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A Spanish company won the “golden” contract for the Stonehenge highway. It came out regular

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The United Kingdom has just shelved a project that has been on the table for 20 years: build a road near Stonehenge connect once and for all the jammed London with the southwest of the country. And along the way it has won a ‘golden’ contract that had been awarded to the Spanish company FCC. The figure? 2,000 million euros that remain on the way and a London connection that will continue to be gibberish. Let’s go in parts. Stonehenge is one of the most visited monuments. It is estimated that every year they come 1.5 million tourists to participate in the mystery of this set of monolithic rocks that someone placed it there more than 5,000 years ago. Everything has been theorized and we have two things clear: it is unlikely that one day we will know the motivation behind the workbut we know that the acoustics were impressive. Less imposing is the A303, the road next to it and which is a real nightmare. London is one of the most congested cities in the world. With a population of nine million, 14 in the metropolitan area, and thousands who go to work daily, that connection with the southwest has become one of the entrance arteries to the city. The tunnel is going to cost how much? The problem? Although it is a highway, in the section that passes through Stonehenge it becomes a two-way road. This implies brutal congestion, and that is why in 1995 work began on a solution. The Highway Agency has explored alternative routes, but in the end the easiest thing was to bury the road. Easy, but not cheap: four kilometers long for a tunnel with a cost My dear of 183 million pounds. Then it doubled up to 470 million, 540 million and up to 1.7 billion pounds that they estimated in 2020. It was a stratospheric increase, but Highways England was clear that it was the only way. In fact, They developed a firm project and, in 2022, was awarded to the Spanish FCC Construction. Next to the Italian Webuild and the Austrian BeMo Tunnelling, would give shape to that tunnel whose cost had promoted up to 2 billion pounds. But in the end it was not even the UNESCO (concerned because the tunnels will pass through a World Heritage site) nor the environmentalists who have managed to stop the project. It was the Labor Party. In 2024, the Conservatives were out of power, Labor came in and they found themselves a £22bn hole. Already last year, Chancellor Rachel Reeves stated that there would be cuts and that if there were projects they couldn’t afford, they wouldn’t do them. He also commented that all transport projects exceeding £1 billion would be subject to a “comprehensive review”. And, as a result of that situation, and after months on the tightrope, a few days ago communicated that The British government had definitively canceled the project of the new Stonehenge road. Apart from the tunnel, there was a viaduct, new intersections between the A303 and local roads and green bridges for pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles, but for Reeves and his government, the work was “unaffordable” in the “challenging legacy financial landscape”. The legal battle begins The problem is that something that has been around for 20 years and that was awarded to three companies a year ago has not been frozen in time. At this point, the different companies and Highways England itself had already invested around £180 million in the development, including land assessment, archaeological and heritage preservation studies, as well as public consultations. Although the Government has shelved the A303 Stonehenge project, the problem of which is still there, there is still a way to go for the parties involved. Now the FCC legal fight begins, which, as we read in Expansionhad already completed all the design work for the highway. And it is expected that both the Spanish company and Webuild and BeMo will receive compensation for this cancellation, although the amount has yet to be determined. Images | National Highways In Xataka | They find next to Stonehenge a ring two km in diameter made up of enormous underground wells

The Line goes regular, so Saudi Arabia has asked some consultants to solve the obvious: if it makes sense

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When years ago The heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman presented the plans of The Linethe gigantic Pharaonic glazed city that Saudi Arabia wants to build in full desert, the idea sounded for science fiction. And it’s normal. Not every day a megalopolis of 170 km long, 200 m wide and huge skyscraper, all thought to welcome millions of people without roads or cars. Over time His works started And the project advanced slowly, between huge exiles and foundations concrete. Now its promoters have done Something peculiar: Ask several consultants for help to confirm whether the initial plans are viable or should adjust them. What happened? That Saudi Arabia wants to review its most pharaonic, surreal and delicate project: The Linethe gigantic “corridor city” of 170 kilometers and 500 meters high and 200 m wide that the country wants to lift in the desert. Although every so often its promoters They presume the advance of the works, Bloomberg He has just revealed that the Saudi authorities have commissioned several consulting companies to carry out a strategic review of the project. What have you asked? That value if the current plans are feasible and suggest possible changes. This is at least supported by Bloomberg, which quotes anonymous sources close to the project. They have not transcended more details or the consultants to which the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund has been directed (PIF), But the decision is interesting both for its background and for the context. Once you have the data, those responsible for the project must assess the information and choose: Do you need to apply changes? Can you follow the work without adjustments? Bloomberg clarifies that the plan could be kept as it is and that, if remembering, any change would demand the OK of the PIF and the Saudi executive himself. And what do promoters say? The Line is part of an even greater project, Neomwhich seeks to diversify the economy of the nation and includes other initiatives, such as Magna, Oxagon, Sindalah and Trojenaalthough The Line It is the most ambitious of all. Those responsible have removed iron on the fact that the PIF has taken advantage of external consultants and ensure that it is a normal procedure. “As usual in large plurianual projects, strategic reviews are a common practice and are carried out several times during a large development project or infrastructure program,” claims Neom. “The Line remains a strategic priority and Neom focuses on maintaining operational continuity, improving efficiency and accelerating progress to meet the vision and general objectives of the project.” Why does the context import? Because, like Remember the agencythe country dealt with the price drop of oil, a minor foreign investment than the foresee and budgetary deficits. Bloomberg Precise That to balance its budget Saudi Arabia needs Brent barrel to be 96 dollars, a figure that rises to 113 if the internal expense of the FIP is included in the projects of the heir prince. Both values are above around $ 71 current. Are you lowering your expectations? The news of the project review comes only a few months after the Saudi authorities Sale your expectations On the development of The Line. At least as regards the calendar. The initial objective was that in 2030 the Megaciudad welcomed 1.5 million residents, but now the promoters estimate that there will be only 300,000, according to Another filtration Published in April by Bloomberg. The size of the city in 2030 will also be far from the target of 170 kilometers. The finished surface would be just 2.4 km. Some sources They point out that the total cost of Neom, including The Line and other initiatives, would amount to about 1.5 billion dollars. Is it standing? Although their promoters have had to reduce initial optimism and want to escape other voices about planning, something seems clear: The Line will not stay in an ambitious model and a handful of colorful infographics. Although there is still work ahead, the works They have been advancing On the ground, something that Saudi Arabia has been responsible for making it clear Sharing From time to time images of excavators, operators and land movements. Three months ago Giles Pendleton, operations director, public On LinkedIn a series of Aerial photos in which the progress of what several Neom projects seems, including infrastructure of the future corridor city of 170 km. “Neom is real,” defends the manager. On the same dates the embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Spain also disclosed images Of the works in one of the tunnels that will circulate trains and load between The Line and Oxagon. Images | Neom In Xataka | Saudi Arabia has insisted that The Line possesses all the absurd records of the world. The last: the longest pool

In 1997 a construction company had the delirious idea of ​​building the house of the Simpsons and getting it for sale. It ended up regular

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Building a house identical to that of the protagonist family of ‘The Simpsons’ looked like a teacher promotional play. And give it to a fan to live in it, the cherry icing. However, neither Fox nor the unsuspecting spectators of the series who went through this house seemed to be clear a patent obviousness: The Simpsons are cartoon charactersand do not work in the real world. Firefighter ideas. The initial idea was from the Kaufman & Broad Construction Company, from the 3D designs that were being created for the 1997 video game ‘Virtual Springfield‘. The intention was to create a house identical to the originalfor which they were analyzed A hundred episodes of the series. The problems started from the first moment: the house of the series lacks something as essential as load walls. However, the builders ended up giving a safe design and fitting with what was seen on television. Mutant house Leaving aside the fact that the house has changed multiple times with the passage of time in the series (for example, the shape, size and distance from each other of the windows), the designers focused on two well -known rooms: that of television and Bart’s room. And they left from there, in a kind of version Cartoon of “Build the house from the roof.” The result: four bedrooms, two floors and, outside, a house in the tree and a backyard. Total: 200 square meters painted of squeaky yellow and with orange rooms, phosphorescent green and pink. The idea of ​​designers It was that the house was 90% normal, 10% cartoon. The devil, in the details. The final touches were given by Rick Floyd, Hollywood production designer who included thousands of details for the most terminal fans. Higher doors than normal to pass Marge’s hair, identical dresses and costumes in the closets of each character, holes near the ground for mice, dozens of Duff beer cans in the fridge, a saxo in Lisse’s room and a painted of the barto that Matt Groening himself did. And also an absolutely useless chimney in Henderson’s desert, Nevada, where the house is located. Pepsi gives it to you. The home found owner through a Pepsi and Fox contest that was launched in 1997: 15 million people sent tests for the purchase of brand products to participate, and the winner would take the house or $ 75,000 in cash (although the value of the house was estimated at double). The winner also promised to paint the facade in accordance with the rules imposed by the neighborhood. The winner was a 63 -year -old Kentucky retiree who decided to accept the money because she had no intention of moving from her home. The house became Attraction for curious. Pillage. An attraction that, by the way, had to be monitored 24 hours a day, by the looting of the unique objects inside. However, over time, surveillance relaxed and the house ended up becoming a curiosity without interest. In 2001, already converted into a reasonably normal housewas sold to another particular, a neighbor who had been secretary of the construction company. He had to make reforms, because the interior was uninhabitable with all the bright colors of the cartoons. Today, its facade remains A magnet for traveler fans And the project, one more sample that we cannot have beautiful things. All promo. The authentic business of the Simpsons is in merchandising: during its first year it generated 2,000 million dollarsand to date, it has 4.7 billion dollars. It is a phenomenon to which we add licenses and collaborations amounts to a value of 13,000 million. But no merchandising artifact is as special as Simpson objects in the real world: Lard Lady Donuts donuts, Duff Beer cans, Apu stores and Krusty Burger restaurants. None, however, as delusional and special as the family home. Header | Fox In Xataka | The Simpsons is a black family: the last theory that gives a radical turn to what we thought about knowing about the series

China set up its own “OPEC of solar panels” to avoid an internal price war. It came out regular

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If there is currently a power in renewables, it is China. The country installs 60% of the world’s renewable capacity and has huge projects underway like his ‘Solar Great Wall‘, he largest wind turbine in the world and ambitious plans offshore energy both wind and photovoltaic. In the solar energy segment there are so many companies competing for the same piece of the pie that even the biggest ones are drowning. And with problems everywhere, the industry wanted to emulate the oil sector with a great self-control pact. The first attempt has gone wrong. Saturation. The storm began in 2021. It was the year in which China presented its net zero emissions plan for 2060 with a very ambitious goal: at least 1,200 GW of solar and wind capacity installed by 2030. Energy companies got down to business , but there were also companies not endemic to the energy sector that jumped on the bandwagon of what aimed to be a very lucrative business. The problem is that it was carried out without apparent control, with everyone fighting the war on their own. The result? Large projects throughout the country and such a beastly production of solar panels that it has stifled companies from outside Chinabut also an annual production capacity of around 1,200 GW of panels. So we don’t all fit. This might seem good, but it is not: it represents double global demand in 2024 and is more than expected for 2030. The situation pushed many companies to deduct prices, sometimes below costs, creating a kind of ‘Ice Age’ of the photovoltaic sector with companies such as GLC Tecnology – the second solar company in China and one of the largest in the energy sector– asking the state for help. The reason is that the prices of the entire production chain (from silicon to photovoltaic modules) had fallen below costs and companies were losing money with each sale. As we read In South China Morning Post, the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, or CPIA, estimates that prices in each segment of the panel supply chain fell between 60% and 80% in 2024 from their peak in 2023. Following in the footsteps of OPEC. The problem is that demand also did not follow the trend. According to the energy think tank Ember, global solar installations grew by 29% in 2024 compared to 87% in 2023. In China alone, the expected growth in 2024 was 28%, far from 55% the previous year. In addition, 39 of the 121 publicly traded photovoltaic producers, reported losses in Chinaand giants like Longo Green Energy had to lay off 5% of their workforce. It was necessary to take control of this unlimited production, and it is something that was attempted to be tackled at the CPIA meeting in December of last year. In the la, 33 of the main manufacturers signed a self-control commitment based, according to SCMP, on the agreements of the OPEC -Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries-. The idea was to agree on production quotas based on their capacity, respect the minimum recommended price established by the Association and, with this, wait for the market to regulate itself. First problems. It is curious that, just two weeks after the signing of that self-control pact, the CPIA issued an open letter criticizing a solar project in Xinjiang that was violating the agreement. The problem? The company, a subsidiary of the China Energy Investment Group, set a price “significantly lower” than the 0.68 yuan – about 0.09 euros – per watt stipulated by the CPIA. It is something that has weakened the morale of an industry that considered an OPEC-style pact as one of the last realistic resources to save solar-related companies and jobs in the country before taking actions that end with closures and layoffs. The Government puts its hand. This is something that worries government institutions and companies themselves because a negative climate in which companies are operating at a loss or without achieving financial objectives can have a disastrous consequence: compromising the quality of the panels and the industry, prevent innovation and, therefore, make China blur what has been achieved in recent years, disappearing the competitive advantage and causing the loss of talent. And the CPIA is not the only one that has tried to control the situation. The central government also imposed some measures to curb the expansion, such as increasing minimum capital requirements for new panel manufacturing projects from 20% to 30%, lower export tax rebates, and stricter limits on water and energy consumption. . For example, the permitted electricity consumption for existing manufacturers was reduced from 80 kWh/kg to 60 kWh/kg. It’s complicated. The problem is that the industry is, at this point, too big. With the new government measures on energy use, it is estimated that production capacity will be between 20% to 30%. But the problem is, as Jessica Jin – an analyst at S&P Global – points out, that the main obstacle will be controlling all the factories in the country to ensure that they comply with the measures. In the end, what is happening in China is something that has been brewing for months: they lead the solar panel market (by a lot), but they have grown without control and this accelerated boom is currently being regulated based on demand both internal and external. Images | Korea Aerospace Research Institute Xataka | China is regularly hit by typhoons. Now it has a mega wind turbine to take advantage of them

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