The matter in summary – Minister of Industry Jan Christian Vestre has opened a hydrogen plant in Egersund which will produce 140 tonnes of pure, green hydrogen each year. – The hydrogen is produced with pure water power, which means zero CO₂ emissions. – The aim is for hydrogen to replace polluting diesel in larger ships, construction machinery and heavy transport in the future. – The facility marks an important milestone in the development of hydrogen production with low or zero emissions in Norway. – There are already plans to increase production capacity at the plant. – There are still many challenges that must be solved before hydrogen can play a greater role in the energy market, according to a professor of energy transition. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – Here we see the green shift in practice. Industry Minister Jan Christian Vestre stands in front of what can look like any container. Lovorda hails. – This is a big day for Egersund, Rogaland, Norway and the world. Because the newly opened container on Eigerøy is not an ordinary container. On the inside, 140 tonnes of pure green hydrogen will be produced every single year. But what on earth is this? And why such big words? Here are five things you might want to know about hydrogen. Zero emissions of CO₂ Green hydrogen means that he is made with pure water power, i.e. zero CO₂ emissions. It is made from electricity from renewable energy. When the hydrogen is produced, it can be used as fuel, and then only water vapor is released. This is considered climate-friendly as long as the hydrogen is produced in a climate-friendly way. The group that gathered at the opening of the plant believes that green hydrogen is the solution to the clean energy of the future. – It is urgent to get started because we have to reach the climate targets. At the same time as we take care of and create new jobs, so that Norway becomes an industrial energy superpower. Also at the time in the future when the world does not need Norwegian oil and gas, said the Minister of Industry. Industry Minister Jan Christian Vestre believes that it is urgent to get started with the production of green hydrogen. Photo: Philip Kollstrøm / news Hydrogen has several color codes The plant that was opened in Eigersund municipality last week will produce green hydrogen. This is seen as the most environmentally friendly. But there are also other color codes for hydrogen. This means that the hydrogen was produced from another energy source. Blue hydrogen, for example, is made of gas, where CO₂ is captured and stored. You can read about the other colors in the fact box. These are the different color codes for hydrogen There are four colors that are used to categorize hydrogen, based on the origin of the hydrogen – green, grey, blue and turquoise. Green hydrogen is made from electricity and renewable energy. To produce green hydrogen, electrolysis is used from water and electricity. Gray hydrogen comes from coal, oil or natural gas. All the CO₂ from the fossil fuels is released, which is harmful to the climate. Blue hydrogen also uses coal, oil or natural gas, but in a way that does not lead to emissions. The CO₂ gas that is produced is separated from the hydrogen and is stored under the seabed. Turquoise’s hydrogen is relatively new. Instead of separating out the carbon in natural gas as CO₂, one pyrolyzes the natural gas so that the carbon becomes a solid. Source: Sintef.no Can be used on large vessels The dream is that hydrogen will replace polluting diesel in larger ships, construction machinery and heavy transport in the future. There is also hope that hydrogen will become a common fuel for aircraft in the future. – Electric cars have a battery. It works well for its purpose, but will not be sufficient when we are going to implement this technology on heavy transport, heavy excavators and ships that cross the world’s oceans, says Vestre. The ferry MF “Hydra”, which runs the connection Hjelmeland-Nesvik in Rogaland, uses hydrogen as fuel. Photo: Olav Røli / news Asbjørn Torvanger, climate researcher in Cicero, elaborates: – The reason why it is hydrogen that one wants to focus on as fuel in ships, trucks and other larger vessels is that today’s batteries will be too large, heavy and expensive in in relation to the amount of electricity that can be stored to power larger vessels. As long as the battery is dependent on charging at short intervals, it becomes impractical for such heavy means of transport. Expensive to produce But hydrogen as a fuel also has its disadvantages. It costs a lot to produce. – Hydrogen has a large energy loss in production and use, and this results in high costs. Therefore, hydrogen is only interesting when other fossil-free fuels are even more expensive and less practical, such as larger ships and trucks, says researcher in Cicero, Asbjørn Torvanger. Climate researcher in Cicero, Asbjørn Torvanger. Photo: Johan B. Sættem According to an article from Faktisk.no, only 70 percent of the energy that goes into a hydrogen factory comes out as hydrogen. It is not economically profitable to produce hydrogen compared to fossil energy carriers such as oil and gas, according to a report on hydrogen from Enova last year. – Production depends on a lot of electricity or gas use, says Torvanger. The researcher also points out that hydrogen is the lightest and most volatile of all gases. Thus, he must be stored and transported under high pressure so that it becomes demanding to avoid leaks. At the same time, the gas is highly explosive. – Hydrogen must be stored and is transported under high pressure because the volume is large in relation to the energy content. This is both technically challenging and expensive, he says. The production of hydrogen is cheapest with continuous operation, but in periods of high electricity prices, production will not be profitable, according to the researcher. In Eigersund, they want to produce the most when the electricity is at its cheapest. It will take time Mohsen Assadi, who is professor of energy transition, still sees many and large unsolved challenges before hydrogen will flourish in the green shift. – One must be able to produce in large quantities, store in large quantities and distribute in large quantities. It will take time to develop. The professor still hopes that hydrogen will help us solve the climate crisis. Mohsen Assadi, professor of energy transition at the University of Stavanger. Photo: UiS – But if it is to play a larger role in the entire energy market, we are probably talking about 20–30 years. Ambitions are big in Egersund, and there is already cleared space in the area to produce much more hydrogen. – Today we are submitting an application to the hydrogen bank and want to increase the capacity from one to seven megawatts. Then from around 140 tonnes a year and 388 kilograms a day – to three tonnes a day, says Thor Henrik W. Hagen, day-to-day manager of Hydrogen Solutions. Stig Schjølset, head of the environmental foundation Zero, says nevertheless that they are very positive about hydrogen production in Norway. – Hydrogen is one of the solutions we need when we are to cut all emissions, so we think it is very positive that it is now opening facilities for production.
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Important for the green shift, say many. But what is hydrogen? – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
