Spot the commonality
December 10, 2013
This fuel promises significant cost savings for energy producers. Hence, the movement to use it.
- The Arctech Helsinki Shipyard has been contracted by the Finnish Government to supply a completely new icebreaker powered by both diesel and LNG. The new icebreaker will be able to move continuously through about 1.6 m thick level ice and to break a 25 m wide channel in 1.2 m thick ice at speed of 6 knots.
- Five ship building firms, including Seaspan Shipyards in Vancouver, are in the running to build three liquefied natural gas ships for BC Ferries. A request for proposals has been issued to the pre-qualified shipyards in Vancouver, Norway, Germany, Poland and Turkey to build two vessels capable of carrying 145 vehicles and 600 passengers, and a third ship able to carry 125 vehicles. The request stipulates that the ships will be designed to use both liquefied natural gas and marine diesel oil.
- Yukon Energy plans to replace its diesel power generators with liquefied natural gas. The plan would see two back-up diesel generators near the Whitehorse Dam replaced with LNG-burning power plants,at a cost of $34 million. A storage facility would also be built next to the rail line near the dam to store fuel. The corporation plans to have the facility operational by the end of next year. YEC’s fuel bill will fall by $2.7 M in 2015, rising to $4.2M in 2017.
- Yukon Electrical Co. has plans to upgrade one of the turbines in the Watson Lake power plant to run on a mix of natural gas and diesel. The project, a partnership between Yukon Electrical, ATCO Gas and ATCO Energy Solutions, has been submitted to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board for review. The companies have plans to convert the other five turbines at the 5.5-megawatt power plant the following year. The gas, which is cooled to minus-162 C, would be trucked to Watson Lake from a plant in southern B.C. in double-walled cryogenic trailers.
- All medium-large mining projects in Yukon are considering or are planning for use of LNG.
- An LNG storage facilty is nearing completion in Inuvik, NWT. Construction commenced in the late summer, with tanks and equipment arriving in September. The facility is will be operational by the end of November. LNG is cleaner with more than a 25% reduction in emissions and a lower-cost fuel that will displace diesel in Inuvik. LNG shows promise for reducing emissions and lowering costs in NWT road connected diesel communities.
Commentary
LNG is highly attractive due to its price advantage. In addition it is less polluting that diesel. The attractiveness of natural gas will only increase as more energy users adopt LNG and supply channels are developed.
Sources
- a)http://www.baltictransportjournal.com/new-dual-fuel-icebreaker-for-finland,1248
- b)http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/12/09/bc-ferries-lng_n_4414169.html
- c)http://yukon-news.com/news/yukon-energy-defends-natural-gas-plans/
- d)http://yukon-news.com/news/lng-could-power-watson-lake/
- e)Bill White, "Small-scale LNG makes inroads in the north" Petroleum News, 17-Nov-2013, pp.20-23
- f)http://news.exec.gov.nt.ca/j-michael-miltenberger-report-on-the-northwest-territories-power-corporation/