POWER FOR ILULISSAT

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Nukissiorfiit is building a new hydroelectric plant in Ilulissat

By Lars Guldager Dyhr, greenland today March 2012

Ilulissat is unbelievably beautiful, but it can also present problems in connection with the construction of a new hydroelectric plant. This is what Nukissiorfiit is working on, almost 50 kilometres from town, where the company has selected E. Pihl & Soen A.S to undertake this job.
The water is to be led away from two lakes, through a run-off tunnel. The electricity from the three turbines in the power plant is then sent almost 50 kilometres to Ilulissat through a transmission line. In all, there are many special conditions to take into consideration.
The contract is worth around DKK 570 million.
Permafrost
– Ilulissat is the third hydroelectric plants we are building in Greenland, but we are working in an area with permafrost, which makes everything harder, tells project director with E. Pihl & Soen A.S., Bjoern Stefansson.
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A study in logistics
The geography also makes things harder.
– Sailing conditions are only favourable for six months, so it is important to ensure supplies for the rest of the period, although we do close down in the worst months.
– The logistics have to be planned down to the smallest detail, because it is incredibly expensive to get things hauled out here, says Bjoern Stefansson.
Expected savings
Once the hydroelectric plant opens, the present heat and power plant will become a reserve plant. The 6 million litres of oil this heat and power plant uses each year will be replaced by energy from falling water.
In addition to this, there is the oil consumption for the district heating network. So-called electro-boilers will be installed to produce heat from the electricity provided by the hydroelectric plant.
Future environmental benefits
The hydroelectric plant will contribute to a greatly reduced dependency on imported oil. In addition to this, there is the environmental benefit of replacing the burning of oil with energy production based on nature’s own power.
Work started at the beginning of 2010. The first turbine started up in the end of 2012.
Read the full article from the magazine hereNew_Power
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