Page 5 - FSUOGM Week 09 2021

FSUOGM COMMENTARY FSUOGM

The Nord Stream
2 pipeline could
be repurposed for
hydrogen energy.
Source: Gazprom.

mixture with methane in pipelines, he said. Enter Novatek
Speaking at an industry conference in Gazprom’s main domestic rival and Russia’s
December, the head of Gazprom’s energy effi- biggest LNG exporter Novatek is also looking
ciency and environmental department, Alex- at options for hydrogen supply to Europe. The
ander Ishkov, said the company was willing to company is working with Germany’s Siemens
build a major processing plant on Germany’s to convert one of the eight 47-MW gas turbines
Baltic Sea coast to produce hydrogen from powering its Yamal LNG plant in the Russian
methane. The potential plant could be built in Arctic to run on a hydrogen mix. But its ambi-
Greifswald, where Nord Stream makes landfall, tions go far beyond that.
he said. He added that the Nord Stream 1 and 2 While hydrogen will only have a noticeable
could also be used to transport CO2 emissions share in global energy consumption in 30 to 40
released during hydrogen production back to years’ time, Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson
Russia for storage. said at an industry event last October, the com-
In a recent report, The Fuel Cells & Hydrogen pany is eager to build up an early position in the
Joint Undertaking, a European public-private sector.
research and technology organisation, estimated “Hydrogen is the next step in the global
that the continent’s hydrogen demand could energy market development,” Mikhelson
reach 16.9mn tonnes by 2030. And according said, adding that Novatek was considering
to the Hydrogen Europe lobby group, the con- steam-methane conversion and other hydrogen
tinent could need up to 7.4mn tonnes of green production methods.
hydrogen supply, either produced domestically Novatek’s Arctic LNG projects enjoyed con-
or imported from Ukraine or North Africa, by siderable support from the Russian state, and it
the end of this decade. This leaves a 9.5mn tonne is likely that its investments in hydrogen would
per year (tpy) shortfall, which Russian hydrogen secure similar benefits.
could help fill. Another Russian firm seen as a prime can-
German authorities are also open to co-op- didate to help the country establish itself as a
eration with Russia in the production and hydrogen exporter is Rosatom, which can pro-
supply of green hydrogen, German Economic duce so-called yellow hydrogen using its fleet of
Minister Peter Altmaier said in a webinar in nuclear power stations.
mid-February. Russia’s energy ministry released a hydrogen
“Russia can offer giant land potential as a roadmap last summer which identified general
basis to build up solar and wind power, and huge goals and steps for these players to build up
water resources for hydropower,” Stephan Weil, hydrogen businesses. Russia’s goal is to export
the prime minister of Germany’s Lower Saxony the fuel at a rate of 200,000 tpy by 2024, rising to
state, added in the same webinar. 2mn tpy by 2035. ™

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