The journey of hydrogen

In his 1874 novel The Mysterious Island, author Jules Verne gave hydrogen a formative role in the future of energy. But where are we today, almost 150 years later? Join inspire as we follow a green hydrogen molecule’s journey along the value chain to a successful energy future.

Before the journey: The why

Before the journey begins, there is a fundamental question to be answered: Why green hydrogen? While many CO2 emissions can be avoided with direct electrification, electricity alone is not enough to completely decarbonise. Green hydrogen is the only solution for hard-to-abate sectors such as steelmaking, the chemical industry, and refineries, as well as for parts of the heavy-haul transport sector, and thus is the decisive game changer for achieving climate targets.

It is carbon-free and can be used as a gas in industrial processes, as fuel for aeroplanes, ships, buses and lorries, or as a seasonal energy storage system, for example. Intensive research is currently being conducted to test thermal use by admixing in natural gas-operated power plants. Hydrogen increases flexibility in the energy system, thanks to sector coupling, and can be transported over long distances. According to the European hydrogen strategy, the European Union will produce around 10 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030. However, this would not be sufficient to cover demand. Another 10 million tonnes would need to be imported from regions with sufficient generation capacities.

Growing demand in Austria

Today, Austria needs 150,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year. This is still produced almost exclusively as grey (based on natural gas). A demand of 600,000 tonnes of green hydrogen (based on renewables) is expected by 2035. By 2040, domestic demand is expected to rise to around 1.8 million tonnes.

What you need to know about hydrogen

Hydrogen (H2) is the smallest chemical element in the periodic table.

In nature, it occurs in a bonded form (for example, H2O = water).

1 kilogram of hydrogen contains about as much energy as 3 litres of petrol.

Hydrogen is easily transported (for example, as a gas or liquid).

First stage: Production

Green hydrogen is generated from renewable energy using electrolysis. Windy and sunny regions provide favourable conditions for production. The green electricity produced here is used in nearby local electrolysers to split water into its two components – oxygen and hydrogen. Similar facilities can also be found near the sea, where electricity from offshore wind farms is used to generate green hydrogen.

“We are currently focussing on two areas: In addition to local production of hydrogen in Austria and Germany, we are tapping into diversified import routes. This is the only way to secure the long-term supply of competitive green hydrogen,” says Hamead Ahrary, managing director of VERBUND Green Hydrogen. To this end, VERBUND is building up a variety of partnerships in various regions and actively driving the development of large-scale generation projects.

Second stage: Transportation & storage

Reliable transportation is needed to ensure that green hydrogen can reach consumers in Austria in large volumes. Pipelines that are being developed into a Europe-wide hydrogen network by retrofitting or construction are particularly suitable for this purpose. To ensure long-term and diversified security of supply, VERBUND is working on various import corridors to connect production regions with local consumers.

Important projects are also being planned in this country, including the plans of transmission operator Gas Connect Austria to expand the West Austria gas pipeline, the Penta West pipeline and the South-East pipeline. Upgrading the natural gas pipeline system for transporting hydrogen will allow us to link different sources with the consumers in Austria. This would benefit the local economy and industrial clusters in the vicinity of the border as well as the environment. Seasonal storage facilities for green hydrogen also play a key role in the transition to clean energy. The idea is to store excess solar and wind power generated in the summer in the form of hydrogen, allowing it to be used during winter, when demand is higher.

In April, VERBUND and RAG Austria, along with other partners, achieved an important milestone: Underground Sun Storage 2030 was the world’s first hydrogen storage facility put into operation in an underground porous reservoir. This cross-sectoral facility converts solar energy into green hydrogen using electrolysis, and then stores it in a natural gas storage facility in Gampern, Upper Austria. The size of the storage facility equates to the summer surplus of around 1,000 photovoltaic systems in detached houses.

Promising import corridors

In order to meet rising demand in Central Europe in future, green hydrogen will also have to be imported. Currently, three main routes are being pursued:

• Southern route: import via Italy
• Northern route: import via Germany
• Western route: import from Spain

Hydrogen as energy storage

Green hydrogen can be used to store green electricity on a large scale. This opens up new perspectives for the transition to clean energy. The potential for traditional pumped storage facilities in this country has been essentially exhausted. In the future, retrofitted natural gas storage facilities, for example, could store our seasonal capacity in a resource-efficient manner.

Objective: Application

At the end of its journey, the hydrogen molecule will have reached Europe's industry: green hydrogen plays a major role, especially for energy-intensive industries. (Grey) hydrogen is already an important raw material for many industrial processes. By switching to green hydrogen, processes can be decarbonised and European industrial sites can be made future-proof.

In Austria, research is underway on the use of green hydrogen in industry. This journey is just the beginning. Green hydrogen is the future: in 2030, it will provide high-temperature heat for industry, drive heavy-duty transport vehicles and play an important role as an energy storage system. This makes it a versatile energy carrier that is crucial to the success of the transition to clean energy. In 2019, together with voestalpine and Siemens, VERBUND started up the world’s largest pilot facility for the industrial production of green hydrogen as part of the H2FUTURE project. Other industrial projects are in the pipeline. One example is the EU-sponsored Green Ammonia Linz project. Together with LAT Nitrogen, VERBUND plans to build a 60-megawatt electrolyser for the sustainable production of ammonia by 2026 – for fertilisers and melamine, for example. The partial switch to green hydrogen in this project could save up to 90,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.