Wind power in a dead calm? On Utsira, we're showing how — with hydrogen. Windmills and windpower are becoming more and more common , and provide carbon dioxide-free power. But the wind is an unreliable ally, and stabile energy supplies are one of the preconditions for a sustainable society. So what do you do when the wind stops blowing?
On the island of Utsira, we’ve solved this problem. Admittedly it’s on a small scale – but on this little island outpost in the North Sea off the west of Norway, two windmills are providing stable power supplies for 10 homes. Even when the wind isn’t blowing. How do we do it? With hydrogen.
The significance of Utsira is that it’s a model for sustainable renewable energy supplies of the future – and the world’s first hydrogen society.
"Utsira is the perfect place for testing StatoilHydro’s combined wind and hydrogen power plant," says Torgeir Nakken, from StatoilHydro’s R&D centre in Porsgrunn
Lots of wind
Approaching Utsira on a blustery autumn day, one is not only struck by its rugged beauty, but its stark, remote nature.
"But that’s exactly why it’s perfect for testing the world’s first large-scale wind and hydrogen power plant, says project manager Torgeir Nakken, from StatoilHydro’s R&D centre in Porsgrunn.
“The premise is to see how well isolated communities can operate entirely energy independent of the net,” he explains. Utsira is ideal in many ways. “During the past decade, the longest period measured without wind on the island was two days.”
Two giant turbines on the south-east edge of the island churn the wind into electricity, supplying 10 local households. When the wind stops – or blows so hard that the turbines have to be stopped – the homes are powered by hydrogen.
Emissions-free
Surplus wind energy is used to make hydrogen in an on-site electrolyser. The manufactured hydrogen is compressed and stored in tanks, and when needed, fed into the plant’s fuel cell, or a hydrogenbased generator, to provide the homes power until the wind resumes blowing. The plant is completely emissions free. The only residual is water.
Officially launched by Hydro and German wind turbine manufacturer Enercon in July 2004, the Utsira project is now part of the hydrogen business unit in the new energy cluster, headed, respectively, by Per Øyvind Hjerpaasen and Alexandra Bech Gjørv.
Stable supply
“Supply from the plant is now so consistent that we take it for granted,” says power recipient Sølvy Austerheim. “In the beginning, supply was a little up and down, but it’s a research project so we kept an open mind.
“We were given a log to keep track of irregularities, and if something went wrong, we were automatically switched over to the land-based net.”
A subsea cable delivers electricity to the island from the mainland-based transmission network. “It’s a little ironic,” she says with obvious delight. “The land-based net went down once, blacking out the rest of the island. We still had power.” Utsira counts a total 214 inhabitants. It is Norway’s smallest municipality. Many residents have lived on the island their entire lives. There is one school (grades 1–10), one grocery store/post office, one gift shop, one library and one pub. Most employment on the island stems from the shipping and offshore industries. A ferry boat connects Utsira with the mainland two to three times daily.
The idea for the Utsira project was hatched nearly a decade ago by now-retired Hydro man Christopher Kloed and islander Robin Kirkhus (pictured). Photo: Tor Hammerstad.
Bright idea
The idea for the Utsira project was hatched nearly a decade ago by now-retired Hydro man Christopher Kloed and islander Robin Kirkhus. After starting operation in 2004, Utsira became one of Hydro’s most profiled projects ever. In 2006, more than 1,000 people visited the facility. The plant has hosted numerous international journalists, a pop star, a meteorologist, even a Russian billionaire. In 2004, the Utsira project won the prestigious Platt’s award for Renewables Project of the Year in New York. The island was also the subject of a TV ad made by Toyota.
Work to do
The attention is nice, but there’s still plenty of work to do, emphasises Nakken.
“The main focus during the first part of the project was to make all plant components function together and deliver power at the quality customers expect. This we’ve successfully achieved. So far we’ve not had a single complaint from customers.”
Challenges remain
“One problem is making enough hydrogen,” Nakken comments. “The operational flexibility of the electrolyser is such that we cannot utilise all surplus wind power. At the same time, the efficiency of the hydrogen engine is low so we consume a lot of hydrogen.
“This, together with the fact that the consumers are now using more energy than in the beginning, means we could run out of hydrogen when longer windless periods occur. If this happens, we’ll connect the customers back onto the ordinary grid.”
The fuel cell has caused the most problems. “For various reasons we have not been able to fully integrate the fuel cell as part of the system. However, the fuel cell is not critical to operating the plant. The main reason for including a fuel cell was to gain experience with what we thought to be the future solution,” Nakken says.
“High cost and low durability still makes this technology prohibitive. The hydrogen-fuelled generator is a good near-term alternative. The hydrogen engine at Utsira is converted from a natural gas unit and has the capacity to cover the total customer load.”
Commercial viability
The goal is to make the concept commercially feasible. “It looks like we can be competitive with conventional remote-site power supply – diesel or combined wind and diesel generators – in a five to 10 year perspective,” says Nakken.
The concept is applicable to isolated communities worldwide. Greenland, Canada, Alaska, Siberia, Australia, and numerous Pacific, Mediterranean and Atlantic islands are all viable candidates.
“The next wind-hydrogen plant might be built on the Faroes,” Nakken reveals. “If the project moves ahead, we could supply up to 100 homes.”
The next decision milestone is in early 2008, following the completion of a feasibility study in December. “If successful, large-scale demonstrations like Utsira will pave the way for a future hydrogen marketplace. Many improvements must still be made, but we’ve now identified many of the corrective aspects – edging us ever closer to closing the gap.”
DAVID BURKE & COLIN DOBINSON
