Hydrogen for Electricity, Brazil's Carbon Trading Bill, Peru's 1400-yr old canals
Norway supports green manufacturing, UK reverses approval on coal mine, China is controlling steel emissions, US boosting EV production
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Clean Energy Economics - Hydrogen for Electricity
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Clean Energy Economics - Hydrogen for Electricity
In a new paper, the Clean Air Task Force looks into the feasibility of using hydrogen for producing electricity. The current challenges are around storage and transport, and the amount of renewable energy + land needed for large-scale production of hydrogen.
The current levelised cost of storage using batteries is around $150-170/MWh, although batteries are useful for short duration (<4 hours). Storage costs using hydrogen are more than twice this number.
The levelized cost of storage (LCOS) via electrolytic hydrogen produced from surplus clean electricity is estimated to be in the range of USD 350 – USD 470 per MWhe while the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) from a power plant operating on low carbon hydrogen from an autothermal reforming (ATR) hydrogen plant is estimated to be in the range of USD 300 – USD 400 per MWhe.
More insights from the paper
Burning hydrogen for power generation is not a major technological challenge - Hydrogen-rich gas mixtures have been used in combustion engines before
current commercial offerings from the major turbine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can operate on up to 30%–100% ratios of hydrogen/natural gas (by volume)
NOx (nitrogen oxides) emissions are a major concern - more for hydrogen than natural gas. (Read more about this in our recent post on hydrogen-powered combustion engines)
Biggest challenge is storage
three times the volume of hydrogen is needed to store the same amount of energy as a given volume of natural gas at similar temperatures and pressures, and approximately three times the compression energy is required for hydrogen to deliver the same amount of energy compared to an equivalent volume of natural gas… A 100MW simple cycle plant would consume approximately 2700 tonnes of hydrogen to run at 100% for a period of two weeks
Cryogenic storage is being considered, but is expensive due to the energy needed
For large-volume storage, most cost effective option may be “underground seasonal hydrogen storage (USHS) with a dedicated transmission network connecting the power stations”. (More on storing hydrogen underground)
Round trip efficiency (RTE) is defined as the “percentage of electricity input into a system that is later retrieved”. This is 24% for green hydrogen - that is, 76% electricity is lost along the value chain
to generate sufficient hydrogen to run a 418MW combined cycle plant at baseload operations, one would require 1.7GW of electrolyzers and approximately twice the capacity of electricity generation (~3.5 GW) from a combination of solar and wind and a capital investment of almost USD 8 billion not to mention extensive land use and transmission infrastructure. The capital invested just to generate the electrolytic hydrogen would exceed capital required for the combined cycle plant by a factor of 10.
Comparing emissions -
for natural gas used in a combined cycle plant without carbon capture - 413 kg CO₂/MWhe
for hydrogen produced from natural gas via steam reforming and with a 94% carbon capture rate - 112 kg CO₂/MWhe
for green hydrogen produced using 100% renewable energy - 1 kg CO₂/MWh (assumed supply chain emissions, since there are no emissions from energy use)
Cost of producing hydrogen from natural gas, with carbon capture (also called blue hydrogen) - USD 1.9/kg
The paper also calculates a carbon abatement cost - how much is spent to avoid the emissions from using natural gas, by using green hydrogen for generating electricity, divided by how much of emissions are avoided. This cost depends on
the difference between price of natural gas (assumed to be USD 3/MMBTU) and price of green hydrogen produced from 100% renewable energy (assumed USD 4/kg)
carbon emissions intensity of natural gas supply chain
The calculated carbon abatement cost is around USD 360 per tonne of avoided CO₂. When hydrogen produced from natural gas, along with carbon capture, is considered, the carbon abatement cost jumps to USD 400-680 per tonne of avoided CO₂.
Utility Dive | Hydrogen in the Power Sector: Limited Prospects in a Decarbonized Electric Grid, June 2024 (PDF)
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Peru is restoring 1400 year old canals built in pre-Incan times to “collect water from the Andes in basins and channel it down into the towns and cities through canals under and above ground”. About 32.5km of already restored canals now contribute more than 3 million cubic metres of additional water to the groundwater network. GIZ
Norway has introduced a €437 million Green Industry Financing Fund (GIFF) that will offer loans at ‘better-than-market terms’ for production of batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, heat-pumps, electrolyses, and equipment for carbon capture and storage, and the inputs and raw materials for these.
Both houses of the Brazilian congress are debating a bill for the formation of a regulated carbon market that will cover companies emitting over 10,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually, in sectors like steel, cement, chemicals, aluminium. The scheme will operate like the European ETS, but with one change.
In addition to being able to purchase credit from public auctions under the regulated marketplace that will be run by the federal government, companies will also be able to acquire voluntary credit obtained through specific projects that have been proven to capture carbon by natural means. This interoperability means that assets from the voluntary market could migrate to the regulated market.
The proposal is attractive for companies in the short-term, but many credits associated with afforestation/avoided deforestation carbon projects have been found to be worthless in recent years.
Another key issue in the debate is the potential exclusion of the agriculture sector from carbon pricing - agriculture and livestock farming (for beef, especially) are a large part of Brazil’s economy. Until now Denmark is the only country that has announced it will tax emissions from rearing livestock (cow, sheep and pigs) from 2030. More on Brazil’s carbon market bill from Dialogue Earth.
Britain has reversed the approval for its first new coal mine in decades, after a recent Supreme Court ruling favoured citizens who claimed that emissions from the use of oil extracted from a proposed new oil well must be considered in the environmental impact assessment of the oil drilling project. Reuters
China is making significant efforts to reduce steel industry emissions - no new coal-based steel projects were approved in H1 2024, and there’s a push for recycling scrap using electric arc furnaces.
Researchers at China’s Institute for Global Decarbonization Progress (iGDP) said last week that China’s steel industry could face up to 5.9 billion yuan ($811.09 million) in total CBAM levies by 2030, depending on how much it cuts emissions.
Traditional blast furnace steel could face levies of around 250 yuan per ton by 2030, but scrap-based EAF would not yet face any additional charge, it said.
The US is providing $1.7 billion in funding to help convert at-risk or shuttered automotive facilities into those for EV manufacturing. DoE Press Release
The UK is using AI to digitise 10,000 years worth of hydrological data stored on paper charts, microfilm and punch tape. GOV.UK
Many US universities are looking into using closed-loop geothermal systems for campus heating and cooling. Facilities Dive
Norway-based Kumiko is exploring and mining 5 battery minerals - nickel, copper, cobalt, lithium and graphite - in ‘Tier 1 jurisdictions’ like Norway, Sweden, Finland and Canada to ensure sustainable and ethical sourcing of materials. The company also plans to test refining the ores onsite, to produce battery-grade materials. Innovation News | Kuniko
Brazil generated 89% of electricity from renewable sources (mainly hydro, followed by wind and solar) in 2023. ET Energy
Current global hydrogen production capacity is at 0.5 million metric tonnes, and about 10 million metric tonnes is “past FID (final investment decision) or in planning stages” as per BloombergNEF. The US is expected to be the single largest H2 producer by 2030, followed by China and Europe.
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I’m the maker of SummaryWithAI.com. You can find me on Twitter and LinkedIn. I also blog sometimes on Floating Coordinates.
Global Climate News: July 10-11
UK restarting onshore wind,
China's draft rule for solar manufacturing,
Inexpensive lead detection,
Commercial-scale eMethanol,
Ammonia in maritime
Global Climate News: June 2-4
South Korea's Hydrogen Power Bidding Market;
Europe's Hydrogen Market Pilot;
IEA analysis on Tripling Renewable Capacity by 2030;
Using fly ash to produce magnesium;
Australia's Solar Methanol plant;