The site where the new salt cavern is being built.

Image: EWE

German energy provider EWE has started the construction of a cavern for hydrogen storage in Rüdersdorf, near Berlin.

The cavern storage facility will have a capacity of 500 cubic meters, which corresponds to the volume of a single-family house. The company is working with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) on this project.

The DLR Institute for Networked Energy Systems will examine, among other things, the quality of the hydrogen during storage and after it has been extracted from the cavern.

In the first stage of the project, EWE will build a derrick on an existing borehole and this work is expected to take a week. The utility will then install and cement a steel pipe from the surface to a depth of 1,000 meters by the beginning of April. This will connect the pilot cavern with the earth's surface.  

“In the context of the research project, we particularly hope to gain knowledge of the degree of purity of the hydrogen after it has been withdrawn from the cavern,” said EWE project manager Hayo Seeba. This factor is crucial for the use of hydrogen in the mobility sector.

The knowledge that the small pilot cavern will provide should be easily transferable to caverns with a volume that is 1,000 times higher, the company went on to say. The aim is to use caverns with a volume of 500,000 cubic meters for large scale hydrogen storage in the future.

EWE owns 37 salt caverns that represent 15% of all German cavern storage facilities that could be suitable for storing hydrogen in the future. “This would mean that large quantities of green hydrogen generated from renewable energies could be stored and used as required and would become an indispensable component in order to achieve set climate targets,” Seeba added. 

Scientists at Germany’s Jülich Institute for Energy and Climate Research (IEK-3) recently revealed that Europe has the potential to inject hydrogen in bedded salt deposits and salt domes with a total energy storage capacity of 84.8 PWh. Most of these salt caverns are concentrated in northern Europe, at offshore and onshore locations. Germany accounts for the largest share, followed by the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, and Poland. Other potential sites are in Romania, France, Spain, and Portugal.

“Germany has the highest storage potential in both onshore and offshore contexts,” the group said.

This article originally appeared on pv-magazine-usa.com, and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine-usa.com)

Caverns like this one in the Salina Slănic salt mine in Romania could serve as large storage tanks for hydrogen from renewable energies.

Photo: Dan Tamas / Janos Urai

Salt caverns for storing energy from renewable sources have long been in focus. EWE, for example, wants to build a redox flow battery with an output of 120 megawatts in the caverns of a former salt dome near Oldenburg by 2023 . And RWE Gas Storage West GmbH and CMBlu Energy AG have started a joint research project aimed at converting the salt caverns previously used for gas storage into large, organic river batteries . Underground salt caverns are also seen as a promising storage option for storing hydrogen as an energy source. A team from RWTH Aachen University, Forschungszentrum Jülich and Fraunhofer IEG rolled out how large their storage potential is in EuropeStudy in the specialist magazine "International Journal of Hydrogen Energy" illuminated.

The interdisciplinary team estimates the total energy storage potential in the form of hydrogen in salt caverns on land and at sea to be 84.8 petawatt hours, with 23.2 petawatt hours on land and 61.6 petawatt hours at sea. According to the analysis, Germany has a total of 35.7 petawatt hours, of which 9.4 petawatt hours are on land - the largest national potential on land in Europe. For comparison: the potential for pumped water storage power plants in Europe is around 0.123 petawatt hours.

"Salt caverns are the most promising option for large storage facilities due to the low investment costs, good sealing and low shielding gas requirement," says Peter Kukla, Head of the Georesources Department at Fraunhofer IEG and Professor of Geology at RWTH Aachen University. In order to estimate the economic potential of the salt storage, a more detailed energy system analysis is necessary. This could correlate economic and ecological aspects, energy profiles as well as locations with high energy demand, high energy supply and high storage capacity.

The "Choose Renewable Hydrogen" initiative, led by the employers Solar Power Europe and WindEurope and currently formed by Akuo Energy, BayWa re, EDP, Enel, Iberdrola, MHI Vestas, Solar Power Europe, Ørsted, Vestas and Wind Europe, remitted this Monday a letter to the vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans asking the European Commission to bet on the "most efficient, sustainable and profitable" ways to decarbonise the economy.

Among the correct decisions for the next integration of Europe's energy system, the importance of green hydrogen stands out, which will play "a key role as the most profitable and sustainable solution for total decarbonisation".

In that sense, direct electrification is pointed out to be the main means to decarbonize heating and road transport, but there are other difficult sectors to eliminate, such as heavy industry, long-distance road transport, aviation and transport. maritime, where direct electrification is insufficient. Here, renewable hydrogen will play a key role as the most cost-effective and sustainable solution for complete decarbonization.

Clean hydrogen has been one of the topics highlighted in the EU's ecological recovery plans, which will be announced this Wednesday: according to the draft published by the portal specialized in European affairs EurActiv, there will be 1.3 billion for R + D + i and another 10 billion co-financing in the next decade , to minimize the risk of large projects, as well as a “commitment” to reach 1 million tons of this gas.

For its part, Iberdrola announced in mid-March that it will build one of the largest green hydrogen plants in Europe in Puertollano , with an investment of 150 million euros.

This article originally appeared on pv-magazine.es and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine.es).

IBE estimates that the offtake agreements for its Project NEO will amount to over $7.5 billion.

Image: Horizon Power

Perth-based Infinite Blue Energy (IBE) has unveiled a bold plan to deliver Australia’s first green hydrogen baseload power plant that could change the electricity landscape in New South Wales (NSW). Project NEO is initially focused on providing 1000 MW of green hydrogen using solar, wind and hydrogen fuel cells for 24/7 electricity supply.

The project, which will commence with a feasibility study and detailed design over the next 18 months, aims to transition energy-intensive, fossil fuel-dependent industries in NSW to 100% renewables by 2027. To provide reliable baseload power, NEO will use solar and wind to produce hydrogen, a certain amount of which will be stored in fuel cells and available when there is no wind or sun, on cloudy days and at night. 

“The vision at IBE is to show the world, first and foremost, that Australia has the technology, skills and entrepreneurial mindset to be a true leader in the development of green hydrogen plants,” IBE CEO Stephen Gauld said. “We are currently in robust negotiations with major electricity users in the NSW Hunter Region that have confirmed their intentions to transition to green hydrogen baseload electricity this decade.”

Led by a team with substantial experience in the oil and gas sector, IBE has only recently appeared on the Australian energy scene. In April, the company unveiled plans for the first of its many green hydrogen projects in Western Australia (WA), announcing an initial $300 million investment for its first phase of construction. Other companies that have announced gigawatt-scale plans in WA include BP Australia, which is looking to develop around 1.5 GW of greenfield solar and wind projects for its green hydrogen and ammonia plans, and Siemens, which aims to produce green hydrogen for local industry and export to Asia from up to 5 GW of wind and solar capacity.

Another megaproject underway in WA is the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH), which could feature up to 15 GW of solar and wind capacity with the goal to supply local energy users in the Pilbara region and develop a green hydrogen manufacturing hub for domestic use and export to Asia. Recently, AREH has moved forward after being recommended for environmental approval.

Fast-tracking NSW’s energy transition

Project NEO, which comes with a $2.7 billion price tag, is expected to feature 235 wind turbines and a PV array covering approximately 1,250 hectares of land. The cumulative renewable energy capacity will stand at around 3.5 GW and will be deployed at high-value sites for solar and wind production, in combination with a “distributed generation model”. “This allows the generation sites to blend in with existing land users with minimal impact,” IBE says.

Over 2 million NSW homes stand to benefit from Project NEO, the company says, in addition to other economic benefits. IBE anticipates that a significant proportion of the workforce required for Project NEO will be drawn from the existing coal-fired power stations in NSW, since many of the skills are similar.

“Project NEO will produce local and indirect employment, allow existing industries to decarbonize, and facilitate the establishment of new industries,” Gauld says. “It will localize manufacturing, give a 100% green supply of power to NSW, fuel the reduction of the state’s carbon emissions and can therefore play a pivotal role in ultimately helping Australia become leaders in carbon emission reduction.”

This article originally appeared on pv-magazine-australia.com and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine-australia.com).

Renewable energy makes sense of hydrogen.

Image: Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)

This morning Federal Government Ministers Mathias Cormann and Angus Taylor announced a $300 million Advancing Hydrogen Fund in terms of a panacea:

“From cheaper energy bills and job creation in regional Australia, to playing a role in reducing global emissions both at home and in countries that buy Australian produced hydrogen, the industry’s potential cannot be ignored,” said Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Taylor in the joint announcement.

The fund is designed to mesh with priorities under the national Hydrogen Strategy and as such will back areas that advance hydrogen production, developing export and domestic supply chains, establishing hydrogen hubs and building domestic demand for hydrogen.

Just a month ago, BloombergNEF released a report, Hydrogen Economy Outlook, which concluded that only a widespread global commitment to net zero emissions could generate the kind of investment — it calculated the need for US$150 billion in cumulative subsidies to 2030 — required to bring down the cost of producing hydrogen and make it competitive with other fuels.

Hydrogen is not a free kick

“Once you set a net zero target, and are serious about putting policies and measures in place to achieve that, then hydrogen becomes a necessary option,” Kobad Bavhnagri, Global Head of Industrial Decarbonisation at BNEF and lead author of the report, told pv magazine at the end of March.

“If you don’t have that clarity and that purpose,” Bhavnagri continued, “then actually there’s no need to do hydrogen and it won’t stand up.” A higher cost, less convenient energy source than fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil, hydrogen only starts to make sense when the demand is created for a zero-emissions alternative.

Bhavnagri explained that development of hydrogen is a global task. It requires mass participation to achieve the economies of scale that will make hydrogen viable.

Based on fuel prices in March, the Hydrogen Economy Outlook estimated, for example, that if the electrolysers used to produce hydrogen from water (one method of hydrogen production that lends itself to using renewable energy to power the process of atom splitting) could be driven dramatically down in cost by demand and manufacturing efficiencies, renewable hydrogen could be produced for US$0.8 to US$1.6/kg by 2050. This was then equivalent to gas priced at US$6-12/MMBtu, making it competitive with natural gas.

Australia’s Federal Government has set the open-ended goal — dubbed ‘H2 under 2’ — of producing hydrogen for AU$2 a kilogram as part of its as yet unreleased but much anticipated Technology Investment Roadmap.

Its $300 million Advancing Hydrogen Fund is to be administered by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), which this morning welcomed the announcement of its amended mandate to make the $300 million available from its existing funds. 

“We are confident we can use our capital to help build investor confidence in the emerging hydrogen sector,” said CEFC CEO, Ian Learmonth.

It’s not easy staying green

This morning’s CEFC statement also emphasised that, “In line with the CEFC Act, projects seeking CEFC finance through the Advancing Hydrogen Fund are required to be commercial, draw on renewable energy, energy efficiency and/or low emissions technologies and contribute to emissions reduction.”

The CEFC says that from the allocated Advancing Hydrogen Fund it anticipates providing either debt or equity finance to eligible larger-scale commercial and industrial projects likely to require $10 million or more in CEFC capital, alongside finance raised from other sources.

CEFC identifies an early priority for funding to coincide with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) $70 million Renewable Hydrogen Deployment Fund. 

This ARENA funding round opened on 15 April, and expressions of interest are currently set to close on 26 May. Outcomes are expected to be announced on 30 November this year.

“We see green hydrogen as offering the most credible pathway to decarbonisation for high emitting sectors and those which lack scaleable electrification options,” said CEFC’s Learmonth. CEFC identifies some of these sectors as manufacturing, heavy transport such as trucks and shipping, mining, processing of metals and production of chemicals.

Exports going nowhere: use it on shore

One clear point of departure between BNEF’s Hydrogen Economy Outlook and the stated ambitions of the Government Advancing Hydrogen Fund is in relation to hydrogen as an export industry for Australia.

Cormann describes the Fund as a “catalyst for the future growth of Australia’s hydrogen industry,” which has the potential to become “a major new export industry”. Taylor adds the commitment made in the National Hydrogen Strategy, launched in November last year, “to build Australia’s hydrogen industry into a global export industry by 2030”.

Bhavnagri, on the other hand, found in his BNEF report that, “the economics of exporting hydrogen by ship are very poor”.

He told pv magazine, “This narrative about Australia being able to export hydrogen is a bit misplaced … Hydrogen is not like natural gas; it’s far less dense and has a liquefaction temperature much lower than natural gas, so it’s just much harder to put on a ship in a liquefied state — it’s really expensive to do.”

He concluded that “Australia can be a hydrogen superpower by using it onshore and exporting value-added products.”

Both the Australian Government and BNEF champion the establishment of hydrogen hubs, with BNEF explaining the efficiencies that such developments could offer: hubs might include clusters of wind-and-solar-powered electrolysers, and large storage facilities to smooth and buffer hydrogen supply, served by networks of dedicated pipelines feeding hydrogen to co-located industrial customers. 

Renewable resource can make Australia’s hydrogen the cheapest

Writing in BNEF’s Hydrogen Economy Outlook, Bhavnagri notes: “Our analysis suggests that a delivered cost of green hydrogen of around US$2/kg in 2030 and US$1/kg in 2050” is achievable in China, India and Western Europe. Countries with the best renewable and hydrogen storage resources, such as Australia, could achieve 20-25% reductions on these costs.

But BNEF cautions that even at US$1/kg the use of hydrogen in place of fossil fuels is still likely to require a carbon price or other policy measures to make it the most attractive option: “This is because hydrogen must be manufactured, whereas natural gas, coal and oil need only to be extracted, so it is likely to always be a more expensive form of energy.”

Ultimately Bhavnagri is optimistic about the potential for hydrogen to help decarbonise the planet, and to open new opportunities for green manufacturing in Australia that could significantly boost employment opportunities.

Signs of hydrogen life

The Hydrogen Economy Outlook said investors keen to be involved in hydrogen projects should look out for evidence of seven key events that signal opportunity for green hydrogen to scale as needed to provide a viable alternative to fossil fuels, and act as an accelerator to decarbonisation . In order of importance, the first three indications are:

1. Legislation of net-zero climate targets
2. Harmonisation of international standards governing hydrogen use
3. Introduction of targets with investment mechanisms

We now have an investment mechanism, administered by a trusted body which has previously facilitated almost $28 billion worth of clean-energy projects in Australia since its inception in mid-2012, but this investment seems still untethered from Government political will and policy needed to reach net zero emissions within a timeframe that will help global citizens avoid the next looming threat to our lives. Prosperity assumes a healthy planet.

Schedule a call with us to see how Green Hydrogen can help take you further.

This article originally appeared on pv-magazine-usa.com, and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine-usa.com).