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Vanand Meliksetian

Vanand Meliksetian

Vanand Meliksetian has extended experience working in the energy sector. His involvement with the fossil fuel industry as well as renewables makes him an allrounder…

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Germany’s Big Bet On Hydrogen

Germany is going through a remarkable transformation from a fossil fuel-based economy towards a sustainable energy infrastructure dominated by wind and solar power. Although the transition is far from complete, German voters and private companies have voiced strong support for further changes despite setbacks and cost-overruns. Also, technical challenges are arising, which could derail the goal of achieving a CO2 emissions-free economy by 2050.

Berlin, therefore, has recently decided on diversifying the methods with which to achieve its goal. Europe's largest economy will provide 20 new research facilities with $110 million to test new hydrogen-based technologies for industrial-scale applications. Additional funds are earmarked for ‘structural change' regions which are affected most by the energy transition such as areas with mines.

Getting back on track

Germans are staunch supporters of environmentalism and the energy transition. The country has embarked on a long road to free the state of its coal and oil addiction, which was producing 1,000 million tons of CO2 in 1990. Since then, Germany has reduced the emission of greenhouse gasses by almost a quarter. However, in recent years, the pace of decline has stalled. On top of that, the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Japan and the consequential desire to ban atomic energy from the country, has put additional pressure on the country's sustainability goals.

(Click to enlarge)

The good news is that Germany's electricity production from renewables has been rising steadily over the years. The bad news is that improved economic conditions have increased the consumption of petroleum products, which have largely nullified the gains made in the area of sustainability. Renewables currently produce a third of Germany's power, but the gradual phasing out of nuclear technology and coal-fired power plants within the next decades will create a severe technical challenge due to wind and solar power intermittency.

Political challenges

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German policymakers are aware of the weaknesses in their infrastructure due to the energy transition. Wind and solar intermittency create a technical challenge for engineers to maintain a stable flow of power when the sun is not shining or the wind blowing. In most parts of the world, natural gas is designated as the ideal bridging fuel to overcome this problem. Gas emits half the amount of CO2 compared to coal and production can commence relatively quickly when necessary. German policymakers, therefore, are supportive of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline which will deliver 55 bcm of natural gas directly from Russia to Germany. Related: Oil Industry Faces Imminent Talent Crisis

Despite the opposition from European allies and the threat of sanctions from the U.S., Berlin has remained supportive of the pipeline project. The primary reason is the lack of options to maintain grid stability when nuclear and coal power plants are gradually phased out.

However, Berlin has decided to diversify and invest in alternative sources besides natural gas as imports will make it dependent on foreign producers. Hydrogen could be the energy carrier which alleviates Germany from overdependence on external energy suppliers while at the same time providing a solution for surplus energy storage during sunny and windy days.

Betting on hydrogen

Germany is not the first country where significant funds are invested in research and development. In Asia, notably Japan and China, hydrogen is already on the radar of private companies and policymakers due to its apparent advantages. Two technical characteristics, however, have held back the large-scale proliferation of hydrogen-based technologies: associated complexities and security risks due to the energy carrier's high flammability.

Government officials reckon that within the right policy framework and sufficient investment from the private sector, costs for hydrogen-based technologies could decrease the same way as with photovoltaic cells. Related: Light Oil Set To Flood Global Market

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According to Inga Posch, managing director at FNB Gas, "hydrogen is one of the hottest topics in the energy transition in the country at the moment. The interest of the private sector is really huge. Germans have been too focused on the electrification of the economy, so we are starting on the process with a delay."

Although German companies are already investing in new technologies and applications concerning hydrogen, it was German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier remark to make the country "number one in the world" that set the target.

The characteristics of hydrogen could solve the biggest hurdle for Germany to become the first nation in the world to have a fully renewable-based energy system. The country's companies first need to improve cost-effectiveness and develop applications for industrial-scale operations to become energy self-sufficient for the first time in a century.

By Vanand Meliksetian for Oilprice.com

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Leave a comment
  • Douglas Peng on August 12 2019 said:
    "On top of that, the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Japan and the consequential desire to ban atomic energy from the country, has put additional pressure on the country's sustainability goals." Huh???? What does nuclear have anything to do with Germany's sustainability goals? Germany has ruled out using any forms of nuclear energy.
  • Cllr Pollock on August 12 2019 said:
    Very strange to read an article on hydrogen in a serious publication like this and find no mention of the source of energy to be used to liberate the hydrogen from, presumably, water. That process is bound to be somewhat inefficient, meaning the use of hydrogen will increase the demand for energy, no matter from what source.
    Likewise, no mention of its energy density that makes it so much worse as a fuel for transport. In a country using so much lignite - some liberated from beneath demolished villages - hydrogen might be seen as a better alternative. Not sure many will follow down that path...
  • Cllr Pollock on August 12 2019 said:
    Why no mention of the source of energy to liberate the hydrogen from, presumably, water?
    A somewhat inefficient process, so more energy will be needed.
    Germany already relies on lignite - the dirtiest fuel you can find - and liberates it from beneath demolished villages.
    Plus it has a low energy density, so not much good for transport...
  • George Kafantaris on August 12 2019 said:
    High time for Germany to reconsider nuclear power. Only 20% of our electricity comes from nuclear power plants, but that still amounts to 60% of our carbon-free electricity. Wind and solar alone just won’t do. Not only that, but the extra electricity we’re now getting from wind and solar is merely going towards satisfying our insatiable appetite for power. High time then to make a pact with the devil -- nuclear power.
  • George Kafantaris on August 12 2019 said:
    High time for Germany to reconsider nuclear power. Only 20% of our electricity comes from nuclear power plants, but that still amounts to 60% of our carbon-free electricity. Wind and solar alone just won’t do. Not only that, but the extra electricity we’re now getting from wind and solar is merely going towards satisfying our insatiable appetite for power. High time then to make a pact with the devil -- nuclear power.
    Simple prudence dictates that we take the path that will get us there -- and nuclear power plants take years to build. But once completed they can make both electricity and hydrogen at scale. Wind and power might or might not be enough -- or will take us only halfway. With climate change at our heels, it is foolish to take a chance. There is no do-over.
  • Richard Durrant on August 13 2019 said:
    The Great Plains gasification project in North Dakota uses well-proven technology to convert lignite to synthesis gas,part of which is reacted with steam which is already in the exit gas of the converters. This part of the gas output contains hydrogen and carbon dioxide together with some methane and hydrogen sulphide. The carbon dioxide is liquified and pumped to Canada for use in enhanced oil recovery. Germany has lignite which could be processed in the same way. Adding hydrogen containing some methane to the natural gas supply in Germany would be viable up to 15% content. This surely a more sensible approach than hydrogen by electrolysis. That would add intermittent electrolysis to the woes of intermittent generation by renewables. Aldous Huxley highlighted the intermittency problem of solar power in his last novel,around 80 years ago.
  • Tor Marquis on December 15 2019 said:
    Don&#039;t forget that the byproduct of making all that H2 is O2 which can be used to aerate all these hypoxic zones in our waterways that is killing off coastal marine life

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