Hydrogen under serious consideration

Hydrogen is one of the options under serious consideration for New Zealand to meet its net zero carbon target by 2050, as set out in the government’s recently released Interim Hydrogen Roadmap paper.

And you can have a say during the consultation open until 2 November.

Mostly highlighted for use in the transport sector, renewable hydrogen’s potential to supplement electrification to reduce emissions in ‘hard-to-abate’ sectors is also acknowledged in the government’s allied Gas Transition Plan issues paper, and “forms a pillar of the forthcoming New Zealand Energy Strategy (due by the end of 2024)”, the hydrogen roadmap says.

“Much of the emissions abatement we need to meet our net zero target will be most efficiently met through electrification, but some critical activities are harder to electrify, such as long-haul heavy transport and aviation.

“Hydrogen is a high-density energy carrier that can power vehicles, provide heat, produce chemicals, store energy, and blend with existing fuels.

“It can be zero of low emissions at point of use when produced with renewable electricity.

“Other countries are enabling hydrogen at pace in order to make their own energy transitions,” the paper notes.

“The global market for low emission hydrogen is projected to grow significantly by 2050, but there are challenges to overcome to realise this scale.

“This includes high costs, the need for a market for hydrogen to emerge as well as uncertainty and differing views about its future uptake and role.

“We will be building from the strong foundations of a vibrant hydrogen ecosystem already emerging in New Zealand today. There are a growing number of research projects, demonstration and deployment trials, and commercial partnerships across all aspects of the hydrogen supply chain,” the paper says.

While the paper has less to say about the potential of blending hydrogen with natural gas in our distribution pipelines, the distribution companies are exploring it further, with Firstgas, along with Powerco, Vector, Nova and GasNet, planning a hydrogen blend trial to demonstrate the network is capable of transporting hydrogen.

Firstgas Group Customer and Regulatory GM, Ben Gerritsen says they know it can be done, because it’s already happening overseas.

“Over 30 countries currently have a national hydrogen strategy in place and $70 billion of funding has been committed globally over 228 ongoing projects.

“Integrating hydrogen with our energy mix not only demonstrates the value of this network but would give New Zealand the best available balance of energy security, energy equity, and environmental sustainability.”

Gerritsen says gas distributors have a role to play in catalysing the hydrogen economy by supporting demand as the hydrogen sector develops in New Zealand.

Demand for green hydrogen is expected to grow significantly in the coming decades as the technology continues to develop and a market for hydrogen starts to scale, the paper says.

The Interim Hydrogen Roadmap notes that if hydrogen is adopted in line with “our current understanding of its potential trajectory”, domestic demand could reach 180,000 tonnes per year by 2035, rising to 560,000 tonnes by 2050.

The government is inviting feedback on the Interim Hydrogen Roadmap by 2 November.

Submissions can be made by:

·         completing the survey on the MBIE website (recommended for shorter submissions only)

·         sending a submission as a PDF or Microsoft Word document to hydrogen@mbie.govt.nz.