From MarineLink, October 3:
Ammonia, the same pungent solution used in fertilizers and cleaning agents, may one day be the key to transporting renewable energy around the world. There are currently a number of government and corporate projects assessing the feasibility of converting excess renewable energy from sources like wind, solar, tidal and nuclear into ammonia and then back into usable energy.....MUCH MORE
In its purist form, ammonia or NH3 is composed of one nitrogen and three hydrogen atoms making it an ideal candidate to chemically bind excess renewable energy. Like several other chemical compounds, ammonia can be transported by chemical tanker in liquid form to end-users. Based on its near ambient liquification point, it may be more appealing to transport ammonia over longer distances than hydrogen. Once unloaded, ammonia can be converted back into usable energy and heat with fuel cells, gas turbines, or combustion engines.
In a push to become a carbon neutral society, countries like Norway are considering projects which would demonstrate this concept on a large scale. To determine its technical and economic feasibility, a study was conducted to determine if excess wind energy produced in Finnmark, the most northern county in mainland Norway, could be converted to either compress hydrogen or ammonia and delivered to the isolated island of Svalbard. These projects are examples of a potential new norm in transporting renewable across the globe via vessel. To shed some additional light on the topic, this article explores the Svalbard project in Norway and considers how the maritime industry could play an important role in this growing energy market.
The Svalbard Case Study
Although still assessing different power production technologies, if the Norwegian government decides to move forward with supplying ammonia to Svalbard it will mark the first large-scale project to provide a community heat and electricity via ammonia. The conversation to consider ammonia as an energy carrier between Finnmark and Svalbard first began with the decision to close Svalbard’s legacy coal-fired power plant in 2016. According to current estimates by Statkraft, one of the major corporate partners assisting the Norwegian government, current coal reserves will only last until 2025. After that point, coal will either need to be shipped into the island via bulk carrier or a new combined heat and power plant will be established.
Approximately 800 kilometers away in Norway’s austere northern mainland, Statkraft recently secured licenses to further develop two large wind farms called the Raggivudda and Hamnefjell fields in Finnmark. With the mantle of being “one of the most efficient wind power plants in Norway”, Statkraft is eager to develop additional capacity in the area to take advantage of ideal conditions for wind power generation. One challenge that Statkraft must overcome, however, is that the wind farms are isolated from the national electrical grid in Norway. This prevents the owners of the wind farm, Varanger Kraft, from selling excess energy to the rest of Norway and abroad. It is from these two interesting problem sets that renewable energy experts began considering ammonia as a method of transporting energy from production site to customers.
To solve these logistical issues and potentially generate additional business opportunities across multiple industrial sectors, Statkraft and a number of well know research and chemical companies went about assessing alternatives. Summarized in a translated report titled “Renewable Energy Supply to Svalbard – Longyearbyen”, Statkraft explores different carbon neutral technologies which could transport the renewable energy created in Finnmark to the island of Svalbard.
As a starting point, the feasibility study considers the following requirements and assumption to service the community in Svalbard. The first assumption is that Statkraft will be able to scale up wind production in the Finnmark region to achieve an installed electrical capacity of between 40 and 50 MW. This installed capacity will be used to generate roughly 3800 tonnes of hydrogen annually for transportation to Svalbard by 2025. As an end-user, Longyearbyen which is the main city in Svalbard requires 40 Giga-watt hours (GW-hrs) of electricity and 70 GW-hrs of heat annually. Based on this requirement, Svalbard would require an installed production capacity of 12 MW of electrical power and 15 MW of heat power. Additionally, given the critical dependence of the inhabitants of Svalbard on fuel transportation, the proposed solutions must be able to supply a 30 days heat and electricity buffer.
Methods of Renewable Hydrogen Transport
To move “stranded” renewable energy from Finnmark to end users in Svalbard, Statkraft analyzed four alternatives mediums to transport the energy. These mediums, or “energy vectors”, included compressed hydrogen, liquid hydrogen, hydrogen bound in methanol and hydrogen bound in ammonia. In order to narrow down these possibilities, Statkraft considered the total cost of ownership over 25 years. After thorough analysis, Statkraft concluded compressed hydrogen and hydrogen bound in ammonia had the lowest total cost of ownership and meets all requirements.....
Of course there are still a few bugs to be worked out:
Following hydrogen facility explosion, fuel-cell vehicle owners left stranded
That was c|net on an incident in Silicon Valley September 6.
More recently, September 26, OilPrice had this about an incident in South Korea:
Fatal Explosion Slams South Korea’s Hydrogen Future
The problem seems to lie in the fueling stations rather than the vehicles or their fuel cells and also points up one of the features of ammonia as a carrier, its relative safety.
Provided you don't breathe or drink the stuff.
Unlike its cousin ammonium nitrate, ammonia isn't really prone to decompose explosively, which is why terrorists, from Timothy McVeigh to the Delhi bombers to assorted wannabe mass murderers across Europe and the Middle East don't buy their truck bomb ingredients in the grocery store's cleaning aisle.
Previously:
Oct. 3
ICYMI: Following CNH Industrial's $250 Mil., Bosch And Hanwha Invest $230 Million In Nikola's Hydrogen-Electric Trucks
Oct. 1
"Port of Antwerp Orders World’s First Hydrogen-Powered Tug"
Hydrogen is coming, in fits and starts, and weird permutations, but it is coming....
August 12
Energy 2019: "Germany’s Big Bet On Hydrogen"
July 17
Hydrogen: "Is This Big Oil’s Next Secret Weapon?"
June 18
"A Major Existential Threat Is Arising For Natural Gas"
February 23
Electricity: Here Come The Big Batteries
This is a very tricky time for end users weighing their options for long-lived energy storage infrastructure.February 13
This article focuses on lithium ion batteries but there are a couple other battery technologies that work for large scale uses that don't work for vehicle applications, see links below.
Additionally the use of ammonia (for the hydrogen) as an energy storage medium is being persued by some very big players, Yara, Siemens, and the U.S. ARPA-E researchers to name just three.
And as Australia is finding out with their giant Tesla lithium battery, the things don't work so well in extreme heat. Ditto for extreme cold as the owners of electric vehicles found during the recent polar vortex experience....
Shipping: "UK Department of Transport recommends launch of ammonia / hydrogen powered vessels within 5-15 years"
Ammonia, it's what everyone is talking about.
And if your crowd isn't, you'll be the best-informed next-gen energy storage/transport-medium connoisseur at the Thursday afternoon salon!
And many more, including:
April 2018
"World’s First Autonomous Shipping Company Established in Norway"
We've been watching this one for a while as it ticks a few of the boxes:
1. Autonomous
2. Electric
3. Shipping
4. Fertilizer
5. Kristian Birkeland
Our hero
"He also co-founded Norsk Hydro and got his picture onthe cover of the Rolling StoneNorway's 200 kr banknote:
The note became invalid at the end of last year and the old boy was replaced by a cod and a herring...."
