Latest news with #LPO
Scotsman
06-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
EIF music reviews: Holst's The Planets Mark Simpson & Richard Uttley
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... MUSIC Holst's The Planets Usher Hall ★★★★★ Put on a big, popular programme and listeners will come. That was the lesson from the London Philharmonic Orchestra's bold and blazing concert of Rachmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody and Holst's The Planets, for which the Usher Hall was gratifyingly packed to the rafters with an enthusiastic and appreciative crowd. Not that these were simply crowd-pleasing performances. Conductor Edward Gardner gave bracing, brisk accounts that showed off the LPO as the towering juggernaut of sonic marvels that it is with hall-shaking bass, gleaming brass and golden, velvety strings. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Pianist Beatrice Rana and conductor Edward Gardner with the London Philharmonic Orchestra | Contributed Italian Beatrice Rana was an explosive soloist in Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, occasionally striking the keys so forcefully that she was heard above even the densest orchestral texture, but never compromising on gracefulness and elegance. The famous central slow variation, for example, was tender but crisp, alive with movement and emotion rather than simply a sentimental wallow. And Gardner's LPO responded with equally brittle, strongly etched playing, sliding organically between variations as the conductor's sure-headed overall architecture emerged. Their account of The Planets was generally on the brisk side, but all the more urgent and characterful for that. Mars erupted in noises of terrifying cataclysm, though Gardner kept things carefully controlled, while Mercury scampered nimbly and Jupiter was a tad more athletic than many conductors find him. It was Gardner's clear-headed, no-nonsense perspective on Holst's more visionary movements, though, that brought a sense of sharp focus and vivid meaning, in the inexorable tread of a mighty Saturn, or the wisps of sound coalescing in the closing Neptune. And it wasn't all well-known warhorses: Gardner and the LPO brought a sense of freshness and new life to Judith Weir's opening Forest, all tendrils of melody spiralling out across the orchestra's musicians. It was a concert of immense power and no less subtlety. DAVID KETTLE MUSIC Roby Lakatos & Ensemble The Hub ★★★★☆ They opened with a flourish of violin and the wire-strung clamour of cimbalom and ended with a high-velocity jazz jam. Hungarian violin virtuoso Roby Lakatos led his sextet through a near-continuous flow of repertoire that ranged from the frenetic to the unashamedly romantic. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad With two violins, piano, guitar, double bass and cimbalom – the big Hungarian hammer dulcimer – the ensemble proved powerful in full flight, yet able to change tempo on a sixpence, while Lakatos, an amiable, moustachioed figure who can boast distinguished Romani musical lineage, peregrinated around the stage, virtually serenading the beanbaggers in the front row. He's a master of the extravagant flourish, whether deploying rich-toned bowing or a formidable pizzicato technique that made his instrument ring like a mandolin. When not in full exhilarating flight, twin violins flickering, his ensemble had their schmaltzy way with Broadway material such as Yentl and Fiddler on the Roof, while a snappy-swingy Deux Gitare tipped the hat to Reinhardt and Grappelli. Show-stoppers were the csárdás, rhapsodic preludes giving way to alternating high-stepping slow passages and all-out attack. Excitement intensified when they were joined unexpectedly by Wynton Marsalis, whose rapid-fire trumpet sparred with Lakatos's violin in a heady Hungarian take on Cherokee. JIM GILCHRIST Make sure you keep up to date with Arts and Culture news from across Scotland by signing up to our free newsletter here. MUSIC Mark Simpson & Richard Uttley Queen's Hall ★★★★☆ Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's about four minutes long, and it's really hard,' quipped clarinettist/composer Mark Simpson about his own piece Lov(escape), which opened the second half of his blazing EIF recital with pianist Richard Uttley. He wasn't wrong: it was an unapologetic showpiece that he wrote for his own semi-final recital as part of the 2006 BBC Young Musicians contest. And its characteristic mix of frenzied, breathless energy, screaming intensity and heart-on-sleeve emotion just about summed up the overall tone of Simpson's concert. He's a larger-than-life figure in his sometimes over-the-top music, and he carried over his search for emotional extremes into the brief pieces by contemporary composers that opened both parts of his recital. Among them, Sir James MacMillan's classic After the Tryst got a deeply passionate account, and Zoë Martlew's fire purification ritual of a classical piece Pyrrhos surged with appropriately incandescent energy. Ayrshire-born Jay Capperauld packed weighty emotions into his brief So My Tears Flow, and Simpson and Uttley responded with an account in which every note was deeply felt, every gesture meant. Simpson closed both halves of his concert with one of Brahms's two clarinet sonatas, in which he toned down his exuberant, forcefully projected playing, but not by much. An exhilarating recital, but an exhausting one too. DAVID KETTLE
E&E News
06-08-2025
- Business
- E&E News
Nuclear's next act hinges on DOE loan office
Nuclear supporters want the Trump administration to underwrite a bevy of projects to kickstart a renaissance for the sector. Top Trump officials, like Energy Secretary Chris Wright, say they're on board. But the Department of Energy is slow-walking new loans across the energy industry and losing staff at its Loan Programs Office who could be pivotal for advancing the loans. Advertisement 'Continued investment in the LPO will be key to advancing the next generation of nuclear technologies, developing a cleaner and more resilient electric grid, and securing our nation's energy dominance goals,' said Michael Flannigan, vice president of governmental affairs at the Nuclear Energy Institute. 'The $1 billion appropriated for the LPO in the reconciliation bill reinforces its integral role,' he added. July's One Big Beautiful Bill Act replaced the LPO's previous energy infrastructure reinvestment program with a new Energy Dominance Financing mechanism. It broadens the scope of eligible projects to include those related to critical minerals and emphasizes grid reliability, while potentially excluding some previous greenhouse gas emission reduction projects. For nuclear energy, this could mean a clearer pathway to financing through a new eligibility category specifically supporting projects that enhance grid reliability, directly benefiting nonintermittent and baseload power sources like advanced nuclear reactors. But the expanded eligibility may also shrink nuclear's slice of the pie, according to Matt Bowen and Ashley Finan of Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy. 'The broadening of the LPO's authority to support fossil and critical minerals projects could limit the commitment authority available for nuclear energy if many fossil and mineral projects are supported,' the pair wrote in July. The LPO has been pivotal in supporting groundbreaking energy technologies, including financing Tesla's first factory. But many in the industry view it as particularly indispensable for nuclear power. 'The important contributions of the DOE Loan Programs Office are fundamental to getting reactors off the ground,' Dan Lipman, president of energy systems at nuclear developer Westinghouse, said at a July panel on the nuclear resurgence. So far under the Trump administration, DOE has been reluctant to sign off on new loans. Utilities across the country, for example, are angling for more than $20 billion in loans tentatively approved under former President Joe Biden to modernize the grid and add new clean energy. Last month, DOE canceled a tentatively approved loan for the Grain Belt Express, a transmission line that aimed to ferry wind and solar energy from the Great Plains to urban centers in the eastern U.S. But the LPO has continued to disburse loan installments as part of a $1.5 billion loan guarantee to support the restart of the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, expected to be completed this fall. The office backed Georgia's Vogtle Units 3 and 4 with loans in 2010 and 2019 totaling $12 billion — more than one-third of the expansion project's ultimate price tag. On Tuesday, Wright said on X that nuclear power 'is the single biggest issue' he works on. While the industry broadly backs the LPO, some argue its broad mandate creates challenges for efficiently financing novel projects. 'It is not the easiest entity to work with, but it's getting a lot better,' said Jacob DeWitte, CEO of advanced nuclear startup Oklo. 'A nuclear project does have different dynamics than like a solar project,' DeWitte continued, adding that the LPO was designed to support large conventional reactors rather than small modular designs that aim for mass production. He suggested that providing a package loan to support several projects from a given company would probably be more efficient for Oklo and other developers. 'Being able to find answers to those things and be iterative, that was an area where we've seen continued improvement, but there's still continued opportunity,' DeWitte said. Concern over risk and financing is shared by some of the nation's largest utilities. Harry Sedaris, CEO of Duke Energy — which operates one of the largest nuclear fleets in the U.S. — told analysts that while nuclear 'has a lot of promise in the future,' there are still serious hurdles to address before the company moves forward with new projects. He pointed to the need for clearer answers on design, supply chain and workforce challenges, as well as the 'first-of-a-kind risk' tied to advanced reactors. 'We're also going to have to have overrun protection from the federal government or others to be able to protect our customers and our investors,' Sedaris said. Until then, he added, Duke is focused on solar, natural gas and optimizing its existing power plants. To that end, a January report from EFI Foundation and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman concluded that reforms to the LPO were needed: 'Reforms to the LPO process are necessary to facilitate timely and efficient support for advanced nuclear projects, including streamlined application processes and increased program staffing.' Yet paradoxically, the Trump administration is lauding the office as a cornerstone of nuclear deployment goals at the same time that it is reportedly overseeing mass departures. The Washington Examiner reported in April that approximately 123 out of 210 employees took the deferred resignation offer. Meanwhile, an internal document viewed by POLITICO's E&E News in July showed DOE was considering LPO hiring caps of 125 to 140 full-time employees and 70 to 60 contractors by fiscal 2028. The department had 412 federal and contractor employees at the end of 2024, including part-time workers, according to the Government Accountability Office. 'A slowdown at LPO would be a disaster for nuclear energy, to be quite frank,' Katy Huff, former assistant secretary for nuclear energy under President Joe Biden, said. 'Commercial banks are not going to provide low-cost financing for nuclear reactor construction — especially initial investments in these technologies. It has to be the LPO.' E&E News has not independently confirmed expected LPO staff departures. DOE wrote in an email: 'We do not have final numbers to share at this time. The Energy Department's Loan Programs Office remains ready to deliver on President Trump's energy dominance agenda and help bring about the next American nuclear renaissance.' When asked about the reported resignations at a May panel, Alex Fitzsimmons, then-chief of staff for Energy Secretary Chris Wright, said: 'We have to be able to do more with less. I think we will get to a place where we evolve. We will have a right-sized office. The Loan Programs Office grew quite considerably in the last four years.' But the reports of dramatic staff reductions have raised alarms with some about the LPO's capacity to oversee its considerable financial obligations. 'The LPO was already doing so much oversight — review, audit, control management of deliverables. It takes humans to protect the billions backed by LPO loan guarantees. You cut staff in half, and those government employees cannot reasonably manage that scale,' Huff said. Reporter Jeffrey Tomich contributed.
Axios
30-07-2025
- Business
- Axios
Exclusive: DOE alums look to speed energy, climate tech deployments
Senior officials from the Biden -era Department of Energy loan office are publicly launching a nonprofit on Wednesday that aims to speed deployment of low-carbon tech in the U.S. and abroad. Why it matters: It's the latest example of how the federal policy U-turn on energy and climate is creating new efforts in response. Driving the news: Months after starting work, the group Constructive is announcing itself with a goal of "reshaping how leaders and experts collaborate to scale clean energy and climate infrastructure." It has a model for creating "connective tissue" by weaving together stakeholder events, dialogues and strategies — and then ensuring there's follow-up. The intrigue: The goal of the nonpartisan group's "stakeholder engagement model" is to fill a gap, not just offering more documents and meetings. "What's missing ... is follow-through and an understanding of how you create events and convenings and reports that are connecting the dots and building on each other towards some target outcome, and are creating clarity in doing that," Jonah Wagner, the group's president, tells Axios exclusively. "When we're thinking about how you put an event together, we're thinking, what happens when everybody wakes up the day after they went home?" he said in an interview. State of play: Constructive works with governments, industry, think tanks, philanthropies and others. Areas of focus include demand response; "clean firm" sources like next-generation geothermal and advanced nuclear; transmission and other grid-enhancing tech; and advanced manufacturing. "Our primary focus is going to be those energies or sources that drive energy abundance and a thriving planet, which often, but not always, excludes fossil fuel-driven [energy]," CEO Susan Kish tells Axios. Funding has come from "fee for service" with groups it's already working with, but Wagner expects philanthropic grants will ultimately be a significant source. Between the lines: Kish said that if last year's election had gone differently, the "convening" function that Constructive provides would have likely remained within DOE. She was the executive producer of the Energy Department's Deploy23 and Deploy24 events, while Wagner was chief strategist at LPO and helped create the department's Pathways to Commercial Liftoff roadmaps. The team of roughly a half-dozen includes other LPO vets. The big picture: Wagner and Kish gave a glass-half-full take on U.S.-focused work despite the federal pullbacks under Trump 2.0. They note there's now more certainty with the budget law passed, along with the need to meet rising power demand. Constructive would also like to work with the Trump administration on areas of alignment, Wagner said. Catch up quick: Its work to date includes organizing an "energy and resilience" summit in Santa Barbara in May and producing the Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Task Force's upcoming summit in New York.
The Sun
03-07-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Pangaea Connectivity announced FY2025 Results: Revenue increased 53.8% to HK$2,128,200,000 driven by AI-Optimized Connectivity and Green Energy Technologies
HONG KONG SAR - EQS Newswire - 3 July 2025 - Pangaea Connectivity Technology Limited ('Pangaea' or the 'Company', together with its subsidiaries, the 'Group', stock code: 1473), a key player in the advanced connectivity segment, is pleased to announce its annual results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025. The Group achieved a historic milestone with record revenue of HK$2,128,200,000, representing a 53.8% year-on-year growth. This exceptional performance underscores the Group's success of its strategic initiatives and business focus in AI-optimized connectivity, renewable energy technologies, and next-generation wireless solutions, despite persistent global trade challenges. Three Core Technologies Fueling Growth The Group's success stems from three technological pillars: AI-Optimized Optical Connectivity, and High-Power Laser and Next-Gen Wireless Communication. Amid the explosive growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC), the Group's 800G/1.6T Linear-drive Pluggable Optics (LPO) technology solution has emerged as a game-changer. By eliminating power-hungry digital signal processing (DSP) chips found in traditional optical modules, LPO delivers power savings while maintaining ultra-low latency—making it a critical enabler for AI data center upgrades. The Xi'an Industrial Laser Service Center has developed to be a hub for supporting the innovation in high-power laser processing for solar back-contact (BC) battery manufacturing. Renewable energy technologies are advancing rapidly, particularly in solar BC battery manufacturing where the Group's high-power laser systems deliver unparalleled processing efficiency and precision working alongside the market existing generation of TOPCon (Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact) and N-type technologies. The Group's early-mover advantage has recognized by leading global energy players. The same high-power laser innovations are also revolutionizing PCB and semiconductor manufacturing through faster, more energy-efficient processing. In wireless connectivity, the Group's pioneering WiFi8 products are expected to deliver multi-gigabit speeds, ultra-low latency, and enhanced network efficiency, making it ideal for smart factories, autonomous vehicles, and immersive digital experiences. By collaborating with leading suppliers and end users, the Group aims to be an early adopter and enabler of this transformative standard. Global Expansion Strengthens Supply Chain Resilience To navigate geopolitical challenges, the Group has expanded its smart logistics hubs in Wuhan and Shenzhen, enabling faster response times and reduced lead times for critical components. Our 24/7 technical support and maintenance services further strengthen customer trust and satisfaction. Southeast Asia represents a key growth market, with Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam investing heavily in 5G/AI infrastructure, the Group has been engaging with few regional infrastructure developers. Outlook: Leading at the Nexus of AI and Green Energy Looking ahead, Pangaea's commitment to innovation, operational excellence, and supplier/customer collaboration ensures the Group is well-positioned to capitalize on the recent and upcoming trends. The technological expertise of the Gorup in the high-growth sectors - LPO for AI infrastructure, advanced high-power laser applications, and next-gen wireless – well positions the Group for sustainable long-term growth in the evolving tech landscape. Mr. Fung Yui Kong, Chairman, CEO, and Executive Director of Pangaea Connectivity Technology Limited, said, 'Our record performance proves the power of converging AI and green energy technologies, as we enter the 1.6T era for AI infrastructure and the mass adoption of BC solar technology, Pangaea is uniquely positioned to drive sustainable technological transformation.' The chairman emphasized that, 'Global AI data center growth has created unprecedented opportunities. We've actively advanced AI development, recognizing rising demand for AI-enabled communications devices in data centers and HPC environments. Our products meet AI's stringent requirements , and are driving innovation. As AI demand surges, our connectivity solutions play a pivotal role. Moving forward, we'll intensify investment to deliver high-performance, efficient and scalable products, strengthening our market leadership and technological edge.' About Pangaea Connectivity Technology Limited Founded in 1990, Pangaea Connectivity Technology Limited is an innovative technology company. The Company focuses on four major market sectors, namely AI HPC (High Performance Computing), Green Energy (Industrial Lasers), Wi-Fi and IoT Connectivity, and Telecommunication Infrastructure. In recent years, the Company has been actively involved in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and green initiatives, and is committed to capitalizing on the rapidly evolving generative AI technologies to drive cross-industry transformative outcomes. Meanwhile, as part of its commitment to sustainability and green initiatives, the Company has pioneered the development and utilization of industrial laser processing technology for solar photovoltaic (PV) panels application.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Nordec to deliver structural frame for Oslo's 27-storey office tower project
Nordec has been selected for the structural framing of the Spektrumkvarteret project, a significant development in central Oslo, Norway, which includes a 27-storey office tower and a congress building. The contract involves the design, manufacture, and installation of a prefabricated steel-concrete structure. The Spektrumkvarteret project, set at Sonja Henies plass, is being developed by HENT, with LPO as the architect. Nordec's contract encompasses the creation of 1,450m² of concrete walls for the congress building and 30,000m² of flooring throughout the complex, combining hollow-core alongside slabs. The project's engineering highlights include the use of composite columns, welded beams, and a cantilever section that extends over the street. Installation work is scheduled to commence in February 2026, with a completion target set for October 2026. Nordec senior vice-president Minna Kuusela-Opas said: 'We would like to thank our customer for the trust we have received. We are happy that we can be involved in implementing this important project in such a central location in the city. "This project offers us an opportunity to show our expertise, and we are committed to doing our very best to achieve the goals set for the project. We look forward to working closely with the entire project team to ensure success.' With over four decades of experience, Nordec is a provider of frame structures for buildings, facades, and steel bridges in the Nordic countries. In April 2025, the company won a contract for the Lastaustie 7 project in Jyväskylä, Finland. Additionally, a month earlier, Nordec was chosen by NCC, a Nordic construction company, to design and construct the frame and envelope structures for a new train depot in Stockholm, Sweden. "Nordec to deliver structural frame for Oslo's 27-storey office tower project" was originally created and published by World Construction Network, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
