An energetic collaboration

STATUS | STRONG COLLABORATIONS

Henrik Stiesdal, head of technology at Siemens Wind Power, is one of the pioneers of wind farms. He is currently researching robust wind turbines which can operate without gears. Photo: Siemens press picture

By Morten Andersen

A professor at a Danish university one day needed a special instrument for an experiment. He knew that the institute’s technicians could construct it in a couple of months. But he also knew that a Danish company already produced it. So he got on the phone and the next day the instrument came. Without an invoice.

“That type of informal contact I think is something typically Danish. It saves us a lot of time,” says the professor, who wishes however to remain anonymous since the approach did not accord with the formal guidelines he should actually have followed.

Mapping wind resources is another example of the Danish interplay between industry, authorities and public sector research institutions. The software programme WAsP (Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program) from Risø DTU, the National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, can calculate wind resources in a given locality 20 years ahead in time with an accuracy of ±5 per cent.

“The importance that WAsP has had for the wind turbine industry cannot be overestimated,” says head of technology Henrik Stiesdal at Siemens Wind Power. “All the efforts we make in the industry to produce turbines as excellently and inexpensively and possible won’t help if our customers can’t borrow money to finance their projects. In Denmark we have had thorough knowledge of wind resources for a long time. But most export markets did not possess this type of data and WAsP has thus been vital for stable exports.”

Springboard for exports

The WAsP programme has been developed by Risø National Laboratory, today part of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). The laboratory was originally established with the aim of preparing for the introduction of nuclear power in Denmark. Throughout the 1970s, popular resistance against nuclear power increased, and in 1984 the Danish Parliament decided that Danish energy policy could manage without it. But it certainly couldn’t manage without Risø, which had long since readjusted itself to research in a number of new energy technologies with wind power as the driving force.

The Danish Parliament also helped to propel wind power along. A subsidy scheme allowed owners of wind turbines to supply electricity to the grid at approximately the same price as from coal-fired power stations. That was enough to accelerate demand for wind turbines. Danish manufacturers thus gained a domestic market, which again became a springboard for exports. When California decided to focus strongly on wind power at the end of the 1980s, Danish suppliers were ready.

Today, subsidies are no longer necessary to fill order books. Coal-fired electricity generation is still cheaper than wind power, but the difference is small and an increasing number of countries and energy companies are willing to pay a modest premium to protect the climate.

This does not mean however that the Danish model, where companies, public sector research institutions and authorities collaborate, has become superfluous. Today the model is being used to promote a number of other forms of renewable energy, which are not yet commercially viable.

The Danish Minister for Climate and Energy, Connie Hedegaard, figures on Time Magazine’s list of the World’s Most Influential People. Photo: Scanpix

First fuel cell factory

The most interesting area is probably fuel cells, which use hydrogen or a hydrogen-containing fuel to produce electricity.

In Lyngby, north of the capital Copenhagen, lies the world’s first factory for production of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC). These operate at a much higher temperature and have a much higher coefficient of energy utilization than plastic membrane based fuel cells, which are already in production in several places around the world.

The factory is owned by Topsoe Fuel Cell, a subsidiary of Haldor Topsoe, and it has come into being based on a long-term collaboration with Risø DTU.

“There has been a lot of talk about fuel cells, but it was not until Haldor Topsoe and Risø entered a collaboration agreement in 2001 that things gained pace,” says managing director Claus Olsen, Topsoe Fuel Cell.

“We needed some fuel cells for conducting experiments, and Risø was the only place where we could have them made. Risø appreciated this, also because the agreement was formulated to give Risø an interest in commercial production resulting from the collaboration. Now we have established our own factory, Risø can concentrate on what they are best at, namely research, which we are also very interested in ourselves. We are dependent on making the best fuel cells not only here and now, but also in 3 to 5 years.”

Limousines that run on straw

A notable example of the collaboration between Danish research institutions, companies and authorities is bioethanol production. Many countries are already using ethanol – the technical term for alcohol – to fuel cars. But they are making it from crops such as maize and sugar cane which could have served as food for human beings. In Kalundborg however, Inbicon, a subsidiary
of DONG Energy, is building a facility which instead produces bioethanol from straw. This is called 2nd generation bioethanol.

The process requires enzymes which can break down straw – and possibly other agricultural waste products – into a form that is suitable for the production of ethanol. To get to this stage has required comprehensive research from a number of Danish public sector institutions, as well as the enzyme manufacturers Danisco Genencor and Novozymes, and DONG Energy. In addition to the companies’ own investments, subsidies for the research and development work have been received from the EU and from Danish research programmes.

The facility will be able to handle 4 tons of straw per hour, corresponding to 35,000 tons annually. The resulting output will be 4,300 tons of bioethanol, 11,000 tons of animal feed and 8,250 tons of solid biofuel which can replace coal for electricity and heat production.

“With this facility we are going from pilot scale to demonstration scale”, says Inbicon’s managing director Niels Henriksen.

The objective is to demonstrate that the process can operate on an industrial scale. The facility is the forerunner of actual commercial plants with a capacity at least 10 times larger.

The first demonstration will be made in connection with the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, where some of the limousines ferrying high-ranking politicians around – more specifically two thirds of the Volvo limousines – will be fuelled by 2nd generation bioethanol.