Clean, green and everywhereDoes the missing link in the energy transition already exist?

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Renewable electricity has a critical role in cleaning up our energy system. However, it can’t carry all the world’s energy demand on its shoulders.There is an emergent technology that can lift the weight renewables can’t. However, the majority of the world isn’t using it. We’re referring to low-carbon hydrogen, the inexhaustible energy carrier that can be produced using renewable electricity. It has the potential to transform the energy landscape. But so far, its adoption has been slowed by doubt.

The science is clearHumanity is addicted to carbon to satisfy our appetite for energy. But it’s catching up with us. Fast. The Paris Agreement has committed the world to limit the warming of the planet to a targeted 1.5°C. Its intent is to reduce climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply and economic growth. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), our response requires rapid and far-reaching transitions

The naysayers claim it’s too expensive and too hard to transport. Many also say that it’s too inefficient to break free of its long-held mantle as the ‘next big thing’.We disagree. The world needs low-carbon hydrogen.

in energy, land, urban infrastructure and industrial systems. These transitions must be unprecedented in terms of scale and imply deep emissions reductions in all sectors, a wide portfolio of mitigation options and a significant upscaling of investments in those options.Tallying approximately 80% of global emissions, the world is looking to heavy industry - the energy, chemicals and resources sectors - for a response.

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No single technology can solve this problem

“Electrification, renewable energy and energy storage will get us part of the way through the energy transition. We’re already seeing vast investment in renewable energy technology which is transforming the power sector at a rate we haven’t seen in a long time.

“However, even with such a rapid deployment of solar and wind, electrification can’t do everything. In fact, it will likely only meet about half of our expected final energy usage. We need something else to fill that gap.

Green hydrogen is clean, green and everywhere. It’s a perfectly green cycle; you can make it everywhere and you can use it everywhere.

Frank Wouters

Today, cheap and reliable fossil fuels power our industries and fuel our transport. This won’t change overnight, but we must position for a future where emissions are considerably lower than they are today.

What if we could put a dent in the problem by revolutionizing industries that don’t have an obvious path to decarbonize, such as steelmaking, fertilizer and heavy transport?To do this, we need to change the way we’ve done things for decades.

Mr. Frank Wouters, our Global Lead for Low-Carbon Hydrogen, explains why we need a multi-pronged attack on emissions.

Enter low-carbon hydrogenToday, hydrogen is almost exclusively produced through fossil fuel processes. This is called grey or brown hydrogen, and the process of producing it releases carbon straight into the atmosphere. However, our future lies in blue and green hydrogen.Blue hydrogen still depends on fossil fuels to produce hydrogen, but it occurs in plants equipped with carbon capture and storage. This makes it possible to reduce the carbon sent into the atmosphere, with technologies we’ve used for a long time.However, the greatest potential lies in the third alternative; green hydrogen. This is an inexhaustible energy carrier that can be produced using renewable electricity and a piece of equipment called an electrolyser.

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It’s simpler than you might think.Green hydrogen starts its life as renewable electricity generated by a wind turbine or solar panel. This means it can be produced wherever we harness the sun and the wind.Once generated, this electricity is transported to an electrolyser, which splits water into oxygen and hydrogen. The best bit? There are no emissions from this process.

CHP

Enable large-scale renewables integration and power generation

Distribute energyacross sector and regions

Act as a buffer to increase system resilience

Decarbonize transportation

Decarbonizeindustry energy use

Decarbonizebuilding heating and power

Serve as feedstock

Once produced through electrolysis, the hydrogen can be stored, transported and processed for a growing range of applications.

How green hydrogen works

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What low-carbon hydrogen can do

Well, it’s already ‘doing’, but we’re only seeing a glimpse of its conceivable range of applications.Wouters explains.

Hydrogen is nothing new. It’s currently involved in many commercial applications. We use it in ammonia production, in refineries and as a feedstock for chemicals.

However, the greatest potential of low-carbon hydrogen is for industries such as steel, aviation and long-haul sea and road transport where there is no obvious alternative to decarbonize. The processes of these industries will have to be tackled for companies to maintain their social license, and low-carbon hydrogen is one way to transform them.

Green hydrogen can also be a tool to deal with variability in electricity systems. When excess solar and wind power floods into the grid, it can be converted into hydrogen which can be used elsewhere or even to produce electricity.

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Dr. Paul Ebert, our Vice President of New Energy and Networks, takes the baton.

“The big advantage of hydrogen is that it burns clean, leaving only water vapor behind. For industrials that require high-temperature heat, such as foundries and glass and steelmakers, this could change the way they generate heat. It takes the carbon out of their processes.

There are also opportunities to use hydrogen to fuel both heavy transport like trucks, rail and even aircraft. We’re helping explore the potential of this in a project we’re involved in for the Port of Auckland, which will trial fuel cell vehicles in transport powered by hydrogen.

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We have a head start

Once low-carbon hydrogen is produced and stored, it needs to be transported. Fortunately, transportation routes don’t always have to be built from scratch.

Wouters explains how existing infrastructure can fast-track hydrogen’s role in the energy transition.

“One of the main drivers we’re seeing now, especially in places with well-developed natural gas networks such as Europe, is the potential of hydrogen piggybacking on gas infrastructure that already exists.

“This becomes even more compelling considering the struggle to build new fixtures to accommodate the energy transition. If we take Europe as an example, we’re going to have massive amounts of new offshore wind in the northern parts of Europe and additional solar in the southern parts. However, we don’t have the infrastructure to take that to the load centers.

“This is a massive opportunity that will significantly reduce costs in the hydrogen industry. And we can also ease the burden on the need for additional overhead power lines, which face lengthy permitting procedures.

“If we can turn that electricity into gaseous hydrogen, we could use the existing gas grid to transport it. There are thousands of kilometers of gas pipelines that are already available.

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The appetite is growing

Commercial applications of hydrogen are nothing new to the energy, chemicals and resources industries. However, we’ve seen the landscape change as the energy transition gains momentum.Carbon-intensive heavy industrials like oil refineries and petrochemical plants are now taking leading roles in low-carbon hydrogen projects across the world. Ebert gives a glimpse of what we’re seeing at the leading edge of the industry.

“There is a lot of interest in low-carbon hydrogen across all our sectors. In particular, we’ve seen owners of gas pipelines looking for a decarbonized component of their business, oil refineries looking to go green, ammonia and fertilizer manufacturers wanting to reduce their reliance on gas suppliers as well as businesses looking for ways to use excess renewable electricity.

“However, these applications are just scratching the surface. There are virtually unlimited ways the world can use it.

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From PowerPoints to power plantsWhat needs to happen for low-carbon hydrogen to fulfill its potential in the future energy mix?

“What has been missing from the sector is leadership. Low-carbon hydrogen can pull together the different technologies we’ll use to tackle the energy transition. However, to get the price point right, you need to build at scale. The industry needs to start building plants to grow its confidence and expertise.

“Hydrogen is the glue that can hold this future low- carbon construct together. There has always been that missing element, and this is it.

Ebert shares his view.

“We’ve seen this through our involvement in a new green hydrogen to ammonia facility being planned for an existing ammonium nitrate facility for Queensland Nitrates in Australia. Through a hybrid of wind and solar plant, some tricky ways of operating the plant to match that supply, and support from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to help kick-start the industry, we’re expecting this project to reach commercial returns.

“It’s a complex industry with many intricacies. But that very much aligns with our DNA. Our business is built on solving complex problems and we have all the pieces of the puzzle. It’s now a matter of putting them together to generate the momentum that will make it unstoppable.

Like anything new, there are some challenges. But the rewards are so vast that we have no choice.

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For more information, please contact Frank Wouters. frank.wouters@worley.com