Interesting read, albeit from those with a vested interest in keeping the gas pipe infrastructure intact and making profits...
Lets pick out a few pieces.
But would require about 2.7x the electricity generation at the source for the same heat in a household vs a heat pump. So not an efficient use of renewable energy. If they want to transition everyone away from Natural gas heating where is this 2.7x greater generation going to come from to electrolyse water instead of run heat pumps ?Green hydrogen is becoming economically more viable due to the declining costs of renewable energy as well as of electrolyzers. Linking up all elements of the energy system with hydrogen promises to deliver efficiencies, cut carbon emissions, and increase the robustness of energy systems while ensuring security of supply.
This is an interesting snippet of information but doesn't include the approx 2.7 times advantage of heat pumps - you just don't need to transport as much energy to operate a heat pump. Also it doesn't give any indication of how suitable the current grid backbone is to carry all the additional power required for heating or what upgrades might or might not be needed. Power carrying ability of a "standard" size gas pipe vs a "standard" overhead line is a bit of a meaningless comparison on its own.The electrical transmission system is an important backbone for the transportation of renewable energy across countries. Ideally, this is complemented by the gas system: A standard pipeline can transfer up to ten times as much energy as a 380-kilovolt twin overhead power line with a rating of 1.5 gigawatts, at about one fourteenth of specific cost.
I don't like the way they're essentially brushing aside the worry of Hydrogen embrittlement. It's a very real problem and something that is dealt with a lot in rocketry for example and there is a long track record there of the use of Hydrogen. They also fail to mention the porosity of normal steel pipes to Hydrogen. A significant percentage of the gas in the pipe network will simply diffuse into the surrounding environment, which is certainly not ideal.Another factor is the integrity of the steel pipes and fittings. Depending on the quality of the steel and potential exposure to atomic hydrogen, in principle, embrittlement can accelerate propagation of cracks, reducing the pipeline’s service life by 20 to 50 percent. This is only likely, though, if the pipeline already has fractures and is subjected to dynamic stresses due to fluctuating internal pressure while at the same time being exposed to atomic hydrogen. The confluence of all three factors seems unlikely, however: Under normal operating conditions, there should be little load alternation, and only molecular hydrogen (H2) is conveyed.
Yep.Some adaptations are nonetheless required. To compress the hydrogen to the operating pressure of the pipeline, compressor stations are required along the way. If hydrogen is mixed with methane and the existing compressors for natural gas are kept in place, some parts might need to be adapted, depending on the admixture of hydrogen. If the share of hydrogen exceeds 40 percent, the compressors will need to be replaced. A complete switch to a 100 percent hydrogen pipeline requires installing new and more turbines or motors and more powerful compressors to deliver the three-times higher volume flow of hydrogen compared to natural gas.
So it's just a feasibility study at the moment with a transition not expected for at least 10 years, if it happens at all, which I think it won't.Since major milestones of such a large scale hydrogen energy system transition are not expected in Germany before 2030, the first pilots to convert existing pipelines to hydrogen duty are already under consideration and the hydrogen infrastructure should be built up in parallel with existing gas assets.
Says the CEO of a gas transmission network.Nowega’s CEO Frank Heunemann believes that the German hydrogen strategy has set the right priorities. “Now it is important to set the concrete framework conditions as a basis for the development of green hydrogen as a fundamental element in the energy transition,” he says.
The article is a good example of those already in the Natural Gas ecosystem looking around to see if they are still relevant in a post natural gas environment and finding that yes, they could, in theory still be relevant by using Hydrogen, but the real question is a level above that - is using gas for home heating at all the right direction in the future or should it be electricity and heat pumps, and you're not going to get an honest answer to that from anyone in the gas industry.