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Renewables

UK National Grid in talks to build

energy island in the North Sea
Adam Vaughan

UK COMPANY National Grid signalled their interest in building Tinne Van der Straeten, said in hydrogen, battery storage, all
has revealed it is in talks with an energy island, including Elia May that the country would build the rest of it, and that can be
two other parties about building in Belgium and TenneT in the an island to “interconnect our connected to one country, two
an “energy island” in the North Netherlands. Two years ago, wind turbines”, built by Elia. countries,” she says. The project
Sea that would use wind farms to TenneT concluded that such A spokesperson for Elia says it is being discussed is looking at
supply clean electricity to millions a project would be technically developing a second electricity “three connection points”, she
of homes in north-west Europe. feasible, despite the engineering interconnector cable between says, an indication that three
The idea of a renewable energy challenges. However, the company the UK and Belgium, but it is countries are involved.
hub in the North Sea has been tells New Scientist that it isn’t in uncertain if it will be connected Kees van der Leun at
floated for years, but has yet to “concrete” talks with National to the Belgian island. Netherlands-based consultancy
progress from studies to reality. Grid about an energy island. Medalova says energy islands Common Futures says:
The concept envisages offshore Belgium’s energy minister, could either be built on an existing “Connection via an energy
wind farms that have a much natural island or a purpose-made hub between the UK and the
larger capacity than those in use An existing offshore artificial one. “You put lots of Netherlands and Belgium...
today, with subsea electricity cables wind farm in the different technologies, perhaps in would certainly add value.
taking the energy to whichever North Sea one space – you could have wind, This is because of the massive
country needs it most. buildout of offshore wind in
National Grid is a major the UK, and the time difference
developer of such long-distance in wind peaks between the UK
cables in the region, most recently and the continent.”
one from Norway to the UK, so its Whichever countries the island
involvement in talks with other is connected to, they could all
energy firms increases the chance take advantage of the low-carbon
of the idea being developed. energy generated by hundreds or
“We are in tripartite discussions even thousands of turbines. The
over an energy island that the UK energy island could be built before
MISCHA KEIJSER/GETTY IMAGES

would likely connect to,” says 2030, says Medalova, which would
Nicola Medalova at National Grid. give a huge boost to the promise
She wouldn’t name the two other that UK prime minister Boris
parties the company is talking to. Johnson made last week of an
Other energy network operators entirely green national electricity
around the North Sea have grid by 2035.  ❚

Robotics

Brain in a box helps The package weighs only
30 grams and draws less than
robots navigate 3 watts of electricity. That is a
like insects do fraction of what is required by most
robot control systems, says Opteran
A SYNTHETIC, insect-inspired “brain” CEO David Rajan. “Our algorithms
can guide a robotic dog using are so lightweight that we can run
much less energy and weight than them on tiny chips, and they run
conventional approaches require. tremendously fast as well,” he says.
The control system, built by The company’s technology builds
UK start-up Opteran Technologies, on the research of James Marshall
mimics how honeybees and other at the University of Sheffield, UK,
insects navigate. It contains a who is also Opteran’s chief scientific
computer chip and two cameras, officer. Using a combination of
which provide a 360-degree view, behavioural studies and recordings
and can be connected to various of neural activity, his team
robots and drones. reverse-engineered the brain
circuits insects use in navigation.
The software that runs on these
is similar to the neural networks
used by artificial intelligence, says
Marshall. But rather than learning
how to solve tasks by training on
lots of data, it is hardwired to mimic
the brain structures responsible for
insects’ innate navigational abilities.
The researchers have now shown
that a pair of their algorithms can
guide a robot dog through a maze
“Using behavioural studies
and recordings of neural
activity, they reverse-
engineered brain circuits”
of cardboard boxes. The first one
stitches together input from the
cameras to create a stabilised,
panoramic view. The second
one mimics how insects analyse
optical flow – essentially motion
in a visual scene – to estimate
velocity and avoid collisions.
Opteran is also working on
algorithms that let robots map their
environment and make decisions
by weighing up different objectives.
The company’s technology is being
tested by several clients, including
for operating delivery drones and
inspection robots in mines. ❚
Edd Gent

12 | New Scientist | 16 October 2021