Cluster catch-up: Swagelok Norway

Jan 29

“While the energy transition is a major focus for our business right now, and our enthusiasm for hydrogen as a key player is shared by our whole team, our main goal is always to be Norway’s source for reliable fluid system components, a broad range of support services, and expertise that help our customers become safer, more efficient, more sustainable, and more profitable.”

— Ruben Sirevåg

Swagelok Norway has more than 30 years of experience and expertise in the containment and management of hazardous fluids and small-molecule gases under pressure. Our fluid system components, solutions, and services are conceived, designed, and delivered specifically to meet and exceed the needs of companies engaged in the pursuit of environmentally safe and sustainable energy business opportunities. As a result, the team at Swagelok Norway is exceptionally qualified to help our customers meet and overcome the fluid system challenges unique to the clean energy industry in Norway and around the world by reducing fugitive emissions, helping to define H2 usage standards, supporting global and local infrastructure projects, and training the people who work with hydrogen to do so safely.

We welcome our new member in the cluster, Swagelok Norway! Ruben Sirevåg, Technical Sales Advisor, sat down with us for a chat about their daily life.

What is Swagelok Norway’s primary focus at the moment?

Next year Swagelok Norway will be celebrating 50 years as a supplier and partner for fluid system customers in Norway, and one of the things we are most proud of over this half decade is how we have been able to develop services and programs that meet Norwegian industries’ changing needs. We have been active in the hydrogen space for decades, but the progress that is happening right now is especially exciting because it is giving us the opportunity to really put the products, services, and expertise we have developed over that time to use toward all kinds of important and exciting projects and initiatives. We have developed a hydrogen safety training course, for example, as well customizable H2 applications, on-site services, and a product line developed specifically for use with hydrogen. While the energy transition is a major focus for our business right now, and our enthusiasm for hydrogen as a key player is shared by our whole team, our main goal is always to be Norway’s source for reliable fluid system components, a broad range of support services, and expertise that help our customers become safer, more efficient, more sustainable, and more profitable.

How can hydrogen be a part of the solution for the future?

Hydrogen is the next great frontier in energy because of its abundance, ability to be easily extracted, and when used as a fuel, it produces no CO2 emissions making it a clean, efficient source of power. To give a couple of examples, steel and cement production are major sources of CO2 emissions, but by replacing coal with hydrogen as a reducing agent, greenhouse gas emissions can be decreased. Within the transportation sector, particularly maritime transport involving large freight and transport ships, hydrogen can offer a zero-emission solution that meets the needs for long range and high energy density. This is vital for ships that often have to travel long distances and have limited refuelling opportunities. Hydrogen can also help reduce emissions in port areas, which often struggle with local air pollution. Then, of course, there’s the energy sector, which can benefit from using hydrogen as a storage medium to balance supply and demand in renewable energy production, helping to solve the intermittency problem common with renewable energy sources like solar and wind.
Up until now, though, there have been several major impediments to its widespread adoption:

Containing its extremely small molecules under pressure has posed some challenges.
Fossil fuels have been primarily relied upon to process hydrogen, mitigating many of the benefits it offers.
The infrastructure to compress hydrogen as a fuel for transportation did not exist.

Today, all three of those factors are being challenged, and we want to be on the forefront together with the Ocean Hyway Cluster.

Could you share any ongoing projects you're involved in, recent contracts you've secured, or other noteworthy updates?

In December, our field engineers completed a pre-commissioning inspection of Kaupanes Hydrogen, a 1-megawatt plant at Egersund harbor that produces hydrogen from electrolysis using electricity from renewable sources. HYDS and Alltec Services AS partnered with Swagelok Norway for components and expertise, as well as the survey, which will ensure the safety and efficiency of their green hydrogen plant. You can watch a video about it here: https://vimeo.com/899440671
We are also excited for Industriuka Expo 2024 where our team in Porsgrunn will be presenting, among other things, Swagelok’s new hydrogen grab sample module at booth Y-302. We hope to see a lot of other cluster members there!

What is your primary focus when it comes to sustainability?

Our business is about enabling all industries using fluid systems to be as sustainable as possible; that is, to ensure their environmental and economic viability through our products, services, and expertise. For example, our field engineers can visit customer sites and suggest leak-tight components such as certified low-emission valves that help protect people, profitability, and the planet. They can also help plants avoid fugitive emissions by recommending alternative system design choices. Our components and assemblies are of exceptional quality, assuring top performance and long service life, and are engineered to reduce the labor costs related to installation and maintenance. We also recognize that one of the best ways to maintain the sustainability of organizations and prevent emissions is proper training, so we provide courses that minimize installation and maintenance errors and improve the reliability of fluid systems. Basically, leak prevention, making sure components and assemblies don’t need to be replaced unnecessarily, and supporting those working toward green solutions is how we think about sustainability.

Why did you decide on becoming a member of Ocean Hyway Cluster?

The evolution of hydrogen as a clean energy source requires a lot of cooperation and communication. We recognize that we have a role in that and since we know a lot about what we do, the only option is to contribute by learning and networking wherever we can. The Ocean Hyway Cluster is a respected group with many esteemed members so for us to join the cluster was an obvious decision.