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Holcim Orders 1000 Volvo FH Electric Trucks

Posted on February 23, 2024February 23, 2024 by dishanth

ZURICH – In a monumental move towards sustainable logistics, Holcim Group, one of the world’s largest cement manufacturers, has placed a groundbreaking order for 1000 Volvo FH electric trucks. This landmark deal marks the largest sale of electric 18-wheelers to date, signaling a significant shift towards decarbonized mass haulage on European roadways. The move is a strategic step in Holcim’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions in cement logistics by 2050, according to Holcim CEO Jan Jenisch.

Driving Towards Net Zero in Cement Logistics

Holcim’s ambitious order of 1,000 Volvo FH electric trucks is a pivotal component of its broader strategy to slash Scope 3 transport carbon emissions and advance its 2050 net-zero roadmap. With the building materials industry grappling with substantial fleet pollution responsible for over a quarter of global value chain emissions, embracing e-mobility emerges as a viable solution to mitigate the outsized climate impact of freight transport.

The Volvo FH electric truck is a groundbreaking heavy-duty truck. Holcim’s colossal order now propels the commercialization of electric semi-trailers in Europe to new heights. As charging infrastructure continues to improve, major logistics players like Holcim are making strategic moves to convert their diesel fleets to electric, targeting reduced emissions and lower maintenance costs than traditional combustion vehicles.

Holcim’s substantial tender is expected to play a crucial role in accelerating the adoption of electric freight in Europe, with the potential for a quicker return on investment being an attractive proposition for other manufacturers to expedite their exploration of electric fleets.

Vehicle Automation on the Horizon

Holcim not only envisions a shift towards electric vehicles but also expects vehicle automation to play a significant role in the transition. Research and development pilots for vehicle automation are already underway in Germany, leveraging the latest Volvo FH electric truck models as a foundational platform for autonomous hardware. Holcim aims to integrate automation into its vision for decarbonized haulage, creating a seamlessly optimized material delivery system down to the turning wheels at each plant.

Germany is also developing an innovative catenary power system for electric transport trucks that will reduce fossil fuel usage and carbon emissions from the freight industry. The concept involves building overhead power lines along motorways that will connect to compatible vehicles like the Volvo FH electric truck while driving. Sensors and software in the trucks detect the cables above and automatically raise current collectors, allowing the electric motor, battery pack, and braking system to be powered by the overhead electric catenary.

This allows the trucks’ battery capacity to be smaller and lighter since they don’t need to store energy for the entire route. Instead, the catenaries continuously charge the batteries like electric trains and public transit trams, granting the trucks unlimited driving range while under the cables. Germany’s priority freight corridors between industrial hubs will be electrified first. The country allocated $73 million towards installing overhead cables on the autobahn in 2023. If the network expands as envisioned, trucking companies can utilize cleaner electric hybrid trucks for most routes without stopping and charging for long periods.

The numbers associated with this order of Volvo FH electric trucks are substantial and represent a significant leap toward sustainable practices in the building materials industry. Holcim’s strategic investment in electric semi-trucks underscores its commitment to sustainable practices and sets a precedent for the broader industry to embrace innovative solutions for a greener future.

Source Happy Eco News

Western Australia utility replicating success of 100% renewable energy town

Posted on August 16, 2022 by dishanth

The small town of Onslow, Western Australia, is now powered almost entirely by renewable energy, and the utility behind that project wants to roll out the same tech across the state.

State-owned utility company Horizon Power said today that it will deploy distributed energy management system (DERMS) technology that helps coordinate the use of different resources like rooftop solar PV, battery storage and electric vehicles (EVs).

In the demonstration project at Onslow, the entire town ran on renewable energy and battery storage for a period of about an hour-and-a-half last year, thanks to a microgrid system which allowed it to operate as a self-contained electricity grid.

While that means Onslow still relies on natural gas engines and diesel generators, that reliance is greatly reduced, and the energy minister for Western Australia, Bill Johnson called the demonstration a “landmark step towards building a cleaner, brighter, renewable energy future for our state”.

The project showed that distributed energy resources (DERs) could be safely integrated at grid level, and Johnson, along with Horizon Power and software and controls providers PXiSE and SwitchDin, talked up the potential for it to be replicated widely.

Horizon Power said today that the technology enabled four times as much rooftop solar to be installed and integrated into the grid at Onslow, a town where more than 40% of homes have PV.

The DERMS works using predictive analytics to enable maximised penetration of renewable energy on the grid – predicting weather patterns, electricity consumer behaviour and so on – while also ensuring stability and security of electricity supply to homes and businesses.

It enables not just DERs but also centralised resources like large-scale solar PV and batteries as well as thermal power stations to act in concert together to meet local energy needs.

Horizon will introduce the technology into remote and regional parts of the state. The company’s general manager for technology and digital transformation said that around 60% of Horizon Power’s energy systems are already dealing with limits on rooftop solar.

The DERMS will “increase solar access for our customers, lower their energy bills, and help reduce emissions,” Ray Achemedei said.

The rollout begins in the coastal resort town of Broome early next year and the utility will progressively deploy the tech across all of its power systems by the middle of 2024.

“This is the technology that will underpin the transition to 100% renewable towns,” Achemedei said, noting that the paradigm shift from centralised fossil fuel generation sending power in one direction only to decentralised and decarbonised energy which is bi-directional or multi-directional in flowing around the grid presents challenges that Horizon Power is tackling head on.

Other initiatives from the utility include a tender for distributed microgrids for rural areas launched in October 2021.

Then in November last year, Horizon began Energy Storage in Regional Towns, a AU$31 million programme to equip nine remote towns in Western Australia with shared community battery storage.

That programme is funded by the state government and is adding about 9MWh of battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity to local energy networks. Western Australia’s government put battery storage and solar PV at the heart of its post-pandemic economic recovery plans, announced in June 2021.

Source Energy Storage News

Western Australia — Out with the poles, in with the solar panels

Posted on February 1, 2022 by dishanth

Western Australia is a vast state. Power companies are having to come to terms with the high cost difference between maintaining poles and wires and installing hybrid power systems at the ends of the long power lines. And when the bushfires burn all the poles, then it makes the decision much easier.

Horizon Power is rolling out standalone off-grid solar and battery powered systems for 19 customers east of the town of Esperance. “Horizon Power first began offering certain remote regional customers the option to be powered by a custom built stand-alone solar and battery power system, or SPS, after bushfires destroyed more than 320 power poles and hundreds of kilometres of power lines in the region in November of 2015.”

At that time, only four landowners took up the offer. Now they expect to deliver more than 1000 systems to farmers and remote indigenous communities. As part of the Western Australian government’s Recovery Plan, Horizon Power has received $46 million to provide 150 systems across regional Western Australia. Each system consists of solar panels, battery storage, and a backup diesel generator. Connection to HP’s service hub means that any faults can be diagnosed remotely. Service teams can be dispatched if needed.

By March 2022, 45 standalone power systems are set to be deployed in Esperance to large commercial farms at the edges of HP’s overhead network. This will lead to the removal of 120 km worth of poles and wires from private paddocks. Farmers will no longer have to maneuver their huge tractors and other equipment around electrical infrastructure. Crop dusters will also appreciate the removal of flight obstacles.

The Renew the Regions Program has led to many power-related projects across Western Australia, which will lead to long-term benefit for the locals. Some of these are:

Derby, in the remote Kimberleys, had a $5.2 million solar and battery storage project installed, including a 40kW solar shade over the local pool.
Marble Bar (the hottest town in Australia) installed a 582kW/583kWh battery energy storage system to be paired with the Marble Bar solar farm, which generates more than 1,000MWh of electricity annually.
Broome is to receive two batteries, which would free up more than 1,400kW of new rooftop PV hosting capacity to residents and businesses next month.

Remote areas are showing the transition from centralized to decentralized power, and the locals are benefitting from the transition. This is a rare silver lining to come out of the WA bushfires of 2015.

Source: One Step Off the Grid

Source CleanTechnica