CASE STUDY 1 TAPPING HYDROGEN’S POTENTIAL

H2X is one of the newest members of GasNZ and its small team are drawing on their past experience in the oil and gas industry to provide solutions for the manufacture, transport and storage of hydrogen. Director Thomas Wiseman says hydrogen is currently in a similar space to what solar energy was in 2012, with it beginning to be commercialised as a product, but yet to achieve mass production levels.

“The cost hasn’t started to come down yet, but it is set to through 2023 for our products and we hope to soon have a competitive hydrogen offering with renewable gas,” he adds.

“The government decided to ban offshore oil and gas exploration and we started looking to the future and identified hydrogen as a likely area we could use our skills and have built an offering that can be scaled up to meet commercial or domestic gas demand.

“I’m positive there’s going to be a great niche of hydrogen use cases in New Zealand but at the same time it’s not going to be just one energy source out there.”

Wiseman says the company’s vision is interconnected energy and gas infrastructure, using green hydrogen to supplement up to 20 per cent of a biogas and natural gas mix.

“This will increase the renewable gas supply to Kiwi households and businesses, offering versatility for the entire energy network.”

He believes key challenges to the uptake of green hydrogen will be regulations and political will, with a gas transition plan currently being formulated by government officials.

“We don’t have certainty renewable gases will be seen as the way New Zealand is going to go. It’s highly likely it will be, but we have no certainty around that yet,” he notes.

“It’s a chicken-and-egg scenario. We have access to make hydrogen relatively cheaply but we’re waiting on use cases to pop up and for regulations to be formed, so it’s still early days.” years as companies start producing more and the commercial and environmental opportunities are better understood.

The use of blends of renewable and fossil gas is also set to rise in the short term, which in turn should help drive further investment in the sector.

“Gas is changing and it will take a mix of gas energy to get Aotearoa to net zero carbon,” notes Carson.

Making the transition

The government’s forthcoming gas transition plan considers transition pathways for the fossil gas sector, such as renewable gases, Carson says. “GasNZ is focused on these opportunities, while ensuring natural gas and LPG remains available to the millionplus direct gas users as we make the switch.”

She says while current infrastructure does not require upgrading to start