sonnen’s new smart breakers help your home battery last longer
Transportationvia Electrek
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A home battery can do more during a blackout if it isn’t busy running nonessential, energy-hungry appliances. sonnen and SOLRITE Energy are putting that same principle to work for the grid, adding smart breakers that can temporarily switch off selected household loads while batteries help meet electricity demand. more…
A home battery can do more during a blackout if it isn’t busy running nonessential, energy-hungry appliances. sonnen and SOLRITE Energy are putting that same principle to work for the grid, adding smart breakers that can temporarily switch off selected household loads while batteries help meet electricity demand.
MALAYSIA: A contract has been awarded for the design and construction of a cross-sea extension to the future LRT Mutiara Line metro which is being built on the island of Penang. The first phase of the LRT Mutiara (‘Pearl’) Line will cover 23.7 km along Penang Island from Penang South Reclamation Project Island A to Komtar in George Town with 19 stations. The 2.69bn ringgit Civil Main Contract 2 package awarded by national urban rail project promoter MRT Corp to joint venture of China Communications Construction Co, TRC Construction and Ufuk Semarak covers the design and construction of a 5.5 km extension. This will start at Macallum on Penang Island and run across the strait to the Penang Sentral transport hub in the Butterworth area of Seberang Perai on the mainland. It will include a 3.05 km long over-sea bridge, which is required to be high enough to ensure that ships can access the ports of Prai and Butterworth. Penang Sentral is the state’s principal multimodal transport hub, and will provide passengers with a convenient interchange with national railway KTMB, ferries and buses. The journey between Komtar and Penang Sentral is expected to take approximately 8 min, offering commuters a convenient and reliable option for travelling between the island and the mainland. Announcing the contract award on November 5, MRT Corp CEO Mohd Zarif Hashim said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had ‘recognised from the outset that an investment of this magnitude must benefit communities on both sides of the strait. His aspiration was to ensure that the Mutiara Line serves more people, creates greater opportunities and catalyses more inclusive economic development.’ The opening of the line is planned for the end of 2031.
This week’s global railway supply chain news from Railway Gazette International. Romanian company HIAROM has developed a multifunctional road-rail vehicle designed for railway infrastructure construction, maintenance and intervention works. The HC-3 built on a three-axle MAN chassis has an aerial work platform, a HIAB i.X 192 Rail E4 hydraulic crane and a six-seat crew cabin, and two hydraulically operated four-wheel rail bogies with hydrostatic propulsion provided through the rear bogie. German sleeper manufacturer Moll Rail has expanded its international presence beyond Europe with the acquisition of Brazilian company Conprem Group, which manufactures prestressed concrete railway sleepers and precast concrete products for the energy sector at seven production facilities in Brazil. It also holds a majority stake in Conprem-Grau which operates a plant in Chile. ‘South America offers considerable potential for railway infrastructure development’, said Andrea Benincasa, CEO of Moll Industries, on November 2. ‘Brazil is particularly attractive to us given the significance of its rail freight market. Together with the experienced local teams, we aim to develop Brazil as a base for further expansion in South America.’ Turkish manufacturer Türasaş has signed a TL1.5bn contract for the construction of a new locomotive assembly plant close to its existing Eskişehir facility. This will manufacture Türasaş’s E5000 (Eskişehir 5000) electric main line locomotive, for which it recently received an order for 95 from national operator TCDD Taşımacılık, as well as future electric freight and passenger locomotives developed from the E5000. Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met Wabtec Chairman & CEO Rafael Santana in October to discuss renewing and expanding the country’s locomotive fleet, taking into account the potential development of rail infrastructure and transit traffic. The meeting also covered the supply and long-term servicing of locomotives with the participation of US financial institutions, and establishing maintenance services and component production in Uzbekistan, as well as personnel training. Siemens Mobility and its contractor Budimex have officially launched construction of a 100m złoty Rail Service Center at Gądki near Poznań, which will provide light and heavy maintenance for locomotive fleets in Poland and across central and eastern Europe from the end of 2027. The 4 300 m2 facility will be equipped to service up to seven locos simultaneously, and it will have an underfloor wheel lathe, a washing facility and a drop table for replacing bogies and wheelsets. The investment is supported by the voivodship of Wielkopolska, Kórnik municipality and the Zakłady Kórnickie Foundation. Compagnie des Signaux’s German subsidiary MerMec Deutschland has been renamed CSEE Deutschland. Both are part of Angel Holdings. The change follows Siemens Mobility’s acquisition of other MerMec businesses.
BYD just got some good news in its Defender-copycat court battle with JLR. After JLR had BYD’s Netherlands offices raided and documents seized, a Dutch court has now handed BYD an early win, ordering JLR to destroy the documents or face a penalty. more…
