Powering large industrial facilities – using wind- or nuclear power?

ABSTRACT

Many industrial facilities require large amount of power available through fossil energy, but in some countries the power is secured by hydroelectric power. Norway is one such country, but some facilities still use gas power due to hydroelectric power capacity limitations. Therefore, using wind- or nuclear power to cut emissions are relevant alternatives. Therefore, a concept and feasibility study using wind- or nuclear power at the single largest emitter of climate gases in Norway, Melkøya LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) terminal is presented. Due to the intermittency of the wind power, the balancing/back-up power must also be included. After running 10,000 trials in a Monte Carlo simulation to handle the uncertainties of the alternatives, the results support the Nuclear alternative. Future key issues are the cost escalations of wind turbines, the cost of balancing- and backup power for the Wind alternative and the waste handling for the Nuclear alternative.

KEYWORDS:

• Balancing power
• Equinor
• levelised cost of energy
• Melkøya
• nuclear cogeneration

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank the journal for its fast handling and very useful comments from the reviewers that improved the readability of the manuscript significantly.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Note that we often use ‘th’ or ‘e’ after MW and MWh (or the like) to denote that the number is thermal or electric. In this case, MWth implies that the thermal effect is 1200 MW. For thermal energy sources such as nucelar power, the thermal effect is therefore the total effect and normally 3 times higher than the electric effect unless there is cogeneration with a mix.

2 The coefficient of performance is specifically defined as c = H_b/ΔE, in which H_b is the produced heat and ΔE is the difference between electricity in the pure electricity production mode and in the co-generation mode of operation (Barnert, Krett, and Kupitz 1991).

3 NOK (Norske kroner) is the currency of Norway and has the last year traded at around 10 per US dollar.

4 This information was accessed 2023-08-27 from https://www.equinor.com/news/20230808-governmental-green-light-snohvit-future.

5 Information obtained on 2023-08-24 from https://e24.no/energi-og-klima/i/Q7B2gR/mer-kraft-og-nett-i-nord-melkoeya-er-en-motor.

6 NVE has a website, accessed 2023-08-20, that offers the data, see https://www.nve.no/energi/analyser-og-statistikk/kostnader-for-kraftproduksjon/.

7 Data obtained on 2023-08-20 from https://www.ssb.no/statbank/table/09364/.

8 For example, in the US, depreciated power plants have a cost of about 30 USD/MWh, see https://www.statista.com/statistics/184754/cost-of-nuclear-electricity-production-in-the-us-since-2000/.

9 The ruling was accessed 2023-08-31 from https://www.domstol.no/en/supremecourt/rulings/2021/supreme-court-civil-cases/hr-2021-1975-s/.

10 Obtained 2023-08-27 from https://www.equinor.com/news/20230808-governmental-green-light-snohvit-future.

11 The website is https://www.nve.no/energi/energisystem/vindkraft/data-for-utbygde-vindkraftverk-i-norge/.