The Year 1998


Center for research & development
Valmet has invested nearly FIM 60 million in a project to renew its paper-finishing technology center located at Järvenpää. The center was inauguarated on 5 February. The pilot coating machine, representing the world's most advanced technology, was clocked at a fantastic world record speed of 3,101 m/min (10,173 fpm)!

Sophisticated Paper Finishing
At its Järvenpää units, Valmet develops and produces paper finishing technology, that is, machinery with which paper is coated, calendered, and wound onto rolls at the paper mill. As a result of this renewal project, the Paper Finishing Group's technology center will offer, both for its own product development and for the trial runs of customers, the most comprehensive research equipment for paper finishing technology in the world.

World =Speed= Record
Valmet now presents its pilot coater-a coater that can be run at speeds that will only be realized in the paper mills of the future. The pilot coater can run at over 3,000 m/min (9,850 fpm)-which it, in fact, did. Owing to the investments made, the efficiency of the pilot coater has improved significantly. It is now possible to run 12 to14 test rolls in one working day compared with the previous 7 to 8 rolls. It is also possible, during a single trial run, to conduct more flexible experiments with various paper or board coating alternatives.

The technology center's coating-color preparation equipment represents the most environment-friendly technology available. The drainage water from the process contains no fixing agents, because all pigment and latex materials, etc. are recovered by using an ultrafiltration system developed by Valmet-Raisio.

New Simulator Feature
A new feature in Valmet Järvenpää's technology center is a runnability pilot machine, which is a unique simulator used to study the behavior of the paper web at high running speeds during the coating process. The renewal also includes an extension of the laboratory and areas for the use of customers. The renewed technology center of Valmet's Järvenpää units was inaugurated by Finland's Minister of Trade and Industry, Antti Kalliomäki and the Group Chief Executive of Paper Finishing, Martti Karttunen, on February 5th, 1998.



Finland plans more hydro power
A new reservoir has been planned to be built in northern Finland to function as a water reservoir for all the power plants located downstream on the Kemijoki River. Named the Vuotos Reservoir, it will store the flood water from the melting snows in spring. The Vuotos Reservoir would increase power generation in all the power plants below it. It would also make the installation of additional machinery in the existing plants economical. This addition to the production of energy would be about 560 GWh/a.
The discharge of water would mainly take place in winter when the flow volume of the river is naturally low. Thus it would be possible to produce more energy, when the consumption and the need for regulation energy is high. The area of reservoir-approximately 240 square kilometers-would be about 0.25 percent of the area of the province of Lapland. Kemijoki Oy owns over 92 percent of the needed area. At present there are four households occupying the land.

Hydro Power Boost for Finland
The Vuotos project is of particular importance to increasing capacity in the power plants on the main channel of the Kemijoki River. It would make it possible to increase [and to even cut] the flow rates in the main channel of the river. Machinery modifications (revisions) are possible with or without Vuotos. Yet the economy of constructing additional machinery and two new power plants greatly depend on increased flow rates brought about by the Vuotos reservoir. The increase in energy production gained through Vuotos and related projects is nearly 10 times as great as an increase brought about by planned revisions of machinery.

The additional energy would basically be regulation energy, which is needed for consumption fluctuations. The cost of a corresponding amount of energy produced by other means would be higher. And, the price of purchased regulation energy as compared with the price of base-load energy is higher, regardless of the mode of production.

Vuotos would enable a change in the production methods of power plants located along the main channel of the river-placing more emphasis on power generation during the winter months with an especially high demand for regulation energy. The domestic production capacity in Finland will be able to guarantee an economical and secure supply of regulation energy.



Nuclear power and the environment
The Kyoto conference on global warming, and the demands made there for extensive reductions in the amounts of carbon dioxide released into the earth's atmosphere has cast a new light on nuclear power plants. ABB Atom AB, in Västerås, Sweden, points out some interesting facts about this emission-free way to generate electricity.
The Kyoto conference on global warming, and the demands made there for extensive reductions in the amounts of carbon dioxide released into the earth's atmosphere has cast a new light on nuclear power plants. ABB Atom AB, in Västerås, Sweden, points out some interesting facts about this emission-free way to generate electricity. Nuclear power now provides about 18 percent of the world's electricity. It offers an important environmental advantage in that it produces no harmful emissions in normal operation. This means that the use of nuclear power helps avoid CO₂ as well as NO_x and SO₂ emissions. According to our calculation, if the electricity currently generated by nuclear power plants worldwide were, instead, to be produced by burning coal, another eight percent, or 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, would be injected into the earth's atmosphere.

More NPPs-Less Pollution
To illustrate this issue, take a look at Japan. The Japanese government has announced two programs on energy policy, one is "Targets for Supply of Alternative Energy Sources to Oil" and the other is an "Action Program to Arrest Global Warming". The Japanese plans include targets for use of alternative energy sources for oil, including nuclear power. According to these targets, the supply of nuclear power is to increase 2.5 times between 1989 and 2010 with a target of 30 percent of all electricity being generated by nuclear power by the year 2010.

More a Solution Than a Problem
We are not suggesting that an increased use of nuclear power alone will be able to stabilize CO₂ emissions in Japan nor in any other industrial country, but we do maintain that it must be part of the solution. The Far East is now, at any rate, the region presently putting nuclear power into service, and ABB is taking an active position in this process. Worldwide, there were 443 nuclear power reactors in operation at the start of 1997. A large power reactor uses 150 tonnes of natural uranium a year, equivalent to 2.5 million tonnes of black coal or 12 million barrels of oil. Our conclusion is that it is vital -for future sustainable development- that nuclear power should continue to play an important role in the global energy mix.



Power off an undersea Shelf
Saga is one of the leading operating companies on the Norwegian shelf. Block 34/7 with the Snorre field, the Snorre subsea system and the Tordis subsea field is in many ways Saga's home ground, representing 20 per cent of the company's total production. Saga is also the operator of the Varg field, which is being developed further south in the North Sea, and of PL 199 at Haltenbanken, one of the most interesting discoveries made on the Norwegian shelf in recent years.
Further south in the North Sea, in block 15/12, Saga faces new challenges. The Varg field is a marginal oil field that cannot be connected to any existing installations. Instead, the field will be developed with a production ship tied back to an unmanned wellhead platform. The field will provide Saga with valuable experience in developing and operating small fields, of which there are many on the Norwegian shelf.

Joint Venture Fields
Some 80 per cent of Saga's oil and gas production comes from joint-operated fields. The most important are Oseberg, Gullfaks, Statfjord, the Statfjord satellites, Troll Oil, Troll Gas, the Ekofisk area, and Yme. Saga also has interests in a number of fields under development. Examples are Åsgard, Norne, the Gullfaks satellites, Visund, Oseberg East and Oseberg South.

New Discoveries
In 1995, off mid-Norway, Saga made one of the largest discoveries on the Norwegian shelf since the middle of the 1980s. So far, two wells have been drilled and tested in the B structure of PL 199. For the time being, the reserves in the B structure do not qualify for classification as proved nor probable reserves, but preliminary NPD estimates are between 70 and 120 million standard cubic meters of oil equivalent. The discovery is now being mapped, and, during the second half of 1996, a well will be drilled in the A structure. PL 199 is in an early phase, and different development concepts are being evaluated. PL 199 lies south of the Smørbukk field, which is part of the Åsgard project.

Future Challenges
In the 15th licensing round, Saga was awarded interests in five new licences including two operatorships. Especially the allocation of PL 215 at a water depth of 1,400 meters–the deepest in the licensing round–confirms that the authorities consider Saga to have sufficient capacity and expertise to meet new challenges.

With its extensive experience from the installation, operation and maintenance of subsea fields, Saga is well qualified to meet these challenges. At the same time, the company continues its joint work with the industry to arrive at the most favorable development concepts for new fields. For instance, through the collaboration it has wotj Aker, Saga has further developed the concept of a triangular TLP platform intended for deep waters.



Hydro power in Norway
Norway is one of the few countries in the world that cover their total consumption of electricity by means of hydro-electric power. Moreover, Norway has one of the world's most liberal energy acts allowing competition both with respect to the generation and sale of electric power. Here, we present some of the most important aspects of the Energy Supply Industry in Norway.

Renewable Hydro-Electric Power
Water power is the world's most important renewable energy resource. The generation of electricity in hydro-electric power stations causes no pollution. Norway is one of the few countries in the world that cover their total consumption of electricity by means of hydro-electric power. In the rest of the world, water power covers only six per cent of the total consumption of electricity. Most of the electricity is generated by thermal power based on coal, oil, gas or nuclear power.

More than NOK 200 billion have been invested in Norwegian hydro-electric power plants. This is equal to the investments in all the rest of the industry together, except the oil sector. Every year, power sales amount to more than NOK 30 billion, and more that 19,000 persons are employed in Norwegian energy utilities. In addition, a considerable number of people are employed in enterprises dependent on the energy supply industry.

A disadvantage of water power may be the damage to the natural environment caused by power development projects. In order to store water in reservoirs, dams have to be built, and the regulation of water systems therefore cause changes in the surroundings. Water power development projects are subject to strict regulation by the authorities, and the developers greatly emphasis reducing the negative effects on the natural surroundings as much as possible.

Hydro-electric power plants in Norway are often located far away from the populated areas having the highest consumption of electricity. The power lines from the power station to the consumers often go through very tough terrain. Nevertheless, power supply is more reliable in Norway than in most other countries.

Norway has the highest per capita electricity consumption in the world. This is due to our cold climate, our power-intensive industry and the fact that electric power is relatively cheap. The low prices enable us to use electricity for purposes for which other countries use other forms of energy, such as coal, oil, gas and nuclear power. The total per capita energy consumption, however, is not the highest in the world.

Power Generation
The vanes of the turbine runner are designed with a high degree of exactness in order to ensure that as much as possible of the energy contained in the water is transformed into electric power. The potentional energy of the water is turned into electric energy in the power station.

Norway is able to produce electricity by means of water power owing to large amounts of precipitation in high-altitude mountain areas. Large quantities of water are stored in dam resevoirs that can be led down to the power stations when there is a need for electric power.

At present, there are 600 small and large power stations in Norway. The oldest power plants are the most visible ones. Both the pressure shaft by which the water is conducted down to the power station and the actual building of the power station, including the units, have been built in the open and are visible. After the Second World War, most power stations, for security reasons among other things, have been constructed inside mountains.

The most comprehensive activity, however, is the tunneling. A power plant normally has several reservoirs to draw from. These are often located at some distance from each other, and the distance to the power station can be tens of kilometers. In order to control the supply of all the water, tunnels are dug between the reservoirs. Since large quantities of water are to be transported the diameter of the water tunnels often exceeds that of road tunnels. A total of 3,500 kilometers of tunnels have been dug for with hydro-electric development projects in Norway. This corresponds to the length of a continuous tunnel from Oslo to Rome.

Distribution
Most power stations in Norway are located in western Norway and in the county of Nordland, while the greatest number of people live in eastern Norway. Subsequently, extensive transmission lines have been built between western Norway and eastern Norway.

Because of the very difficult terrain [steep mountains] and a very rough climate in Norway, building power lines is a very demanding job. The power lines have to span wide fjords and cross mountain areas exposed to very extreme weather conditions. The longest fjord span is across the Sognefjorden, measuring five kilometers in length. This is one of the longest fjord spans in the world.

Electric power is generated at voltages of 10 000Ð15 000 volts. At the power station, the voltage is stepped up. The reason for this is that higher voltages reduces loss and permit larger amounts of power to be transmitted per unit of time.

The highest power line voltage in Norway is 420 kV. Near places of consumption, the voltage is stepped down in several stages prior to its distribution to individual consumers. The voltage of the power supplied to ordinary households in Norway is either 230 or 400 volts.

Power to the People
For most people, it was the light bulb and the electric motor that, at the end of last century, heralded what revolutionary changes electricity would bring. The first large power stations, however, were not constructed to provide ordinary people with electricity. It was the utilization of the power of waterfalls for industrial purposes that economically justified the many major power development projects during the first decades of this century. Because transmission installations at the time caused high network losses, the distance between the factory and the power station had to be as short as possible. Thus, small industrial communities sprang up in many places where almost nobody had lived before.



ABB Carbon power to Japan
The Kyushu Electric Power Company (KyEPCO) is one of Japan's leading utilities with an installed capacity of about 15,700 MWe. The company has a long tradition of introducing advanced new technologies into their power supply system. This was clearly confirmed by their decision in 1991 to build the world's first 360 MWe PFBC power plant (P800).

What Does PFBC Stand For?
PFBC is short for Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combined-Cycle. It is a technology that has been under development in the ABB Group for the last twenty years. This technology is based on the burning of crushed coal mixed with dolomite in a pressurized fluid bed. The electricity is generated in two systems. One of the systems employs a steam turbine that generates about 80 percent of the total electrical output. The other system generates the remaining 20 percent using, in this case, a GT140P from ABB Carbon. This ensures high efficiency, resulting in approximately 15 percent lower fuel consumption than with conventional technologies. The coal mixture is injected into the fluidized bed and burned. The temperature in the bed is maintained at a constant 850 ¡C. The boiler is pressurized with the help of the gas turbine. The flue gas from the combustion is fed to the turbine, where it powers both the compressors that supply pressurized combustion air to the bed and the generator that supplies electricity.

The steam produced in the boiler is fed to the steam turbine, which drives a generator, and then on to a condenser, where it is condensed back into water, for reuse in the process. In order to further improve fuel utilization, such a PFBC plant can be used for cogeneration, i.e. production of both electricity and heat.

Two in One Together
The purpose of the power station is to supply electric power to the Kyushu grid on a commercial basis. The power plant consists of a P800 module with a 70-MWe PFBC machine (GT140P) in combined cycle with a 290-MWe steam turbine. This has been designed to use a range of imported low-sulfur coals to make possible greater flexibility in choosing alternative coal sources.

The power plant will be supplied by Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries, ABB Carbon's licensee in Japan, together with ABB KK. The GT140P PFBC-machine itself will be supplied by ABB Carbon.



New leak detection approved in Germany
TELESCOPE Sipping is the name of a new leak-detection method devised by ABB Atom in Västerås, Sweden, for locating fuel assemblies in nuclear reactors that have 'minute leakage'. The method has now been tested in a number of German BWRs and is also approved as a leakage location method for fuel in German PWRs. Early in November last year, ABB completed testing and certification at the Grohnde NPP in Germany, under the supervision of TÜV Hannover, which is Niedersachsen's Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Proved Ready and Reliable
During five hectic days in early November 1996, employees of ABB Atom carried out full-scale demonstrations of TELESCOPE Sipping as a leakage location method in the German PWR Grohnde. The power plant–which is situated about 20 kilometers outside Hameln (the town of Pied Piper fame) in central Germany–has a power output of about 1,300 MW. The demonstration, which was, at the same time, to certify TELESCOPE Sipping as a reliable method of finding fuel leaks in Germ PWRs, was overseen with great interest by representatives from TÜV Hannover, Niedersachsen's Ministry of Environmental Protection, from the Philippsburg II and Unterweser nuclear power plants, and (last but not least) from Grohnde itself.

The demonstration was conducted using a new generation of TELESCOPE Sipping equipment adapted for PWR power plants, having for instance greater pumping capacity in the water-sampling circuit. To date, about 20 leakage examinations have been completed in BWRs plus a smaller number in PWRs. The feedback from these has naturally led to improvements in the equipment, and all the betterments have been included in this new equipment from the beginning.



Big platform for deep oil
On behalf of the licensees in the Troll joint area, Norsk Hydro has signed a letter of intent with Umoe Haugesund AS for the engineering, procurement, and construction of a semisubmersible steel platform, the Troll C. This platform will recover additional oil reserves from the Troll field. The contract comprises a steel floater with a deck frame, process module, utility module, and living quarters.

High and Deep
The contract, valued at about 3.9 billion Norwegian kronor is subject to the approval of the Norwegian authorities approval. Umoe Haugesund AS had based its bid on the UMOE/GVA 8000 platform concept. The steel platform will have a total weight of about 24,000 tonnes. The topside facilities for processing and living quarters will account for about 15,000 tonnes. The platform will be anchored in 330 meters of water in the northern part of the Troll C field. Its tow- out date is in June 1999.

Six Well Groups
The total recoverable oil reserves are now estimated to be as much as 1.2 billion barrels. The Troll C platform will be located in the northern part of the Troll West gas province. According to the present plan, it will process the oil from six well groups totaling all of 32 wells. Approximately 378 million barrels will be recovered over the platform. The Troll C platform will have be able to produce from additional well groups if needed. Its production capacity is12,500 barrels a day. The start of production from the platform is scheduled for September 1999.