Weekly Update

Energy Shift: Two big green hydrogen projects announced

Posted onAuthorPeter Koning

Plus: Peter’s take on Teck’s decision; Leveraging smart devices; Wind in Africa

It was not the usual week for me, so a bit lighter on stories. Also, I will be taking a break next week so watch for the next update on March 15.

I normally report on stories showcasing big investment decisions in areas such as renewables and energy storage. However, the big news this week in Alberta and Canada was more of a non-investment decision by Teck to withdraw its application for a new oil sands mine, saying the debate about climate change and resource development placed the project and Teck squarely at the nexus of much broader issues with no path forward. It was all over the news here and interpretations of why it was done vary – from making a political statement, to simply being uneconomic. The timing of the letter was also a subject of inspection, coming just as the Federal Cabinet was to make a decision. It’s not the first oil related project to have been pulled back, at least in part due to policy uncertainty. Large oil and gas projects generally are finding it challenging to make it through sanctioning, whether it is deep water offshore, LNG, oil sands or pipelines. Climate policy uncertainty is only one factor under consideration, yet for these types of decades long projects it wouldn’t be an issue if there was a clear path to economical net zero emission performance, a standard increasingly touted as a must-have. Now…before I make this next statement, I want you to know I support putting an economy-wide price on carbon. A high price on carbon locally can make those net zero pathways justifiable, yet puts Canada at a competitive disadvantage where other producing regions don’t price carbon emissions similarly. Investment and jobs to meet global demand for oil and gas (something for which all of us are responsible) will in this case merely shift elsewhere. So much more can be said, but I’ll stop here and leave you to noodle on it all.

Looking to solutions, a number of technologies would benefit from further collaboration and investment: carbon capture, hydrogen and the reduction of demand for oil and gas – like transport, energy efficiency, and buildings.

Speaking of hydrogen, the building out a green hydrogen economy in the Netherlands took another step forward. Check out the first post. Noteworthy is Australia’s ambition to do likewise. I encourage you to familiarize yourself with how smart devices can help with electrification generally, so I’ve highlighted a couple posts for you. Lastly, take a look at the YouTube video video (last post) contrasting internal combustion engines versus battery electric vehicles.

Enjoy the rest of the posts and as always, I welcome your comments and critical feedback.

Thanks and have a great couple weeks!
Peter

Shell, Gasunie and Groningen join forces for mega wind and hydrogen plant | DutchNews

Comment: A huge offshore wind farm of 3-4 GW by 2030, possibly expanding to 10GW by 2040 is being proposed to supply the electricity needed to make 800,000 tonnes a year of “green hydrogen” a year. To put that in perspective, the same electricity would be enough for 12.5 million households or the total households in the Netherlands, according to the consortium.  Gasunie, the state-owned gas infrastructure company will  transport the green hydrogen to industrial customers in the Netherlands and Northwest Europe. A feasibility study is being kicked off and is expected to be concluded by the end of 2020. By the way, hydrogen is typically made using natural gas in a process called steam methane reforming (grey hydrogen) and if paired with CO2 capture and sequestration, blue hydrogen. Green hydrogen is made using renewable electricity and water in a process called electrolysis.

Granted it is an announcement to study the feasibility, though the Dutch have been giving hydrogen a lot of consideration for a while now with 33 projects conceived to build an entire economy in an area of northern Netherlands dubbed ‘hydrogen valley‘.

A Hydrogen Hub Concept for the Northern Netherlands.
Source: Foresight Climate and Energy

Queensland unveils “gigawatt” scale green hydrogen plans for Gladstone | RenewEconomy

Excerpt: Queensland is set to see a significant boost in its renewable hydrogen industry, with two new projects, to be located the traditional coal and gas hub of Gladstone, set to target opportunities in an emerging export market and the domestic supply of zero emissions gas.

The $1.61 billion H2-Hub, which is being developed by the company The Hydrogen Utility, will be constructed through a staged process, and could ultimately include electrolyser capacity of up to 3,000MW, producing renewable hydrogen and 5,000 tonnes of daily ammonia production.

The multi-billion dollar renewable hydrogen and ammonia production facility will be joined by a new gas injection facility, which will allow the emissions-free hydrogen produced in Gladstone to be blended with the city’s mains gas supply.

Leveraging smart devices – a couple examples worth noting

  • UK’s Sheffield installs thousands of smart sensors to slash energy use | Electrek
  • Many Internet of Things projects fail — PGE’s approach could change that for utilities | Utility Dive

New alliance formed in N.B. to promote development of small nuclear reactors | JWN Energy 

Excerpt: The Atlantic Clean Energy Alliance was announced Monday in Saint John, N.B. Members include Atlantica Centre for Energy, private firms Moltex Energy and ARC Nuclear Canada, NB Power and New Brunswick’s Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development.

New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Ontario signed a memorandum of understanding in December regarding development of the small modular reactor technology in Canada. Canada and the United Kingdom are expected to sign a similar agreement next month.

It is expected to take about 10 years to get a demonstration project up and running. The intention is to then market it around the world, particularly in remote areas.

What Can Cities Do About Congestion from Ridesharing? | GovTech

Comment: This article is what I would call ‘long on admiring the problem’ and short on actual solutions. Congestion pricing was at least one solution offered up.

Other headlines of interest…

Energy Storage

  • Tesla’s massive 1GWh Megapack battery project with PG&E is approved | Electrek
  • Japanese machinery giant bets on cold air to store power | Bloomberg Quint
  • AES, EsVolta secure US$481m financing for respective East and West Coast US portfolios | Energy Storage News

Hydrogen

Solar

Wind

  • China Could Use Offshore Wind to Power Entire Coast, Study Finds | BNN Bloomberg
  • Queensland approves massive 1,200MW wind farm in state pine forest | RenewEconomy

Transport

  • Shell Energy launches EV charging bundle offering 2,000 miles free charging | Current News
  • Ireland buys 600 more hybrid buses. Why not fully electric? | Electrek
  • Los Angeles buys 155 zero-emission electric buses for fleet | AP News
  • Exclusive: Tesla in talks to use CATL’s cobalt-free batteries in China-made cars – sources – Reuters

Transition

  • UK’s Sheffield installs thousands of smart sensors to slash energy use | Electrek
  • Many Internet of Things projects fail — PGE’s approach could change that for utilities | Utility Dive
    Whatever Engie is selling, Corporations are buying | BloombergNEF
  • Cemex targets net-zero concrete by 2050 | edie
  • Consumers Energy pledges net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 | S&P Global Market Intelligence

Finance

  • Vena issues $US325m green bond to help fund Australia battery, solar projects | RenewEconomy

Why Gas Engines Are Far From Dead; Biggest EV Problems | Engineering Explained

This fellow has over 2.5 million subscribers, so he’s worth listening to, even if you might experience cognitive dissonance in the process. It’s a great video that contrasts internal combustion engines versus battery electric vehicles.