May 16
While I was up north somebody told me about EgenEl, a renewable energy center which would be interesting for me to visit. I made my way to Katrineholm and it was not that hard to find…!
EgenEl center in Katrineholm (click on the picture for more pictures)
Johan, originally a magazine owner, set up the center to promote the fact that anybody can start producing electricity, EgenEl = OwnElectricity. He is convinced that people should start earning money from power companies instead of paying them.
The center provides revenue in multiple ways. As a first it produces electricity from the installations on display – currently they have an installed capacity of ca. 60 to 80kW but this will be expanded to 1MW soon.
Secondly, they are retailing small scale wind and solar power installations – surprisingly solar is most efficient in Sweden.
Thirdly, they host visiting groups and conferences – currently Kjaell, Magnus and Joakim are working on a south-facing conference center with an extra large roof (facing 45 degrees for optimal solar reception). On the 2nd of June they will host a festival at their facilities!
With wind of ca. 12 m/s I was sure that my batteries (ca. 1 kWh) were charged with electrons produced at the center!
Posted on:
May 15, 2012
May 15
Did you ever think of placing a wind-turbine at the bottom of the sea? The people at the division for electricity at Uppsala university did. When I visited this research center I met Sandra, Stefan and Anders. They explained about another way to get energy from the sea: placing vertical axis waterturbines at the bottom of the sea.
The immense forces of the water currents – both in rivers and in seas – can be captured. They will test the environmental impact, but this could be low the blades are relatively slow moving. The combined knowledge of Sandra (vertical wind power), Stefan (generator design) and Anders (aerodynamics) creates some practical research. They could have started to work in the weapon industry, instead they choose to do something good for the world and use their engineering degree to advance research in renewable energy technology.
Anders, Stefan and Sandra in front of the construction hall where they are building - among other things - generators for underwater vertical axis waterturbines (click on the picture for more pictures).
Commercial spinn-offs of the research done by them and their colleagues include Seabased (with simple buoys they create energy from waves) and Vertical Wind (vertical axis wind turbines). I hope to visit the 200kW turbine when I pass through Falkenberg in a few days.
E85 is a blend between ethanol and gasoline, most of the ethanol comes from Brasil. Already more than 200.000 cars in Sweden have modified engines which can handle this blend. Due to the high oil prices E85 is now cheaper than normal gasoline (even when the energy/liter ratio is taken into account)! (9.64 SEK = ca. 1.05 EUR)
Posted on:
May 10, 2012
Apr 23
When I told people in Norway that I would cycle down south through Sweden I was told that this was the “boring” route. All I would see along the way would be trees. Actually, it is these trees – together with the rivers – which ensure that Sweden has the
A model of a wave energy plant using simple technology
highest percentage of renewable energy in the EU. The current percentage is 45 and this is supposed to go up to 50 by 2020 for Sweden to reach the target.
One way for Sweden to reach this target is using the 23,761km of coastline. Much potential is created when water moves up and down under the influence of the wind. In Uppsala they are working on a very simple method to harvest this wave-energy. All they use are buoys and a piston driven generator.
Because of the cold winters and many saunas the energy consumption of an average Swede is double that of an European, however, the CO2 emissions are well below the average. In the coming 2-3 weeks I hope to be able to tell many good-news stories from this country with sustainability-minded people!
Apr 20
April 16th – I didn’t sleep that well, I was nervous. For the first time I would be the one to entertain a full class of secondary school students! At the Alta Vidergående Skole I facilitated the ”Changing the Game” workshop for the first time, and it worked!
The workshop during the Science and English class of the AVS freshman
Changing the Game is a workshop where students are given the chance to build our energy future. Coloured LEGO bricks represent enormous amounts of energy. By playing change cards the students decide which
The workshop facilitator - Mr. VOLT
changes they would like to implement (e.g. more electric cars) or do not want to implement (e.g. lowering indoor temperature). In the end the students can decide to build renewable energy towers made from water power (blue bricks) or keep the more polluting electricity production from coal (black bricks).
After the workshop one of the students, Magnus, commented ”It was a fun workshop and a fun class, I learned how easy it is to change our energy sector but also about the cost and challenges of energy production”. As a pointer he told me to “explain a bit more about the structure of the whole workshop at the start. Great thanks to the Alta Vidergående Skole and I am already looking forward to my next workshop in Sweden!
Posted on:
April 12, 2012
Apr 09
At 71 degrees north it is not always bright and sunny. In winter times the sun will not show itself for two months and more often than not you will find heavy wind and snow-storms. This does not stop Aurelien and Hans from keeping the northernmost wind-park in the world up and running.
Luckily – today was one of the most beautiful days of this winter. Before my arrival in Honningsvag (April 10th), I spent one day with the two employees from Nordex. Aurelien comes from France and Hans is German, both of them have studied electrical engineering. Together they have a wealth of experience at wind-parks all over Europe, but they think this one is special. They are proud of their job to supply over 7000 households with electricity and love the fact that they don’t have to sit in a standard office every day.
Havoygavlen - as seen from the Hurtigruten
When the road is blocked – like today – the only way to get to their ‘’office’’ is by snow-scooter! They start the day at 08:00 to do the routine checks. The wind-turbines are loaded with sensors, so in case anything is wrong or could be optimized they get a message from the system right away. This morning they cleaned a slipring by going up the ladder through the shaft of one of the eighty meter high wind-turbines!
Click here to see some more pictures!
Click here to see a video of the ride up to the windpark!
Aurelien and Hans at HavoygavlenPicture taken from inside the shaft of one of the wind turbines
Apr 07
Norway is a country blessed with a tremendous amount of natural resources – both renewable and non-renewable. Close to 100% of the electricity generated in Norway comes from hydropower. Yet, Norway also exports more than 2 million barrels of oil per day. With the money generated from the sale of this oil the government is building up an oil fund with reserves currently surpassing 400 billion euro. Although non-renewable, one could argue that – saving up the money – Norway meets the needs of the present population without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Havoygavlen - the worlds northernmost wind-park.
As such, we could call the Norwegian oil extraction somewhat sustainable, especially if they would invest all the money in developing their alternative energy sector! This is already happening to some extent. Norway is home to one of the leading solar cell producers and supports projects that will ensure that the country will reach its target to increase the share of renewable energy consumption up to 67,5% by 2020.
One initiative – by the company Statkraft – is particularly worth mentioning. They have built the first pilot-osmotic power plant. Osmosis is a natural process where energy is released at places where fresh and salt water meet. The global potential is estimated to be 1600 – 1700 TWh per year, enough to supply Germany, France and the UK!
On my boatride up to the Northcape I hope to spot the world’s northernmost wind-park. Havøysund, at 71 degrees north has sixteen wind-turbines of 2.5MW each. They operate all year around in the harsh conditions of the Artic.
Download the full Renewable Energy Country Profile for Norway here.
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