F EA T URES
Hydrogen: another fuel of the future? With the constant goal of reducing carbon emissions in mind, could switching to hydrogen as a fuel provide the answer? By Adrian Giddings The promise of “unlimited clean
conversion of Vattenfall’s Magnum
energy” that hydrogen fusion reactors
power plant in Eemshaven, the
tion of hydrogen from natural gas from
may provide continues to be the tanta
Netherlands, to run on 100% hydrogen
the Norwegian Continental Shelf and
lising 25 years away that it has been for
for a potential CO2 emission reduction
underground storage of the produced
over 70 years; however, hydrogen as a
of four mt per year, equivalent to
CO2. Gasunie is researching the trans
source of energy isn’t just the stuff of
taking two million cars off the road.
portation and storage of the hydrogen
as yet unfulfilled scientific endeavours
The work on the Carbon Free Gas
Equinor is focusing on the produc
at the power plant.
Power project includes a feasibility
While the technology for producing
study which will look at converting
hydrogen by converting natural gas to
Hydrogen for power
one of the three 440 MW combined-
hydrogen and CO2 is well established,
in the near term
cycle gas turbines at the plant to run
the large-scale value chain required for
In 2017, Gasunie, Equinor and
on hydrogen and also the storage and
a project such as this, which includes
Vattenfall signed a memorandum of
transportation infrastructure required
the need for CO2 capture, use and
understanding (MoU) to evaluate the
for the endeavour.
storage (CCUS), is a different story. It is
and science fiction futures.
hoped that through projects such as this, bringing additional markets into play in the energy system, the high costs of CCUS can be lowered through economies of scale. In 2018, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems announced they were joining the project. The company manufactures the turbines used by the power plant and bring their expertise in developing special fuels for gas turbines to bear, investigating the technical feasibility of using pure hydrogen as fuel. Greening industry Vattenfall’s Magnum power plant where the Carbon Free Gas Power project will investigate conversion to hydrogen fuel.
58 Hydrogen: Another fuel of the future?
Another hydrogen power project involving Vattenfall aims to reduce
