European hydrogen plans chart course for zero carbon by 2050

• Date: 01 June 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/oet.12713
• Published date: 01 June 2019

GAS AND POWER

European hydrogen plans chart course for zero carbon by 2050

Over the last year or two several European countries along

with the EU have published reports on how to reach a zero-

carbon world by 2050. All the analysis suggests that increas-

ingly low-cost renewables—particularly wind and solar—in

combination with hydrogen, is the optimum and by far the

cheapest means of achieving the goal. While it will require

investment up front, the sums are estimated to be quite

modest, and longer term it may be capable of producing a

cheaper and less import-dependent energy system—as well

as being much cleaner and zero carbon.

The UK's Committee on Climate Change (the UK gov-

ernment's advisory body on climate change) published a

major report

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on how to reach zero-carbon energy systems

by 2050 in May. This followed a report

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from Dutch gas

company, Gasunie and grid operator TenneT, which outlined

how to reach zero-carbon by 2050 as part of Dutch emis-

sions reduction commitments. Both reports point to the

wholesale adoption of hydrogen (produced from surplus

renewables for use in heating and power) as the optimum

(and by far the cheapest) means of achieving the goal.

Gasunie and TenneT, along with grid operator Thyssengas,

are also involved in similar plans in Germany.

The European Commission too, has published a Hydrogen

Roadmap for Europe, including policy recommendations for

member states to encourage the use of hydrogen and other

low carbon gases as the optimum means of reaching carbon

reduction targets. Hydrogen effectively “squares the circle,”

by filling in the seasonal and weather-related intermittency of

wind and solar power, which is an important obstacle to cheap

renewables' total dominance of electrical energy (along with

issues over grid supply/demand and frequency balancing).

The main alternative of reliance on just electricity/full electri-

fication looks increasingly problematic due to the huge poten-

tial cost of electrifying heating systems and technical

difficulties with high temperature industrial processes.

In a hydrogen-based energy system, renewable electricity

would drive an electrolysis process splitting water into

hydrogen and oxygen. Methane may be used as a bridging

fuel in combination with Carbon Capture and Storage

(CCS), as in the HyNet project

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—both the EC and CCC

mention this as an important intermediary stage. Initially,

hydrogen could be mixed with natural gas in the existing gas

storage and pipeline infrastructure, keeping costs down. The

network would have to be upgraded or replaced for higher

levels of hydrogen, but the upgrading process would be on-

going and manageable.

In its Hydrogen Roadmap for Europe, the European

Commission says now that wind and solar costs have fallen

significantly, a move to a hydrogen economy is unlikely to

require massive subsidies. It estimates that during the scale-

up of the hydrogen industry toward 2030, it would require

annual investments of just €8 bn across the EU in its “ambi-

tious”scenario (where hydrogen development is most exten-

sive). This is equivalent to only a third of the renewable

feed-in tariffs (FiTs) paid in Germany for solar and wind

power, or less than 5% of the total annual investments in

energy and automotive assets in Europe.

1|CUTTING HYDROGEN

PRODUCTION COSTS

To be viable for the massive volumes required in heating or

power sectors (many gas turbines can alreadyburn hydrogen),

the cost of hydrogen production (which is a function of the

amount of energy required) needs to come down. Initially, it

may be that methane reforming represents the best way to

produce large volumes cheaply (with the carbon by-products

CO and CO

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captured and stored near the production site.

But more efficient forms of electrolysis currently under

development are expected to quickly bring the costs down. Dr

Klaus-Dieter Borchardt, Director of the Internal Energy Market

at the European Commission, thinks this will happen just as it

has with solar PV and wind energy. As an example, he mentions

the EU-backed H2Future project of Siemens, Voestalpine, and

others that will become operational soon. “Once these projects

become successful, more will follow,”he said.

As well as cutting the amount of energy required, it is

important to use only green power, and preferably surplus or

curtailed green power—when supply outstrips demand. This

power comes very cheap, with zero or negative prices

increasingly common on European power markets. So rather

than wasting and paying a penalty for the curtailed renew-

able power, it would be stored in the form of hydrogen.

As more wind and solar capacity are added to the grid, the

frequency with which system prices turn negative is expected

to increase. Analysts, Cornwall Insight, forecast

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an increase

to 14% of all half-hourly settlement periods on average by

2034. That is a lot of cheap, green power that can be used to

produce stored energy in the form of hydrogen, ready for use

in power or heating systems when required.

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