Statoil considers converting gas power station to hydrogen
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by Statoil, Gasunie and Vattenfall to explore converting a Vattenfall gas power station in the Netherlands into a hydrogen-powered plant, potentially reducing annual production of CO2 by four million tons. Statoil wants to design a "large-scale value chain where production of hydrogen from natural gas is combined with CO2 capture, transport and storage" to open up new business opportunities”, the company said. The main challenges thus far have been high costs combined with lack of CO2 storage facilities, it said.

The Magnum gas power plant has three combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) with a capacity of 440 MW each. One CCGT emits approximately 1.3 million tons of CO2 per year.

Designing a large-scale value chain

The technology for producing hydrogen by converting natural gas into hydrogen and CO2 is proven and known. The new element is to design a large-scale value chain.

“Designing a large-scale value chain where production of hydrogen from natural gas is combined with CO2 capture, transport and storage can open up new business opportunities”, says Rummelhoff.

So far, high costs combined with lack of CO2 storage facilities have limited the development of a low-carbon value chain for hydrogen based on natural gas.

In 2016, the Norwegian government initiated a new national CO2 capture, transport and storage project. Studies confirmed the feasibility of storing CO2 on the Norwegian continental shelf, with high storage capacity and the potential to expand the facilities to manage additional CO2 volumes beyond the initial demonstration project.

If the Norwegian CCS demonstration project is realized, this may open up for future CO2 storage from other projects, including the joint Vattenfall, Gasunie and Statoil project.

Giving new possibilities

Statoil has more than 20 years of experience with CO2 storage on the Norwegian continental shelf. The company has launched a climate roadmap, which details our targets for CO2 emission reductions and improved carbon intensity and energy efficiency.

“Statoil has introduced several measures to reduce emissions from our oil and gas activities. With the joint Statoil, Gasunie and Vattenfall project we see the possibility of also helping potential customers reduce their CO2 emissions at a large scale. As the upstream facilities required to reform natural gas into hydrogen need to be large scale, there is a significant scope for economy-of-scale by introducing additional markets to the energy system”, says Rummelhoff.

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