(Berlin) - In the EU, the conversion of pipelines is imminent: instead of natural gas, hydrogen will increasingly be transported in the pipes over the next few decades. Demand from heavy industry and corporations within the 27 EU member states alone will be around 2050 terawatt hours by 270. About half of this comes from steel production.
Four corridors as starting points
A new study by Agora Energiewende names four industrial centers in Europe from where the development of a European hydrogen infrastructure could begin. The decisive factor for suitability is essentially cheap access to electricity from renewable energies, such as solar power plants and offshore wind turbines. In addition, according to Agora, there is “the essential demand for hydrogen from industrial plants in 2030 and 2050”. From this, locations could be derived in particular in sunny Spain and southeastern Europe, as well as near the coast between France, the Netherlands and Germany as well as Eastern Europe.
The report focuses primarily on five energy-intensive processes: ammonia production, methanol production, iron ore reduction in the steel industry, production of petrochemicals for plastics and fuels using hydrogen, and the recycling of plastics. The authors examined the hydrogen demand for each process.
Retrofitting must follow demand
“The conversion of the European gas network to hydrogen should be based on essential needs,” says Frank Peter, Head of Industry at Agora Energiewende. Smart planning starts from the areas in which hydrogen is already emerging as a technology. These include steel, ammonia and chemical plants. “Otherwise there is a risk of creating an oversized hydrogen network that will drive up costs.”
The analysis highlights in particular the hydrogen needs to decarbonize specific industrial sectors (“minimum hydrogen demand”), the potential hydrogen production volumes needed to meet the minimum demand and finally the possibilities for building a hydrogen supply system to support the European economy independently actual path of decarbonization.
The study "No-regret hydrogen: Charting early steps for H₂ infrastructure in Europe” is available as a free download in English as a PDF (92 pages).
deep link
https://www.agora-energiewende.de/presse/neuigkeiten-archiv/?tx_news_pi1%5Bnews%5D=1809&cHash=983e9e8afa721ca05fea9d6bc67ef920
https://www.agora-energiewende.de/en/publications/no-regret-hydrogen/
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Energy-intensive recycling of plastics is a case for hydrogen © European Union / Dati Bendo
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Cover photo of the study / © Agora Energiewende
