sea

The Canary Islands have been suffering total blackouts for years. Their salvation is a beast of engineering 1,145 meters under the sea

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A month ago, the destabilization of an old generator at the El Palmar thermal power plant in La Gomera caused a dramatic “cascade effect” that left more than 15,000 people without electricity, and without mobile coverage. This incident showed the extreme fragility from living in an isolated electrical system. However, the solution to this historical vulnerability no longer looks to the sky, but to the depths of the Atlantic. To overcome the abrupt volcanic orography and the extreme pressures of the Canary Islands seabed, engineering has had to design an “umbilical cord” unprecedented in the world, marking a before and after in the history of the archipelago. The end of isolation. In an effort to protect supply, Red Eléctrica de España (REE) has officially inaugurated the underwater interconnection between La Gomera and Tenerife. As confirmed by the REE itselfthe magnitude of the project translates into historic figures: an investment of 145 million euros for the cable laying, to which are added another 32 million destined for the two link substations located in Chío (Tenerife) and El Palmar (La Gomera). It is not a capricious work. How they collect local mediathe Canary Islands have suffered nine major “energy zeros” (total blackouts) since 2009. Tenerife and La Gomera have been among the islands hardest hit, so this infrastructure was born as a vital antidote to darkness. More than light. The implementation of this system completely alters the energy paradigm. As indicated ANDldiario.esboth islands cease to be solitary island systems and become a single network. From now on, if the rubber plant fails, Tenerife will inject energy instantly to avoid a blackout, and vice versa. But the scope of the work transcends mere security. As explained in detail in the REE statementcable is the key to decarbonization. La Gomera will now be able to generate much more renewable energy – mainly wind – than its population consumes. This green surplus will not be lost, but will travel along the seabed to Tenerife, drastically reducing the burning of fossil fuels on both shores. The technical challenge: engineering to the limit. Connecting two volcanic islands separated by abyssal trenches is not an easy task. As emphasized The Daythe 36 kilometer length of the cable descends to 1,145 meters below sea level. This extreme depth makes it the deepest tripolar alternating current link on the entire planet, snatching the record that linked Crete and the Peloponnese since 2021. To withstand the weight and crushing pressure of the ocean at these levels, engineering had to reinvent itself. To do this, they had to discard the traditional use of steel and lead, opting instead for an ultralight synthetic material armor and an insulation based on ethylene and propylene rubber. Caring for the environment was also a priority. In order not to destroy coastal biodiversity or alter shallow volcanic beds, from The Confidential detail that it was used the “directed drilling” technique: an underground microtunnel that allows the cable to exit to the sea hundreds of meters from the beach. Likewise, the terrestrial substations use GIS (gas-insulated) technology to occupy the minimum possible space, and their buildings have been camouflaged imitating greenhouses and agricultural terraces to integrate into the landscape. Laying underwater bridges. The milestone of La Gomera and Tenerife is just the beginning. Future planning, as pointed out The Daycontemplates the colossal challenge of joining Fuerteventura with Gran Canaria, an even greater challenge given that the distance between the two exceeds 100 kilometers. Parallel to the electrical revolution, the Canary Islands are experiencing an unprecedented leap in their telecommunications. As these local media detailthere are more projects like BASE 6, promoted by the public company Canalink. This is a new 328 kilometer fiber optic cable with a budget of 19 million euros that will link Tenerife with El Hierro, landing through a drilling on Tamaduste beach. This data highway, with a capacity of 5 terabits per second, seeks to eradicate the digital divide on the most remote island, guaranteeing services such as telemedicine or online education. The invisible network. The Canary Islands not only look inward. As contextualized by OCTSI (Canary Telecommunications Observatory), the archipelago has been functioning for decades as a global strategic node, surrounded by historic fiber rings and international connections such as Telefónica’s PENCAN cables, currently in the process of renovation. However, this strategic position has its geopolitical edges. An extensive report from my colleague for Xataka focuses on network extension from Canalink to Africa. The Canary Islands are financing a cable to the Moroccan city of Tarfaya with European funds. The problem lies in the fact that Morocco intends to extend this infrastructure towards Western Sahara, a movement that clashes head-on with the rulings of the EU Court of Justice and that threatens to place Spain at the center of a complex diplomatic and legal conflict with the Polisario Front. Overcoming geographic isolation. At 1,145 meters under the scrutiny of the waves, where sunlight does not reach and the pressure is unbearable, the heartbeat that unites two islands now runs. The Canary Islands are managing to transform their greatest geographical weakness—fragmentation and isolation—into a true global showcase of technological innovation. Little by little, the old and noisy combustion engines give way to a future that will be inescapably green, and deeply interconnected. Image | OCTSI Xataka | The Canary Islands are going to lay a submarine cable to Morocco. If Morocco decides to extend it, Spain is going to have a big problem

turning the “sea of ​​death” into a carbon sink

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For decades, the Taklamakan desertin the Chinese region of Xinjiang, has had a nickname quite eloquent: “the sea of ​​death.” And it is no wonder, since it is the second largest mobile dune desert in the world and a place where, historically, whoever enters does not usually leave. But faced with this major problem with sand for the surrounding areas, China decided to find a solution. The solution. China since 1978 has been waging an ecological engineering war against sand with a very specific weapon: the Three North Shelter Belt Programbetter known as the Great Green Wall. A name that seems to come out of Game of Thrones, but its objective is to stop erosion and sandstorms. But a new massive study published in PNAS has just revealed an unexpected and monumental side effect: human intervention has turned the edges of one of the driest places on Earth into an active carbon sink. The data. The study has focused on 25 years of data obtained through field work and also with satellites. What the team has found on the margins of the Taklamakan is what they call a “cold spot” of carbon dioxide. This means that in reforested areas the concentration of CO₂ is between 1 and 2 parts per million smaller than in the surrounding environment. And although it may not seem like much, in climatology it is an outrage. The trend in this case is quite clear, since The vegetation cover is increasing every yearand there is also a tendency for soil and plants to be “eating” more carbon than they are emitting. How is it possible? The million-dollar question here is pretty clear: how do you keep 66 billion trees alive in a place where it barely rains? The answer lies in water management technology and species selection. In this case, the project does not focus on planting oaks or pines, but is based on Extremophilous species like him Tamarixhe Haloxylon and the Euphrates poplar, which are plants evolutionarily designed to survive on very little. But the technological key has been the use of drip risk with saline water. Origin of water. China discovered that under the Taklamakan there are immense aquifers, but they are too saline for traditional agriculture. However, these “halophytic” plants can tolerate it, so it seemed like it was done on purpose. That is why groundwater is used to irrigate the protective strips that exist, especially around the famous tarim desert highway. The result with this is that soil moisture drops drastically between waterings, but the plants survive. And, although the salinity of the superficial soil increases, studies indicate that it is manageable in the long term and does not salinize the deep layers. This has made it possible to complete in 2024 a “green belt” of 3,046 kilometers that encloses the desert, stabilizing dunes that previously moved meters each year. Its stability. Unlike the Great Green Wall attempts in the Sahara, which have suffered from political instability and a lack of continued funding, the Chinese project has maintained its course since 1978. This continuity has allowed a “40-year experiment” that is now bearing fruit with important conclusions. The Chinese authorities themselves cite that national forest coverage has gone from 10% in 1949 to 25% today, thanks in large part to this project. As a result, in places like Maigaiti in Xinjiang, sandstorm days have dropped from 150 a year to fewer than 50. It is not the panacea. The source article warns of the limitations of this project: photosynthesis and carbon sequestration are strongly correlated with seasonal precipitation. This means that at least 16 liters of rainfall per month is needed in high season to maximize its effect. But behind it is climate change that is drastically altering rainfall patterns in Central Asia, which could weaken the carbon sink. Although what is happening in Taklamakan is causing a paradigm shift, since now where we see reforestation of deserts, we also see a way to cool our planet by reducing the concentration of CO₂. Images | Wikipedia Jasmine Milton In Xataka | Someone has counted each and every tree in China. Because? Well because now it is possible

China needed space to power millions of homes, so it built a mega solar plant in the open sea

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That China is building power plants As if there were no secret, it is not a secret. Without going any further, in the last four years it has been able to replicate the power of the United States, the largest electrical grid in the West. And a good part of the blame solar energy has it. In fact, in 2023 it installed more solar panels than the United States in all of history, as reported by Bloomberg. Solar energy requires space, so China is finding the most varied gaps, from the tibetan plateau to the open sea, where from the end of 2025 It is already connected to the electrical network a mega solar plant that breaks records. In China there are solar panels even in the soup. The largest offshore solar plant in the world. We are talking about the solar plant located off the coast of Kenli district in Dongying city, Shandong province. This engineering project is carried out by China Energy Investment Corporation (CHN Energy) and has a nominal capacity of 1 GW. As explains People’s Dailythe official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is China’s first gigawatt-level offshore photovoltaic project and currently the largest offshore solar installation in the world. This is what the Shandong plant looks like. Via: People’s Daily The context: why at sea. Because land space near its large coastal cities is a precious commodity. The Chinese government has a policy of red line to safeguard land used for agriculture and solve the line “Hu Huanyong Line“: while its great solar and wind potential is concentrated in the west, in the Gobi Desert and Inner Mongolia, the megacities and their most powerful industrial fabric are in the east. China is already developing parks of renewables in their deserts, but running Ultra High Voltage lines is very expensive, involves losses along the way and crosses complicated orography. The logical but technically infernal solution is to jump into the water. Until now, floating solar energy was limited to calm waters, such as what Germany is doing with its lakesbut China is another story. The open sea brings salt corrosion, typhoons and waves. Why is it important. Because China’s coastal provinces such as Shandong or Jiangsu constitute large centers of industrial consumption. Generating energy right there avoids those transportation losses of thousands of kilometers from the Gobi desert. If it works within the expected design parameters and the maintenance costs are affordable, it will be a good boost to take advantage of the coasts within the energy transition process from fossil to renewables. The panels are simply colossal. Via: X from People’s Daily A prodigious work of engineering. We are talking about an area of ​​more than 1,200 hectares where 2,934 enormous marine photovoltaic panels are located with standardized dimensions of 60 meters long and 35 meters wide. And they are not drifting panels: it is a large infrastructure designed to withstand extreme conditions ranging from storms to freezing water. In addition, it is hybridized: under the panels the project integrates fish farms, that is, producing electricity above and fish below. This type of combination is not new, as in Guizhou province there is a giant solar plant in whose basement mushrooms are grown. Shandong is aquavoltaic and Guizhou is agrivoltaic. Some numbers that make you dizzy. This installed power of 1 Gigawatt is similar to that of a modern nuclear reactor, so that according to estimates, it will be capable of producing 1,780 million kWh of energy that will be fed into the grid each year and thus supply 2.6 million homes in the region. approximately 60% of your demand. According to the estimates of the engineering company behind it, 1.3 million tons of carbon dioxide will no longer be emitted. In Xataka | Germany has had a crazy idea to solve one of the problems of renewables: covering a lake with solar panels In Xataka | The great myth of solar panels: producing them emits hundreds of times less than coal and gas Cover | People’s Daily

a 300 km “moving wall” to close sea routes instantly

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In the constant pulse between China and TaiwanBeijing has been looking for ways to increase pressure without crossing the threshold of an open conflict. As maneuvers, exercises and actions in gray areas multiply, each new movement points to a key idea: control the environment. If a few days ago it was drone entrynow another formula has appeared. A wall that doesn’t shoot. He told it through images the new york times. China has shown that it can create a gigantic sea barrier without firing a single shot, simply gathering thousands of ships fishing vessels in formations so dense that they disrupt traffic and force other vessels to go around or through them with uncomfortable maneuvers. In one of the recent operations, around of 1,400 boats They suddenly abandoned their routines and concentrated on the East China Sea until they formed a rectangle of more than 300 kmwith a presence so compact that it was seen in the navigation data as a kind of continuous obstacle. The practical effect is obvious. If this is done near key trade routes, chaos pcan arrive very quickly without anyone having to declare a formal block. Maritime militia and war in gray. The relevant thing about the movement is not only how many ships appear, but what does it suggest about who It moves them and for what. Experts and analysts interpret these concentrations as a state-led exercise that dovetails with the use of maritime militia, a network of civilian vessels trained to support strategic objectives. Plus: it is a perfect tool to operate in that ambiguous zone where there is no clear attack, but there is a real pressure on the sea. It is a way of imposing control without showing frigates in the front row and without assuming the political cost of open military action, while the rest are forced to decide whether to treat that mass as civilians or as an organized force. Rehearsal of blocking… without calling it a blocking. In a crisis scenario over Taiwan, a mass like this no need to “enforce” a lock by force to be useful. It is enough to hinder, slow down and complicate the movement of commercial or military support ships. It can force route changes, introduce delays, create points of friction and increase the risk of incidents. It can also serve to mark areas where traffic becomes unsafe or impassable for hours or days. That kind of pressure fits ideas like “quarantine”which seeks to strangle the functioning of an area without completely crossing the threshold of open war. Saturation as a tactic. Another advantage of this “wall” is that it converts the sea into tactical noise. Thousands of small ships together can overwhelm surveillance and complicate the identification of real threats, especially if there are drones, radars and automated systems trying to classify contacts. In a tense situation, this saturation can also act as a screen. It can conceal movements, force the adversary to expend attention and resources, and open space for other operations. Although each ship is weak on its own, value comes when they multiply until they become a problem of management rather than combat. What is revealed. The Times analysts who have followed Chinese activity in disputed seas for years highlighted that it is not usual Seeing such a large and orderly formation, and maintaining relatively stable positions, does not resemble a normal fishing pattern. The important thing here is the organizational muscle. Gathering thousands of ships at a specific point, in a short time, and positioning them with discipline indicates a clear improvement in command, control, communications and planning. This suggests that China is practicing something that you can repeat when you need it, and that does not depend on improvisations or simple crowds. Why does it matter so much? The trainings were given in the east china seaclose to major routes that connect with Shanghai, one of the most important port centers in the world. It’s not just any place. They are maritime corridors through which goods pass daily, including Chinese exports and flows that connect entire economies. Controlling or interrupting these steps is a way strategic pressure first level, on Taiwan, on Japan and also on any actor that has to operate there, including the United States and its allies. Beijing’s official silence fits with the logic of these actions. There is no need to announce anything if what you want is to check capabilities, measure reactions and leave a clear message with facts. A difficult model to answer. The really surprising thing about this is that a fishing barrier It is a relatively cheap instrument compared to deploying large military unitsand it can also be scaled. If today there are 1,400 or 2,000 barges, tomorrow there could be many more in a time of crisis. And for the rival(s), the answer will always be uncomfortable. The main reason is that it is not easy to justify brute force against ships that present themselves as civilians, but it is also not feasible to ignore them if they are effectively blocking a critical path. That’s the value of this “weapon” that does not fire a single projectile. That of forcing a choice between tolerating the pressure or escalating first, while China gains time, control and the ability to shape the pace of the situation. Image | Planet Labs, Ernest Gunasekara-Rockwell, Anna Frodesiak, Micromesistius In Xataka | China has just crossed the same red line as Russia: for the first time, a military drone has invaded Taiwan’s airspace In Xataka | The US has just sent an unprecedented package to Taiwan. Inside are the instructions and weapons against an invasion

To no one’s surprise, the fanciful tunnel that aspires to join the Strait of Gibraltar under the sea will not be ready by 20230

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The idea of ​​connecting Europe and Africa with a direct channel that allows us to do without ships and planes is so attractive, so damn sexy, that it takes more than a century warming the imagination of engineers. The same time they have been seeing the Strait of Gibraltar as the ideal point for a Spain-Morocco tunnel. After decades of idling, in recent years the project seemed gain momentumat least as far as the political sphere and the public interest. A few months ago even transcended that one of the leading companies in tunnel boring machines sees the infrastructure as technically viable. He hype around the tunnel it grew so much (and so strong) that there were those who trusted that the 2030 Soccer World Cupcelebrated mainly in Spain, Morocco and Portugal, it would serve you of ultimate lever. They were even read headlines that suggested that it would be executed with a view to 2030. To no one’s surprise, everything indicates that it won’t be like that. Strait Slopes. About a century ago, around 1929engineer Fernando Gallego Herrera a question was asked: Why not ‘suture’ the gap between Europe and Africa with an underwater tunnel in the Strait of Gibraltar? He was not the first to consider the issue, but he did so with a seriousness, a degree of technical level and a vocation, which gave visibility to the approach. Since then the idea of ​​creating a megastructure that allows Spain and Morocco to ‘touch each other’ has continued with comings and goings on the table. And not only on a theoretical level. The idea of ​​establishing a “fixed link” between Spain and Morocco even led to the creation of two entities: SECEGSAon the Spanish side, and the Societé Nationale d’Etudes du Detroit (SNED) on the Moroccan side. In recent years, the project has also attracted headlines that echoed the degree of political commitmentthe investment in studieshis time horizon and even his technical feasibilitya key aspect considering that we are talking about a structure of several dozens of kilometers in a difficult geological area. A small (big) step. In 2024 the project gave one step forwarde that (although very initial) was revealing. At the request of SECGSA, INECO commissioned a study for the “cross-strait fixed link project”. Its objective was basically to analyze “the feasibility” of excavations in the area, especially in the most critical points, such as the Camarinal Threshold that separates the Mediterranean and Atlantic basins. The task fell to a famous company in the sector: Herrenknechta leading German firm in the world of tunnel boring machines related, among other works, to the Brenner Tunnel or that of Saint Gotthard. Viable yes, although not cheap. The conclusions of their analysis have been known in recent months. First in October Populi Voice revealed that the German firm has confirmed that, although extremely complex, the Spain-Morocco pipeline would be viable from a technical point of view. The same media reported that the purpose of Spain and Portugal would be to decide in 2027 whether or not to tender an exploratory tunnel and provided a provisional calendar: just shaping the reconnaissance gallery would require between six and nine years. Regarding the cost of infrastructure, slid that the base bidding budget of the Spanish side would exceed 8.5 billion euros, a figure that includes everything from the base gallery to the tunnels, the terminal and other facilities. The sum is considerable but there is talk of diversifying its origin, including everything from community funds to formulas (concessions, fees) inspired by other megaprojects, such as the Eurotunnel wave Figueras-Perpignan line. Has there been more progress? It seems so. Although again in an initial phase still. At the end of November Populi Voice revealed again that, after the technical endorsement of Herrenknecht, SECEGSA entrusted INECO to complete the updating of the preliminary project of the structure. A deadline was even included: summer 2026. Around the same time, the Government of Spain and Morocco held a summit in Moncloa during which a memorandum was signed to “promote scientific cooperation in the study of seismicity and geodynamics in the Strait area.” In the statement released by Transport there is no mention of the tunnel, but there were those who saw in the agreement a positive nod for infrastructure. Question of deadlines. The tunnel is not only interested in its technical details and cost. Another key aspect is your calendar. Especially since already in the autumn, when the first touches of Herrenknecht’s analysis became known, slipped that the first progress of the project could arrive by 2030, the year of the Soccer World Cup in which Spain and Morocco participate as host countries. The coincidence of dates made it create expectation about how the Cup could influence the project and even if it would act as a stimulus for the subway. It was even raised if I could arrive on time. In recent days those expectations have received a jug of cold water. One more and unsurprisingIn fact. Why’s that? Because 2030 is four years away. And that is a ridiculously short time for a work that, beyond being viable on a technical and logistical level, is more than notable in complexity. First for its ambition and dimensions (more than 40 kmbetween the underwater and terrestrial section). Second because it must be developed in an area highly conditioned by its geology. Although there may be some progress towards 2030, Populi Voice mentioned in October sources close to the project that pointed to 2035-2040 as a “more realistic horizon” to see significant milestones. The idea would be to have gallery design recognition in June to put out to tender the infrastructure starting in 2027. As a reference, the construction of the Eurotunnel (50 kilometers) required some seven years (from 1988 to 19949 and Saint Gotthard (57 km) around 17. Moderating expectation. In recent weeks (and days) media like Huffington Post The reason either ACE They have echoed, citing the technical feasibility study, that the tunnel between … Read more

a 32 kilometer megastructure over the Red Sea

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The Straits of Tiran are only 13 kilometers long, a distance so short that you can even see the people on the beach on the other side or take a walk to cross it. Well, if there was something to cross it. So in practice that very small distance between that tip of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt to the other end in Saudi Arabia means driving 1,600 kilometers. The other option is to take a ferry and face a trip that would also take a few hours. Saudi Arabia has a plan to link both countries in Africa and Asia: the “King Salman Causeway”, named after the Saudi monarch Salman bin Abdulaziz. An impressive mega infrastructure for crossing the Red Sea, evoking the biblical story of Moses. As? Combining a road and a railway with a length of 32 kilometers that links the straits from Ras El Sheikh Hamid (Saudi Arabia) to Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt). Also known as the “Moses Bridge” for obvious reasons, the 4,000 million estimated for its construction are provided entirely by Saudi Arabia. The awarding company in charge to materialize it is China Civil Engineering Construction Corp., which has an enormous challenge on its hands. Because beyond the symbolism, this transcontinental land bridge has great strategic value for the economy of the parties involved. But it won’t be easy. Why is it important. Integrated within the Vision 2030 plan of Saudi Arabia to promote tourism, infrastructure and economic diversification, this megastructure would completely change regional geopolitics: an enclave is an area that connects Asia, Africa and indirectly Europe. With its construction, a new corridor would be opened between Asia and Europe through North Africa that would turn Saudi Arabia into a logistics and goods transportation hub. Tourism would also benefit: initial estimates they point to a rise in Egyptian tourism, going from 300,000 people a year to 1.2 million. And the other way around: it would be an agile way to reach the northwest of Saudi Arabia where the futuristic $500 billion megacity called NEOMwith a constellation of resorts on the Red Sea to attract tourism. Furthermore, the “Moses Bridge” would also be a passage area to the pilgrimage to Mecca. So Saudi Arabia (for now) is working out: new income from tolls and businesses, development of regions and the generation of thousands of jobs. In fact, planning estimates a recovery of the investment in about 10 years, as collects Global Business Outlook. A technically pharaonic work. With more than 30 kilometers long on the sea, the ends and the island of Tiran in the middle, will count with roads and a railway line that will allow transporting both goods and people on high-speed trains. Thus, the King Salman Causeway will be one of the longest maritime crossings ever built in the form of a hybrid construction that combines a mixture of bridges and submerged tunnels, which will allow the passage of deeper areas and allow the passage of heavy air traffic. For ships to pass underneath, it will have sections up to 75 meters high. For the bridge part you will use a type of piles called caissonshuge steel tubes placed on the seabed. For its installation it will be necessary to pump the water, so that dry foundations can be built. For the tunnel they will combine tunnel boring machines with the sinking of prefabricated segments with a technique similar to the link Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao. According to initial estimates, the work could last almost a decade. Scheme of a caisson. Yk Times – Wikimedia Hellish engineering. As we will see later, the Red Sea is a sea with a particular ecosystem, but also a terrifying topography for a work of this magnitude as it houses the Red Sea Trench, a rift where the African and Arabian plates separate, generating sudden drops: the areas close to the thing are shallow, but according to the bathymetry The passage area of ​​the King Salman Causeway registers a depth that “only” only touches 300 meters (the only thing is because it has an average depth of 500 meters and a maximum depth of 2,730 meters). At that depth, using traditional seabed-founded pillars is useless. The use of the adjective infernal has not been coincidental: the temperature in the area comfortably exceeds 40°C. Working there is like being in an oven, but it also takes its toll on the materials: the water in the concrete evaporates before it sets properly, losing structural resistance, as explained by Victor Yepes, engineer of Roads, Canals and Ports and professor at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. on your blog. So the concrete must be cooled during setting to avoid cracks. Steel also suffers: you have to deal with its thermal expansion, the accelerated corrosion of a high salinity environment and the thermal fatigue of day and night cycles. So we must resort to the use of high corrosion resistance alloys, a design of expansion joints capable of absorbing metric movements produced by thermal expansion in a structure more than 30 kilometers long, cathodic protection and even paints with reflective colors to reduce radiation absorption. The natural challenges of the Red Sea. The sea that bathes the coasts of the Straits of Tiran is a true garden: it is home to coral reefs, a great marine diversity with endangered species such as the dugong and it is a nesting area for turtles and seabirds. Obviously the construction of such a megastructure results in annoying noise pollution for fauna, but also the appearance of sediments, which are lethal for the coral as it suffocates it, modifying currents and affecting water quality. Egypt Independent echoes The warning from the environmental NGO HEPCA has given the go-ahead to the work, as long as there are rigorous environmental studies and the most sensitive reef area is avoided. Otherwise, he will take the project to court. Nothing new diplomatic challenges. The first time a bridge between Egypt and Saudi Arabia was formally proposed data 1988 at the … Read more

China bets on liquid air to stabilize its largest solar sea on the roof of the world

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In the vastness of Qinghai province, where the Tibetan plateau merges with the Gobi desert, dust and rock they have given up their domain to a mega-project of 610 square kilometers. This “sea of ​​silicon”—the size of the city of Madrid—is home to seven million photovoltaic panels that have transformed the ecosystem: the shade of the plates retains humidity and allows thousands of “photovoltaic sheep” graze today where before there was only sand. However, this massive deployment encountered a physical barrier. As researcher Wang Junjie explainssolar and wind energy are “random and intermittent”; When the sun sets in the Gobi, the power grid shakes. To stabilize this giant, China has gone beyond conventional lithium, betting on liquid air storage. White giants in the desert. On the outskirts of the city of Golmud, a row of white tanks stands sentinel against the horizon. It is the world’s largest liquid air energy storage (LAES) project, dubbed by Chinese media as the “Super Air Power Bank.” According to the Xinhua agencythis facility of the state-owned company China Green Development Investment Group (CGDG) has entered its final commissioning phase. It is not just any battery: its capacity is 60,000 kilowatts (60 MW) and it can release up to 600,000 kWh per cycle, a discharge capable of sustaining the daily consumption of tens of thousands of homes. Physics against lithium. Why has China opted for this technology instead of its popular lithium ion batteries? The answer lies in scale and geography. While lithium is ideal for mobile devices or cars, on an industrial scale it faces cost and degradation problems. Air has an advantage that is difficult to match: it is there and it costs nothing. AND, as CleanTechnica remindswhen it becomes liquid air its density skyrockets, up to 750 times more than that of normal air, which allows energy to be stored in large quantities without dams or geographical conditions. The alchemy of cold: From gas to liquid at -194°C. The operation of the system is a feat of cryogenic engineering. As detailed by Xinhuathe process is divided into three critical phases: Load (Compression): During the day, surplus solar from a nearby 250 MW plant powers giant compressors. The air is purified and cooled to -194 degrees Celsius (-317°F). At that extreme temperature, the air becomes liquid. Heat recovery: The heat generated during compression is stored in high-pressure spherical tanks to be reused. Discharge (Expansion): When electrical demand rises or the sun disappears, the liquid air heats up. When vaporized, its volume expands explosively (750 times), driving a turbine that generates electricity again for the grid. This cycle, according to researcher Wang Junjieachieves over 95% cold storage efficiency and 55% “round trip” efficiency, harnessing what would otherwise be waste heat and eliminating the need for rare materials. A global laboratory on the “roof of the world.” China is not the only nation in this race. The United Kingdom waits to complete a similar plant in Manchester by 2026, and South Korea too has made progress in this technology. However, the Chinese scale is, again, incomparable. However, the success of these projects in Qinghai is due to centralized planning which combines three sources: solar, wind and hydroelectric. At 3,000 meters above sea level, the cold, pure air improves the efficiency of the panels, and the electricity generated is already 40% cheaper than that of coal. This energy not only illuminates homes; It powers the data centers that power China’s Artificial Intelligence, using the plateau’s frigid air to cool the servers. From the factory to the engine of the world. As Professor Ningrong Liu reflectsChina no longer wants to be just the “factory of the world”, but the “engine” of that factory, exporting its engineering and its green network model. Golmud’s project It is the symbol of a paradox: the country that emits the most CO2 is also the one that builds the fastest carbon exit. In the silence of the Gobi, between cryogenic tanks and sheep herders, China is demonstrating that the air we breathe can literally be the fuel that sustains the 21st century. Image | freepik and Bureau of Land Management Xataka | On the roof of the world, China is building the largest solar park on the planet

four months at sea, kilometers of celluloid and a Trojan horse the size of a building

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We already have here the first trailer for ‘The Odyssey’ by Christopher Nolan, which, as expected, offers us an adventure that moves away from the environments that the director has frequented until now, but which nevertheless has a good part of the house’s trademarks: musical fanfare, impactful images and dense and solemn atmosphere. a genuine deli for devotees of the director. After releasing a six-minute prologue a week ago Exclusive to 70mm IMAX theaters, this new trailer takes us to the immediate aftermath of the Trojan War: a devastated battlefield where Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, kneels before a fully armored Agamemnon (Benny Safdie) and which some critics have already pointed out as unequivocal proof that historical rigor is clearly not going to be one of the film’s priorities. From there, pure icons of classic adventure: the hero and his soldiers crossing forests, navigating rough seas and entering dark caves. Damon’s voiceover tells that “after years of war, no one could come between my men and home. Not even me.” Significantly, we barely see Odysseus on screen. The trailer gives a good account of Nolan’s visual ambition: we see the Trojan horse being dragged from the sea by hundreds of unsuspecting Trojans, and how the warriors inside the gigantic structure experience it. We see a giant creature at the entrance to a cave, perhaps the cyclops Polyphemus. We see ships suffocatingly tossed about by real waves. An ambitious odyssey ‘The Odyssey’ represents an unprecedented leap in the use of the IMAX format. It is the first film in history shot entirely with IMAX cameras.something Nolan has pursued since he began incorporating the format into action sequences with ‘The Dark Knight’ in 2008. Until ‘Oppenheimer’, technical limitations (excessive noise, prohibitive weight, difficulty capturing dialogue) prevented its continued use. But for ‘The Odyssey’, IMAX developed a new generation of cameras 30% quieter and considerably lighter, making full filming viable. Principal photography lasted 91 days between February and August 2025touring Morocco (Aït Benhaddou to recreate Troy), Greece, Italy, Scotland and Iceland. The most reckless: Nolan spent four months in the open seawith the entire cast rolling on real waves. The budget amounts to $250 million, making it the most expensive film of his career. Nolan explained. that sought to identify absences in contemporary film culture. He concluded that Greek mythology had never received the big-budget Hollywood treatment with full dramatic credibility. Furthermore, he states, The Odyssey by Homer contains elements of horror, mystery, romance and thriller simultaneously. It is not a genre, it is the matrix of all genres. It is clear that Nolan wanted to put the emphasis on the physical: real ships almost submerged in the sea, armies of extras, the Trojan horse… at the moment we do not see the abundant mythological creatures that the story has (the Cyclops, the mermaids, the sorceress Circe), but possibly they have sought to contrast with the realism of the rest of the story. And we still have to see the bulk of the star cast (Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, Mia Goth…). This Odyssey has only just begun.

In 1919 the Germans decided to sink their entire fleet in the North Sea. The steel from those ships ended up in space

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At 11:20 in the morning of June 21, 1919, Admiral von Reuter’s ship began to signal to the rest of the German ships in Scapa Flow Bay, England. The taps and water intakes were opened, the pipes were destroyed, the portholes were dismantled: no one noticed anything. Until around midday, the Friederich Der Grosse began to list to starboard. It was already late, the German flag was flying from the 74 masts. Scapa Flow. The image tells the story of Scapa Flowthe sinking of the German fleet immediately after World War I. While the Allies negotiated the terms of the Armistice with Germany, the fleet was held captive and stationed off the British coast. Von Reuter feared that the Allies would divide up the ships, so he decided to sink it completely, at any cost. The British naval ships that were on maneuvers arrived at 2:30 p.m. and were only able to save one ship. The last to sink was the battlecruiser Hindenburg. Nine Germans were killed, 16 were wounded, 1,774 were detained. 52 ships were sunk on June 21 at Scapa Flow. But they are no longer there: they are on the Moon, Jupiter and beyond the orbit of Pluto. steel is steel. A tough guy, with bad temper and few words. But in 1945 (or a little before), everything changed. We didn’t realize it at first, but we quickly discovered that although all steels are equal, there are some steels that are more equal than others. I’m not going around the bush: what happened in ’45 was the atomic bomb, the device of the Devil that made us change geological era. The problem. Since the first atomic bombs exploded on the Earth’s surface, the air contains traces of radioactive elements. They are there, dissolved in it, but the amount is so small that they are harmless. Unless for some strange reason you have to blow in enormous amounts of air in the manufacturing process of some material. It’s almost useless to us. That is, all steel manufactured after the explosion of the first atomic bomb is radioactive. Very little, almost nothing. But enough so that some medical, physical or astronomical instruments do not work correctly. For example, radioactivity monitoring systems used by spacecraft. He tells it David Bodanis in “E = mc². Biography of the most famous equation in the world“, a book that, although it has become somewhat outdated, is still a delight. You may have heard the story, but it is a good story. Steel = expensive. In the book, Bodanis explains that, faced with this problem, uncontaminated steel became very expensive. Above all, because before ’45 we did not make steel in quantities so industrial as now. I imagine dozens of NASA engineers rummaging through their family’s cutlery so they can send reliable machines into space. Until someone remembered Kaiser Wilhelm’s ships. The peculiarity of Scapa Flow. There are sunken ships in many places, but there are not many shallow inlets with 52 sunken ships in their waters. Not all of them were there, but a few were enough for us to manufacture the equipment that the Apollo mission left on the lunar surface, that which the Galileo probe took to Jupiter, and that which the Pioneer probe is taking even further. The evil, the sea. In Xataka | Quantum find in Cambridge points to solar ‘Holy Grail’: single-material solar panels In Xataka | The Atacama salt flat is the key on which the electric car industry pivots. And it’s starting to dry

A movie scene traumatized an entire generation every time they bathed in the sea. And it was all due to a mistake

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The story from ‘Jaws’ begins long before its monster appears on screen: it is born in a chaotic shoot, with a mechanical creature that did not work, a young director on the verge of dismissal and a climate of tension that threatened to sink not only the film, but also Steven Spielberg’s career. Hence the most chilling scene has arisen from the most logical thing: a failure. The technical failure and taking a bath. The story told a long time ago Spielberg himself. The entire team assumed that the film was doomed. Brucethe name given to the enormous robotic shark, constantly broke down as soon as it touched salt water, the days went by without being able to film anything usable and leaks from Hollywood ensured that the production was a disaster. However, from those limitations (and especially that useless shark) was born one of the most influential decisions in the history of cinema: not to show the threat, but to hint at it. Technical necessity forced Spielberg to shoot the film as a suspense thriller, closer to a Hitchcock film than a giant creature spectacle, and he turned the series of mechanical problems into the greater narrative success of his career. The result was a film where terror springs from the invisible, from calm water, from ominous sound. of two notes that advance like an unstoppable threat: a tension that would forever change the public’s relationship with the sea (for the worse). The sequence. The iconic opening scene (a quiet beach, a party and a girl who decides to bathe under the moon) is the perfect example of the way in which Spielberg transformed technical deficiencies into a cinematic virtue. We do not see the shark at any time, but we feel its presence from the first vibration of the water. Chrissie, played by Susan Backlinie, goes into the sea while the camera accompanies her slowly, without warning, until something grabs her from below, shakes her from side to side and ends up dragging her into the depths. On the surface calm returns, but the audience can no longer recover it: they know that the unknown is there, lurking where it cannot be seen. The psychological impact was so immediate that many viewers, first in the United States and then in Europe, left the cinema. with the same phrase in my head: “I will never get into the water again in my life.” Spielberg built an invisible attack in which the viewer’s imagination becomes the real monster, and he did it because he simply had no other choice: Bruce I would never have been able to shoot that shot convincingly. The absence of the animal, paradoxically, created a scariest presence than any mechanical creature. The failures that forged the tension. During filming, the mechanical shark turned out to be practically unusable. Engines corroded with salt, joints failed, and underwater operators spent hours trying to refloat a robot that was sinking rather than attacking. Spielberg confessed that the bug “looked silly” and that he was afraid that the public would laugh. But when something doesn’t work, cinema can reinvent itself. Forced to film without showing the predator, the director and his team chose to work as if the camera was the shark itself: water level shots, disturbing points of view, tense silences and, above all, the terrifying rhythm composed by John Williams, initially received as a joke and finally became one of the most recognizable leitmotifs in the history of cinema. Simple ball. The failed machinery forced the narrative to concentrate on “less is more,” and that visual reduction transformed what was going to be a monster film into a piece pure suspenseone in which the threat lurks beneath the surface like a collective trauma ready to emerge. Spielberg himself admitted after that, if the shark had worked well, ‘Jaws’ would have been a much worse movie or, at the very least, much less scary. From accident to cultural revolution. Thus, what began as a filming in crisis ended up triggering a unprecedented phenomenon. ‘Jaws’ not only terrified million viewers (literally altering his relationship with the beach), but also redefined the film industry. The film also inaugurated the concept “premiere-event”: massive campaigns, releases in hundreds of theaters and a summer strategy that demolished the old belief that no one went to the movies when the weather was good. The audience came again and again to scream, to feel the shock, to immerse themselves again in that first scene that turned a night bath into an act of pure recklessness. Spielberg’s film opened the door to a new economic model, inspired aggressive marketing strategies, generated an avalanche of imitators and consolidated the blockbuster as the central engine of Hollywood. By the way, I remembered in a wonderful Guardian report for the anniversary of the film, its cultural impact gave rise to infinite interpretations: readings on masculinity, power, institutional crisis, post-Watergate paranoia and even debates about its moral content. However, when Spielberg was asked what ‘Jaws’ really meant, the answer was so simple. like shiny: “It’s a movie about a shark.” And what makes it something bigger is that, because of a technical failurethat shark almost never shows up. Image | Universal Pictures In Xataka | In the 80s they were already cloning faces without the need for AI: ‘Back to the Future’ replaced an actor with a mask and we didn’t realize it In Xataka | Stephen King threw away the first pages of the book. His wife rescued them and turned a scene into horror film history

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