The European Commission has selected the Northern Netherlands to become the leading European hydrogen region and supports establishment of a complete local (green) hydrogen ecosystem covering production, storage, distribution, refueling and final use of hydrogen (Cordis, H2Valley, 2019). In line with the European recognition, the Dutch government has set the goal to establish a hydrogen ecosystem by 2025 that would further expand to Western Europe by 2030. Yet before the European Union nominated the Northern Netherlands as European Hydrogen Valley, the key stakeholders in the Northern Netherlands – industry, SMEs, knowledge institutions and government – committed to the long-term cooperation in development of the green hydrogen market. Subsequently, the three regional governments of the Northern Netherlands, - Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe, - prepared the common Hydrogen Investment Agenda (2019), which was further elaborated in the common Hydrogen Investment Plan (2020). The latter includes investments amounting to over 9 billion euro, which is believed will secure some 66.000 existing jobs and help create between 25 thousands (in 2030) and 41 thousands (in 2050) new jobs.However, implementation of these ambitious plans to establish a hydrogen ecosystem of this scale will require not only investments into development of a new infrastructure or technological adaptation of present energy systems, e.g., pipelines, but also facilitation of economic transformation and securing the social support and acceptance. What are the prospects for the social support for the developing European Hydrogen Valley in the Northern Netherlands and its acceptance by inhabitants? The paper discusses the social support and acceptance aspects for a hydrogen ecosystem in the context of regional experiences of energy transition, including the concerns of energy justice, safety, and public trust that were raised in the recent past.
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In Europe, green hydrogen and biogas/green gas are considered important renewable energy carriers, besides renewable electricity and heat. Still, incentives proceed slowly, and the feasibility of local green gas is questioned. A supply chain of decentralised green hydrogen production from locally generated electricity (PV or wind) and decentralised green gas production from locally collected biomass and biological power-to-methane technology was analysed and compared to a green hydrogen scenario. We developed a novel method for assessing local options. Meeting the heating demand of households was constrained by the current EU law (RED II) to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80% relative to fossil (natural) gas. Levelised cost of energy (LCOE) analyses at 80% GHG emission savings indicate that locally produced green gas (LCOE = 24.0 €ct kWh−1) is more attractive for individual citizens than locally produced green hydrogen (LCOE = 43.5 €ct kWh−1). In case higher GHG emission savings are desired, both LCOEs go up. Data indicate an apparent mismatch between heat demand in winter and PV electricity generation in summer. Besides, at the current state of technology, local onshore wind turbines have less GHG emissions than PV panels. Wind turbines may therefore have advantages over PV fields despite the various concerns in society. Our study confirms that biomass availability in a dedicated region is a challenge.
Overcoming Challenges in local green H2 economies Organizer: Dr Beata Kviatek, Jean Monnet Chair in Sustainable EU Economy, Centre of Expertise Energy / International Business School / Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, the Netherlands One of the main pathways of the current energy transition includes development of regional green hydrogen economy, usually based in the so-called hydrogen valleys. The development of regional green hydrogen economies enables to green up regional industry and mobility, brings new business opportunities for local and regional businesses, redirects regional investments and financial streams, and proposes new avenues for regional education, knowledge, and research institutions. However, the complexity of regional transformation towards green hydrogen economy, poses challenges that require a close cooperation between different local and regional stakeholders at multiple levels, including national and European. What are these challenges in developing regional green hydrogen economies here, in the northern part of the Netherlands, and in other regions of Europe and what are the new pathways to overcome challenges in regional green hydrogen economies? – is the main question of the proposed panel discussion that will involve academics, policy makers, and practitioners from the northern part of the Netherlands as well as some European regions.
In this proposal, a consortium of knowledge institutes (wo, hbo) and industry aims to carry out the chemical re/upcycling of polyamides and polyurethanes by means of an ammonolysis, a depolymerisation reaction using ammonia (NH3). The products obtained are then purified from impurities and by-products, and in the case of polyurethanes, the amines obtained are reused for resynthesis of the polymer. In the depolymerisation of polyamides, the purified amides are converted to the corresponding amines by (in situ) hydrogenation or a Hofmann rearrangement, thereby forming new sources of amine. Alternatively, the amides are hydrolysed toward the corresponding carboxylic acids and reused in the repolymerisation towards polyamides. The above cycles are particularly suitable for end-of-life plastic streams from sorting installations that are not suitable for mechanical/chemical recycling. Any loss of material is compensated for by synthesis of amines from (mixtures of) end-of-life plastics and biomass (organic waste streams) and from end-of-life polyesters (ammonolysis). The ammonia required for depolymerisation can be synthesised from green hydrogen (Haber-Bosch process).By closing carbon cycles (high carbon efficiency) and supplementing the amines needed for the chain from biomass and end-of-life plastics, a significant CO2 saving is achieved as well as reduction in material input and waste. The research will focus on a number of specific industrially relevant cases/chains and will result in economically, ecologically (including safety) and socially acceptable routes for recycling polyamides and polyurethanes. Commercialisation of the results obtained are foreseen by the companies involved (a.o. Teijin and Covestro). Furthermore, as our project will result in a wide variety of new and drop-in (di)amines from sustainable sources, it will increase the attractiveness to use these sustainable monomers for currently prepared and new polyamides and polyurethanes. Also other market applications (pharma, fine chemicals, coatings, electronics, etc.) are foreseen for the sustainable amines synthesized within our proposition.
Groenvermogen is een nationaal groeifonds programma dat de waardeketen van waterstof wil ontwikkelen. In WP3 wordt er in een consortium gekeken naar toepassingen van waterstof. The direct use of hydrogen in various sectors shares common challenges and needs to accelerate its deployment and reduce its costs. Firstly, there is a need for extensive research and development to: - Maximize energy efficiency with minimal pollutant emissions; - Maximize robustness by meeting dynamic performance requirements (especially linked to mobility and local integrated energy systems with intermittent renewable energy generation or energy demand); - Enable a gradual fuel transition and therefore focus on fuel-flexible technologies; - Shorten time-to market of green hydrogen technology - Maximize the life time of energy conversion technologies; - Reduce investment costs.
Green Hydra main scope is to improve policies from 10 regions of different types and levels - national, regional or local - to establish support initiatives and measures for opening the access of SMEs to green H2 development projects, from research programmes to development strategies, awareness-raising schemes, and pilot investments especially focused on involvement of SMEs across the whole hydrogen value chain, including R&D, engineering, manufacturing, consultancy, human resources upskilling and design.The specifc objectives are:- probing the conditions for using green H2 in the key sectors involving SMEs- identifying the potential key factors to activate the involvement of SMEs around the green H2 value chain- supporting for the creation of a production chain involving SMEs- developing new skills, knowledge and communication for green H2 for SMEs- easing SMEs access to fi nance in the fi eld of green H2- upscaling innovations for SMEs related to green H2 products and services
