Recently an international study was announced showing that fuel cell vehicles provide the lowest-carbon solution for long distance driving and medium and large family-size cars. Also the study revealed that a hydrogen infrastructure is affordable, achievable and of comparable cost to other fuels and technologies. However it emphasizes that investment in hydrogen infrastructure must start without delay so that commercial scale up can take place. Also public incentives such as tax exemptions on vehicles could make fuel cell vehicles commercial as early as 2020.Norway started the establishment of a hydrogen refueling network back in 2003 with the opening of the first hydrogen station in Stavanger as part of a network initiative called HyNor. Since then additional three stations has opened and 20 hydrogen vehicles been put in operation. The new hydrogen station to open in Lillestrøm summer 2011 will add yet another station to the HyNor network. Also attractive tax exemptions are already in place in Norway, with zero tax on hydrogen car compared to a significant tax on conventional vehicles. Similar efforts are happening in Sweden and Denmark through a joint collaboration effort called Scandinavian Hydrogen Highway Partnership.

The station will include an alkaline electrolyser enabling production of hydrogen by use of electricity from solar panels. Space is available for future test of other hydrogen production technologies such as PEM electrolysis. Hydrogen will be compressed to 700bar and refueled according to the latest international SAE standard on fast and safe refueling of hydrogen in few minutes, comparable to refueling of gasoline.

The hydrogen station will be supplied by H2 Logic A/S from Denmark, who also is to provide another hydrogen station for Oslo during 2011 where seventeen fuel cell vehicles will be deployed in Oslo. Five of the vehicles will be placed in Lillestrøm and use the new and innovative hydrogen station.”

Read more: H2 Logic

Chief Executive Helge Lund said his company, which has invested in offshore wind and carbon capture storage (CCS) technology in recent years, was committed to renewables but only up to a point.

“We are committed toward developing renewables but the industry has to show it is going to be profitable,” he told reporters. “Over time, it has to develop into a profitable industry.”

“This is the responsibility of any company,” he said. “Like any other activity, (renewables) have to be tested against profitability and other dimensions over time.”

Over the weekend Lund told the regional daily Stavanger Aftenblad that Statoil should consider within three to four years whether it was right to invest in renewables as well as in oil and gas.

The comments by Statoil come amid concerns that political action to tackle global climate change could drift for years in the wake of the financial crisis, hurting the prospects for coordinated renewable energy subsidies.

Norway’s largest company — two-thirds owned by the state — is a participating in several offshore wind projects, including the Sheringham Shoal wind farm off the coast of eastern England.

It is also aiming to build a full-scale CCS facility at the Mongstad oil refinery in western Norway — a project that has seen several setbacks.

Lund said Statoil remained committed toward developing CCS at Mongstad.

“We stay committed to Mongstad project, however difficult,” he said.”

Source: Reuters

‘This is not just something I’m saying, we are at the forefront and we’re opening something which has never been opened before!’

A few minutes before, Crown Princess Mette-Marit walked in to a tent filled to capacity at the seaside at Tofte, to open the world’s first osmotic power plant prototype. Together with the Minister, local politicians and representatives of research and business communities, her Royal Highness saw the osmotic powered turbine turning according to plan. The event was extensively covered by more than 50 Norwegian and international journalists.

‘Seeing is believing,’ said head of Bellona, Frederic Hauge, of the osmotic power plant in his speech, and revealed that the environmentalist group reported on osmotic power for the first time in 1992.

“It is inspiring to see that there now is a facility which aims to develop this energy source,” he continued. “It is important that someone is the first and devotes money and efforts to solutions like this.”

The very first power to be produced at the facility was used to make tea for the most prominent of the guests, and with tea cup in hand, Crown Princess Mette-Marit received an account of how osmotic power works.

Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Riis-Johansen also received a thorough explanation, and he plans to pass the story on. “When I meet with colleagues from other countries and tell them about our osmotic power efforts, I expect a lot of follow-up questions. Now I know how to respond,” the Minister said.

He believes we will now see two parallel courses towards the transition to renewable, eco-friendly energy: A further development of already known technology, but also completely new approaches to exploiting natural processes.

“The authorities take a positive view of supporting Statkraft’s pilot project,” Riis-Johansen said, adding that the money is there.”

Source: Press Release – Statkraft

What is Osmotic Energy?

According to Statkraft, one of Europe’s largest renewable energy company owned by the Government of Norway, “The energy is based on the natural phenomenon osmosis, defined as being the transport of water through a semi-permeable membrane. This is how plants can absorb moisture through their leaves – and retain it. When fresh water meets salt water, for instance where a river runs into the sea, enormous amounts of energy are released. This energy can be utilized for the generation of power through osmosis.

At the osmotic power plant, fresh water and salt water are guided into separate chambers, divided by an artificial membrane. The salt molecules in the sea water pulls the freshwater through the membrane, increasing the pressure on the sea water side. The pressure equals a 120 metre water column, or a significant waterfall, and be utilized in a power generating turbine.”