Page 51 - European Energy Innovation - spring 2019 publication
P. 51
Spring 2019 European Energy Innovation 51
GAS INDUSTRY INNOVATION
Source: GRTgaz
The gas industry is best placed to Northern Lights project. Source: Equinor
launch a hydrogen revolution
Cutting-edge P2G technology can and chemical plants – to either households while the CO2 will be
convert excess electricity from supply it to other industrial users or safely stored beneath the Irish Sea.
renewable sources into hydrogen. to store it safely and permanently in In the Netherlands, our members are
Recent examples of the gas depleted oil and gas fields. repurposing the Magnum natural gas
industry’s ventures into this type power plant to run on hydrogen. The
of renewable gas in Europe include: The CO2 can be transported in two CO2 from the repurposed plant will
the world’s first demonstration plant ways: by pipeline, as in the Porthos be contained in a North Sea storage
for storing wind energy in the gas project under development in the facility to be developed by the
grid at the WindGas Falkenhagen Port of Rotterdam, or by ship, as Northern Lights project.
project in Germany; trial injections in the Northern Lights project. The
of hydrogen into the natural gas latter project aims to establish the Political support is vital to making
distribution network in Dunkirk world’s first large-scale ‘open source’ the EU long-term vision a success
under the GHRYD project; and the infrastructure for receiving and The best way to foster a cost-
conversion of surplus renewable storing CO2 from multiple industries effective approach to cleaner
power into hydrogen and synthetic in Norway and other industrial regions and more innovative energy is to
methane for storage by the French in Europe. concentrate resources on R&D of
Jupiter 1000 project. Across Europe, the most promising non-mature
the gas industry is developing more Currently, approximately 50% of technologies, including renewable
hydrogen projects. hydrogen is produced from natural gases, and to facilitate their large-
gas using steam methane reforming scale deployment. This is among the
According to the UN (SMR) processes. Pre-combustion key ‘asks’ addressed to policymakers
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate capture technologies use SMR to in our recently published Manifesto of
Change (IPCC), use of CCS will be strip CO2 from natural gas and can the European Gas Industry (link).
needed to deliver the negative facilitate this revolution by producing
emissions required in 101 out of 116 ‘hydrogen fuel’, which can serve as a To achieve the COP21 Paris
possible scenarios for limiting global clean industrial feedstock or fuel for Agreement objectives, markets
warming to below 2°C. Similarly, in its industry and households. and R&D laboratories need to work
projections for GHG mitigation, the effectively, creating competition
IEA ranks CCS as a key technology, The UK leads the way on hydrogen among technologies to deliver the
alongside energy efficiency and use in the H21 City Gate project, most beneficial solutions, both
renewable energy. which aims to switch natural gas socially and economically. It is
household heating infrastructure in clear that investment to the tune
The gas sector has vast expertise the city of Leeds to 100% hydrogen of trillions of Euros will be needed
in CO2 management, which can produced from natural gas through to deliver the Paris targets. To make
benefit other industrial sectors SMR with CCS. In the Manchester- informed decisions in the near term,
through a broader process called Liverpool Hydrogen Cluster, SMR policymakers must also consider the
CCUS, applicable both to pre- will produce hydrogen for local cost of failing to meet the long-term
combustion and post-processing. car manufacturers, refineries and targets already agreed upon. l
Post-processing solutions are being
championed in the Netherlands
and Norway. These projects aim to
capture CO2 from industrial processes
– such as refineries, cement factories
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