Together with local actors from the Faeroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland Nordic Energy Research has during 2004 studied different alternatives for distributed energy production systems for scarcely populated areas.

The work has consisted of a mapping of the present energy situation, a development of model tools for efficient and flexible analyses and finally simulations in order to find suitable technical concepts and locations for possible future demonstration plants based on environmentally friendly energy production solutions.

Preliminary results show that these solutions could be based on hydrogen technology combined with wind power (especially the Faeroe Islands) and solar power or small scale hydro power (especially Greenland). The 2004-project will be reported in the beginning of 2005 and presented in a hydrogen conference in Iceland in April 2005.

More detailed analyses based on real case specific information, including existing infrastructure, measured wind and solar data, needed investments and real heat and power balances will be made during 2005. After that concrete demonstration projects, showing especially the functionality but also the present feasibility, can be suggested.

Utsira
As a part of their activities, the ad-hoc group and the project group visited Norsk Hydro’s wind H2 demonstration facility in Utsira, outside Haugesund in Norway.




The facility, that consist of wind turbines, a electrolyse unit, H2 storage, FC and gas engine, provide ten households with electricity. Overall, the experiences with the unit have been positive.