Hydrogen at a glance
With its System Integration Strategy, published in July 2020, the European Commission has outlined an innovative path to achieve full decarbonisation of the energy sector by 2050, which aims to overcome the opposition between individual energy supply chains in “silos”, and move towards a system that can make the various infrastructures communicate.
- A gradual transition from blue hydrogen to green hydrogen
- 40 GW of electrolyser capacity
- 333 TWh of green H2
In any case, green H2 is expected to reach technological maturity after 2030.
As regards future changes, sector coupling (i.e. investing in ways for the electricity and gas networks to communicate) and more specifically power to gas (P2G), are the most crucial challenge in developing hydrogen. P2G technology, using electrolysis, is able to transform excess renewable energy into storable renewable gas (green hydrogen or synthetic natural gas). This solution makes it possible to decarbonise some consumption while still ensuring the seasonal flexibility required by the national energy system.
Infrastructure investments in this area seem to be encouraged by the Commission. However, it has not yet been defined whether the assets for green H2 production and renewable gas storage will be regulated or market-based.
Awareness is also growing within Italy that in order to decarbonise some sectors that cannot be electrified (such as industry and heavy transport), currently powered by natural gas or fossil fuels, it will be necessary to develop a “clean gas” chain, i.e. biomethane and green H2, so as to gradually replace CH4 with low carbon-impact gases. In any case, it is understood that in these sectors, energy efficiency initiatives will also have to increase significantly.
Steps of progress at european level
The EU strategies published in July 2020 set out a path for integrating all clean energy carriers, including hydrogen, within the decarbonisation process. Three macro-phases of development have been identified for hydrogen.
Over the short term (2025 -> 2030), “blending” may be sufficient to accommodate an increased production of green gas, which can be introduced into the networks via the transport network. It may however subsequently become insufficient to meet decarbonisation targets.
Over the medium to long term (2030 -> 2040), this distribution will be accompanied by the gradual development of “full-hydrogen” networks that will emerge from the first “hard-to-abate” sites, i.e. industrial uses in which hydrogen is a non-substitutable element in achieving decarbonisation.
Over the long term (2040 -> 2050), full-hydrogen islands will start to interconnect and also involve the household market.
The Hera Group’s goal
Thanks to the Group’s nature as a multi-utility and its diversified business portfolio, intra-business synergies provide an opportunity and a competitive advantage for Hera. By making processes circular, the waste produced in one business area becomes a resource for another, in a win-win game that makes the Group’s performance unique.
In hydrogen production, an integrated operator such as Hera has significant advantages. Economically competitive and sustainable production becomes possible: in the electrolysis process, low-cost green energy from WtEs which is no longer incentivised can be used to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen released can be used in the waste water purification process in the water cycle (in which Hera is the 2nd largest operator in Italy), while the hydrogen produced can be stored or distributed to end customers through the gas distribution network (in which Hera ranks 3rd nationally), creating a renewable and environmentally harmless energy cycle.
The Group’s strategy
The Group contributes to carbon neutrality through a series of actions designed to supply production sectors and communities with renewable and green energy. Since energy produced from renewable sources can be converted into electricity, but not all activities can be electrified, it is important to develop “green” fuels such as biomethane and hydrogen to promote decarbonisation.
Main areas of intervention and operation flows:
Research & Development, headed by the Innovation Central Department, which serves to verify the initial feasibility of the various initiatives. Once the analysis is complete, the projects are assigned to HERAtech for the following stages.
Impact analysis, concerning the effect that hydrogen will have on infrastructures in order to give shape to any necessary interventions, is being carried out by Inrete, Herambiente, HERAtech and Hera Comm.
Market analysis to identify potential buyers and their needs, is carried out by the Energy Management structure.
Areas and possible uses of hydrogen
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Raw material: to produce fertilisers and in refinery processes
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Energy: to produce fuel cells
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Storage: for storage and later distribution via the gas network
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Fuel: to fuel public and freight transport
Hydrogen as storage: power to gas in the Bologna purification plant
The goal:
To set up a semi-industrial scale (1 MW) Power to Gas (P2G) demonstration methanation plant at the IDAR purification plant in Bologna to convert surplus renewable grid electricity into biomethane.
The project involves:
- installing a 1 MW electrolyser for producing hydrogen through water electrolysis
- constructing a biological methanation plant, for converting H2 and CO2 into biomethane
- injecting biomethane, more than 96% methane, into the natural gas distribution network.
The competitive advantage:
Excess non-storable green energy and wastewater, treated in the adjacent purification plant, will be fed into the electrolyser to produce hydrogen, which will be injected into the gas distribution network, after being transformed into methane through the methanation process that converts the carbon dioxide present in the biogas produced by the anaerobic digestion plant found in the purifier. As regards circularity, while the oxygen produced by electrolysis will be reused in the wastewater treatment process, the sewage sludge will be used to feed the methanation reactor in a continuous and mutually integrated process.
Progress:
The project calls for a collaboration between several of Hera’s business units. More specifically, at Hera’s purifier in Bologna Corticella, an innovative plant is at an advanced stage of design that will allow excess renewable electricity to be transformed into “green” hydrogen. This will in turn be fed into the networks, by using the purified water and returning oxygen, biogas and sludge to the water purification process, to obtain a mutually beneficial “symbiosis” between the two plants, with an additional environmental benefit.
Preliminary tests have been carried out on sewage sludge and biogas from the IDAR plant to verify their compatibility with biological methanation processes. Possible plant configurations and renewable electricity purchase scenarios have also been identified, as well as possible suppliers of electrolysis systems. After identifying the area in which to locate the pilot plant within IDAR, Heratech has ascertained that the plant’s location is compatible with the content of the Seveso directive, and the construction authorisation procedure is due to begin shortly. The plant is expected to become operational in late 2023.