MSCI China All Shares Index

Stock performance

The Hang Seng opened lower but snapped back, rising across the trading day to close +1.03% on volume that was +51% higher than yesterday. The 210 Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong and within the MSCI China All Shares Index gained +1.87% led by healthcare +5.28%, discretionary +2.86%, staples+2.74%, communication +2.39%, tech +2.17%, real estate +1.89%, and utilities +1.7%. Meanwhile, energy -1.72, financials -1.2% and materials -1.2%. Hong Kongs most heavily traded stocks by value were Tencent, which gained +2.39%, Kuaishou Technology, which gained +6.22%, BeiGene, which ripped +20.29%, Ping An Insurance, which fell -5.05%, Meituan, which gained +3.53%, Alibaba HK, which gained +2.24%, Baidu, which gained +2.38%, AIA, which was flat, JD Health, which gained +9.52%, and BYD, which gained +3.37%.

Shanghai, Shenzhen, and the STAR Board bounced around the room opening higher then falling into the red before rebounding to close +0.19%, +0.35%, and -0.13%, respectively, on volumes that were -9.85% lower than yesterday, which is 140% of the 1-year average. The 541 Mainland stocks within the MSCI China All Shares Index gained +0.66% led by healthcare +4.37%, utilities +3.93%, staples +2.3%, and real estate +1.18%. Meanwhile, energy -4.69% and materials -1.88%. The Mainlands most heavily traded stocks by value were Tianqi Lithium, which fell -5.12%, China Northern Rare Earth, which fell -6.32%, China Three Gorges Renewables, which gained +9.97%, Kweichow Moutai, which gained +2.93%, Gangfeng Lithium, which fell -2.8%, Inner Mongolia BaoTou Steel, which fell -6.63%, Yunnan Yuntianhua, which fell -4.02%,Jiangxi Special Electric Motor, which gained +2.51%, and Longi Green Energy, which fell -1.00%.

Krane Funds Advisors, LLC is the investment manager for KraneShares ETFs. Our suite of China focused ETFs provide investors with solutions to capture Chinas importance as an essential element of a well-designed investment portfolio. We strive to provide innovative, first to market strategies that have been developed based on our strong partnerships and our deep knowledge of investing. We help investors stay up to date on global market trends and aim to provide meaningful diversification. Krane Funds Advisors, LLC is majority owned by China International Capital Corporation (CICC).

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Offshore RMB Does Not React To Evergrande Wind-Down, Week In Review - Forbes

Vineyard Wind's lease area south of Martha's Vineyard (in blue) (BOEM/Vineyard Wind)

PublishedSep 18, 2021 2:56 AM by The Maritime Executive

Vineyard Wind, the developer of America's first full-scale offshore wind farm, has submitted two new proposals for projects off the coast of Massachusetts. The news follows just one day after the firm secured financing for Vineyard Wind 1, a long-anticipated development off Martha's Vineyard.

The two new Commonwealth Wind proposals off the state of Massachusetts two options, with capacity of 800 MW and 1,200 MW each. Both proposals would be developed just to the south of the 800 MW Vineyard Wind 1 project, expanding on the company's already-permitted installation.

Just one day after announcing that Vineyard Wind has brought the nations first large-scale offshore wind farm to financial close, we are incredibly proud to submit our Commonwealth Wind proposals, said Lars T. Pedersen, CEO of Vineyard Wind. We have deliberately named our proposals Commonwealth Wind to underline the broad benefit of affordable energy to the entire Commonwealth as well as the significant economic benefits that will be delivered to multiple regions of Massachusetts.

If built, Commonwealth Wind will use the same one-by-one nautical mile spacing between turbines as Vineyard Wind, a standard pattern that has been endorsed by other offshore wind industry players and by the United States Coast Guard.

Between Vineyard Wind 1 and an adjacent project that is still in permitting (Park City Wind), Vineyard Wind has about 1600 MW of capacity in its development pipeline. Park City Wind started its federal review process in 2021 and is currently undergoing various permitting processes at the local, state and federal levels.

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Vineyard Wind Bids for New Project Near First US Offshore Wind Farm - The Maritime Executive

Highlights

Big expansion at Halden factory

UK content via local presence, partnerships

Commodity price pass-through to customers

Nexans is gearing up for 250% growth in the offshore wind cable market to 2030, company officials told S&P Global Platts Sept. 16.

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The French cable company has been involved in around half of Europe's 25-GW of offshore wind development to date, providing high voltage subsea export cabling services to Belgian, Danish, German, UK and now French projects.

It has just launched the CLV Nexans Aurora, a cable laying vessel with over 10,000 mt of load capacity charged with deploying near-term projects such as Seagreen offshore wind farm in Scotland, the Crete-Attica interconnector in Greece and the Empire offshore wind project in the US.

Now the company is investing to expand capacity at its Halden factory in Norway, and its Charleston factory in North Carolina in the US.

Those decisions, and a strategic shift to focus on electrification, were driven largely by the massive growth trend in offshore wind and large interconnectors worldwide, said Maxime Toulotte, Nexans head of technical marketing.

Charleston is to be upgraded so it can supply submarine HV cables to the US offshore wind market, while at Halden "we are investing to increase capacity for AC and DC cables for offshore, close to doubling capacity," Toulotte said.

There was no plan, however, to build a factory in the UK despite the offshore wind industry's 2019 deal with the government to source 60% of content from the UK by 2030, including increases in the capital expenditure phase.

"Over the last five years we have been very successful in the UK with Beatrice, East Anglia and Seagreen project awards, but the type of investment [in a cable factory] and the time it takes for qualification is very massive," Toulotte said.

"It is complicated to have several factories in the same market. Our approach has been to have a local presence in the UK, especially in Scotland where we have project managers, site managers, jointers all performing field tasks. That gives us a long-term relationship with sub-contractors, notably for civil works. Having this local presence is a success factor in securing and performing UK projects."

Around 10% of an offshore wind farm's economic value was in the transmission asset, Toulotte said.

Transmission was an essential but quite a small component in the overall capital cost compared to turbine, blade and foundation manufacturing.

"On a more structural basis, our main partner in lead, usually employed in submarine cables, is based and produces in the UK," said Christophe Allain, Nexans global portfolio director non-ferrous metals.

"It is a good asset for the UK because we employ lead in all our high voltage facilities in the world," Allain said. However, the main materials in terms of cable value, copper and aluminum, could not be sourced in the UK so getting to 60% content "required more analysis of how you manage that," he said.

Customers were beginning to ask Nexans to define UK content and, more generally, its emission reduction efforts, Toulotte said.

"It is a big job to map entire projects, but we are starting to do it and in future this will be a systematic process," he said.

NEXANS: SELECTED HV CABLE PROJECT WINS

Seagreen

Offshore wind

UK

Hornsea 1 and 2

Offshore wind

UK

Saint Brieux

Offshore wind

France

Empire Wind

Offshore wind

US

DolWin 6

Offshore wind

Germany

Horns Rev 2

Offshore wind

Denmark

Belwind

Offshore wind

Belgium

Mindanao Visayas

Interconnector

Philippines

Mallorca Menorca

Interconnector

Spain

NordLink

Interconnector

Norway, Germany

North Sea Link

Interconnector

Norway, UK

Monlta

Interconnector

Montenegro, Italy

Inner Oslo Fjord

Interconnector

Norway

Maritime Link

Interconnector

Canada

Stair of Belle Isle

Interconnector

Canada

Malta-Sicily

Interconnector

Italy

Mallorca-Ibiza

Interconnector

Spain

Skagerrak 4

Interconnector

Norway, Denmark

Nexans hedges all its copper, aluminum and lead on the LME and it sells cable with a floating commodity price, Christophe Allain said.

"That is the market practice in the cable industry. We associated ourselves to the LME more than a century ago in order to do this. Changes in the commodity cost are borne by the customer, and we do not speculate or take a position."

On the wider impacts of high commodity prices and potential supply bottlenecks, Allain took a pragmatic view. "We have to be careful about what we read in the news. Growth in renewables won't come all on day one, it's a long-term process."

The full impact of the requirement for more copper would come in 3-4 years' time but today "it depends on what you call copper scrap is plentiful, cathode is available," Allain said.

There were some bottlenecks in more transformed products, and clearly there would be more demand for copper and aluminum, "but we are vertically integrated, we have our own copper rod mills. That gives us good security of supply," he said.

Nexans used 460,000 mt of copper in 2020, down from 525,000 mt in 2019 and 495,000 mt in 2018.

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INTERVIEW: Nexans gears up for massive growth in offshore wind cable market - S&P Global

Five UK projects revolving around decarbonisation of the maritime sector by using offshore wind solutions have won GBP 3.3 million (around EUR 3.9 million) through the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, funded by the UK Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.

One of the Competitions flagship projects is a feasibility study into establishing a National Clean Maritime Demonstration Hub in ABPs Grimsby docks the worlds largest offshore wind operations and maintenance (O&M) port, according to the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, which is leading the project and is also either leading or is a consortium partner in the other four initiatives.

ORE will also be working alongside MJR Power & Automation to develop a world-first offshore vessel charging system taking power from an offshore wind farm and on the development of an offshore wind power barge that can provide vessel-to-vessel charging capability in a project led by Aluminium Marine Consultants (AMC).

The project developing offshore wind on-turbine electrical vessel charging system will design, build, and test an electric charge point situated on a wind turbine. This approach will access the infrastructure already in place (turbine platform, electrical cables) to provide renewable electricity to vessels. As an eCTV docks with the turbine a cable reel will lower down an electrical charge connection which will plug in to the vessel and charge a battery on-board.

AMCs project project will complete a detaileld design and operational simulation of a mothership charging vessel, hosting a number of electric CTVs. The mothership will take the concept of in-field charging and provide a flexible solution capable of removing diesel emissions from offshore wind Operations and Maintenance.

Furthermore, Concept Systems Ltd (CSL) has been awarded funding to investigate data-led emissions management and Artemis Technologies will be supported in further developing its eFoiler technology.

ORE Catapult says the five projects will also convene industry, the supply chain, and the government to address the policy, commercial, regulatory, and technical barriers to achieving maritime decarbonisation.

The decarbonisation of the UKs maritime fleet is essential if we are to achieve Net Zero by 2050 and transitioning to a future of zero-emissions shipping with clean vessels and alternative fuels is vital, ORE Catapult stated in a press release from 15 September. As both a potential producer and user of clean fuels, the UKs offshore wind industry is in a unique position to act as a springboard for that broader maritime decarbonisation.

The five offshore wind-driven projects are part of a total of 55 projects that have together secured GBP 23 million (around EUR 27 million) in funding through the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition.

Originally posted here:

Five UK Projects Looking to Decarbonise Maritime Sector with Offshore Wind - Offshore WIND

The BCT was announced in January this year, and based on the handful of renders and close-up shots released at the time, it was the kind of rig that can be used as a proper home no matter where your sense of adventure might take you. The first unit further enforces that idea, as its meant as an offshore racing yacht [built] on a trophy truck, with all-terrain and all-season capabilities, and a wide range of options for all budgets and vacation ideas.

The TruckHouse BCT is, in short, just that: a truck house, a reliable rig that takes you off the beaten path but will never let you rough it up. Its a landyacht of sorts, and its priced like one, too. But more on that later.

Inspired by the 1987 Toyota Sunrader 4x4 camper, the BCT sits on top of the Toyota Tacoma truck. You get to choose between three stages when it comes to the base, starting with the TRD Sport Access Cab and ending with the TRD Pro. The idea with the BCT is that it should offer a little something for everyone: whether youre an occasional, summer off-roader, or you want a rig to use all around the year for longer stretches, you can mix and match among the many options and get the perfect overlander.

The house is the result of over 1,000 hours of research and design, and its layout aims for efficiency, comfort and an added touch of coziness. Theres a queen-size bed over the cab, with the wet bathroom close by and plenty of storage space on the opposite end.

The kitchen occupies both sides, and is fitted to ensure you get plenty of nutrition on your many adventures. Were talking here about a proper kitchen, with a two-burner stove, microwave and an oven, fridge / freezer combo, stainless sink with filtered water, and countertop to serve as a working surface. At the rear of the mini-home is the dinette, which includes a U-shaped couch and a table for four (the swivel-mounted TV is optional). The table can be lowered and the couch becomes a secondary berth, big enough to sleep two adults of a more slender constitution.

Standing height is 6.3 feet (1.9 meters) and the seven safari-style large windows allow in plenty of light, to make the space feel even bigger. To avoid the cramped feeling that can come with over-the-cabin berths, the BCT comes with a skylight. Access from the cabin of the truck to the home is possible.

And then, theres the question of versatility. As noted above, customers can spec their rig according to their needs and budget, so TruckHouse offers more than just the three stages for the base truck. In terms of performance, for example, you can opt for a naturally aspirated engine or a supercharger. You also get three stages for exterior color, another three for off-road capabilities, three for entertainment, and three for the rear seats.

Off-grid capabilities are two-fold: you can get the 240-Ah lithium battery pack with a 400-W solar array on the roof (low-profile), or the 540-Ah battery pack with a 600-W solar panel system. Two more stages are offered under the severe weather option, with the second stage offering all-season capabilities with heated floors, AC, upgraded insulation, and heated water.

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The TruckHouse BCT Overlander Is Here: An Offshore Racing Yacht Built on a Trophy Truck - autoevolution