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NETWORK / 28 / DECEMBER 2019 / JANUARY 2020 Why hydrogen-based fuels will be a net-zero essential Matti Rautkivi, director of strategy and business development at Wärtsilä Energy Business, explains why the Finnish company is backing several innovators in the field of hydrogen-based fuels – and why the UK government should do so as well. T he challenge to decarbonise energy systems is faced by govern - ments around the world. In many countries in Europe, we have solved the renewable energy issues around green electricity storage and generation, so our focus must now shi to decarbonising heat and industry. We believe there is a solution the UK is in an ideal position to pioneer – green hydrogen and green hydrogen- based fuels. Current discussions around the "hydrogen economy" oen centre on the idea of replacing the natural gas (methane) in our gas transmission networks with pure hydrogen, or a mixture of hydrogen and methane. The hydrogen would be extracted from fossil fuels, with the CO₂ captured and stored. That discussion also typically acknowledges the complica - tions of transporting a highly explosive gas around the trans- mission network where there is also a risk of corroding steel pipes – a phenomenon known as embrittlement. But at Wärtsilä, our view of the hydrogen economy is based around green hydro- gen, produced by electrolys- ers powered by cheap, excess renewable electricity. This green hydrogen can be combined with waste carbon dioxide, and the two gases are converted into synthetic renewable CO₂-neutral methane that can be pushed into the existing gas network, with no need to develop a hy - drogen pipeline infrastructure. The CO₂ can be captured from the air, from heavily-populated buildings (such as offices or schools) or directly from com - bustion sources. Germany has identified hydrogen as the key technology to achieve carbon neutrality and plans to become the world leader in its development. The German government has an- nounced that 20 new research laboratories will receive a total of €100m a year to test new hydrogen and hydrogen-based technologies for industrial-scale applications. Recently, German power companies RWE and Innogy announced a feasibility study to build a hydrogen plant of up to 100 MW on the site of RWE's Eemshaven power station in the Netherlands. Germany's interest in hydro - gen and synthetic fuel technol- ogy can be linked to its heavy manufacturing sector and the car industry; the latter has been exploring synthetic fuels at the same time as it has advanced electric vehicles and charging. But the UK also has advan- tages in this field, including a more flexible electricity trans- mission network and higher adoption of renewable electric- ity. Renewables are already providing as much as 40 percent of the UK's electricity genera- tion, a proportion that looks set to grow significantly over the coming years. The UK has huge wind and solar resources, in fact in 2018 we saw more than 100 negative- price half hours caused by excess renewables, and these occurrences will be increasingly common as the amount of re - newables on the grid increases. In May last year the UK announced a £20m funding pot to enable the development of hydrogen technology, but much of that has been focused on initiatives for producing hydrogen out of natural gas us - ing Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). A wider approach will be needed if the UK is to build on its advantages. Why hydrogen? Excess renewable power is the key to unlocking green hydro- gen, as it can be used to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysers. The hydrogen then has a vast number of uses. Green hydrogen-based fuels such as synthetic methane can be stored for long-term energy storage to help our flexibility needs, or used to power gas plants or as a replacement for fossil fuels in transport, heating and industry. HYDROGEN FUELS Icelandic company CRI is to produce methanol from hydrogen and CO₂