Energinet, Denmark’s Transmission Service Operator, is one of Ramboll’s key clients. We sat down with them to explore dilemmas in the development of hydrogen related energy infrastructure.
From A to B with H2
Put simply, the clean energy transition is about replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, and enabling this energy to move from A to B. Yet there is another layer of complexity for hydrogen (H2), including green hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources
Hydrogen is transported in pipelines, whereas energy from wind and solar can use the same electricity grids as coal- and- gas- fired power plants. This means an entirely new network must be built to connect producers and consumers with hydrogen, where existing pipelines cannot be retrofitted. Producers need infrastructure to reach large scale, but find it hard to justify the costs
It can be solved
“It’s a chicken and egg problem we have to solve, and the main reason is that we are talking about huge investments. Not only in infrastructure, wind turbines and solar farms, but also if you want to refine the hydrogen for other products like ammonia or methanol," explains Stine Grenaa Jensen, vice president for system development at Energinet.
Energinet is responsible for building and maintaining Denmark’s energy infrastructure, with a mandate to ensure the energy grid supports the transition to 100% green energy.
“It’s not impossible to solve, but it requires all the different parts of the value chain come together to find out how to, not only time the investment, but also talk about what the demand for infrastructure is in the specific cases,” she said.
“Sharing knowledge and having well-functioning value chains are vital to that, and that’s why having partnerships with companies like Ramboll is so important,” Stine Grenaa Jensen, vice president for system development at Energinet
Are there any questions we still need to answer before we see a large-scale roll-out of hydrogen?
Stine Greena: “Producing and using hydrogen is not a new technology: it is more than 100 years old. We already have existing hydrogen pipelines, but often within industry clusters that are transporting hydrogen for industry processes, and there is actually a lot of experience we can use in the energy sector on how to build hydrogen infrastructure. We of course have to learn how to build up the markets, how to make the balancing, how to handle it at large scale and upscaling it. But I don’t think it is a basic question of how we deal with hydrogen, but more how to do the upscaling.”
What does the current energy crisis mean for green hydrogen and Power-to-X?
“This crisis actually pushes forward the green transition. From Energinet’s perspective, it is very important that we do all we can to enable that and keep up the pace. And the best way to do that, in our view, is to ensure the infrastructure that is needed, and ensure it is interlinked.”
What are some of the qualities you look for when establishing partnerships with companies like Ramboll?
“Accelerating the build-out of energy infrastructure is one of the most important topics for us at Energinet. That includes electricity infrastructure, in addition to gas and hydrogen. Sharing knowledge and having well-functioning value chains are vital to that, and that’s why having partnerships with companies like Ramboll is so important. It allows us to share information, at the same time as we build the added capacity. If we instead had a sequential process, then one thing is certain, and that is that we wouldn’t reach our goals.”