WINDENERGY MAGAZINE 02 2018
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STARTUPS IN WIND WINDDAYS <strong>2018</strong><br />
CIRCULAR ENERGY<br />
QLAYERS<br />
Circular Energy plans to build an offshore installation that<br />
produces electricity directly from a gas field and supplies it<br />
via the electricity network at sea, where it can absorb the<br />
fluctuations in the production of wind energy. The CO 2<br />
that is<br />
released, is captured and stored in the gas field. Arnold Groot,<br />
CEO of Circular Energy:<br />
CAN YOU EXPLAIN YOUR TECHNOLOGY?<br />
We intend to supply flexible, CO 2<br />
-free electricity<br />
from natural gas via the electricity network at sea.<br />
This way the offshore electricity network is always<br />
used optimally and stable and fluctuations during<br />
periods of little wind can be absorbed properly, resulting<br />
in a balanced offshore grid. We achieve this<br />
by using an offshore gas-fired power station with<br />
CO 2<br />
capture and storage facility. In concrete terms:<br />
we are building an offshore platform with a gas<br />
extraction installation, a gas-fired power station<br />
and a CO 2<br />
-capture installation on top. The captured<br />
CO 2<br />
is stored in the gas field.<br />
WHAT MAKES YOUR IDEA DIFFERENT FROM OTHER<br />
COMPANIES WHO HAVE TRIED THE SAME?<br />
We do things slightly different and better. Firstly,<br />
Circular Energy properly cleans up the mess, that<br />
is CO 2<br />
, itself. Secondly, we are willing to wait a little<br />
longer for our Return on Investment. By integrating<br />
CO 2<br />
capture and storage into our business model<br />
and by doing everything at sea, our approach<br />
is slightly more expensive. However, we think we<br />
can develop a cost-effective method. Thirdly, we<br />
add value to small gas fields that would otherwise<br />
probably not be exploited.<br />
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR THE DUTCH<br />
WIND SECTOR?<br />
In our view, the biggest challenge lies in providing<br />
security of supply. Wind energy alone can’t offer<br />
it. The technology of Circular Energy makes it<br />
possible to offer flexible and yet very stable clean<br />
energy.<br />
DOES YOUR OFFER LOWER THE KWH PRICE OF WIND<br />
ENERGY?<br />
The average price for a kWh is not reduced by our<br />
plan, but we prevent the price on wind-poor days<br />
from increasing enormously.<br />
Qlayers, a startup from Delft, develops a robot printer for the automatic<br />
application of sharkskin coating, which makes wind turbines work more<br />
efficiently. Josefien Groot, Head of Business Development at Qlayers:<br />
WHAT IS YOUR INNOVATION?<br />
The automated application of a coating with microstructures,<br />
suitable for aircraft and wind turbines.<br />
We are working on the development of a sharkskin<br />
coating which ensures less frictional resistance.<br />
After that, we want to continue with self-cleaning,<br />
self-healing and anti-icing coatings.<br />
WHAT MAKES YOUR PRODUCT DIFFERENT FROM<br />
COMPETITORS?<br />
We actually only have one competitor, Fraunhofer,<br />
a big company. However, their way of applying coatings<br />
differs from how we do it. They use templates,<br />
a kind of rollers. We use a way of 3-D printing<br />
which is much more favourable for complex shapes<br />
such as airplanes and wind turbines. We receive a<br />
lot of interest for our product and we would now<br />
like to enter into a partnership with a wind turbine<br />
manufacturer so that we can test the lifespan of the<br />
coating offshore, for example.<br />
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN WIND ENERGY?<br />
Maintenance will become very important in the<br />
coming period. Installation is now in full swing and<br />
the bill for maintenance will soon come up. For<br />
offshore this will be a hefty bill. I think that is the<br />
biggest challenge until 2030.<br />
WILL YOUR PRODUCT CONTRIBUTE TO REDUCING<br />
THE PRICE PER KWH OF WIND ENERGY?<br />
Yes, by applying a sharkskin microstructure to a<br />
2-megawatt wind turbine, the energy efficiency<br />
can be increased by 6 percent, which results in an<br />
increase in the efficiency of 264,000 kWh per year<br />
(per wind turbine). When applied to larger turbines<br />
the results are even higher. By automating the<br />
coating process, repairs can be carried out more<br />
safely and overspray can be reduced. Currently the<br />
coating is done by hand and sometimes twice as<br />
much paint is used than needed.<br />
IN FIVE YEARS WHERE DO YOU STAND AS A<br />
COMPANY?<br />
Qlayers will be the market leader in the application<br />
of functional coatings. By then we have automated<br />
the coating process for storage tanks, wind turbines<br />
and airplanes. In addition, we will have started<br />
with the application of the shark skin structure on<br />
aircrafts, ships and high-speed trains. Developing<br />
technology takes a lot of time, and our goals are<br />
ambitious but I think these are within reach.<br />
www.qlayers.com<br />
Design of the offshore gas- fired power station<br />
with CO 2<br />
capture and storage facility<br />
IN 5 YEARS, WHERE DO YOU STAND AS A COMPANY?<br />
In five years’ time, our installation will supply<br />
200.000 households with CO 2<br />
-free electricity from<br />
Dutch natural gas. The amount of CO 2<br />
that we<br />
collect annually is roughly equivalent to removing<br />
100,000 cars from the road.<br />
www.circular-energy.nl<br />
32 2-<strong>2018</strong> WindEnergy<br />
WindEnergy 2-<strong>2018</strong> 33
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