adapting the natural gas network for hydrogen european commission hydrogen seminar 26th april 2013...
TRANSCRIPT
Adapting the Natural Gas Network for Hydrogen
European Commission Hydrogen Seminar26th April 2013
David Salisbury, President of GERG
The European Gas Research Group 52 years of collaborative R&D on natural gas topics
Effective gas industry network for R&D information exchange
26 members from 14 countries - all active in R&D
New category – Friends of GERG for non-gas industry cooperation
High quality research resource
Academic Network
Some Current priorities:
Hydrogen/Power to Gas
Renewables integration and decarbonisation
Network integrity and safety
LNG infrastructure
New end use technologies, CHP, mobility
Interoperability
EC-funded Projects
DEO • CONRAD • DIGBUILD • VOGUE • MICROMAP • PRESENSE • LABNET • GIGA • COMBO • NATURALHY • ORFEUS • INTEG-RISK • GASQUAL• LNG DENSITOMETER
Hydrogen, fuel of the future?
• Our gas infrastructure was designed to transport and use hydrogen blends and did so for over 150 years
• Hydrogen content up to 63%
• Since the introduction of natural gas, the network and applications have been developed for an assumed hydrogen concentration close to 0%.
• Towns gas is still produced for domestic use in cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore, using natural gas as a source!
Towns gas produced from coal, 1815
4
Europe needs wind and solar and other renewables to decarbonise its energy system, but:
“The European grid is far from ready for new variable-energy sources such as wind and solar”
Headline of article in the European Voice, 22nd September 2012
The wind does not blow and the sun does not shine on demand
• In 2011 Electricity Transporters paid wind generators tens of M€ not to generate.
• Without sufficient cost-effective and available energy storage, valuable renewable energy is being wasted
• The cost of upgrading the electricity to incorporate planned renewables has been estimated at several €100bns.
But the storage capacity is already there…
Background
5
• Mature natural gas grids carry much more energy than electricity grids, and extra capacity is already available.
• In the UK the gas network carries three times as much energy as the electricity grid, comparable with energy consumed by road transport
• End use of gas can be over 90% efficient with low transmission losses
The German Energy system
So why not use the gas grid? Its already there...
Consumption TWh/a 610 930
Average power GW 70 105
Storage capacity TWh 0.04 210
Cal. operating range h 0.6 2000
Electricity Natural gas
The storage of energy as gas has huge
potential
Dis
cha
rge
tim
e [
h]
CAES: Compressed Air Energy Storage (Druckluftspeicherkraftwerk)PHS: Pumped Hydro Storage (Pumpspeicherwerk)H2, SNG: Hydrogen, Synthetic Natural Gas (Underground storage includes the re-
electrification in combined cycle power plant)
Source: Research Center Jülich
• volatile
• increasing
• more wind power than powernetwork capacity
maximum power grid capacity
Wind Power production 2008-2010
There are number of technical issues, and GERG has begun to address these...
Our Energy System is Changing...
Increased integration of of renewable energies changes a demand driven energy system to a supply (or opportunity) driven system
The existing electricity system (online balanced) is not currently capable of coping with those requirements
Storage is vital to achieve balance between demand and supply...
...and the high pressure gas system can provide this
Power to Gas – Using existing gas
infrastructure to transport renewable energy
excess renewableelectricity
Electrolyser (high efficiency)
Methanation
direct injection intogas grid (10-15% ?)
injection into gas grid (unlimited)
H2
H2
CH4
Re-use of CO2
O2
gas applications
gas storage
Benefits
• hydrogen or methane from surplus renewable electricity
• injected into the existing natural gas network
• the enormous capacity of existing infrastructure can be used
• Several 100,000 km of existing pipelines
• Several million m3 of underground storage
• Almost 1000 TWh of energy transported annually as natural gas
• Twice as much as electricity
• 10% hydrogen added to grid is about 30TWh
• A medium sized pipeline system of 100,000m3/ h at 10% H2 injection would require 400MW of electricity – equivalent to several wind farms.
Challenges and Bottlenecks for hydrogen
injection
• Potential for degradation of pipeline steels
• Modern gas turbines with pre-mixed burners
• Steel tanks in NGVs
• The existing appliance population
• Electrolysis
• What are the limits?
• What needs to be done?
• What technology advances need to be supported?
• What are the economics for the competing routes?
• The GERG Power to Gas Research roadmap
13
DomHydro
(running)A
GERG Hydrogen Projects
Hydrogen in the Natural Gas Grid
Domestic and commercial appliances and distribution grids
Establishing and
analysing the level of
existing knowledge
32 GERG and non-GERG partners
Reports in June 2013
Admissible
Hydrogen
Concentration in
Natural gas systems
KIWA
ERGE.ON
GL (UK)
Managed.: KIWA,
HygridB
Part 2: Injection of H2
Planning, Installation,
operation of injection
site
Field tests up to 10%:
compilation of
appliances and
components,
measurement
evaluation
Cooperation
and
Monitoring
partners
of GERG
Part 1 :
Basics, Theory and
Lab investigation
Managed.: E.ON
Com
mon
pu
blicati
on
Coord
inati
on
of
pro
gra
m DVGW/GWI
Project of GERG PC Drunning E.ON Project
SMARTSimC
North Sea Power to Gas
Mediterranean Power to Gas
(Establishing scenarios for priority investigation)
(DNV KEMA)
Power to Gas
PlatformsD
Annual balance (Germany):
15% H2 in the natural gas transmission grid equals approx. 15 bcm.
33 GW excess wind power over 2000 h/a would be necessary to generate this amount of energy.
Local balance: Example alpha ventus:
Conversion of the entire power production (60 MW at peak) would lead to a flow of 13.600 H2 m³/h
Injection into a large transmission pipeline (entry cap: 3.3 mcm) would create a 0.4% content of H2
But - Injection into a distribution pipeline at low demand would be more of an issue
Hydrogen in Pipelines
Source: E.ON Ruhrgas
H2 constraints from manufactures
(e.g. CNG tanks and gas turbines) being Investigated.
2% limit on old CNG tanks, 10% for turbines
A hydrogen methane mixture (up to 15% H2) meets all significant quality requirements for natural gas (technical code DVGW)
GERG Admissable Concentrations of Hydrogen in Pipelines 2012-13: 32 members
Some underground storage seems to be sensitive concerning H2 (R&D necessary)
Further understanding of appliances under extreme conditions
Project is providing a gap analysis of current constraints on introduction of hydrogen into natural gas pipelines
Follows on from GERG NATURALHY project
Source: E.ON Ruhrgas
16
Domhydro: project outline
Project objective:
to gather insight in performance, emissions and safety of domestic gas appliances
when hydrogen is mixed in natural gas
Project scope:
new and existing domestic appliances
GAD appliances
different H2 / natural gas mixtures
reliable operation, emissions, efficiency
extreme practical conditions to be addressed
durability tests
Project goal: to contribute to the preparation of future decisions concerning technical limits to the
hydrogen content in natural gas
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Erdgas H G20 95% G205% H2
90% G2010% H2
85% G2015% H2
80% G2020% H2
G222 70% G2030% H2
G21 G231
Ther
mal
Eff
icie
ncy
(%)
1
1,1
1,2
1,3
1,4
1,5
1,6
1,7
1,8
1,9
2
Air
Fac
tor
ηtherm full load
ηthermpartial load
λfull load
λpartial load
WP1:Theoretical and Lab support
Theoretical analysis and lab investigation of impact on combustion control solutions
Close cooperation with the GERG projects “Admissible hydrogen concentrations” and “Domhydro”
WP2: Field test
Installation of the injection facility incl. control and measurement equipment
Compilation and measurement of installed appliances
Incremental increasing injection of hydrogen within the limits of DVGW G260 Observation and measurement of selected appliances
WP3: Field test “Gas Plus Lab”
Field test in the experimental grid with new gas technologies in Karlsruhe
Project goal:
•To prove the feasibility of hydrogen injection up to 10% into an existing grid with mainly domestic customers
HyGrid: Outline
Electrolysis for H2 production is key
known technology; flexibility to be optimised for greater economic viability
to be placed at strategic locations in the grid
more affordable than electricity grid expansions - if existing infrastructure is used
ITM
Pow
er’s
Hfu
el e
lect
roly
ser
Essential parameters:
costs of electrolyser
costs of electricity
number of operating hours
benefit through avoided power grid extension
Costs of making gas network hydrogen ready vs cost of methanation
Economic Considerations
Storage of intermittent renewables is becoming a major issue as the installed capacity increases
Existing natural gas infrastructure offers a high transport and storage capacity with few transmission losses
Power to hydrogen or methane and injection in the gas grid is attractive, where the local power grid capacity is insufficient
High efficiencies are state of the art for gas use
Interaction between gas grids and power grids will increase - SMART systems
Smart communication and control systems are mandatory to create smart grids
Business cases need to built on a scenario by scenario basis
GERG is working with its members and other stakeholders to identify and address R&D issues
The gas network is an enabler of a long term low carbon energy system and an ideal partner for renewables
Summary and Conclusions
For more information on GERG and the Power to Gas projects, please contact:
Thank You.