Eurowind Energy has for the past couple of years worked on the concept of Energy Centres. These large centres will include wind turbines, solar, batteries, and PtX (hydrogen production). In addition to this, integration of biogas and hydrogen refining is part of the centres.
If society really is to benefit from new green technologies, it must start thinking about the energy system in a circular way.
Society has become accustomed to the energy sector as a series of silos – e.g. the gas, heating and the electricity sector – for many years focus has been on creating savings within each silo. However, a rethink of how energy is produced, stored and used across the silos is needed. If successful, we can store excess energy from one type of energy in another sector before it is used in a third, entailingenergy is never wasted. For example, we can utilise the CO2 from existing biogas and CHP plants in Power-to-X production. And the excess heat from hydrogen production made with electrolysis can go into district heating systems.
The starting point is solar and wind turbines. Those technologies produce the green power that is used in the other parts of the energy centre. The battery will provide balancing services to grid and electrolyse will produce hydrogen.
There is a major need for more locally produced biogas in combination with green electricity production. More biogas will help to phase out the use of Russian gas and natural gas from the North Sea. Eurowind Energy also believes the soil should preserve all nutrients through gasification instead of burning straw and other crops. Burning removes the nutrients completely. When it comes to the refining of hydrogen, it would be efficient to carry out the process near a CO2 source such as biogas. The selection of a refined product type from hydrogen will depend on the possible off-takers in the local area to minimise transport and keep costs low.
Creating large energy centres will allow for substantial savings on infrastructure. As part of the power is consumed on-site, large expensive connections to the power grid can be replaced with smaller cables combined with gas pipes. The price of transporting energy through pipes is approximately 10% compared to cables.
The ability to transform the energy from power to hydrogen, will also create the opportunity to store green power, something that has been seen as crucial for the success of the green transition. Since the electrolysis process generates significant heat, there will be opportunities for supply of heat for district heating or to accelerate the gasification in biogas plant.
Eurowind Energy is set to launch five large land-based energy centres in Denmark, which are to be completed over the coming years. The five energy centres will have a total capacity of approximately 2.5 GW. Eurowind Energy has secured agreements with the landowners for the use of the land on all five projects. Eurowind Energy is in positive dialogues with the municipalities and for two of the centres, the public planning process is already ongoing.
The concept of large energy centres will be exported to the Group’s other markets with very limited modifications to reflect local conditions.
The distribution in technology for the Eurowind Energy’s development pipeline is 47% wind and 53% solar, with Denmark and Poland carrying the majority of the solar portfolio. The initial outset of Eurowind Energy group is unchanged: Eurowind Energy group is a wind developer that also can develop, construct and operate other technologies.
For more information:
Joachim Steenstrup, Head of Public Affairs & Media Relations
Phone: 51 624 815 e-mail: [email protected]
