Gold fever has broken out. Numerous corporations are taking over medium-sized companies or establishing joint ventures (see p. 6) – many large companies are investing millions to secure themselves a piece of the H2 pie. The world market for hydrogen is now being divided up, at least the portion that was not already snapped up in the past few months.
One example of this global competition can be found in Jänschwalde, a coal mining town in the state of Brandenburg. Mid-July, Wiesbaden-based company Hy2gen announced that is going to invest 500 million euros in production of green hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel there. The plant is to be built by 2027 on the planned industrial park Green Areal Lausitz.
Advertisements
Investments are similarly being made within the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. HH2E AG and the Switzerland-based MET Group jointly founded a project partnership for the development of one of the largest green hydrogen production plants in Europe. In Lubmin, 100 MW of capacity for the production of 6,000 tonnes of H2 per year is to be installed by 2025, which could be scaled up to 1 GW by 2030. Around 200 million euros is to be made available for this.
Likewise, in June, Ceres Power and Shell let it be known that together they intend to build a demonstration plant in the megawatt range in Bangalore, India based on a solid oxide electrolyzer (SOEC). The aim is to provide low-cost green hydrogen for decarbonization of the industrial sector. Fuel cell manufacturer Ceres has set aside 100 million pounds for development of its SOEC technology – with the goal of achieving a market-leading levelized cost of hydrogen of 1.5 USD per kg by 2025.
At the beginning of the year, Voss Fluid acquired the Austrian company HypTec GmbH. Through this acquisition, the manufacturer of pipe connection systems has secured its access to high-pressure components for H2 applications. HypTec, founded in 2010, has valve technology that is small and lightweight though resilient to high pressures – important prerequisites for the upscaling of H2 components.
Already in January 2022, Fortescue Future Industries and Covestro had concluded a long-term supply agreement for green hydrogen. It involves up to 100,000 tonnes in green hydrogen equivalents per year, which could, for example, be transported as ammonia from Australia to Europe starting 2024. FFI wants the green hydrogen production to rise to 15 million tonnes annually by 2030.
Participation in socio-political transformation processes by a wide range of actors is indispensable for success and acceptance of developed solutions. Depending on origin, qualifications and interests, however, many different views may exist as to how to formulate a problem and how to approach it with solutions. An incorporation of all perspectives at an early stage in the decision-making processes shaping the clean energy transition of a region requires the empowerment of regional actors that recognize and understand the technical and economic potential of hydrogen technologies in their respective regional context.
Not only since the current fuel gas crisis has it been clear that key assumptions and framework conditions of the energy transition can change rapidly and solutions that seem attractive today may turn out to be unreliable or economically unfeasible tomorrow. Decisions regarding investment in energy infrastructures with a planned operating period of 15 to 20 years must take into account these uncertainties – so it’s even more important to be able to assess the effects of changing framework conditions.
Advertisements
From this line of thought came, during a cooperation between Spilett New Technologies and actors from the regional district Kreis Steinfurt in 2016, the idea of a scenario calculator tool for Hydrogen Regions. They formulated initial ideas of how regional decision-making processes under uncertain conditions could be better supported, and specified the content and concept requirements. It quickly became clear that a fully parameterizable optimization model would be required that reduces the complexity of the topic for the various target groups (energy industry experts, laypersons) and at the same time delivers sufficiently detailed and robust information for decision-making.
In 2019, the Toyota Mobility Foundation was able to be obtained as a sponsor for the development of the H2 scenario calculator. Under the conceptual direction of Spilett new technologies GmbH, together with the modeling of BBH Consulting AG, software developers at ENDA GmbH & Co. KG and participants of energieland2050 in Kreis Steinfurt, the open-source online tool was developed and validated in the period from 2019 to 2022.
Function of scenario calculator
The hydrogen scenario calculator enables regional decision-makers to, in the first step, identify a cost-optimized H2 infrastructure system through individual configurations (regional energy demand, available resources and government objectives). The aim is to ensure on an hourly basis for a defined target year the hydrogen demand of different sectors under the given regional framework conditions with the goal of security of supply (see Fig. 1).
Fig. 1: Overview of results – cost-optimized infrastructure system
Abb. 1.png
The economic, ecological and social costs, or alternatively benefits, associated with the construction as well as operation of the cost-optimized infrastructure system are broken down and presented in detail in a second step. A two-stage approach was chosen for this purpose:
Ten key indicators give an overview of the most important economic and ecological performance parameters of the respective infrastructure system (key performance indicators, KPIs, see Fig. 2).
Information and key indicators itemized by performance area (energy and material flow balances, economic efficiency, societal benefits) deepen the understanding
Fig. 2: The ten key performance indicators of the scenario calculator
Abb. 2.png
The results in the area of energy and material flow balances include annual and periodical overviews of hydrogen and electricity origination as well as their whereabouts at a given time. Here, the filling and withdrawal of hydrogen at regional storage facilities is displayed along with possible imports and exports of electrical power and hydrogen to cover temporary bottlenecks.
Furthermore, the quantities of water required for the production of hydrogen via electrolysis or steam gas reforming are shown, in order to avoid competing uses in times or regions where water resources are scarce. The waste heat generated during the H2 production process is also broken down hourly and serves to support decisions on where to locate production facilities.
The results in the area of economic efficiency include information on key financial performance indicators (e.g. net present value, return on investment, amortization period and turnover), on the hydrogen production costs (broken down by investment costs, fixed and variable operating costs and CO2 costs as well as taxes, fees and levies) and on the utilization rate of the installed plants (in full load hours for each plant).
The results in the area of societal benefits include information on the expected regional value added directly from operation of the infrastructure system (broken down into regional net income, regional profits and regional share of income tax and trade tax) and the amount of CO2 emissions saved through the use of hydrogen as well as the avoided external costs as a result (CO2 emissions, NOx emissions of the transport sector).
Additional function: Stress test
Together with the actors from Steinfurt, a “stress test” function was defined, as a supplement to the main function, which allows quantification of the effects of changing framework conditions on the economic viability and societal benefits after the H2 infrastructure has been put into operation. In a third step, the users of the scenario calculator can themselves identify which economic and ecological consequences there are as a result of changing the regional framework conditions during the up to twenty year operational phase of the H2 infrastructure system. Additionally, this makes it possible to see how much room exists for improving the results of operation.
The changes to basic assumptions of the regional context can be chosen individually or in combination. Their respective impacts on the ten economic, environmental and social system indicators (KPIs) are indicated by the percentage changes to the ideal value, that is the initial value, for better comparability (see Fig. 3).
Fig. 3: Key performance indicators with adjustments in the stress test (external events)
Abb. 3.png
In order for the actors in politics as well as in society to develop an understanding of how the establishment of the regional hydrogen economy can also be actively supported, the stress test also includes the possibility of defining profit expectations and then of seeing based on selected adjusting screws where developments must be steered (target costs or willingness to pay). In Figure 4, as an example, the break-even case for two posed questions is shown.
Fig. 4: Break-even conditions in the willingness to pay of the markets or the reference diesel price
Abb. 4.png
Summary and outlook
The hydrogen scenario calculator has been utilized in the fifteen HyStarter Regions of the HyLand federal support program since the beginning of 2022 and assists the regional actors in their decision-making and in formulation of their respective target systems for year 2030. By informative exchange with the participating regions, the suitability and topicality of the tool was able to be verified. The questions formulated by the Steinfurt actors with respect to the hydrogen economy were confirmed by participating actors in the other regions as being complete and effective for their needs.
The chosen approach of complete parameterization of the input values makes it possible to comprehensively map the current energy crisis by, for example, limiting the availability of natural gas for hydrogen production and flexibly adjusting the energy prices. Also the heat waves and water scarcity experienced in summer 2022 were able to be modelled by a limiting of the water resources and showed the actors alternative paths for electrolytic hydrogen production.
The H2 scenario calculator is to be made available to all interested regions by the end of the year. In the meantime, interested Hydrogen Regions can contact the project team and get a trial access (szenarienrechner@spilett.com).
For green hydrogen, coming from Canada and Australia and being unloaded at the planned LNG terminals for example, to be able to be distributed throughout Germany, an H2 grid is needed. To encourage a swift realization of this need, the German energy agency dena presented a green paper at the end of August 2022. In it, Andreas Kuhlmann, manager director of dena, stated, “The rapid and reliable development of a hydrogen network is an uncircumventable prerequisite for the urgently needed ramp-up of the hydrogen economy in Germany.”
The proposal is based on guaranteeing “a fair division of risk” between grid operators and future grid users. “Core of the proposal is a safeguard for investments in the initial phase through an ‘amortization account’ as well as a government-set level for network charges such that they are not prohibitive for the first users of the networks.” Further, Kuhlmann said that the first users should “not bear the full cost of the hydrogen network,” because this could result in such high network charges that the economic viability of these initial projects would hardly be feasible.
Advertisements
The grid operators would be commissioned to construct this H2 starter network by both building new pipelines and converting existing natural gas pipelines. The grid operators would use their own funds to pay for the construction ahead of time, while the state would secure the investment by guaranteeing the network operators a return on their investment in the long term.
The project partners had been working toward this moment for years, and on April 28, 2022, the time had finally come. At Saxony-Anhalt’s representation in Berlin, the German gas and water industries association DVGW, together with E.ON subsidiary Avacon, presented the results of their long-term trial in which 20 percent hydrogen was blended into the natural gas grid. As project leader Angela Brandes explained, the project has shown that it “is technically feasible to inject a much higher percentage of hydrogen into the existing gas network than has so far been provided for in the technical rules of the DVGW.”
“In 2045 we can meet Germany’s entire energy requirement with hydrogen.” These were the ambitious words of Gerald Linke, chairman of the DVGW, who was speaking at the results presentation. He continued: “Contrary to widespread assumptions, hydrogen will be available in sufficient quantities. We have been able to prove this recently in our study which was commissioned by Frontier Economics.”
Advertisements
Here, Linke was making reference to the sustainable heating sector analysis published by Frontier Economics in April 2022 (see fig. 1). The report states that in the year 2030 roughly 290 terawatt-hours of low-carbon or carbon-neutral hydrogen will be available. Around 60 percent of this could be green hydrogen from domestic electrolysis and other European countries – a much larger figure than has been quoted previously by most other forecasts.
Based on these figures, the DVGW outlines a scenario in which enough sustainably produced hydrogen is available, which would mean that there would also be sufficient hydrogen gas left for the heating sector. Up until now, green hydrogen has been frequently hailed the “Champagne of the future” and much too good to waste on heating. Should the association be right, existing gas suppliers and DVGW members will be able to continue using the best part of their assets and retain their current market-leading position as the world enters an era of net-zero.
Linke clearly sets out his aims: “Things mustn’t just stop at political declarations on diversifying the energy supply. It’s a case of unburdening the system at all levels while taking into account continuing electrification.” This statement doubtless refers to the move away from the concept of an all-electric world and toward an energy supply system in which molecules are still expected to play a decisive role. In the DVGW’s eyes, eschewing hydrogen in the heating market would be unthinkable.
Section ready for up to 20 percent hydrogen
Evidence that hydrogen heating actually works comes from Avacon. In its H2-20 project, the network operator investigated the use of gas equipment already installed in existing buildings. Appliances of varying ages and designs typical to Germany were operated on gas containing up to 20 percent hydrogen without having to carry out an extensive replacement program. Angela Brandes from Avacon Netz explained: “Over the past few months, we have been progressively raising the proportion of hydrogen in our gas grid in Jerichower Land and have already successfully blended 20 percent hydrogen by volume. This worked perfectly.” The amended DVGW standard G 260 currently allows for 10 percent hydrogen by volume to be supplied to large parts of the existing housing stock if a separate individual assessment is carried out.
“The project has shown that it is technically feasible to inject a much higher percentage of hydrogen into the existing gas network than has so far been provided for in the technical rules of the DVGW.”
Angela Brandes, project leader for H2-20 at Avacon Netz
In all, around 340 households in Fläming have been taking part since December 2021. The central feed-in point for hydrogen in the 22-mile (35-kilometer) section of the network was located in Schopsdorf where over 350 gas appliances are in service, most of which are used for heating. Firstly, all equipment was recorded and checked by the gas and heat institute GWI in Essen and by the appliance manufacturers. Four appliances deemed unsuitable were changed for new and advanced hydrogen-compliant models.
The proportion of hydrogen injected was raised incrementally from 10 percent to 15 percent and then finally to 20 percent. Testing is being carried out over two heating periods – 2021/22 and 2022/23 – with the 20 percent mark already reached in spring 2022. A further 20 percent injection phase is planned to take place over several weeks this winter.
Public meetings were held to keep domestic and commercial customers up to date and involved in the project. This social engagement is said to have been extremely worthwhile. Berthold Vogel from the sociological research institute SOFI in Göttingen, who provided scientific support to the project, confirmed there had been “high social acceptance in Schopsdorf” which is a necessity when introducing this type of new technology.
Environment minister for the state of Saxony-Anhalt Armin Willingmann, who visited Schopsdorf in March 2022, stated: “Valuable pioneering work is being carried out in Jerichower Land that will enable carbon-neutral hydrogen to flow through existing pipes instead of fossil-based natural gas. […] I was able to witness firsthand the kinds of experiences had by the residents, and those experiences were consistently good.” Angela Brandes is in full agreement, saying that all the appliances used in the trial have been “run through.”
DVGW hydrogen database
Meanwhile, the DVGW continues to shift its focus away from fossil-based natural gas and toward hydrogen. In Linke’s words: “It is incumbent upon us to draw up guidelines for hydrogen.” For years the association has been an important certification body, a role it wishes to pursue within the hydrogen sector in future. For this reason an enormous amount of information has been compiled over recent months in order to create a database that provides a complete list of all hydrogen-compatible components. This database is set to go live shortly.
Policy framework
The building sector has a key part to play in the energy transition. One considerable challenge is the target stipulating that every newly installed heating system must run on at least 65 percent renewable energy from 2024. At present, around a half of all apartments in Germany, approximately 20 million households, are still heated by gas.
Zukunft Gas, an initiative started by companies from the German gas industry, had this to say on the matter: “This target imposes an impossible task on hundreds of thousands of households.” That’s why it’s all the more important, said the organization, that hydrogen readiness is officially recognized and a hydrogen-ready standard is introduced for new gas applications. While heat pump production will indeed be increased, it explained, it would take an additional 60,000 installers to be able to fit them.
Additionally, a municipal heating plan has been called for that will give residents an idea of when, for example, their region will be connected to a hydrogen pipeline. This advance notice is necessary, it has been suggested, since consumers will ultimately be the ones who will need to take action by changing to low-carbon forms of heating.
In July 2022, however, the German government announced an emergency program of climate action measures aimed at the building sector. Klara Geywitz, German housing minister, explained that municipal heating plans are due to be addressed after the summer recess so that climate protection measures can be approved in the fall. Patrick Graichen, state secretary at the German economy ministry, said: “Municipal heat planning is important. Local authorities, municipal energy suppliers, will assume responsibility.”
As it turns out, the raft of measures in the German government’s Summer Package was heralded a great political success. Yet both the emergency program for the building sector and a further emergency program for the transport sector drew disappointment. The DVGW critically remarked: “The assumption that pure gas heating systems can no longer be installed because they are not able to meet the required 65-percent-renewables rule for new heating systems from 2024 is simply wrong. Gas heating systems fulfill this requirement if they operate on biomethane or, in the future, on carbon-neutral hydrogen or when combined with other technologies such as solar thermal.”
“I would say the installation of new gas heating systems in this situation is politically wrong and irresponsible. Germany has a higher dependence on gas, oil and coal than other European nations.” We therefore have a duty to quickly release ourselves from this.
German economy minister Robert Habeck
It has since been announced, however, that other appliances can also be used besides heat pumps and that there are to be transitional periods of up to three years. These periods could apply for instance in the event that heat pumps or installers were unavailable for a short time. Hybrid appliances are also to be ranked more favorably. Even if their output equates to just 30 percent, this could still satisfy the 65-percent-renewables requirement. Green gas heating systems that run on biomethane or green hydrogen are also permitted.
Refit kit for gas boilers
Nevertheless, the impression given by heating system manufacturers appears increasingly to be that hydrogen will be used in converted gas boilers within domestic settings in the future. Fuel cell heating appliances such as those sold by Viessmann or SOLIDpower, by comparison, work on a cogeneration principle in that they produce both power and heat from natural gas. Pure heating modules, like today’s natural gas-fired condensing boilers, will be designed “hydrogen ready” which will allow them to run on 100 percent hydrogen once the burner has been changed.
Rainer Ortmann from Robert Bosch told H2-international: “We, together with three/four other manufacturers, have given assurances to policymakers that from 2025 it will be possible to convert appliances within an hour using a refit kit.” This refit kit is expected to be on sale for a few hundred euros.
Hydrogen competence group
In April 2022 the DVGW set up a “hydrogen competence group of the German energy industry” in order to drive forward the use of hydrogen and encourage the ramping up of the market for hydrogen technology. The collaborative group is made up of various institutions that form part of DVGW’s research network, namely the Engler-Bunte-Institut at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the DBI alongside the DBI-GUT in Leipzig and the DBI-GTI in Freiberg, and the gas and heat institute GWI in Essen.
The DVGW chairman Gerald Linke explained: “The mammoth task of converting our supply to carbon-neutral energy carriers cannot be accomplished without the effective transfer and widespread communication of research results.” Spokespersons for the new group are Gert Müller-Syring and Jörg Nitzsche, both from DBI.
The planning and design of floating liquid natural gas terminals in Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven continues to progress. On September 1st, 2022, German economic minister Robert Habeck announced that in addition to the so far four planned government-chartered specialized ships, a fifth floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) is being rented. This fifth FSRU is scheduled to go into operation the fourth quarter of 2023 and will also be conceived for the onshoring of green hydrogen.
Habeck stated: “All these projects we are building are hydrogen-ready and so are suitable for the future, the pipelines and the terminals that are to be built. For the future where we bring hydrogen to Germany so that we’re thinking about a new infrastructure at the same time as a detachment from the fossil age.”
Advertisements
The H2 company Tree Energy Solutions GmbH (TES), founded in October 2021 and based in Wilhelmshaven, expects that the FSRU will be able to import green hydrogen already during the first twelve months of operation. The stated goal of the German ministry for economics and climate protection is to operate the LNG-FSRU “at the Wilhelmshaven location only for the time until the H2 terminal for green fuel gas is put into operation”– presumably by 2025.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
