The German Fraunhofer Institute looked into the possibility of mixing hydrogen into the gas grid.
This turns out to be a bad idea: it’s expensive, produces little, and competes with other, better uses of hydrogen. It also raises the cost of gasoline. Nonetheless, in the Netherlands, we provide subsidies for it.
The Fraunhofer research institute looked into various admixture scenarios. Only 7% of CO2 emissions from gas use are saved in the most extreme scenario, where 20% hydrogen is added to the gas. This is due to the fact that hydrogen molecules have less energy than natural gas molecules. As a result, a cubic meter of hydrogen yields less than a cubic meter of natural gas, implying that the climate benefits are modest.
The researchers write that using hydrogen without regret is much more efficient. In industry, green hydrogen is being used to replace gray hydrogen. Steel, shipping, and aviation all benefit from green hydrogen. There are no viable long-term alternatives to that. These are frequently available for natural gas from pipelines; consider heat pumps or induction hobs for residential use.
The Germans are far from the first to realize that blending in is a bad idea. According to Wattis, the risks were also recognized by the British Imperial College and the Pan-European Joint Research Center.
Still, for many governments, blending in is a viable greening option. Building a new hydrogen network is prohibitively expensive, whereas blending is relatively simple. The Fraunhofer warns, however, that the technical adjustments required to mix hydrogen with gas in sufficient quantities are also costly. The cost of energy for citizens will also rise.
Finally, the scarcity of green hydrogen is a major issue. In the coming decades, green hydrogen will be in short supply. After all, creating hydrogen necessitates the construction of new sustainable power plants, which takes time and money. Where there are no other options, the hydrogen that is available must be used. If you use admixture instead, the most polluting industry will take longer to go green. Furthermore, there is a risk of a ‘lock-in effect,’ in which natural gas is used as a fuel for longer than is necessary.
There is a subsidy in the Netherlands for mixing hydrogen with natural gas. This is covered by the energy investment deduction, and it subsidizes the modifications required to make installations (such as pipelines) hydrogen-friendly. It’s unclear whether or not money has already been allocated to these types of projects, and if so, how much.
