What’s taking place with hydrogen in Alberta? The Alberta Hydrogen Roadmap has put us on the “path to constructing a provincial hydrogen financial system and accessing international markets.” In line with the web site Alberta is already the biggest hydrogen producer in Canada, with all of the sources, experience, and expertise wanted to rapidly grow to be a world provider of fresh, low-cost hydrogen. They quote an estimate of the worldwide market to be price over $2.5 trillion a 12 months by 2050 and predict hydrogen will be the following nice vitality export. However then the roadmap prescribes coverage actions that will probably be launched within the coming months and years when time is brief within the race to seize the market.
Then there’s Alberta Innovates’ Hydrogen Middle of Excellence– supposed to speed up expertise and innovation throughout the hydrogen worth chain, closing innovation and help gaps to strengthen Alberta’s hydrogen financial system.
However what’s taking place now in hydrogen growth globally, current conferences in Norway and Italy point out that European international locations are aggressively pouring billions of {dollars} into hydrogen growth – extra aggressively than Canada. The danger is that point shouldn’t be on our aspect as Canada has increased carbon taxes than each European nation however Norway. The time issue is a large threat, based on Grant Strem, Chair & CEO of Proton Applied sciences who attended the conferences in Norway and Italy.
“The emphasis for us is actually the drag on our financial system growing carbon costs will create. The present carbon tax will probably be $170 per ton by 2030. If you happen to multiply the 2030 carbon tax by our present emissions (roughly 275 million tonnes of CO2), the result’s greater than $40 billion per 12 months in carbon tax. So to keep away from that $40 bn per 12 months drag on our financial system, it actually is sensible to aggressively spend money on carbon-negative applied sciences and hydrogen manufacturing is an vitality commodity that we will actually use to switch a lot of our present makes use of to be able to decarbonize.”
As well as, hydrogen will be produced at a decrease value than pure fuel. H2 growth not solely avoids carbon tax, it includes saving cash on vitality manufacturing as properly. We are able to additionally use hydrogen as a major vitality export to fulfill European and international demand. Alberta actually has immense geological sources for producing hydrogen in addition to formations that are perfect for sequestering CO2 that could possibly be repurposed in the direction of hydrogen. When the world market is wanting hydrogen, it is a chance that Alberta wants to maneuver rapidly on says Strem.
Present Alberta plans for hydrogen megaprojects leverage Alberta’s considerable pure fuel reserves mixed with carbon seize and sequestration to scale back the carbon footprint. However since they contain the manufacturing of pure fuel, there will probably be some quantity of emissions and an environmental footprint on the upstream aspect and a few of that will probably be by way of the vitality consumed in drilling because it’s a reasonably energy-intensive course of. Then when tying in, there’s an ecological footprint and disturbance related to that course of. So you possibly can strive your finest to reduce methane emissions upstream, however it’s troublesome to get to 100%.
The intention to seize 95% of the CO2 is a major enchancment and useful from a carbon tax perspective. As well as, one of many causes that Alberta has been driving towards blue hydrogen is so the federal government can proceed to gather much-needed royalties on pure fuel manufacturing. However what about leveraging hydrogen manufacturing that doesn’t contain pure fuel manufacturing immediately however makes use of an O&G firm’s assets- present wells and infrastructure concurrently we develop hydrogen megaprojects?
“Our answer is a course of the place oxygen is injected from the air immediately into an outdated oil and fuel deposit.” says Grant Strem. “That triggers reactions that produce hydrogen in massive portions. The method additionally produces some CO2 within the floor, however it’s all transformed into carbonate rock inside the pore area of the identical oil discipline. So we will get all of our CO2 captured, plus extra CO2 as offered and sequester all of it within the rock inside the similar system. The carbon depth is beneath zero. And our value per unit of vitality is cheaper than pure fuel.”
Strem is seeing this Alberta-developed expertise proliferate in a short time worldwide. The corporate is already doing licence offers in locations world wide. Most just lately, the biggest fuel firm in Ukraine, Naftogaz obtained a 2000-ton-per-day manufacturing license for utilizing Proton’s expertise. The answer is right for firm wells which might be on the finish of their life cycle. As soon as the long run worth of the manufacturing is exceeded by the abandonment legal responsibility on the steadiness sheet, wells have a damaging worth to the corporate that owns them. An organization can select to license the expertise and repurpose wells, or promote their discipline normally for $1.00 and have Proton repurpose it.
It’s an answer that matches wells that haven’t been totally deserted however can work for older oil fields. Strem notes it’s simpler to handle a undertaking or take over a undertaking whereas it’s nonetheless alive however says there are some eventualities the place it might work for an deserted undertaking as properly.
As well as, a lot of the massive outdated oil websites have superb infrastructure together with present energy strains. By putting in a hydrogen gas succesful turbine, the hydrogen is produced and powers an electrical energy producing turbine. The electrical energy is definitely bought onto the Alberta energy market. This is as a result of Alberta has an unregulated energy market. {An electrical} producer can discover an enormous market very readily because of the 10 or 11-gigawatt grid capability. As well as, it’s low-carbon electrical energy.
The method additionally generates massive portions of nitrogen from the air separation unit. To inject oxygen, it’s separated from the air, producing a pure nitrogen stream. Since nitrogen and hydrogen are the components of ammonia, they are often mixed with turbine exhaust warmth facilitating the technology of ammonia, which will be injected into soils for agricultural fertilizer, or it may be a feedstock for different kinds of fertilizer and is definitely transported as there may be already a major infrastructure for distribution.
Strem sees the benefit of hydrogen is that it’s the similar grade of product in every single place. It’s simply H2- whether or not you burn it in a turbine or use it in a gas cell. In his phrases, “You don’t want elaborate manufacturing processes to provide completely different grades of H2 gas like we at the moment use for oil and fuel. As well as, the worldwide export markets eschew merchandise which have a excessive carbon depth. It’s higher to aggressively decarbonize and produce large-scale carbon damaging export merchandise, the place you possibly can put a sticker on it saying this product was manufactured with a damaging carbon depth of X, Y or Z.”
Maureen McCall is an vitality skilled who writes on points affecting the vitality trade.
