German vitality agency RWE and Norwegian oil and gasoline producer Equinor signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in January to develop large-scale vitality worth chains between Germany and Norway – renewable technology, hydrogen, and pure gasoline.
The businesses are planning the development of recent combined-cycle gasoline generators (CCGTs) in Germany and blue hydrogen manufacturing amenities in Norway, the implementation of hydrogen pipelines between the 2 nations, and growth of offshore wind farms for inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing.
Transporting hydrogen
The gasoline produced to feed RWE’s hydrogen-ready gas-powered crops will should be moved from Norway to Germany. Gassco is presently conducting a feasibility examine, anticipated to be accomplished by the spring, for a hydrogen pipeline between the 2 nations. The corporate is presently planning on shifting an estimated 4 million t of hydrogen a 12 months, or an equal capability of about 18 GW, relying on the purity of the hydrogen, says Gassco Spokesman, Pal Rasmussen.
A lot of prospects are on the desk.
“Within the ongoing feasibility examine, Gassco will take a look at a number of technical options for transporting low-carbon hydrogen, which incorporates mixing of hydrogen in at present’s gasoline pipelines, full conversion of a present gasoline pipeline, and a attainable new pipeline,” says Rasmussen.
The choice continues to be to be made on whether or not to retrofit an present pure gasoline pipeline – a pure hydrogen pipeline would want to deal with the peculiarities of the gasoline which might trigger embrittlement of metal parts and is leaky in comparison with methane – or to construct a brand new pipeline.
“The research now we have carried out up to now present that the pipeline community can be utilized to move hydrogen. Nevertheless, hydrogen will result in modified working situations (stress, capability, and so forth.) within the pipeline community, and extra research are wanted,” he says. “All choices would require a qualification/requalification from a classification society by way of technical and questions of safety, and research is that this space are ongoing. Ought to an present pipeline be beneficial, modifications shall be required.”
From blue to inexperienced
As a hydrogen community is constructed up, the MoU goals to transition to inexperienced hydrogen from renewable vitality sources. It will require a large infrastructure construct out on each side of the German-Norway border.
An electrolyser plant with an put in capability of 26.5 GW, working on 100% utilisation, would devour 232 TWhr/yr and produce 4 million t of hydrogen, or some 58 kWhr/kg of hydrogen, calculations by consultancy Greenstat present. By comparability, all the UK consumed 295 TWhr of electrical energy in 2020, in accordance with authorities knowledge.
The 2021 AquaSector mission – agreed on by a declaration of intent signed by RWE, Shell, Gasunie, and Equinor – may also assist transfer from blue hydrogen to inexperienced, say the businesses. The AquaSector mission goals to construct a large-scale German offshore hydrogen park by putting in roughly 300 MW electrolyser capability to supply as much as 20 000 tpy of inexperienced hydrogen.
The businesses plan to move the inexperienced hydrogen through a pipeline, AquaDuctus, to the small German archipelago Heligoland as of 2028. The mission is taken into account ‘proof of idea’ for the longer-term imaginative and prescient to supply as much as 10 GW of inexperienced hydrogen offshore by 2035 and piping it to mainland Germany, the businesses stated.
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