Norway is converting its vast network of fjord tunnels into compressed air energy storage — using existing underground infrastructure for clean energy storage.
Norway's extraordinary tunnel network — the most extensive per capita in the world, carved through mountains for roads, railways, and hydropower — represents an untapped energy storage resource. Underground rock caverns and tunnels, sealed and pressurized, can store compressed air at high pressure — releasing it through turbines when electricity is needed.
Compressed Air Energy Storage in rock caverns — CAES — is not a new concept. But Norway's existing tunnels dramatically reduce the capital cost by eliminating the most expensive component: excavation. Hundreds of kilometers of road and railway tunnels that have outlived their transport function, or that have parallel bypass tunnels now carrying traffic, are being assessed for repurposing as compressed air storage caverns.
Hydrostor — a Canadian underground compressed air storage company — has partnered with Norwegian tunnel authorities to assess the Oslofjord road tunnels and several abandoned railway tunnels in western Norway for CAES conversion. The rock quality, depth, and geometry of Norwegian tunnel infrastructure is well-suited to the pressure requirements of adiabatic CAES — a variant that stores compression heat in thermal reservoirs and returns it during expansion, achieving round-trip efficiency of 60-70%.
Statkraft — Norway's dominant hydropower company — is evaluating compressed air storage as a complement to pumped hydro in locations where suitable reservoir sites are unavailable but compressed rock caverns exist naturally or can be adapted from existing tunnels.
Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate — 2024
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten