Kardashev
Ascent experiments / 001
Power to
harvest.
The crop has a calendar.
Where should the energy wait?
Follow electricity into ammonia. Compare three ways to meet the same monthly deliveries: firm power, a hydrogen buffer, or finished-product inventory.
Run the experimentFrom a watt to a useful molecule
A chemical input to fertiliser production.
The model ends at ammonia delivery.
Keep an experiment.
Valid inputs are saved automatically in this browser. Import a downloaded scenario to rerun it, or create a link that carries the inputs. Shared inputs take precedence over browser saves. Imported results are always recalculated.
One calendar / three arrangements
Choose where flexibility lives.
Cost = electricity used + the full annual charge for the selected tank capacity. This excludes plant capital, maintenance and other unlisted costs. CO₂e covers electricity only.
Follow the year
Monthly energy totals, in MWh. They do not resolve hourly peaks or renewable variability within a month.
Supply & delivery calendar
Edit the monthly schedule, then compare again. Deliveries are tonnes of ammonia, a fertiliser feedstock; they are not tonnes of nitrogen or finished fertiliser.
| Month | Renewable offered MWh before multiplier | Ammonia due t NH₃ | Produced t NH₃ | H₂ stock t at month end | NH₃ stock t at month end |
|---|
Read the boundary
A map of a trade-off.
A deliberately small map.
This calculator minimises electricity purchase cost for each fixed arrangement, then adds that arrangement’s annual tank charge. It knows the whole year in advance. The lowest displayed cost is only the lowest among these three arrangements under your inputs.
All cases start and finish with empty tanks and must meet every month’s delivery. Carry-over losses apply to the previous month’s closing stock. Unused renewable energy has no payment or export value here. Renewable supply is a quantity offered at a price per MWh used.
The hydrogen case has no ammonia carry-over. The ammonia case has no hydrogen carry-over. Firm purchases are available to every case, subject to the same monthly cap. Zero tank capacity makes that storage case behave like the firm-only case.
What this model leaves out
There are no hourly constraints, minimum stable loads, ramp limits, start-up costs, standby heat, detailed storage equipment or variable efficiencies. A flexible monthly synthesis schedule is an assumption, not evidence that a real reactor can follow it.
“Other process electricity” is a single chosen allowance for non-electrolysis loads, including nitrogen separation and auxiliaries. Water, heat, transport, conversion to fertiliser, equipment emissions and field emissions are outside this boundary. Storage losses are accounting losses in this hypothetical model, not a prescription for handling chemicals.
Balance equations
E + uQ = R + G
Hₜ = (1 − ℓH)Hₜ₋₁ + E/e − hQ
Aₜ = (1 − ℓA)Aₜ₋₁ + Q − Dₜ
E: electrolysis electricity; Q: ammonia produced; R/G: renewable/firm electricity; H/A: closing H₂/NH₃ stocks; D: ammonia delivery. e, h, u and ℓ are the chosen intensities and loss fractions. Production, energy and stocks are non-negative and subject to their displayed limits.
From the colony
Follow the idea into the field.
Put the crop calendar in the power model ↗
The question behind this experiment.
Primary source / Project operatorRamme: first production collected ↗
Skovgaard Energy reports collection on 20 December 2025. These calculator inputs do not describe that plant.
Primary source / Royal SocietyHow electricity becomes ammonia ↗
Background on electrolysis, nitrogen separation and synthesis.