Saturday, 6 November 2010

Tuktoyaktuk Tests Indicate Hybrid wind-diesel power systems reduce costs

Hybrid wind-diesel power systems reduce costs

 

Fuel savings a boon in remote areas. Quebec group's invention a promising solution, Canadian Wind Energy convention hears

 
By LYNN MOORE, The Gazette November 4, 2010

"...Tests undertaken in the community of Tuktoyaktuk, located in the Northwest Territories on the edge of the Beaufort Sea, produced promising results, the session heard.

Fuel costs dropped by 30 per cent, maintenance costs by 50 per cent and almost 849 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions were cut, Ibrahim said.

These are important savings given that fuel has to be flown in, hauled by barge, or trucked over ice to most remote sites...."

Isolated communities, mining sites and other industrial outposts want to replace their expensive, polluting diesel generators with hybrid power systems that use wind.

And Quebec's Wind Energy TechnoCentre https://www.eolien.qc.ca is working on a promising solution, a session of the Canadian Wind Energy Association http://www.canwea.ca/ convention in Montreal heard yesterday.

It is focused on a wind-diesel hybrid power system that creates and uses compressed air as a storage system for excess wind-generated energy, the centre's research director Hussein Ibrahim told a session on wind-diesel systems.

When the power is needed, the compressed air is used to "turbocharge" the diesel engine.

Tests undertaken in the community of Tuktoyaktuk, located in the Northwest Territories on the edge of the Beaufort Sea, produced promising results, the session heard.

Fuel costs dropped by 30 per cent, maintenance costs by 50 per cent and almost 849 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions were cut, Ibrahim said.

These are important savings given that fuel has to be flown in, hauled by barge, or trucked over ice to most remote sites.

And the average diesel generator requires 20 maintenance visits a year, Ibrahim said.

The TechnoCentre, a non-profit, government-supported venture located in the Gaspe, plans to build a $1.5 million scale model of its hybrid system by 2012, Ibrahim said.

Interest in the system has already been expressed by Xstrata's Raglan nickel mine in northern Quebec and an Algerian state-owned oil and gas company, he said.

Brett Pingree, vice-president of Americas for Northern Power Systems http://www.northernpower.com/ , told yesterday's session that wind-diesel hybrid systems are increasingly popping up in Australia's outbacks and the U.S. state of Alaska.

But in Russia, development of the hybrid systems has ramped up dramatically and is probably related to oil and gas development, he said.

Technical challenges associated with operating wind turbines in isolated -and usually very cold - environments are many, the conference heard.

Key among them are storage issues; how to store large amounts of energy generated by turbines when the wind is blowing for use later when it is not.

Storage systems include batteries, "flywheels," hydrogen storage tanks and compressed air.

The CanWEA conference and trade exhibition began Monday and drew more than 2,300 participants, organizers said.

lmoore@montrealgazette.com

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette


Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Hybrid+wind+diesel+power+systems+reduce+costs/3773930/story.html#ixzz14ZNPm0YV


The Wind Energy TechnoCentre https://www.eolien.qc.ca

The Wind Energy TechnoCentre is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to contribute to the development of an industrial wind energy network in Québec, able to compete on North American and world stages, while positioning the Gaspé Peninsula and Magdalen Islands as being central to this emerging niche of Québec's economy. The Wind Energy TechnoCentre has four principal areas of endeavour: technical assistance for businesses, applied research, economic development and communication/events.

Canadian Wind Energy Association  http://www.canwea.ca/

CanWEA is the voice of Canada's wind energy industry, actively promoting the responsible and sustainable growth of wind energy on behalf of its more than 450 members. A national non-profit association, CanWEA serves as Canada's leading source of credible information about wind energy and its social, economic and environmental benefits. The report WindVision 2025 - A Strategy for Québec is available at the following address: http://www.canwea.ca/windvision_quebec_e.php


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