Prof. Enrico Spinadel

Presentation [35 KB]

Modern life could not be possible, at least as we know it, if a reliable and trustworthly supply of electricity were not available. Currently, 40 % of the global primary energy consumption is used for electricity generation. However, there is no way of generating electricity that will not produce, at the same time, a bigger or smaller environmental impact.

One of the most polluting forms is, without any doubt, that one based on the utilization of fossil fuels. For this reason, there is a global attempt in the way of finding some alternative technology, able to reduce environmental impacts as much as possible. The use of nuclear energy seems not to be acceptable, and the availability of hydropower resources is not enough to replace them.

This proposal is based in the assumption, accepted among different scientific circles, that the future global energy economy will be based on the worldwide use of hydrogen as an energy vector. Even some oil companies had already accepted that as an unavoidable fact, and are actively working in natural gas-based hydrogen production projects. This alternative, even being currently the cheapest production way, cannot avoid a serious environmental impact.

Different analysts agree in the fact that a global hydrogen energy economy could only be environmentally sustainable if this hydrogen were produced by means of renewable energy sources. Also, many experts consider that among those sources, solar and wind energies would be more adequate than hydropower, as they are, in most of the cases, less aggressive to the environment.

In the frame of a global energy economy, it could be valid to consider that those regions where these primary sources are more abundant, should not only cover their own energy demand, but also collaborate in supplying energy to other areas where primary sources could not be available enough. For performing this energy transfer, the use of hydrogen as an energy vector is also highly considered.

This alternative, specifically considering Argentina, lead to consider that the strong patagonic winds should be focused to local hydrogen production, not only for supplying the local consumption (in the MERCOSUR area), but also for it to be exported to other regions that could be in the need of a clean energy supply.

Based in such an analysis, it is easy to see that the wind-hydrogen combinated utilization will be mandatory, as wind energy has to be harvested at any moment (with independence from the instantaneous electric demand), and hydrogen production requires, for the above-mentioned reasons, of a primary energy source with low environmental impact.

The AAEE – Argentinean Wind Energy Association -, leader of this proposal since 1993, once generated a motto that became already common at present: “Argentina – The XXI Century’s Kuwait”. With the help of the former CDG (Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft - currently InWent), the AAEE has been managing, during the last six years, the development of suitable human resources that could lead, among a so-called “capacity building” schema, the practical implementation of these ideas.



Wind energy possibilities in Argentina
For presenting an ordered description of the possibilities of wind energy in Argentina, three different categories of use has to be identified, each one of them requiring different technological solutions:

At kW level

For small-to-medium installed powers, in placed not currently connected to the public grid (isolated users), the AAEE is currently developing, in cooperation with the UTN – National Technological University – and the University of Applied Sciences of Stralsund (Fachhochschule Stralsund) from Germany, hydrogen generation and storage systems adequate for this power level (“Hacienda Project”).

At MW level

Based on the acquired experience with wind machines of this size already installed in Argentina, it is clear that, at present, the final cost of wind-generated electricity is not competitive to the Electricity Pool prices (not even for wind farms installed in northern Patagonia, close to the National Electricity Grid). Furthermore, the price of electricity in the mix produced by combined cycle power stations, hydropower installations and nuclear power plants is still lower than the 70 % of the predicted price for wind energy, even taking into account the subsidies promised to the wind energy by both local and national promotion laws.

In southern Patagonia, in extremely windy areas, but not connected to the national grid, the installation of wind farms is neither possible, as there is no net able to transfer the generated electricity. And if those nets were built, the immediate consequence should be that they would be used for transporting electricity from north to south, and not from south to north, as a consequence of lower costs. Additionally, the massive wind energy injection in the national grid should also be banned by several technical reasons.

Just for comparison, the reader should imagine the alternative of supplying the electrical demand of Central Europe by means of transmission lines arriving from power stations installed on Madeira Islands.

At GW level

The only possibility for a massive use of the enormous wind resource available in Patagonia, is given by its use for hydrogen productions, by means of electrolysis. That hydrogen could be, in a later stage, transported by pipelines to northern Argentina (taking advantage of some existing installations), as well as liquefied (at ultra low temperatures) and shipped by sea to foreign markets.

Some previous studies showed that, as a first approach, and not considering any reimbursement for environmental concerns, the production of liquid hydrogen, as above proposed, could be competitive to oil at the moment it reaches the value of US$ 40 per barrel.



Information about installed power in Argentina (year 2000)

Installed power in National System 20.719 MW
Annual demand 71.941 GWh
Peak generation value 13.754 MW



Installed power in Patagonic System 777 MW
Annual demand 3.700 GWh
Peak generation value 530 MW



Future consumption hypothesis at the Mercosur area
Starting with the hypothesis of seventy millions of inhabitants supplied by a future integrated grid (year 2020), and assuming a yearly consumption value of 1.800 kWh / person, a final value for the total yearly demand of 126.000 GWh is reached.



Proposal
This proposal consists in the building in southern Patagonia of an industrial plant for producing wind energy converters (with an unitary power of about 1,5 MW, or even bigger), that could be later used to form a wind farm, or a group of them, reaching a final installed power value of about 10 GW. The produced energy would be used strictly for hydrogen production that could be later transferred by pipelines to the Mercosur, or by ship to remote markets, as previously described. As it is obvious to say, this plant could also supply wind generators to other markets demanding turbines in this power range.

Some contacts have already being established with different senators, representing several patagonic provinces, as well as with a German turbine manufacturer, who could be interested in participating in such a project. An attractive proposal for both parts (foreign investors and province governments) could consist in the loan, during a forty years period, and free of any tax and duty, of an area of about 1.000 km2. (40 km x 50 km), for installing the wind farms mad the hydrogen production plant; as well as a smaller area (circa 200 ha), close to an existing harbour, to build the manufacturing plant and the hydrogen liquefaction complex.

The estimated land requirement for such a group of wind farms was estimated assuming a land-to-power ratio of 10 MW/km2 (equivalent to 100 km2/GW), that being a usual figure, and also independent from the unitary power of the considered wind generators. Then, the required land, for the proposed installed power, reaches the above-mentioned 1.000 km2.



Hydrogen / oxygen production plant
The current technology is based on alkaline electrolysers (atmospheric or pressurized). Those devices are modular units, already commercially available, with a unitary power of several MW. A medium-to-long-term price can be estimated around U$S 400 / kWel.



Oxygen availability
Several authors have already studied possible uses for the oxygen obtained as by-product from the electrolysis process. Among then, the following can be mentioned: Siderurgy, aerobic treatment of wastewaters, high temperature garbage incineration, aerobic reconstitution of aquatic environments.

There are no valid costs projections, as no valid references were located about availability of oxygen in such a big scale.



Previous estimations of the global cost of the project
An initial feasibility study gives a total cost of about 20.000 US$ millions, considering the value of the land, wind turbines manufacturing plant, wind farms, hydrogen production and liquefaction plant, refurbishing of the existing harbour, pumping station for the existing pipeline, and recovery of the generated oxygen.