To move“stranded” renewable
energy from Finnmark to end users in Svalbard, Statkraft analyzed four alternatives mediums to transport the energy.
One challenge that Statkraft must overcome,
however, is that the wind farms are isolated from the national electrical grid in Norway.
After thorough analysis, Statkraft concluded compressed hydrogen
and hydrogen bound in ammonia had the lowest total cost of ownership and meets all requirements.
Power producers Statkraft and Agder Energi said that while the plan may benefit society,
it could raise the costs for future renewable energy projects.
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.
Statkraft proposed compressing pure hydrogen to 350 bar
and storing the gas in International Standards Organization(ISO) tanks which would be loaded into TEUs and transported on traditional container vessels.
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.
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.
Noting that 26,500 tonnes of ammonia would be required annually to meet Svalbard's heat and
power demands, Statkraft estimates that an ammonia LPG carrier would
be required to transport ammonia either once or twice a year.