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assets in Norway power the existing manufacturing activities and also provide the additional power required for planned investments into electrification and hydrogen production as part of INEOS Inovyn Norway’s plans to decarbonize its assets in Norway. INEOS Inovyn operates a world scale
integrated site in Norway producing fundamental raw materials for various industry sectors as diverse as automotive, building and construction, paints and adhesives, food, healthcare and medical, personal care, pulp and paper, textiles, and water treatment. Long term supply of clean energy is critical for the sustainability of the activity. The largest agreed power contract covers a capacity of 100MW, equal to an annual volume of 876 GWh of documented renewable energy. The new long-term agreement replaces the existing power contract, which expires in May 2023. The second long-term power agreement covers up to 30MW, adding 263 GWh per year for the period from 2026. The agreement is linked to INEOS Inovyn’s extensive development plan in process electrification and hydrogen production in order to further reduce carbon emission of the asset at Rafnes.
“Statkraft is proud to renew its long- standing partnership with INEOS Inovyn, securing their facilities at Rafnes access to renewable hydropower for another long- term period. The agreement emphasizes Statkraft’s important role as a major supplier to Norwegian industry and shows that it is possible to secure long-term power contracts even in today’s market,” said Hallvard Granheim, EVP Markets in Statkraft. “The fact that we are also contributing to INEOS Inovyn Norway’s planned investments in extensive emission reductions is a value added, perfectly in line with our vision to renew the way the world is powered.” “These long-term green energy supply
agreements allow us to continue to competitively supply our customers in Europe and elsewhere in the world. They also allow us to pursue our ambitious asset development plans which we have put in place to reach our 2030 CO2 reduction targets and to continue the decarbonization of our operations to deliver net zero emissions by 2050,” added Geir Tuft, CEO of INEOS Inovyn. “Statkraft’s support is critical for us to carry out this ambition as early movers in Norway and hence achieve our climate goals benefiting the full value chain for our customers.”
Kyrgyz Republic Eurasian Development Bank agrees to fund Kulanak hydro plant The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and Naryn Production Enterprise have agreed on
financing for the construction and operation of the 100MW Kulanak hydropower plant in the Kyrgyz Republic. Kulanak is a new milestone in the Central Asian Water and Energy Complex, and is a key investment mega-project of the EDB. The plant will generate 435 million kWh of electricity per year on average, and will occupy an area of 485.41 hectares on the Naryn River near the village of Kulanak, Naryn Region, Kyrgyz Republic. It will create 835 jobs during the construction and operation phases. The plant is expected to consolidate the country’s position in Central Asia’s electricity market, reduce energy shortages in the region, which currently only has one 40MW hydroelectricity plant, and improve energy security.
It will also improve the operation of
water reservoirs for irrigated farming. After its commissioning, the area of irrigated agricultural land in the region will increase by a factor of 1.5 to 6,769 hectares. The EDB Technical Assistance Fund has financed the verification of this project as green per the international loan principles of the Loan Market Association. The project will prevent the emission of 346,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year. “The Kulanak HPP is not just a major project under the EDB’s Country Strategy for the Kyrgyz Republic, but also an important link in its Central Asian Water and Energy Complex mega-project,” said Ruslan Dalenov, Vice Chairman of the EDB Management Board. “The commissioning of an additional 100MW of generating capacity in Kyrgyzstan will address capacity shortages in its energy system. This will also provide an opportunity to more effectively distribute the daily loads of solar power plants and wind farms, which are planned to be built in all Central Asian countries.” The project value is US $117,989,262.
The Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund (RKDF) also plans to participate in financing the construction and operation of the hydropower plant on a par with the EDB. The project is supported by the government and is part of the Cabinet of Ministers’ Plan of Action to implement the 2026 National Development Programme.
UK
Universities team up for wave energy project
Newcastle University and the University of Edinburgh are collaborating on a project to demonstrate the advantages of using electric power technologies in wave energy converters. The MU-EDRIVE project is part of eight
projects funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), to
build on the UK’s leading role in marine wave energy.
Led by Newcastle University’s Dr Nick
Baker, MU-EDRIVE is a collaboration between Dr Serkan Turkman and Professor Jeff Neasham at Newcastle University and Professor Markus Mueller at the University of Edinburgh. Compared to electrical machines in other industrial sectors, Wave energy convertors (WECs) are relatively slow running. The team is now working to develop all electric drivetrain technologies – which are efficient and mechanically simple – to power WECs, and demonstrate that they can perform efficiently at full-scale in harsh underwater conditions. The Edinburgh team, led by Professor Mueller, will design, build and test a magnetic gear in partnership with Edinburgh-based wave energy developer Mocean Energy to demonstrate upscaling of electrical power take off systems. The team will then install a generator and power converter using the new system to a buoy mounted 3km off the Northumberland coast at Blyth in spring 2024 for a 12-month period.
Once installed, the prototype WEC will
provide vital operational data while testing the newest corrosion and anti-fouling technologies – which prevent sea organisms such as algae sticking to the device and potentially interfering with its operation. The project will progress understanding
of the robustness of wave energy convertors in harsh underwater conditions, while showing how magnetic gearing technology can be scaled up to larger power levels and integrated more fully into wave energy converters. “With regards to achieving the ambitious goal of net zero by 2050, it is essential to look at the energy system as a whole. Wave energy originates from solar energy as the sun heats the land, the land heats the air to create wind and wind creates waves. Wave energy can therefore be considered as ‘energy dense’ and could be a significant factor in moving away from traditional energy sources,” said Dr Nick Baker, Reader in Emerging Electrical Machines and Senior Lecturer at Newcastle University. “The upscaling aim of the MU-EDRIVE
project will help to reduce costs of energy production as devices get larger, making the energy both easier and more affordable for access and usage. It’s hard to know what a wave energy device will look like in 10 years’ time. Thinking back to 10 years ago, offshore wind turbine technologies were in their infancy - this could be the same for wave energy now.”
Recent government recognition has led to
a surge in skills and advanced technology across the Power Electronics Machines and Drives (PEMD) sectors, and the natural
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