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– At first we thought it was too good to be true. Now we have great faith in it. If you can do it, it’s a whole new world. Perhaps this is the future.
That’s what Sverre Kirkevold, head of technology and innovation at Obos Block Watne, says. The country’s largest wooden house manufacturer will be involved in testing the new technology on ten houses in the eastern region, according to the plan in 2026. The power company Eviny, the energy technology company Volue and Sintef are also on the team.
The energy crisis in Europe has resulted in an explosive growth in solar cells on private roofs. In Norway, there are currently a few thousand, while the Germans have installed solar cells on three million roofs. In the Netherlands, the solar panels are the most densely packed, and solar energy contributes 14 per cent of electricity consumption.
It is good for the climate, but bad for the electricity grid.
Solar panels provide a large production of electricity in summer, but in winter it is the opposite. When many people have solar cells on the roof, the power grid becomes tight and often negative electricity prices on sunny summer days. The more people who invest in solar cells on the roof and want to sell the electricity online, the longer it will take to pay off the system. In winter, they have to buy the electricity expensively when they do not produce enough themselves.
This leads to major imbalances and huge investment needs in the power grid.
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Last bit
– This is the last piece in the energy revolution. The challenge with renewable energy is that there is nowhere to use the surplus flow. After an hour in the sun, the batteries in a normal house system are mostly full. We have found a solution to that, which allows you to save the surplus for the winter, when you really need the power, says Bjørn Brandtzæg.
The idea for Photoncycle came when in 2020 he took further education at perhaps the world’s leading technology university, MIT, in Boston after working with hydropower in Georgia for a number of years. He tested the reasoning on some professors at MIT, and then allied himself with hydrogen experts at Sintef with whom he went and applied for patents. Former CEO of Statkraft Bård Mikkelsen is on the ownership side, and is chairman of the board.
He explains how a civil economist can make a ground-breaking energy invention:
– Academia today is extremely specialised. This means that many people are unable to look up and see connections. What we have achieved here is not in itself groundbreaking. It is the integration that is innovative, says Brandtzæg.
He is standing in the laboratory that has been built in the Research Park in Oslo, which he calls one of the most advanced hydrogen laboratories in Norway.
Next to him stands the technology manager of Photoncycle, American David Gerez, and nods.
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– What we have done is to develop a catalyst that transforms hydrogen and stores it in a solid substance. Unlike the alternatives, it is not flammable, it does not require cooling and it does not contain any rare earths, says Gerez.
Self-sufficient in electricity
He shows a glass with what looks like a white school chalk. In this substance, which currently has a secret name, the surplus current can be stored for months, and sent out and in for many years.
The new solid in which hydrogen can be stored is non-flammable and contains no rare earths. The name is currently a secret. (Photo: Aleksander Nordahl) More…
The idea is that with solar cells on an ordinary house you will be self-sufficient in electricity all year round. By way of comparison, a normal plant today contributes just over a third of the electricity consumption.
10,000 kilowatt hours must be able to be stored in the white substance, which will be placed in a three cubic meter tank underground. The concept may be reminiscent of tanks with fuel oil that were previously buried in many gardens and used for heating.
– With this technology, you can store electricity 20 times as densely as in a lithium battery, and at one percent of the price per kilowatt hour, says Brandtzæg.
Denmark next
Development has happened very quickly.
– We design digitally, and test in the lab, a procedure that is widely used for technology development in the USA. This allows us to speed up the process, and see what works and what doesn’t, much faster than with traditional methods, says Brandtzæg.
– We have built a prototype and know that the system works. The aim is to extract as much energy as possible, says Gerez.
So far, the development has been supported by Innovation Norway, combined with private funds. The company did not reach the competition for support from the so-called Green Platform.
Next year, a full-scale version will be ready for installation at Brandtzæg’s house in Oslo. After testing a further ten Obos Block Watne houses in the Oslo area, Denmark is the big target.
There are still around 400,000 residential buildings, which are heated by gas or oil. The authorities have decided that it will end before 2030.
Will become a power player
Photoncycle has ambitions to produce 50,000 units a year, but has no plans to sell its systems.
– No, this should be as painless as you can get renewable energy. We will own the facilities, so there will be no major investment costs for the homeowners, says Brandtzæg.
He explains that the systems must be prefabricated, and can be installed in a home in three days. What the customer does is enter into a 15-year electricity contract with a guaranteed maximum price that must be cheaper than the market price. So it is the Photoncycle that will control the current.
– We aim to be able to supply electricity for less than ten euro cents per kilowatt hour. It is favorable in many countries in Europe today, not in Norway for the time being, says Brandtzæg.
With solar cells on the roof, conversion box outside the house and a tank under the ground, Photoncycle will make homes self-sufficient with renewable electricity all year round. (Photo: Illustration: Photoncycle) More…
With just ten customers, Photoncycle will be able to play the devices together, selling power when it’s expensive and storing it when it’s cheap. With 200 units, the power can be traded against the power exchange Nordpool, and take advantage of the fluctuations in the power market, which is expected to increase.
With 100,000 customers, Photoncycle can become a major player in the Nordic region. And that is the ambition.
Would bet money
– What is the biggest uncertainty? We know that it works in practice. The uncertainty lies in how efficient the process will be on a large scale, how much is lost in the conversion to and from storage, says Gerez.
One of Norway’s foremost experts on hydrogen technology, Bjørn Hauback, has made an independent assessment of Photoncycle’s project. He is head of research in hydrogen technology at the Department of Energy Engineering at Kjeller.
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– In my opinion, the concept is realistic and promising, in an important market – stationary long-term storage. Many of the components are familiar, but it is a rather complicated system. Getting everything to work together takes skill, but they have it, so I have faith that they will pull it off.
– Would you put your money on this?
– Not all, but yes, I would if it had been relevant. (Terms) Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and/or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using links, which lead directly to our pages. Copying or other forms of use of all or part of the content may only take place with written permission or as permitted by law. For further terms see here.
2023-09-26 09:26:54
#cracked #winter #code #solar #energy #world
