Children found working at India distillery went there by school bus, official says

 People wearing protective masks stand outside a wine shop to buy liquor during an extended nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New Delhi, India

REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo

JUN 19, 2024

NEW DELHI - Some of the 58 children found working illegally in a distillery of India's Som Group were transported to the factory in school buses, the chief of the Indian government child rights agency overseeing case told Reuters.

Police in the state of Madhya Pradesh launched an investigation into Som after the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) last week found 39 boys and 19 girls working at the factory. The agency also released photos of children's hands it said showed burns due to contact with chemicals.

"They were enrolled in a school and would come in school buses. So people thought they were going to the school, but they worked in the liquor factory," NCPCR Chief Priyank Kanoongo said on Wednesday.

Som did not respond to a request for comment on NCPCR's remarks.

In a statement to the stock exchange earlier this week, Som Distilleries and Breweries Ltd said the concerns are related to a plant run by its "associate private limited company" which used labour supplied by contractors, who may not have carried out proper age verification checks.

Their services have been terminated, Som said, adding it is cooperating with the authorities. The company's shares have fallen 7% this week.

Kanoongo said he would ask the local authorities why no arrests have been made and the distillery had not been sealed.

"We will soon send a notice to the local authorities," he added.

Repeated calls to Vikas Kumar Shahwal, the senior Madhya Pradesh police official who is overseeing the case, were not answered.

Som is one of the smaller distilleries in India's thriving alcohol industry where both foreign and domestic players operate. Its website describes it as an "internationally acclaimed brand" available in over 20 markets including the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Child labour is a concern in India. In 2021, Reuters reported that an external audit of two Carlsberg warehouses had found underage labourers at a location in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand.

Carlsberg at the time said "the third-party provider was terminated immediately in 2018 following the findings in the internal report."

 REUTERS

Pilots fear collisions as staffing crisis leaves Australian Control Towers empty

Concerned crews are blowing the whistle after a surge in passenger traffic

Published: June 19, 2024

 Bloomberg

Concerns among pilots about a possible mid-air collision are spilling over in Australia as a shortage of air traffic controllers leaves airport towers unmanned, forcing passenger jets to fend for themselves.


There are currently no overnight air traffic control services at Darwin, a northern gateway for carriers including Qantas Airways Ltd. and Virgin Australia. Schedules show that at around midnight almost every day, more than a dozen flights have to arrive or depart with almost no guidance from the ground.

On Australia's northeast coast, the airport at Townsville — a popular jumping off point for the Great Barrier Reef — doesn't staff its control tower at weekends. Almost 50 commercial services have to coordinate their own landings or takeoffs on Sunday alone.

The labor crisis on the ground is adding risk in the air during the post-Covid travel boom, with flight crews taking on the task of distancing their planes from other air traffic "- a responsibility that ordinarily lies with air traffic controllers. Pilots say landing without direction from a tower removes an important layer of security at a critical period of the flight.

Concerned crews are blowing the whistle after a surge in passenger traffic. Airlines have scheduled 866 flights into Darwin this month, the most this year, up from a Covid-era low of 171 in May 2020, according to Cirium data. Runway construction work at the airport that restricts plane movements is making landing and taking off without help even more complicated, pilots say.

In a statement, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority said it's "satisfied that the arrangements between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. are safe for the anticipated traffic mix" at Darwin. The regulator said it's working with the defence department, which is responsible for air traffic control at Darwin, to "support a return to the previous service levels." The defence department didn't respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Airservices Australia, the government agency that manages airspace, said "rosters are tight in some areas" but "safety is never compromised." The organization has recruited and trained 100 new air traffic controllers since 2020 and more than 70 others will join in the 2025 fiscal year, it said.

Like the rest of the aviation industry, air traffic controllers worldwide took a blow during the pandemic, with many laid off when international travel ground to a halt. Employment levels in a sector that's essential to keeping aviation safe have failed to keep pace with the swift recovery in air travel.

The depleted ranks have been in the spotlight globally after a spate of close calls on runways in the US, including a near collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in April between a JetBlue Airways Corp. flight and a Southwest Airlines Co. plane. In January, a fiery crash on the tarmac at Tokyo killed five people.

Safety concerns among air traffic controllers themselves in Sydney, Australia's main aviation gateway — emerged early last year when staff submitted at least 15 confidential reports to the transport safety investigator. Some warned that an accident was almost inevitable unless the manpower deficit was addressed.

As recently as last week, flight-planning notices for pilots warned that control tower operating hours at airports across Australia were subject to "post-Covid Airservices staffing shortages." The list included the airports of the nation's capital, Canberra, and Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania.

"Without air traffic control, the chance of errors by any one aircraft or pilot increases, and the ability to identify and correct those errors is dramatically reduced," said Tony Lucas, a senior Qantas pilot who's also president of the Australian and International Pilots Association. "We want to see normal operations resume as soon as possible."

In Australia, a vast country where air travel is just about unavoidable, it's common for small aerodromes or remote airstrips to operate on their own. But pilots converging on Darwin, where there's no air traffic control from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. most nights, describe a late-night airspace busy with commercial flights, military aircraft and small medical evacuation planes.

One Boeing Co. 737 captain, a 20-year Qantas veteran, said he was relieved to land safely there in early April shortly after midnight without air traffic control. He spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the subject. Under those conditions, said the pilot, an accident would come as no surprise.

That same month, the Australian Airline Pilots' Association was so concerned that it issued a safety bulletin on the matter. The body warned there's a higher risk of a mid-air collision in areas of uncontrolled airspace because not all aircraft are equipped with crash-avoidance systems. The alert was distributed to professional pilot bodies worldwide.

Qantas declined to comment, but pointed to its recent submissions to an Australian parliamentary transport committee.

In a May 14 letter to the committee, Qantas said "for safety reasons" its jets avoid uncontrolled airspace unless there's no other option. Making pilots responsible for so-called self-separation in the air "was once an extremely rare event "" almost unheard of in Australian airspace and even in a global context," the airline said.

Now, it's commonplace.

Some 1,600 Qantas group flights in 2023 were delayed because normal air traffic services were unavailable, the carrier told the committee. Almost 400 flights ran late in the first four months of this year for the same reason. The airline called for "additional regulatory oversight" of Airservices Australia.

Virgin Australia declined to comment but it told the same parliamentary transport committee last month that air traffic control was withdrawn on 810 occasions between Jan. 1, 2022 and April 24, 2024. Those incidents occurred both mid-flight and as aircraft were approaching Australian airports.

At Darwin Airport, there will be no overnight service until at least November this year, according to instructions for pilots on the Airservices Australia website. The restrictions were put in place in July 2022.

The dense cluster of flight arrivals and departures at Darwin either side of midnight point to the challenges of maintaining mid-air separation. As many as 16 flights operated by Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin land or depart inside a window of about two hours, well after Darwin's control tower has closed, according to the airport's flight timetable.

The Qantas pilot who spoke anonymously said the last time he approached Darwin Airport, he received an overview of nearby flights from an area controller, allowing him to build a picture of the situation in the air. He then contacted other aircraft to ensure they were distanced "- vertically and horizontally "- and wouldn't be landing at the same time.

He touched down without incident after getting on the plane's Wifi and checking Flightradar24, a site more typically monitored by aviation enthusiasts on the ground. Many jets do not have Wifi.

It's not as if government bodies aren't aware of long-standing concerns among pilots and air traffic controllers.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau in March 2023 published an anonymous confidential submission, apparently from an air traffic controller, which highlighted a lack of understanding among controllers and flight crews about what to do in uncontrolled airspace. The situation was "an accident waiting to happen," the person said.

Three months later, the safety bureau said air traffic controllers had made "a large number" of confidential reports in the preceding four months. Fifteen of them related to operations in Sydney. There had been just one in the previous five years.

Excerpts from those submissions, published by the bureau, point to widespread concerns about staffing levels and procedures in Sydney. One controller warned it was "only a matter of time before the current practices at Airservices result in a major aviation incident." Another said it would take years to fix the labor crisis. At the time, Airservices denied there were shortages in Sydney.

Meanwhile, another Boeing 737 pilot familiar with the current restrictions at Darwin says the airport is too busy to run without full-time air traffic control. Airservices Australia has had ample time to fill holes in its workforce, the Australian airline pilot said, speaking anonymously because he isn't authorized to speak to media.

The situation at Darwin is as bad as he's known, said the pilot, who's also flown for around two decades.

ECOCIDE

SINGAPORE
Oil spill incident not due to congestion at port, clean-up will take time: Chee Hong Tat

A skimmer craft working to clear up the oil spills off Marina South Pier following the allision between Netherlands-flagged dredger and a stationary Singapore-flagged bunker vessel on June 14.
PHOTO: Facebook/Chee Hong Tat

PUBLISHED ONJUNE 19, 2024 

ByKHOO YI-HANG


The recent oil spill following an incident between a dredging boat and a bunker vessel at Pasir Panjang Terminal was not a result of port congestion, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (June 18), he addressed concerns from some members of the public.

"Investigations are still on-going, but preliminary findings show that the allision on June 14 was caused by the dredger experiencing sudden loss of engine and steering controls," he wrote.

Singapore's port waters and anchorages are not congested, Chee explained.

"The earlier reports on delays experienced by container vessels are a separate matter that is due to the bunching of container vessels arriving at PSA."

He also said that the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) was alerted of this incident at 2.22pm on June 14 — four minutes after the allision — and responded by 2.33pm.

They ensured that there were no further leaks from the bunker vessel, which had 400 metric tonnes of oil remaining in its tank.

MPA patrol craft also sprayed dispersant to treat the oil that had already spilled into the sea.

"This is important to prevent the oil from hardening, which would make subsequent clean-up operations at sea and on land much harder," the transport minister explained.

MPA's contractor also deployed oil booms around the damaged vessel to reduce the spread of the spill.

"While the booms can help reduce the spread of the spill, they may not completely prevent the oil from spreading as some of the oil could be carried by tidal currents and waves, and go above or below the booms," Chee said.

18 response craft and about 1,500m of booms have been deployed to prevent the spread of the oil and facilitate the clean-up, as of Tuesday, CNA reported. Another 1,600m of booms will be installed over the next few days.

"It will take time for MPA to complete the full investigations and progressively clean up the oil spill," the transport minister explained.

"We seek the understanding of members of the public and businesses who are affected by this incident. We will do our best to complete the clean up as soon as possible."

ALSO READ: Oil spill incident: Cleanup expands to more areas, including Changi

Kenyan police arrest over 200 protesters at anti-tax hike rally

Civil society groups and oppositions leaders say the demonstrations and a planned sit-down outside parliament buildings will continue despite the arrest of 210 protesters.


Nairobi Police Commander Adamson Bungei on Tuesday said that no group had been granted permission to protest in the capital. / Photo: Reuters

More than 200 protesters have been arrested in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, in ongoing protests against proposed tax hikes in a finance bill that is due to be tabled in parliament.

Civil society groups said on Wednesday that demonstrations and a planned sit-down outside parliament buildings will continue despite the arrest of 210 protesters.

The right to peaceful protests is guaranteed in the Kenyan Constitution, but organisers are required to notify the police beforehand.

Police generally give a go-ahead unless there are security concerns.

But Nairobi Police Commander Adamson Bungei said that no group had been granted permission to protest in the capital on Tuesday.

Police hurled tear gas canisters at hundreds of demonstrators, forcing businesses to temporarily close because of fears over looting.

'Worse than the one of 2023'

Some major tax proposals in the bill were dropped after a Tuesday morning meeting between ruling party lawmakers and President William Ruto.

The chairperson of the finance committee, Kuria Kimani, said the proposal to introduce a 16 percent value-added tax on bread had been dropped.

Other levies that had prompted debate and have been amended include a proposed 2.5 percent motor vehicle annual tax that was to be placed on insurance.

A proposed tax on goods that degrade the environment will also be amended to apply only to imported goods to encourage local manufacturing.

Ruto last month defended the proposed taxes, saying the country must be financially self-sustaining.

“The whole principal is that you must live within your means,” he said. “I persuaded and I made a case to the people of Kenya that we must begin to enhance our revenue.”

Opposition leader Raila Odinga urged legislators to scrutinise the bill and vote to remove clauses that would burden the poor.

“It is worse than the one of 2023, an investment killer and a huge millstone around the necks of millions of poor Kenyans who must have hoped that the tears they shed over taxes last year would see the government lessen the tax burden in 2024,” he said in a statement in early June.

Legislators are due to debate the bill starting on Wednesday with a vote scheduled for Monday.

Student visa crackdown begins slowing Canada population gains

Number of people who hold only study permits dropped by 24,594 in the first quarter

Published: June 19, 2024 

Bloomberg

The slight reduction also helped slow down the overall growth of temporary immigration.Image Credit: Shutterstock

Canada's crackdown on its higher education industry has started to reduce the number of foreign students, an early sign that its rapid pace of population growth may ease over the next few years.

The number of people who hold only study permits dropped by 24,594 in the first quarter, compared with a decline of 16,003 during the same period last year, Statistics Canada reported on Wednesday.

The slight reduction also helped slow down the overall growth of temporary immigration. The country added 131,810 non-permanent residents in the first quarter, one of the lowest quarterly net increases since early 2022.

READ MORE 

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government aims to cut international student permits by 35 per cent from last year in an effort to curb explosive post-pandemic population increases and quell public anger over housing shortages and strains on public services.

While the cap on student visas isn't expected to take full effect until later this year, the latest data showed that the policies may have already been working to break off strings of record-breaking gains over the past several quarters.

The population grew 0.6% in the first quarter to 41 million. That's the same quarterly growth rate seen in the previous three months but a marked slowdown from 1.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2023.

Baby moose trapped in a lake is saved by Alaska man and police as its worried mom watches

In this image taken from video provided by Spencer Warren, who works for a wilderness guiding service, he arrived about 6:30 a.m. Friday, June 14, 2024, to prepare the floatplane for a client’s trip when he discovered the calf trapped in Beluga Lake in Homer, Alaska. Warren and two police officers rescued the baby calf from what police described as “a sure demise” after it fell into a lake and got stuck in a narrow space between a floatplane and a dock. (Spencer Warren via AP)

By Mark Thiessen, The Associated Press

Posted Jun 19, 2024 12:09:57 AM.

 

Last Updated Jun 19, 2024 12:26:57 AM.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska man and two police officers rescued a baby moose from what police described as “a sure demise” after it fell into a lake and got stuck in a narrow space between a floatplane and a dock.

Spencer Warren, who works for the outdoor tourism company Destination Alaska Adventure Co., had arrived at work about 6:30 a.m. Friday to prepare a floatplane for the day’s trip when he heard what he thought was an odd-sounding bird.

He quickly spotted the moose calf stuck between the floats of the plane and the dock at Beluga Lake in Homer, a Kenai Peninsula community about 220 miles (350 kilometers) south of Anchorage. The floats replace the wheels on a plane, allowing it to take off and land on water.

He immediately thought, “Oh, man, where is mama? I know she’s nearby,” before spotting the worried mother about 4 feet (1.2 meters) away with another calf. Mother moose can be dangerously protective of their calves — a photographer was killed by a mama moose protecting her young just last month in Homer.

The baby moose tried to get out of the lake, but couldn’t get its footing on the top of the metal float with its hooves. Its wary mother was keeping Warren, the would-be rescuer, from getting too close as it struggled.

“It’s like an ice rink for the moose and its hooves,” Warren said of Friday’s rescue. “So he just kept slipping and slipping and could not get up.”

Warren checked in with his boss, who called Homer police.

One officer eventually positioned his police cruiser between the mama moose and the floatplane to allow another officer and Warren to rescue the calf, Homer Police Lt. Ryan Browning told The Associated Press.

The calf had one leg outstretched across the top of the plane’s float, where it was stuck.

“You know, kind of thankfully, he wasn’t moving so that it made the rescue a little bit easier,” Warren said. “We just lifted him straight out and, put him on the dock there.”

The exhausted calf splayed out on the boardwalk until an officer helped it stand. The calf reunited with its mother and she licked the water off its body — all of it caught on camera by Warren.

“Anytime you can rescue a little critter, it always makes you feel good,” Browning said.

Mark Thiessen, The Associated Press

Caitlin Clark and the WNBA are getting a lot of attention. It’s about far more than basketball



 Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) passes the ball from under the basket while being defended by Seattle Storm guard Jordan Horston (23) and center Mercedes Russell (21) during the first half of a WNBA basketball game, May 30, 2024, in Indianapolis. Not even a WNBA basketball game is an escape from the arguments and polarization that are so common in American life these days. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler, File)Read More

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark reacts after scoring against the Seattle Storm during the first half of a WNBA basketball game, May 30, 2024, in Indianapolis. Not even a WNBA basketball game is an escape from the arguments and polarization that are so common in American life these days. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler, File)

 Connecticut Sun’s DiJonai Carrington drives to the basket during a WNBA basketball game against the Chicago Sky, July 12, 2023, in Chicago. Not even a WNBA basketball game is an escape from the arguments and polarization that are so common in American life these days. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

 Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese (5) drives to the basket as Los Angeles Sparks’ Dearica Hamby defends during the first half of a WNBA basketball game, May 30, 2024, in Chicago. Not even a WNBA basketball game is an escape from the arguments and polarization that are so common in American life these days. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

BY DEEPTI HAJELA
 June 19, 2024


NEW YORK (AP) — Oh, you thought going to a WNBA basketball game might be an escape from the arguments and polarization that are so common in American life these days? Ha, good one.

Some of the atmosphere in the public and media that has swirled around the professional women’s league since the season started last month has been less fun time and more culture war, with rookie Caitlin Clark as the unwilling eye of the storm.

The white, 22-year-old University of Iowa college standout and No. 1 draft pick has become a canvas for all sorts of projections in her debut season with the Indiana Fever. She, and the predominantly Black and brown women playing in the league alongside her, seem to have become the latest proxies for longstanding American issues from race, gender and sexual orientation to who gets to take (or is thrust into) the spotlight and who gets ignored.


That shouldn’t really surprise anyone, says Sarah Fields, professor of communication at the University of Colorado Denver, who studies the intersection of sports and American culture. “Sport,” she says, “is a microcosm (that) reflects and refracts society.”


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What makes Clark distinctive also makes her a lightning rod

That Clark merits attention for her basketball prowess is not in doubt.

— She holds the record for most points by a Division I college basketball player, was known for her three-point shots along with a strong passing ability, and led her team to two straight national championship games. (They did end up losing both, to LSU and the University of South Carolina.)

— She was the unquestioned top choice for the 2024 WNBA draft in a strong class that also included Angel Reese of LSU, Kamilla Cardoso of South Carolina and Cameron Brink of Stanford University.

— Clark has also had the fortune of entering the scene at a time when women’s sports, at both the collegiate and professional levels, are seeing increasing interest and engagement from the public. The sponsorship money started coming for her in college, thanks to name, image and likeness opportunities, and she just recently signed a signature sneaker deal with Nike.

But this is America, where people who may have been flying under the radar or are known only to a smaller community can garner widespread public attention and celebrity almost overnight, and all of a sudden everyone’s got thoughts and opinions to offer.

In some corners of the internet and among some of the (predominantly male) sports punditocracy, Clark is being talked about as if she is THE reason the almost-30-year-old WNBA is FINALLY interesting enough to watch, and that the other players should keep that in mind and basically be “nice” to her, as if she needs to be protected.

That a young white woman is being put in the central role, with Black and brown women relegated to supporting characters, is about as old and familiar a trope as exists in a country with as troubled a racial history as the United States, says Frederick Gooding, Jr., an associate professor of African American studies at Texas Christian University.

“It’s not so much about the visibility of Clark,” he says. “It also speaks to the invisibility of Black females and how difficult it is for Black females to obtain that same type” of attention.

Bypassing Clark for the US Olympic team caused a backlash

There’s been chatter that the veterans of the league are merely jealous of her spotlight, that she’s unfairly bearing the brunt of overly physical play like when Chennedy Carter of the Chicago Sky knocked her down, which was later deemed a flagrant foul. Rough plays against other players, like when Reese was clotheslined by Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun, doesn’t get nearly the same attention.

When Clark wasn’t picked last week for the U.S. women’s Olympic basketball team as a rookie, the outrage was vocal from some, who chastised the move as being short-sighted for not seeing the marketing opportunity.

“How dare you make this decision?” sports commentator Stephen A. Smith asked on ESPN’s “First Take.” “It’s stupid.”

Some of the commentary, especially online, was overtly racial, taking the stance that Clark was being discriminated against in the WNBA and in the Olympics selection because she is white and many of the other players are Black. (There are white players on the Olympics roster, a veteran squad in search of its eighth straight Olympic gold against tough international competition.)

On the flip side, there are critiques that the focus on Clark is in part BECAUSE she’s white — that in a country as riven by racial tensions as the United States, it’s another example of how Black women are ignored or stereotyped, even though they built the sports league in which she is now among the most recognized names.

That WNBA teams are now using chartered flights instead of commercial ones comes after years of advocacy from players, but the timing of the league’s announcement this season was taken by some as a reflection on Clark’s presence.

“It’s like, OK, can we talk about the decades that Black women in the sport have been advocating for these and not just say that it’s about this one white woman in this one moment now? Because it’s not,” says Letisha Engracia Cardoso Brown, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Cincinnati. “Especially in a sport that’s dominated by women of color, by LGBTQ+ individuals as well, to kind of center our attention on this straight white woman is just — I mean, it’s par for the course.”

Clark just wants to talk basketball

To be clear, none of this was started or even encouraged by Clark, who has tried to keep her public commentary to the game itself. Asked about it last week, she initially said: “People can talk about what they want to talk about, create conversations about whatever it is. But for myself, I am just here to play basketball.”

But without referring to her by name, WNBA player DiJonai Carrington of the Connecticut Sun, who is Black, then questioned in a social media post how it could be acceptable to not speak out about it.

“How one can not be bothered by their name being used to justify racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia & the intersectionalities of them all is nuts,” she said, adding: “We all have a platform. We all have a voice & they all hold weight. Silence is a luxury.”

Clark gave a stronger response later that same day, saying it was “disappointing” and “not acceptable” that people would be using her to promote their own agendas involving racism and sexism.

“This league is the league I grew up admiring and wanting to be a part of. Some of the women in this league were my biggest idols and role models growing up,” she said. “Treating every single woman in this league with the same amount of respect is a basic human thing that everybody should do.”

As a fan of women’s basketball, Naomi Oberman-Breindel, 36, of Manhattan, wants to see that become the case.

“There are a lot of incredible basketball players with really interesting and compelling stories — as players and as people,” she wrote in an email. “What is happening right now feels like a forced monoculture with a singular focus on one person.”
___

The hydropower renaissance in Europe

The EU drive towards green energy is seeking to harness a traditionally clean power source – with some tweaks.

BYNEWSROOM
JUNE 19, 2024

Photo by Jani Brumat on Unsplash

By Tom Cassauwers

Dr Jeremy Bricker, a hydraulics and coastal engineer, is dreaming big.

Somewhere on the North Sea coast, he imagines construction of a dam to manage the supply of clean energy to Europe’s “lowlands”.

Dam good

Bricker is also working towards that goal. He and other engineers are part of a project that received EU funding to advance a ground-breaking energy-storage option based on water.

Under their plan, a circular dam built just off the coast would keep seawater out of an inner, artificial lagoon where the water level would be lower.

Pumping water out of the lower lagoon into the surrounding ocean would be done when there’s an oversupply from other renewable sources – such as sun and wind. When energy is needed, water would then be allowed to flow back into the lagoon through energy-generating turbines, pushed along by the force of the surrounding ocean.

‘In the inner lagoon, we could store the energy equivalent of thousands of batteries,’ said Bricker, an associate professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

He is scientific coordinator of the project. Called ALPHEUS, it is due to wrap up in September 2024 after four and a half years.

Using gravity to allow water to flow back into the lower lagoon through turbines would make it possible to generate hydropower on demand when supply is low, filling a supply gap and providing a clean-energy storage solution.

Universities, including Chalmers in Sweden, Braunschweig in Germany and Ghent in Belgium, and companies joined forces across eight European countries to develop the key new technologies needed for a hypothetical offshore dam, such as water turbines fit for use at sea.

Back to the future

While thousands of hydropower installations already exist around the world, they are almost exclusively in mountainous regions where the natural terrain lets gravity show its force, or where river flow is powerful enough to be harnessed for energy production.

Interest in the technology is growing again – this time for potential use in flatter areas including seas – because it could help green the European economy.

Europe aims to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. This goal will require a shift away from fossil fuels, including coal, natural gas and oil, and towards renewables, such as hydropower.

The EU aims to increase the share of renewables to 42.5% in 2030 from 23% in 2022. That share will have to rise even more for climate neutrality to be achieved by 2050.

Nimble needs

One challenge is that renewables like wind and solar can be intermittent. Clouds can block the sun and the wind can stop blowing.

When this happens, the energy system needs to be able to react quickly to balance supply and demand. This means being able to store surplus energy and reintroduce it into the grid when needed.

While batteries currently serve this purpose, they have limitations. They store small amounts of energy, depend on critical raw materials and have a relatively short lifespan, particularly when compared to that of a dam.

‘If we don’t build up more energy storage, we might be facing blackouts and grid instability in the future,’ said Bricker, whose career has taken him from the United States to working at universities in Japan and the Netherlands.

Demonstrating flexibility

Meanwhile, other researchers in Europe have been upgrading existing hydropower installations using artificial intelligence so water can take on a bigger role in the renewables line-up.

As part of another EU-funded project, these experts designed technologies to improve the energy storage potential, performance and flexibility of hydropower stations.

Called XFLEX HYDRO, the project ended in February 2024 after four and a half years.

Integrating larger and larger amounts of intermittent solar and wind energy – also referred to as variable renewable energies (VREs) – will require more flexibility than is currently possible to avoid disruptions in supply.

‘We’re seeing a renaissance of hydropower,’ said Dr Elena Vagnoni, a lecturer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, or EPFL, and the scientific coordinator of XFLEX HYDRO. ‘A new, renewable power grid needs flexibility. That changes the way we look at hydropower.’

The project combined the expertise of European power utilities, global equipment manufacturers, research institutions and energy consultancies in Austria, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and the UK.

It carried out full-scale demonstrations of its new technologies in facilities in France, Switzerland and Portugal.

Efficiency gains

Intermittent supply drops increase wear and tear on installations that were designed with a more regular energy supply in mind.

‘In the past, you would turn on the pumps once a day at most,’ said François Avellan, honorary professor at EPFL who acted as a scientific advisor to XFLEX HYDRO. ‘Now we need to start them several times a day, depending on the weather. That puts a severe strain on these installations.’

The project tested out a new system – a “hydraulic short circuit” – at the Grand’Maison dam in the French Alps, the largest pumped storage hydropower installation of Europe.

At peak capacity, it can feed 1 800 megawatts of energy into the grid, equivalent to a mid-sized natural gas or coal plant.

The new technology allows Grand’Maison to pump water and generate electricity at the same time. The XFLEX HYDRO software manages the energy flow to keep it constantly in balance with the needs of the grid.

The expected increase in efficiency would reduce reliance on gas and coal plants and potentially save around 90 000 tonnes of carbon-dioxide emissions a year, according to Avellan.

Meanwhile, Bricker of ALPHEUS said its participants are looking for an industrial partner that can scale up the project’s technology. EU funding helped to make his dream of an offshore water power installation an achievable reality – actually building it will take years more of research and private investment.

‘The technology is here,’ he said. ‘Now it just needs industrial leadership and funding.’

Research in this article was funded by the EU’s Horizon Programme. The views of the interviewees don’t necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. This article was originally published in Horizon the EU Research and Innovation Magazine.

Forget oil, forget gas. Kyrgyzstan has plans to power Central Asia with water

1.8-GW Kambarata-1 will raise Kyrgyzstan's electricity generating capacity by half and provide the energy to maintain the fast pace of growth. / National Energy Holding, KyrgyzstanFeedly

By Ben Aris in Vienna June 16, 2024

Other countries of Central Asia may have plentiful reserves of oil and gas, but Kyrgyzstan has huge resources of something even more valuable: water.

As the climate crisis unfolds and the world seeks to cut emissions, hydropower has come into its own. The five “Stans” of Central Asia are growing fast and are power hungry. Kyrgyzstan sees an opportunity: if it can become a regional electricity generation hub, it can deal with its own power deficit while also boosting its economy with a permanent source of income drawn from energy exports.

The country’s government has launched a drive to raise the $5bn it needs to realise its flagship 1.8-GW Kambarata-1 hydropower plant (Kambarata-1 HPP). The mega infrastructure would increase Kyrgyzstan’s installed capacity by half. The funding campaign began in earnest at the Kyrgyz Republic Energy Forum (KGEF) held in Vienna on June 10.

Kyrgyz Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Akylbek Japarov presented the ambitious Kambarata-1 project on the Naryn river to representatives of the leading international financial Institutions (IFIs) and international investors.

“Kambarata-1 will revolutionise the energy sector of the Kyrgyz Republic. It is not just an important project for our country, but for the whole world and part of our collective green future,” Japarov said.

The Naryn River is fed by the glaciers and snows of the Tian Shan mountains (“Mountains of Heaven”), where it rises. It flows into the Syr Darya river in Uzbekistan, merging with the Kara Darya in the Fergana Valley.

Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan boast massive oil and gas deposits that can potentially meet all their needs. Uzbekistan, meanwhile, signed off on a 12-billion cubic metre (bcm) gas import deal with Russia in February, but it still expects power shortages in the coming years thanks to its annual GDP growth running at around 6% and expanding population. Central Asia as a whole is growing fast. Critical energy deficits have periodically beset various geographies for the past two years.

Kambarata-1 would go a long way to meeting the growing thirst for power. The plan is similar to the long-held ambition for Tajikistan’s giant (though substantially incomplete) Rogun HPP—export copious amounts of electricity to larger neighbours via the Central Asian power ring that was built in Soviet times and is currently being upgraded to better connect the five Stans.

Kambarata-1 will also help in tackling another tricky problem: water management. Both the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan are mountainous upstream countries that serve as the source of the main rivers of Central Asia. Kambarata-1’s dam will allow for better control of the water that flows to the benefit of irrigation in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, as well as being able to provide these countries with power.

"According to experts, by 2050 the population in Central Asia will increase by 27%, the demand for food will grow by 35%, and consumption of drinking water will leap by 50%," Japarov noted. He highlighted the importance of overcoming challenges such as the region’s landlocked location, resource dependence, low financial development and climate change impacts on the region, with water already in short supply.

“Water is the lifeblood of Central Asia,” said Japarov, adding that 80.7% of the region's watercourses originate in the two upstream countries. "In some places, the system is unable to meet electricity needs at certain times of the year, while in other places, people do not have enough water for drinking and irrigation," Japarov said.

Competing demands for water use have historically given rise to tensions.

"Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan want to use water for irrigation in summer, while the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan need water for energy in winter. This situation affects energy and food security in the region," Japarov continued. "Kambarata-1 is located at the source of the glaciers. Effective operation of this hydropower plant will allow the accumulation and rational use of water resources of the Toktogul reservoir."

It's no surprise that Kyrgyzstan’s Central Asian neighbours are taking a keen interest in the Kambarata-1 project. And the project is actually so big, it will have to be a pan-regional endeavour.

The nominal GDP of the Kyrgyz Republic in 2023 was only $14bn, but with the additional dozen small HPPs the government wants to build on other rivers in the country, the total price tag for the infrastructure rollout is around $16bn. This only becomes economically viable if the needs of the Kyrgyz Republic’s neighbours are taken into account, with the combined GDP of all five of the Central Asian countries some $450bn.

The government’s national energy plan was launched in 2021 shortly after Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov took over. The 12 clean energy projects that Akylbek Japarov showcased in Vienna, worth a total $16bn, have been made the government’s top priority. The hunt for investors and partners has been redoubled.

The World Bank has committed to the $500mn investment tag of the first construction phase, but Akylbek Japarov is now looking for long-term private investors to supplement the World Bank’s funding to provide two thirds of that money.

"I firmly declare that our side will provide full support and protection of the interests of the investor. In addition, 100% use of the generated electricity will be ensured," he stated.

Kambarata-1 project schematic

The height of the Kambarata-1 dam is designed at 256 metres. The volume of the reservoir will be 5.4bn cubic metres. Preparatory work has started, and construction is expected to take around 10 years.

With an installed capacity of 1,860 MW and an average annual production of 5.6bn kWh of electricity, Kambarata-1 will prove crucial in meeting the region's growing energy demand. "The useful volume of the reservoir is 2,870mn cubic metres, and the preliminary construction estimate is more than $4bn," Japarov said. The project includes a rockfill dam, a plant building with four hydraulic units, spillways, tunnels, a work camp and water treatment facilities.

A five-year plan was approved last October 31by the World Bank board of executive directors. On the same day, the board approved technical assistance of $5mn for updating the Kambarata-1 feasibility study.

The World Bank in June allocated $13.6mn to Kyrgyzstan in additional technical support funding.

With the preparatory work divided into two stages with a total cost of Kyrgyzstani som (KGS) 44.1bn ($500mn), backed by the World Bank, Japarov announced the government would commit an additional $500mn from the state budget for 2024-2030.

Of the $500mn investment into the initial construction, between $150mn to $200mn will be provided by the World Bank in the first phase, and other financiers will come in and meet the balance.

Japarov called on international financial institutions, investors and companies to participate in energy projects aligned with modern climate challenges.

"Together we can realise this ambitious vision and make a significant contribution to both the energy stability and environmental sustainability of our region," Japarov concluded.

You can find all the KGEF presentations here.

FORGET TESLA

Croatian electric supercar company Rimac prepares to unveil robotaxi

The Rimac Nevera, Rimac's flagship electric hypercar, in Singapore

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By bne IntelliNews June 19, 2024

Rimac, the Croatian electric vehicle (EV) company known for the Nevera hypercar and co-owner of Bugatti, will unveil its Robotaxi in two weeks, according to CEO Mate Rimac's Facebook post on June 18.

Rimac has been developing autonomous driving technology since 2017, receiving €179.5mn in funding from the European Union last year for the robotaxi project. The vehicle is expected to drive entirely without human input and will operate within a custom infrastructure, including chargers, storage hubs and parking spaces.

"In the next two weeks, we have two big announcements. First, next week we are revealing the next Bugatti. Then, the week after, we will unveil our Robotaxi project, previously called P3. We will reveal its real name along with the car, which is unlike anything we've done before,” Rimac shared.

Mate Rimac also reflected on the company's consistent progress, stating: "Since the beginning, we’ve had all-hands meetings every six months to discuss our direction and goals. This project is very close to my heart."

Rimac described the vehicle as "a car but a completely different type", suggesting it "could change the way people move around cities". He said that the service can be premium without being "expensive or posh". 

KIA Motors, part of the Hyundai Motor Group, is directly involved as an investor and shareholder in Project 3 Mobility, the Rimac Automobili sister company leading the robotaxi project. 

Project 3 is headquartered in Zagreb, with an R&D presence in the UK, employing around 100 engineers at the Rimac Technology R&D UK base near Warwick.

The project's first priority is to build a dedicated factory for the robotaxi, aiming to eventually export tens of thousands of units per year from Croatia to various global locations. "The goal is for the production of vehicles and a large number of components to be based in Croatia," Mate Rimac explained.