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New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
For the nascent e-fuels industry, four steps forward, one step back
4/9/2024
News has come in about development of four e-fuels projects getting off the ground, while a fourth has stalled.
First, a demonstration plant producing 5,000 t/y of green ammonia from variable, on-site renewable power has been inaugurated in Denmark.
The first-of-a-kind plant takes power from a new 50 MW-capacity solar farm and ties into six existing Vestas V80 2.0 MW wind turbines. Its electrolysis and ammonia synthesis loops are described as able to adapt to the inherent fluctuations in power output, helping improve cost-effectiveness.
Ammonia has multiple end-uses, not only as a fuel or hydrogen carrier, but also to help decarbonise industrial processes like steel and cement production.
The Ramme, north-west Jutland plant has been developed by a partnership of engineering firm Topsoe, Skovgaard Energy and Vestas. It has received DKK 81mn (~€11mn) of public funds from Denmark.
Second, development, design, construction and operation of a green hydrogen plant in the central Asian country of Uzbekistan has been supported by a financial package of €58mn from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The funds will buy a 52 MW greenfield wind farm and 20 MW electrolyser from special-purpose company ACWA Power UKS Green H2 (jointly owned by power infrastructure developer ACWA Power and state-owned firm Uzkimyosanoat).
The project will help replace grey hydrogen, produced from natural gas and widely used in the production of ammonia fertiliser in Uzbekistan, with renewable hydrogen. Once operational, the facility is expected to produce up to 3,000 tonnes of renewable hydrogen annually.
Third, RWE has installed a pilot hydrogen electrolyser facility at its Emsland gas-fired power plant in Lower Saxony, Germany. The 14 MW-capacity system, comprising a 10 MW Sunfire alkaline electrolyser and a 4 MW ITM Power proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser, can produce up to 270 kg/h.
Initially, the hydrogen produced in the pilot plant is to be added to the fuel for the power plant’s unit D gas turbine as part of a comprehensive test programme at the site, RWE reports. But from mid-2025, it will also be possible to fill hydrogen-powered vehicles directly with hydrogen from the pilot plant.
It is part of the publicly-funded GET H2 project, which aims to provide publicly-accessible hydrogen infrastructure in a 130 km grid from Lingen to Gelsenkirchen. That project will also see 100 MW of additional electrolysis capacity installed at the site in 2025, rising to 300 MW in 2027, for which RWE has received €490mn of funding.
Markus Krebber, CEO of RWE AG, says: ‘The hydrogen economy is extremely complex. With the core grid, an import strategy, domestic hydrogen production and hydrogen storage facilities we have a target picture of the future. We can see a part of this vision becoming reality here and now.’
Fourth, a Japanese consortium of power generation company JERA and automotive car parts manufacturer DENSO has announced plans to develop and test a high-efficiency hydrogen production process using a solid oxide electrolyser fuel cell (SOEC) utilising waste heat at a thermal power station.
It says: ‘Notably, because hydrogen production will be essential in addressing energy use, the company is applying technology cultivated through the development of automotive systems to the development of the SOEC, which has the advantage of high stability and efficiency.’
That is not its only benefit, it continues. Such fuel cells operate at high temperatures using a ceramic membrane as an electrolyte to electrolyse water vapour and produce hydrogen. The cells require less electricity to produce hydrogen than alkaline water electrolysis, which uses an alkaline liquid as the electrolyte, and PEM water electrolysis, which uses a polymer membrane as the electrolyte, according to the consortium.
It plans to test a 200 kW SOEC starting in 2025, with plans to build units 10 times larger by integrating multiple ones.
Finally, Danish renewable energy company Ørsted has cancelled its FlagshipONE project in northern Sweden. The project was envisaged to produce 50,000 t/y of e-methanol – intended as a green alternative to bunker oil for shipping – from electricity and CO2 generated by the biomass-fired Hörneborgsverket combined heat and power plant.
Ørsted announced a final investment decision on the project in October 2022, when it acquired 55% of the project from original developer Liquid Wind. At the time, it said: ‘FlagshipONE will be Ørsted’s first commercial-scale power-to-X facility and is an important stepping stone towards Ørsted’s ambition of taking a leading position in renewable hydrogen and green fuels.’ However, in an interim results statement last month, Mads Nipper, Group President and CEO of Ørsted, said: ‘The liquid e-fuel market in Europe is developing slower than expected, and we have taken the strategic decision to de-prioritise our efforts within the market and cease the development of FlagshipONE. We will continue our focus and development efforts within renewable hydrogen, which is essential for decarbonising key industries in Europe and closer to our core business.’
