Page 16 - FSUOGM Week 45

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM

Russia talks up exporting

hydrogen to Japan

RUSSIA RUSSIA aims to begin selling hydrogen to Japan (GHG) emissions to net zero by 2050.
and then other Asian buyers as the country pur- This follows on from China, while South
sues a policy of energy diversification. Korea also last week announced its net-zero
Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel commitment for 2050.
Sorokin recently told Japan’s Nikkei that Rus- Japan has been criticised for its heavy use of
sia aims to export 2mn tonnes per year (tpy) of coal-fired power generation and is the only G7
hydrogen by 2035. nation still building coal plants at home.
He said that Russia was already holding nego- Meeting the net-zero target by 2050 will be
tiations on hydrogen exports with the Japanese a major challenge for Japan, even though it is
government, as well as Kawasaki Heavy Indus- following other G7 industrialised nations such
tries and other Japanese companies. as the UK, Germany and Canada in making the
At home, Russia’s current hydrogen produc- commitments.
tion is used by the industrial sector, but the aim is Crucially, Japan still plans to have coal and
to export an initial 200,000 tpy by 2024, increas- gas generating 56% of its power by 2030, well
ing to 2mn tpy by 2035. behind the IEA’s recent guidelines for reaching
Sorokin said that Russia had great poten- net zero by 2050.
tial in the commercialisation of hydrogen and Indeed, the Japanese government said in
the country would try different production October that it planned to develop a hydrogen
methods. import network that could supply 300,000 tpy of
Sorokin said that he hoped that Russia and the gas by 2030. It mentioned Australia and Bru-
Japan would soon sign a bilateral co-operation nei as possible sources, and Russia is now being
agreement on hydrogen. added to that list.
Meanwhile, a Rosatom spokesperson told
Nikkei that a Rosatom unit, Japan's Ministry Grey and blue
of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Sorokin’s comments come as the government
Kawasaki Heavy Industries were currently car- said in July that it would have a draft full hydro-
rying out a feasibility study, to be completed by gen development strategy by the end of 2020.
the end of 2021, for a pilot programme of ship- Sorokin confirmed that producing hydrogen
ping hydrogen from Russia to Japan. from natural gas, so-called grey hydrogen, would
Sorokin also hinted at possible tie-ups with initially be the most economical way.
Japanese trading houses. He said that grey hydrogen production costs
In the past few years, Kawasaki Heavy has would be 25-50% of those for blue hydrogen,
invested heavily in hydrogen technology and also produced using gas but with carbon emis-
last December built a vessel to transport lique- sions from the process captured and stored.
fied hydrogen from Australia to Japan. He predicted that demand for grey hydrogen
will also increase in the meantime, even though
Reducing emissions many customers would gradually opt for blue
Japan regards hydrogen as one of a number of hydrogen.
tools to reduce emissions and to combat climate The first hydrogen producers are expected
change. to be Gazprom and Rosatom, while technology
The Japanese government said at the end of conglomerate Rostec and the Russian Academy
October that it aimed to reduce greenhouse gas of Sciences have begun the development of and

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 45 11•November•2020