Sales offensives in developed and developing countries
"After the Jhimruk development in Nepal, we expect that the "Serpent Sediment Sluicing System" will have the status of proven technology," says Øyvind Ulfsby in Statkraft Engineering A/S.
With the "Serpent Sediment Sluicing System" as its lead product, the company hopes that it will be able to win a position as problem-solver in the field of sediment handling on the international hydropower market. For Ulfsby, the question of whether this will be possible is primarily a matter of whether Statkraft can gain a market for the business idea on which the project is based.
"What we want to sell is know how, and what we want to be paid for is our ability to solve our clients´ problems. If sediment handlng is to become good business for Statkraft, we must have the market´s acceptance of the priniciple that we should have a share of the added value that we bring to our clients," says Øyvind Ulfsby.
"We think that the concept is interesting, with respect both to safe, highly solvent, markets such as the USA and Canada, and third-world countries that are now undergoing a wave of privatization," says Ulfsby. For the time being, Statkraft is aiming at the market for upgrading and rehabilitation. New construction takes too long to bring in sufficient revenues at this early stage of the new venture.
Cheaper developments
The "Serpent Sediment Sluicing System" can also reduce construction cost of new hydropower plants. In order to obtain continous power generation during flushing, extra settling basins are often built. The "Serpent Sediment Sluicing System" eliminates the necessity for such a step, and also makes it possible to utilize less expensive dam and water-intake technology. At Jhimruk, a traditional flushing system would have required a larger dam. The Norwegian system has reduced construction costs by millions of kroner, and has saved valuable agricultural land.The flushing system´s route from research project to industrial product has gone via the SINTEF company SINVENT A/S.