In the wake of Equinor signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Engie last week, the Norwegian company has underlined the need for greater government funding of both blue and green hydrogen projects.

The European firms signed the MoU to investigate the development of blue hydrogen value chains in Belgium, the Netherlands and France. The partners will examine the production and market potential for hydrogen from natural gas, with the CO₂ captured and stored permanently offshore.

But Grete Tveit, senior vice president for low-carbon solutions at Equinor, says that at this stage any low-carbon hydrogen project of scale will need government funding to get off the ground. While everyone would prefer to use green hydrogen, she says, right now it is not possible to switch to a completely green hydrogen supply.

“We need the authorities to move fast and to consider blue hydrogen solutions along with green” Tveit, Equinor

“We need the authorities to move fast and to consider blue hydrogen solutions along with green,” she tells Hydrogen Economist. “When reforming natural gas to hydrogen [and utilising]… CCS, we are cleaning the gas and removing 95pc of CO₂ emissions. If companies and industries have an opportunity to fire with either natural gas or hydrogen at a competitive cost, of course they would choose hydrogen because it comes with less emissions.

“But the fact is green hydrogen is not available in the volumes needed to meet emission goals or to satisfy the Paris Agreement. That is why blue hydrogen is important. To build scale quickly enough to meet the deadlines in the Paris Agreement, it is vital.”

Tveit pointed out that blue hydrogen has the potential to transform gas power plants and the cement and steel industries. “Among the customers we will be talking to with Engie is the power industry, where gas- and coal-fired plants could transfer and use blue hydrogen as the basis of generation.

“Another relevant customer is the steel industry, which uses coal as a chemical agent. Hydrogen can be used instead and then you can dramatically reduce the CO₂ emissions.”

Government support

But Tveit acknowledges that, while the potential for blue hydrogen is vast, Equinor does not yet know how quickly the project with Engie can move forward because much depends on government support and the creation of a market.

“The political view of blue hydrogen differs from country to country. Norway and the UK are more-or-less colour blind,” she says. “In the Netherlands, my interpretation is that green is preferred. When it comes to Germany, the impression is that they mainly want green hydrogen produced in the country—but they realise that blue hydrogen will be needed.

Equinor is pushing ahead with a hydrogen strategy that includes both blue and green, and it is unlikely that Engie will be the only company it partners with in this area. “We are working with several other companies as we expect the hydrogen industry to grow, but entire value chains [are needed] to make this happen,” says Tveit.

95pc – Proportion of CO<sub>2</sub> removed by CCS

Tveit says that trying to develop demand and supply at the same time is going to be a hard balancing act but she is confident the company, and the industry in general, can pull it off.

“I think what happened with the Longship CCS project is a good example of this,” she says. “The Norwegian authorities actually created the value chain by putting money into the transport and storage of CO₂ as well as providing funding for the capture sites.

“We do not see that in the hydrogen value chains. So, what we are trying to do, for example in the UK, is work with several companies to establish hydrogen value chains.”

But as ambitious as private companies want to be, they can only do so much. Tveit says that Equinor and its partners are very positive to the approach that the UK has taken on hydrogen, and that governments elsewhere in Europe should look to the UK and push forward with blue hydrogen to meet their own ambitious zero-emission goals.

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Author: Che Golden