Page 8 - AsiaElec Week 34

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

Green hydrogen needs more

government backing

GLOBAL CURRENT growth rates in the global green Por said that “for new projects to be success-
hydrogen industry are just not high enough to ful, more public-private efforts are necessary for
meet global energy demand, with massive cap- green hydrogen supply to overcome apparent
ital shortfalls and government inaction stalling obstacles.”
start-ups. The manufacture of electrolysers, fuel cells
That is the conclusion of a recent report from and associated equipment (hydrogen compres-
the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial sors, boilers, drive trains, storage tanks, bun-
Analysis (IEEFA), even though it welcomed the kering facilities, pipelines, sensors, measuring
announcement so far in 2020 of 50 new projects. equipment and liquefaction plants) would need

Report author Yong Por said that based on to be significantly scaled up, while seaborne
his analysis of the 50 new projects, the supply of hydrogen transportation costs would need to be
global green hydrogen is likely to be only 3mn substantial lowered.
tonnes per year (tpy) by 2030. The report also warned that China, Japan and
This is way below the 8.7mn tpy forecast for South Korea’s strategies were primarily focused
2030, showing an incredible supply shortfall. on blue hydrogen (produced from fossil fuels
“Asia, Europe and Australia are backing the with carbon capture) or grey hydrogen (which
majority of new green hydrogen projects,” said relies on fossil gas and coal-based feedstocks
Por. with zero carbon abatement), rather than the
The European Union is also a major player, renewable-rich green hydrogen.
with green hydrogen projects backed by improv- Por found the EU’s July 2020 hydrogen plan
ing economics, falling renewable costs, the to be the most ambitious, being the only plan
option to produce hydrogen on-site economi- with a key focus on green hydrogen.
cally, and existing gas pipelines that can be used “Governments need to urgently back this
for transport to meet local demand. industry by developing policy settings encourag-
He warned that many of the 50 projects could ing private industry to invest the much-needed
face delays owing to uncertain financing, cum- capital, given the industry must ‘learn by doing’,”
bersome joint venture structures, and unfavour- said Por.™
able seaborne trade economics.

JERA files EIA for 520MW offshore wind farm

JAPAN JAPANESE energy company JERA has filed an wind speeds and power output.
environmental impact statement (EIA) for its “As JERA aims to become a global leader in
proposed 520MW offshore wind farm in Ishikari renewable energy, it has participated in offshore
Bay off the northern island of Hokkaido. wind projects in the UK and Taiwan. JERA will
JERA submitted its plans to the powerful apply its experiences and expertise in the con-
Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry struction and operation of such large-scale off-
(METI) on August 24. shore wind projects to the current project,” JERA
The LNG importer, owned by TEPCO and said. The construction of the wind farm is antic-
Chubu Electric Power, said in its filing that it ipated to take 36 months to complete.
would install bottom-fixed offshore turbine in JERA is already involved in major offshore
the Ishikari Bay as the location had favourable wind projects in UK and Taiwan, and now aims
wind conditions, a shallow seabed, and the spare to transfer its experience to its domestic market,
capacity of the nearby power grid. The project which currently lags behind comparable indus-
is to be built at least 2.5 km offshore from the trialised nations in terms of capacity and devel-
cities of Ishikari and Otaru, and will feature 65 opment. JERA holds a majority stake in Taiwan’s
8-MW wind turbines with a maximum genera- 2-GW Formosa 3 wind farm, while it also owns
tion capacity of 520 MW. the UK’s 173-MW Gunfleet wind farm.
The number of wind turbines could be lower JERA’s statement said that the document,
if JERA chooses to use larger capacity turbines. called the planning phase environmental impact
JERA said that the project would also include statement, was the first of four phases stipulated
energy storage capacity in a bid to mitigate the under Japan’s Environmental Impact Assess-
impact on the power system of fluctuations in ment Law. ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 34 26•August•2020