In focus: Hydrogen and CCS – silver bullet or cog in energy transition machine?

As the world turns its attention toward a new/old conflict arising in the Middle East, offshore energy players are seeking new ways to curb climate change and bring us closer to a mellifluous cleaner, greener future. The energy transition process is moving ahead with each passing day but there is no silver bullet in reaching the net zero goals.

In the Netherlands, the final investment decision has been made for the Porthos CO2 storage project, the first such in the country, allowing the construction to start next year.

Porthos, a joint venture of EBN, Gasunie, and the Port of Rotterdam Authority, will provide transport and storage services to several companies in the Port of Rotterdam, including Air Liquide, Air Products, ExxonMobil, and Shell, which will invest in their own capture installations to supply the CO2.

The plan is to store about 2.5 Mton per year for 15 years, totaling around 37 Mton. Porthos is expected to enable the Rotterdam Port industry to emit soon about 10% less CO2. Once operational, it could contribute some 17% of the CO2 reductions targeted for industry in 2030.

Across the North Sea in the UK, a well decommissioning company Well-Safe Solutions has set its eyes on carbon capture, usage, and storage (CCUS) projects with the appointment of the company’s first energy transition manager.

Well-Safe announced on October 17 that it is adding CCUS as well as geothermal project capabilities to its offering with the appointment of Alexa Duncan as the energy transition manager.

“With the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) estimating CO2 storage capacity of 78 billion tonnes on the UK continental shelf alone, there is a clear opportunity for Well-Safe Solutions to apply its considerable expertise when assisting our clients on the journey to net zero carbon emissions,” Duncan said.

In the race to achieve the 5% target for scalable zero-emission fuel (SZEF) goal by 2030, the global shipping industry has made significant progress over the past year, as revealed in a recent report from UMAS, Getting to Zero Coalition, and Race to Zero.

The developments are promising, but as the 2030 deadline looms closer, the need for essential advancements becomes increasingly urgent.

The report highlights the outcome of MEPC 80, which has removed major uncertainty and opened up significant opportunities for the industry to align with the 5% SZEF target and potentially go beyond it.

In an effort to reduce its carbon footprint and pave the way for the decarbonization of the offshore production industry, Yinson Production, together with client Azule Energy, has set out to pilot an offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant on the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel Agogo in Angola.

The plant, said to be the world’s first post-combustion carbon capture unit installed onboard an FPSO, is designed at a pilot scale and will be used as a demonstration unit in an offshore floating environment to assess technical readiness and gain operational know-how.

Weening the world off fossil fuels and developing clean alternatives has proved to be a difficult task even in perfect circumstances. Nevertheless, this week, hydrogen showed that it is here to stay and become one of the frontrunners of energy transition.

In the green marine realm, Japanese Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and several other partners have been granted Approval in Principle (AiP) of parcel layout concept from Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) for hydrogen-powered multi-purpose vessel.

The parcel layout concept encompasses the proposed layout of the liquefied hydrogen fuel tank and other hydrogen fuel-related equipment onboard and the design concept.

According to the partners, this is the world’s first AiP certification for a ship equipped with a low-speed two-stroke hydrogen-fueled engine as the main propulsion engine.

Across the Atlantic Ocean in the US, President Biden and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced seven regional clean hydrogen hubs that were selected to receive $7 billion in ‘Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’ funding to accelerate the domestic market for low-cost, clean hydrogen.

Collectively, the hubs aim to produce more than three million metric tons of clean hydrogen per year, thereby achieving nearly one-third of the 2030 U.S. clean hydrogen production goal, the White House claimed, adding that together, the seven hubs will eliminate 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from end uses each year.

Down Under, the Australian Renewable Agency (ARENA), on behalf of the Australian government, has opened applications for the $2 billion program that aims to catalyze the country’s hydrogen industry.

As explained, projects seeking to produce renewable hydrogen or derivatives at scale can apply for a production credit delivered over ten years to bridge the gap between the cost of producing renewable hydrogen and the market price.

“ARENA has been there at every step of Australia’s hydrogen journey, and we’re thrilled to be delivering this transformative program. With Australia’s abundant renewable energy resources, we’re well placed to be a global leader in the renewable hydrogen industry,” said Darren Miller, ARENA CEO.

In the news from other renewable energy industries, technological advancements continue to take the front seat with one of the latest updates coming from France, where Seaturns deployed a scaled wave energy prototype at Ifremer’s sea trials site in Sainte-Anne du Portzic, near Brest.

Seaturns’ wave energy converter can be seen as a floating oscillating wave surge converter using the principle of the oscillating water column. It works by having mooring lines coiled around the device, covering the surge induced by the incident swell into pitch.

Once developed, the device will be suitable for multiple applications, including electricity generation, desalination, hydrogen production, and for other uses in offshore energy and tourism industries.