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Towards a Hydrogen Economy

June 3, 2021 Dr. ir. Peter Lucas

With contributions from:prof. Ad van Wijk, dr. Arvind Gangoli Rao, ir. Chris Hellinga, prof. Miro Zeman, et al.

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Climate mitigationFrom fossil to renewable energy

Solar and wind electricity is cheap:

• Spain 1.000 MW wind park: 2 ct/kWh to €2,9 ct/kWh (announced January 2021)

• McKinsey & Company: renewable and gray hydrogen supply could hit cost parity in the best regions by 2028, and between 2032 and 2034 in average regions (April 2021)

• Bloomberg: solar driven green Hydrogen to undercut gas with prices less than $ 0.01/kWh by 2050 (or sooner) (April 2021)

Solar and wind

potential in

Europe and the

MENA region [Dii

& Fraunhofer-ISI

(2012)]

Size

(MW)

Electricity costs

(€ ct/kWh)

January 2015 200 5.26

May 2016 800 2.69

November 2018 250 2.16

October 2019 900 1.52

January 2020 800 1.28

July 2020 2000 1.11

Tenders for solar farms

for Solar Park Dubai

[Waterstof voor

gebouwverwarming

(2021)]

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Role of Hydrogen • Electricity (grid) is (becoming) the bottleneck: (temporal) mismatch in demand and

supply

– Challenging to connect (future) solar and wind parks

– Negative electricity prices during ‘favorable weather’

• Hydrogen for cost-effective energy transport and storage

– Energy transport thru hydrogen roughly 10 times cheaper than electricity

– Energy transport capacity gas grid roughly 15 times higher than electricity grid

– Cost efficient energy storage hydrogen in depleted gas fields or salt caverns:

• Costs comparable to hydroelectricity and compressed air storage

• Various orders of magnitude cheaper than battery storage

2016 energy

consumption

[EnTranCe]

Gas

Electricity

Annual Dutch electricity production wind and solar

[energieinnederland] Limited transport

capacity

[Energia, Enexis]

4

Hydrogen applications Industry: feed stock, high

temperature processes Transport

(Seasonal) energy balancing Central heating

Utrecht city gas

≥ 50% H2

Leeds city

gate H21

5

Hydrogen applications? • Initial mismatch anticipated between total demand and supply

• What applications/ sectors first? Drivers?

– Emission reduction potential

– Cost efficiency, costs over time, reusing existing assets

– Social acceptance (costs, willingness)

Required H2 in Mt/year

[ETC report on Making the Hydrogen

Economy Possible][Gangoli Rao]

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Towards a Hydrogen economy

• Hydrogen production at sea

• Energy hubs | system of energy

autonomous systems

9 DC/DC Invertors

10 Power to gas (H2)

11 Battery storage

6 Central PV plant

7 Off-shore wind park

8 DC/AC Invertors

5 Local PV Systems

1 Central power plant

2 HV Transmission

3 Substation

12 Multicommodity grid

13 Geothermal source

15

14 Smart control

Higher SO control

1

4

1

5

1

4

1255536871

091

1

1

2

1

3

1

1

1

01

5

1415

14

1

2

5

5

5

3

6 8

7

10

9

11

1213

11

10

4 TSO

4

[Zeman]

[H2@sea]

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Towards a Hydrogen economy Lead company Plan/ project Location Completion

1. Equinor/ Gasunie Blue hydrogen ATR (H2M) Eemshaven 2025/2026

2. Gasunie/HyStock 1 MW electrolyser Zuidwending 2020/2021

3. Nobian/Gasunie 20 MW electrolyser Delfzijl 2022

4. Engie/Gasunie 100 MW electrolyser Eemshaven 2022

5. Lagerwey 2-3 MW hydrogen WT Eemshaven/Delfzijl 2020

6. Lagerwey 4 hydrogen WTs Eemshaven/Delfzijl 2020/2022

7. Emmen partnership 2-5 MW electrolyser Emmen 2020

8. Nobian 200 MW electrolyser Delfzijl 2025

9. Shell & partners Blue Hydrogen TBD After 2024

10. Engie Scaling up 100 MW -> 850 MW

-> 1 GW electrolyser

Eemshaven 2026-2030

11. Proton Ventures et al. Battolyser 15 kW demonstrator Eemshaven 2020

12. SCW/ Gasunie 300 MW water gasification Eemshaven TBDP

roduction/

convers

ion

Lead company Plan/ project Location Completion

14. Gasunie Pipeline Eemshaven-Delfzijl-Zuidwending-Emmen Eemshaven-Delfzijl-Emmen 2022/2023

15. GSP Hydrogen Distribution Network Chemical Park Delfzijl Delfzijl 2019

16. Gasunie/EnergyStock Hydrogen cavern Zuidwending 2023

17. Gasunie/EnergyStock Hydrogen cavern Zuidwending 20252026

19. NAM & Partners Small chain: Reusing infrastructure and energy locations

to connect renewable energy resources

Emmen and other clusters in

Northern NL

TBD

Infr

astr

uctu

re

Investment agenda North

NL: 2.8 billion € [Van Wijk]

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Hydrogen Act Towards the creation of the European Hydrogen Economy

• “Provide visibility to first-of-its-kind projects, and attract funding”

• “Identify regulatory obstacles and bottlenecks for the bankability and market introduction of projects of this kind”

• “Put in place a fit for purpose legislative regime to

govern hydrogen and hydrogen networks”

• “Remove barriers to hydrogen investment”

• “Create a level playing field with other net-zero

technologies”

• “Promote a harmonised approach to hydrogen via

the development of a Hydrogen Act”

As a main tool to

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(Future) H2 infrastructureEU Hydrogen backbone

[gasforclimate2050.eu/ehb]

McKinsey & Company (April 2021):

• Hydrogen transport from North Africa to

central Germany via pipeline could amount

to about USD 0.5 per kg of H2

• Less than the cost difference of domestic

renewable hydrogen production in these two

regions

Capacity 1 H2

line 5~12 GW[HyWay 27]

Hydrogen economy in

R’dam starts with

backbone [PoR]

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Hydrogen Valleys

[Hydrogen Valleys –

Insights into the

emerging hydrogen

economies around

the world]

• Bottom-up

stepping

stones

• Locally

integrated

hydrogen

ecosystems

• Hydrogen

production,

storage &

transport and

end-use

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Potential Hydrogen applications Industry: feed stock, high

temperature processes Transport

Seasonal energy balancing Central heating

Utrecht city gas

≥ 50% H2

Leeds city

gate H21

12

Thank you!

Questions?

Dr. ir. Peter Lucasp.lucas@tudelft.nl06 4249 8373linkedin.com/in/lucaspeter/

Further reading: www.profadvanwijk.com

Thanks to:Ad van Wijk, Arvind Gangoli Rao,

Chris Hellinga, Miro Zeman