INDUSTRY EMEA: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
ABB AND GRAVITRICITY TO COLLABORATE ON ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS USING END-OF-LIFE MINE SHAFTS AND HOIST TECHNOLOGY
ABB has signed an agreement with UK-based gravity energy storage firm Gravitricity to explore how hoist expertise and technologies can accelerate the development and implementation of gravity energy storage systems in former mines.
Gravitricity has developed GraviStore, an innovative gravity energy storage system that raises and lowers heavy weights in underground shafts – to offer some of the best characteristics of lithium-ion batteries and pumped hydro storage. Future GraviStores will store more than 20MWh, providing long-duration storage and rapid power delivery to network-constrained users and operators, distribution networks and major power users.
Unlike batteries, the Gravitricity system can operate for decades without any reduction in performance. Gravitricity has already proven the system with a scale demonstrator and is exploring the potential to deploy its groundbreaking technology in decommissioned mines worldwide.
SECOND GIANT HS2?TUNNEL BORING MACHINE GETS READY TO START DIGGING UNDER BIRMINGHAM
A team of 90?specialist engineers have completed the assembly of HS2’s giant tunnel boring machine (TBM) which will start digging the second bore of the 3.5-mile Bromford Tunnel into Birmingham next year.
In an assembly operation to move sections of the machine into a 12-metre deep launch pit, two 600-tonne cranes lifted the huge 125-tonne cutterhead into place at the front of the 125-metre-long machine in the pit bottom.
The first TBM, named ‘Mary Ann’ after Mary Ann Evans – the real name of Victorian writer George Eliot who was born in Nuneaton – started digging the first bore from the east portal site near Water Orton in August this year. It has already built more than 500?tunnel rings, which is 0.6?miles of the 3.5-mile long tunnel between North Warwickshire and Washwood Heath in Birmingham.
Both TBMs will remove 1.87?million tonnes of excavated material, which will be sifted at the on-site slurry treatment plant and reused on HS2’s nearby sites at Delta Junction, where a complex network of nine viaducts is being built.
The majority of the second TBM, including the gantries and the centre part of the cutterhead, have been re-used from TBM ‘Dorothy’ after completing the one-mile twin bore Long Itchington Wood Tunnel in Warwickshire earlier this year.
Disassembled sections of ‘Dorothy’ have been moved to the Bromford Tunnel portal site near Water Orton over the last few months, where they have been lowered and reassembled into the underground launch area.
ARCELORMITTAL SIGNS CONTRACT WITH SARRALLE TO BUILD NEW ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE IN SPAIN
ArcelorMittal Asturias has signed a contract with industrial engineering company Sarralle, to build a new electric arc furnace (EAF) in Gijón, as part of the company’s decarbonisation plan for Spain.
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Civil works on the site will start early next year. Once the new, 1.1?million tonnes EAF is operational – which is expected in the final quarter of 2025?- the site will be able to switch to producing low carbon-emissions steel for the long products sector, specifically rails and wire rod, making the site highly competitive, in particular for sectors with stringent carbon criteria for public procurement contracts.
Currently, these products are made via the blast furnace route. In addition, a de-dusting system and waste heat recovery unit will be installed by Sarralle, as part of the project and in order to maximise energy efficiency in the new EAF.
MANITOWOC: POTAIN MD 305?B LEADS CONSTRUCTION WORK ON MAJOR NEW APARTMENT DEVELOPMENT IN MOLDOVA
Real estate developer Filli Partner purchased a used Potain MD 305?B for work on its City Plaza development, a residential project under construction in central Ungheni. Building work is set to last two years, with the project’s opening scheduled for the first quarter of 2025.
The Potain MD 305?B has a maximum capacity of 12?t, with up to 70?m of jib available, and the ability to lift 3.2?t at its jib end. On the City Plaza job, the crane is working with its full 70?m jib, allowing it to cover the entire jobsite.
Once complete, the City Plaza project will cover 34,000?sq. m, with 24,000?sq. m of residential space dedicated to 234?homes. There’s an additional 9,500?sq. m for commercial space, with the 10-story building eventually standing 32?m above ground.
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