Nordic Green News – 17 August, 2020

Climeon and Landsvirkjun sign Letter of Intent

Climeon and Landsvirkjun, the national power company of Iceland, have signed a Letter of Intent. The purpose of the cooperation is to evaluate a solution combining mineral extraction with Climeon’s technology for electricity production. The two have also agreed to cooperate in evaluating the extraction of minerals such as silica from geothermal brine using Geo40’s technology.

 

With more than half of the world’s geothermal power plants losing thermal efficiency, Climeon entered a partnership with a New Zealand company, Geo40, that has developed a technology for extracting minerals such as silica from the brine. Removing the silica means Climeon can utilize the waste heat from the high temperature geothermal power plants for power production, increasing the total power output. 

 

Vestas receives a historic order for a German flagship project

Vestas has announced a German order for two V150-4.2 megawatts turbines from ABO Wind, which is building a 34MW park in the state of Brandenburg. 25MW was ordered previously from Vestas earlier this year. According to Vestas, the park will now be the largest of its kind in Germany with V150-4.2 megawatt turbines.

 

Maersk invests in carbon-neutral hydrogen technology

Maersk Drilling is investing in new technology that could eventually enable carbon-neutral drilling. Maersk has invested USD 1 million in California’s Clean Energy Systems, which is working on developing a technology called Carbon-Negative Energy, based on technology originally developed for the aerospace industry. The Carbon-Negative Energy concept is based on the use of biomass waste as a fuel to produce synthesis gas, from which renewable natural gas and hydrogen are separated for sale. According to Morten Kelstrup, COO of Maersk Drilling, “By investing in Clean Energy Systems’ concept, we are helping to bring alive a new technology which can remove CO2 from the atmosphere. We believe the world needs a broad portfolio of technologies and solutions to meet the challenge posed by climate change, and by engaging in this project, we support the development of carbon capture and storage in a way that could allow us to progress towards carbon-neutral drilling”.

 

Circular business models being developed for Danish construction industry

Three business PhDs have been employed by Rambøll, an architecture and engineering firm. Their mission is to develop new business models, technologies and knowledge for Ramboll's customers and pave the way for circular construction and green transformation of the construction industry. The three researchers at Rambøll will, among other things, optimize the company's solutions with measuring sustainable building materials and develop an open source modelling tool that supports circular innovation within the SDGs in the construction industry. The work is done in close collaboration with DTU, The Innovation Fund and Realdania

Wind power growing in Norway

Hydro’s grip on Norwegian power generation is slackening. Wind power increased by 74% per cent from July last year, and now represents 4.5% of Norway’s generation. Thermal power accounts for 2.6%, the remainder is hydro power.

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