It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, September 01, 2023
Russia’s Mining Heartland Grapples With Fallout From Ukraine War
More than 18 months into its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is facing high military casualties that are particularly affecting impoverished, remote areas like Kemerovo, known as the Kuzbass.
Locals are dealing with declining wages, obsolete mines, and health issues due to pollution, alongside the losses of fathers, sons, and brothers in the war.
Residents express skepticism about the war and corruption at local levels, drawing parallels to the poor-quality construction that followed the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
In the heart of the Russia’s coal-mining Kemerovo region, residents struggle with the harsh economic realities of declining wages, obsolete mine facilities, and chronic medical conditions that come from life below, and above ground. Many are retired coal miners like Vladimir Miroshenko, 71, who recalls the halcyon days of the 1970s, when Prokopyevsk became a sister city with Horlivka, in the heart of Ukraine’s Donbas coal-mining region. Miroshenko also recalls his service in the Soviet Army in the early 1980s, during the decade-long invasion of Afghanistan. “We trained for a month and a half and then were sent to man the howitzers. I won't even tell you what happened there. When I came home, I just started drinking,” said Miroshenko, whose last name has been changed at his request. “Now what’s going on in Ukraine -- the oligarchs; they were getting fat and they’re just getting fatter,” he said. “It’s the same thing that happened in Afghanistan. And for what? What’s the point? It’s not clear.” “I heard here that 50,000 people have already returned from [Ukraine] with disabilities,” he told RFE/RL’s Siberia.Realities. “Why did they go? For the money, mostly. You yourself understand that now no one will go to war for Stalin, nor for Putin. More than 18 months into its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is grappling with the mounting toll from what has become the largest land war in Europe since World War II. Anonymous U.S. officials have put Russia’s military casualties at close to 120,000 killed and up to 180,000 injured.
And the toll is hitting impoverished, remote, shrinking regions of Russia even harder. Like in Kemerovo, widely known as the Kuzbass, where economic opportunities are fewer and the allure of war wages in Ukraine and compensation for the dead draw capable young and less-young men, further draining the region of able workers -- and fathers, brothers, sons, and husbands. At least 46 men from Prokopoyevsk, a city of around 170,000 people, have died since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to an unofficial tally compiled by Siberia.Realities.
Many are buried in a special section of a cemetery in Vysoky, a village southwest of Prokopyevsk. According to Tatyana Yefremova, who sells flowers and funeral bouquets at the cemetery, the fresher graves include two riot police officers who died on February 25, 2022, just three days after the invasion was launched. In the plots where new casualties of the war in Ukraine are buried, the graves are so close together that the wreaths appeared to be intertwined and entangled. They include Ilya Piryazev, 45, who grew up and went to school in Prokopyevsk and who went on to serve as a conscript during the First Chechen War in the 1990s, then during Russia’s intervention in Syria in the 2010s, and also in Libya. According to his daughter Polina, a month after deploying to Ukraine in April 2022, he was killed in the southern Zaporizhzhya region.
In recent years, Polina said, she and her mother had had little contact with Piryazev; her parents divorced in the 2000s. “We didn't even know he was in the war. We only found out when he died,” she said. “He went to Ukraine on his own,” Polina said. “He didn’t need money, unlike many. It was just patriotism, the conviction that the country must be defended. He never spoke about the war, didn’t say why he constantly returned there.” Not far from Piryazev’s grave is that of Andrei Yartsev, 22, who died on November 22, 2022, somewhere in the Luhansk region while serving as a marine infantryman attached to the Pacific Fleet.
Yarstev had served as a contract volunteer soldier for several years before enrolling in the law department at Novosibirsk State University. He was in his third year last fall when the Kremlin ordered a partial mobilization to bolster troop strength in Ukraine; Yartsev volunteered to fight, according to an acquaintance, who gave his name as Andrei.
“Apparently, he was smitten with this whole romantic army ideal: like, brother for brother, and so on,” Andrei said. “Seems to me that he had no idea what was really going on there, in Ukraine. It's too bad for the kid; he spent only a few weeks at the front.”
'We Don't Have Any Other Options'
At the mining technical school in Prokopyevsk, where engineers and other mine personnel are trained, officials put up a memorial plaque for dead graduates on May 5, 2023. The names included Yevgeny Kobzarev, a 37-year-old riot police officer who died on the second day of the invasion.
On the social media site formerly known as VKontakte, someone published a page about the memorial plaque for the dead alumni. “Soon enough there won’t be enough walls,” one anonymous poster wrote. “When you look at the death toll, it’s a little creepy,” another graduate told Siberia.Realities. “But if they call me, I’ll go too, but where should I go? I don’t have any kids yet, though strangely enough, many go there [to fight] because of their children: to make some money for an apartment or for education. We don’t have any other options.”
Then there’s the case of Ilya Krumin, 21, who served as a driver and mechanic for a tank unit. He stayed in the military after completing his mandatory conscription service. An orphan, Krumin died about a month after the invasion. “What choice did he have besides the army?” said one of his friends, who gave his name only as Aleksei. “As an orphan, there’s no one to take care of you, you have to live somehow. So this is the most obvious choice. Yes, and these kinds of soldiers are beneficial to the army: you don’t have to pay compensation later to relatives.” 'We're Dropping Like Flies Around Here' Like many towns in the Kuzbass, Prokopyevsk has seen better days. Residents complain regularly about the state of city services, including the main local hospital where equipment frequently doesn’t work. Years of heavy industrial emissions, including coal ash and other toxic chemicals, has polluted wide swaths of the region, and left chronic health problems for many. “We're dropping like flies around here. Some in the mines, some in the war,” said Vitaly Smorodin, a 55-year-old retired miner and lifelong resident who now works as a municipal security guard. “And the rest of them: from [the environment]. Every other person has [cancer].”
City officials are also happier to trumpet the sister-city relationship between Prokopyevsk and Horlivka, which is now mostly under Russian control in Ukraine, than they are to publicize the exact number of locals who have been killed or wounded in the war. For residents jaded by endemic corruption on the local level, the cynical view is that the sister-city relationship will just be another way to steal municipal funds. Vil Ravilov, who works as a photographer, pointed to the example of Mariupol, the Ukrainian Sea of Azov port that was all but obliterated during a Russian siege soon after the invasion began. Russian officials are now hurriedly building new apartment housing, and other structures in the city, but reports of shoddy construction abound. Ravilov drew a parallel to what happened after the 2014 Sochi Olympics, when some of the public infrastructure built for the event was marred by bad-quality construction. “What is happening in Ukraine is a huge tragedy, what else can I say?” Ravilov said. “I doubt that the houses that are being built in Mariupol or any other [Russian-controlled] territories are made with high quality. Most likely, everything is stolen, all this infrastructure is waiting for the same fate as the buildings after the Olympics, when asphalt paths were washed away after the rains.” “Everything is done for the sake of appearances,” he said.
By RFE/RL
Russia’s Answer To The U.S. Shale Boom Takes A Huge Step Forward
Russia's flagship Arctic LNG 2 will begin operations before the end of this year.
Russia's Arctic sector comprises over 35,700 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas and over 2,300 million metric tons of oil and condensate.
The key market into which much of this Arctic gas and oil output will flow will be China.
Despite multi-layered international sanctions on Russia following its 24 February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin’s ‘special energy project’ – developing the country’s massive gas and oil resources in the Arctic – took a major step forward last week as it was confirmed that the flagship Arctic LNG 2 will begin operations before the end of this year. Over and above the significance of Russia being able to complete such a financially and technologically challenging project despite swingeing sanctions in place against it, Arctic LNG 2 is of vital importance to Russia for several wider reasons. Given the scale and scope of Russia’s broader plans for the Arctic, it is also vitally important to the U.S. and its allies how Russia proceeds there.
One reason why the Arctic is so important to Putin is the sheer size of its gas and oil reserves, much of them in Russian territory. According to various Russian authorities, the country’s Arctic sector comprises over 35,700 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas and over 2,300 million metric tons of oil and condensate, the majority of which are in the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas, lying on the south side of the Kara Sea. These may well be underestimates, according to a senior source in the European Union energy security complex exclusively spoken to by OilPrice.com recently. Within this, Putin has long believed that Russia’s presence in the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market does not reflect its enormous presence in the broader world gas and oil markets, and that the perfect foundation stone for this to be addressed is the Arctic LNG projects, as analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order. According to comments from Putin, the next 10 years or so will witness a dramatic expansion in the extraction of these Arctic resources, and a corollary build-out of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) as the primary transport route to monetise these resources in the global oil and gas markets.
The key market into which much of this Arctic gas and oil output will flow will be China - the second reason why the region is so important to Putin. Over the past 30 years, there has been a complete switch in the power relationship between the two former great Communist powers, with China now being the more dominant partner. Crucially, though, for Russia, it still holds some power with China in the matter of its gas and oil flows to the country. These flows mean that Moscow can continue to count on the military and political force-multiplier effect of Beijing as a major presence in the Asia Pacific theatre of potential conflict, if not directly in the European one. Given Russia’s poor performance in the Ukraine war to date, this force multiplier effect of its relationship with China has never been more important to it. In precisely this vein, around the same time as the invasion of Ukraine, Russian state gas giant Gazprom signed a deal to supply 10 bcm per year (bcm/y) of gas to the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). This built on another 30-year deal between the two companies signed in 2014 for 38 bcm/y and this in turn was a part of, but significantly bolstered, the ‘Power of Siberia’ pipeline project – managed on the Russian side by Gazprom and on the China side by CNPC – that was launched in December 2019.
The third reason why the Arctic LNG projects are so important to Putin is that LNG is the world’s emergency gas form, as was dramatically highlighted again most recently in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as also analysed in full in my new book on the new global oil market order. Unlike gas supplies delivered through pipelines, LNG does not require years of laying pipelines and building out corollary supportive infrastructure. It also does not require extensive, time-consuming negotiations over complex contracts. Instead, it can be picked up quickly in the spot market and shipped expeditiously to wherever it is required. With the world increasingly needing LNG supplies, given the spike in demand for them in Europe after flows from Russia’s gas pipelines stalled, Putin knows that increasing Russia’s own LNG supply capabilities has never been more geopolitically important to it. The importance that Russia is placing on being able to move LNG quickly to its key target markets of China, and in Asia more broadly, is underlined by the fact that it has pushed hard with the build-out of its trans-shipment LNG facility on the Russian Far East coast in Kamchatka and its Northern Sea Route as well.
A final key reason at play in Russia’s Arctic gas and oil drive is its capacity to subvert the U.S. dollar-based hegemony in the energy market, as also analysed in my new book, particularly as it features one of the world’s biggest oil and gas producers and one of its biggest buyers. Very early in the Arctic LNG projects’ history, Novatek’s chief executive officer, Leonid Mikhleson, said that future sales to China denominated in renminbi were under consideration. This was in line with his comments on the prospect of further U.S. sanctions - following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 - that they would only accelerate the process of Russia trying to switch away from U.S. dollar-centric oil and gas trading. “This has been discussed for a while with Russia’s largest trading partners such as India and China, and even Arab countries are starting to think about it... If they do create difficulties for our Russian banks then all we have to do is replace dollars,” he said. Such a strategy was tested in 2014, when the state-run Gazprom Neft tried trading of cargoes of crude oil in Chinese yuan and roubles with China and Europe, to reduce Russia’s dependence on crude trading in dollars, in response to the initial Western sanctions against Russia’s energy sector.
Putin’s determination to push ahead with the Arctic LNG projects was truly seen after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region. Moscow not only initially bankrolled the US$27 billion flagship Arctic LNG project in the Yamal Peninsula from the beginning with money directly from the state budget but also later in 2014 – after the U.S. had imposed sanctions on Russia over Crimea - supported it again by selling bonds in Yamal LNG (the program began on 24 November 2015, with a RUB75 billion 15-year issue). It further provided RUB150 billion of additional backstop funding from the National Welfare Fund. After that, April 2016 saw two Chinese state banks agree to provide US$12 billion to the Yamal LNG project in euros and roubles. The project was further helped by a tumble in the rouble in late 2014 that effectively cut the cost of Russian-sourced equipment and labour at a key moment in the construction.
As it now stands, according to comments from China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) – which holds a 10 percent stake in the three-train 19.8 million metric tonnes per year (mt/y) Arctic LNG 2 project - the first 6.6 million mt/y train will start up before the end of this year. This follows its recent installation on the foundation in the seabed at the Utrenniy terminal on the Gydan Peninsula. Additionally, according to CNOOC, all the other stakeholders – Novatek 60 percent, and 10 percent each for CNPC, France’s TotalEnergies, and a consortium of Japan's Mitsui and Jogmec – have continued to pay the funding required on schedule. The start-up of the first train of Arctic 2 LNG is in line with Novatek’s plans to build out its LNG export capacity up to 70 million mt/y by 2030, including the 19.8 million mt/y Arctic LNG 2. In turn, this dovetails into Russia’s plans for LNG production of 80-140 million mtpa by 2035, which would be greater than that of LNG powerhouses Qatar and Australia.
By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com
Canadian Engineers Make "Revolutionary" Hydrogen Breakthrough
By James Stafford - Aug 30, 2023LONG READAlready one of the world’s top ten producers of hydrogen, Canada is at the forefront of the global effort to develop a sustainable hydrogen economy, and a recent breakthrough may just bring it closer to becoming one of the most important energy transition hubs on the planet.
Canada is home to more than 100 hydrogen and fuel cell tech companies, and one of them has flipped the switch on a unique new hydrogen reactor in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Canadian company GH Power and its team of world-class engineers led by CEO Dave White are bringing the world green hydrogen, high-quality heat and green alumina that can be fed into the grid using proprietary reactor technology that relies on only two inputs, creating zero waste and zero carbon emissions.
The Hydrogen system is designed to be modular and scalable and to enable local microgrids to supply baseload, reliable green energy solutions anywhere, anytime--even in the most remote areas of the world.
The reaction is exothermic and self-sustaining, safe, quiet and deployable within the last mile of the energy user.
For Canada’s ambitions of becoming a major hydrogen superpower, the reactor, which began final Phase II testing on June 23rd, with commercial operations set to begin by Q4 2023, represents an impressive step forward in the high-stakes, low-carbon hydrogen game.
For GH Power, seven years of quiet and painstaking research and testing has turned the company into an award-winning innovator that hopes to reward future investors with four potential revenue streams.
PARTNERING FOR A CLEAN, SECURE FUTURE
In August 2022, just five months after Russia launched its war on Ukraine and the weaponization of energy rose to the forefront, Canada took decisive steps to accelerate the global clean energy transition, signing a Joint Declaration of Intent with Germany to collaborate on the export of clean Canadian hydrogen to Europe’s economic powerhouse.
The deal means a commitment to enable investment in hydrogen projects through policy harmonization; support for the development of secure hydrogen supply chains; the creation of a Transatlantic Canada-Germany supply corridor; and the export of clean Canadian hydrogen by 2025.
GH Power’s unique hydrogen reactor has been a focal point of this alliance, and its technology has been awarded $ 2.2 million in federal funding from the National Research Council of Canada as part of the Transatlantic commitment with Germany. The award is intended to support further research of the optimum fuel mixture for its reactor and the ultimate refinement of its high-purity alumina.
This award-winning technology is the result of seven years of painstaking research by world-class scientists and engineers led by GH Power CEO Dave White, a veteran engineer in the power generation space. Combined, the GH Power team has over a century of power generation experience, designing, building and operating power plants, refineries and other energy infrastructure.
Chief Engineer Ken Steward has been designing and managing thermal power plants and petrochemical processes for over four decades across numerous different power plants in North America. COO Gary Grahn brings to the table 25 years of international energy experience, including in oil, gas, minerals, metals and utilities, and CFO Anand Patel contributes a decade of real asset capital markets experience, with over $4 billion in completed transactions, including for renewable energy giant Brookfield Asset Management. Finally, project development director Mike Miller offers more than 35 years of experience in infrastructure, private equity, and development for top companies along the energy supply chain, such as giant NextEra Energy.
“Unlocking the potential of hydrogen is an essential part of our government’s plan for a sustainable economic future — not just for the domestic opportunities for emissions reductions but also for its potential as an export opportunity: to provide clean energy to countries around the globe,” the Honorable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, said following the signing of the alliance deal with Germany.
“Green hydrogen is an important key for a climate-neutral economy. We must resolutely pursue climate change mitigation in order to secure our prosperity and freedom. This is more important and urgent than ever at this time,” German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck said. “The Hydrogen Alliance between Canada and Germany is a significant milestone as we accelerate the international market rollout of green hydrogen and clear the way for new transatlantic cooperation. Specifically, we aim to build up a transatlantic supply chain for green hydrogen. The first shipments from Canada to Germany are to begin as early as 2025.”
In partnership with Carleton University, Germany’s ParteQ, particle separation equipment supplier, the National Research Council of Canada, and RWTH Aachen University, the first-of-its-kind reactor is now fully in the global, low-carbon hydrogen spotlight.
INSIDE THE FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND REACTOR
The hydrogen produced by the modular version of GH Power’s 2MW reactor is pure and clean, with zero emissions, zero carbon and zero waste, using only 2 inputs (recycled aluminum and water). Only a small amount of energy is required to start the reactor, after which it is a self-sustaining operation that is a net generator of power to the grid.
GH Power’s Zero-Carbon Hydrogen
Zero-carbon hydrogen is arguably what could make or break the world’s net-zero emissions goals. It’s the closest answer we have to combat the disastrous impacts of climate change. The Hydrogen Council estimates that hydrogen will represent 18% of all energy delivered to end users by 2050, avoiding 6 gigatonnes of carbon emissions annually and turning around $2.5 trillion in annual sales (not to mention creating 30 million jobs globally).
For now, the majority of hydrogen in North America is produced by natural gas reforming in large central plants—an important step in the energy transition. The end goal, however, is to produce hydrogen without creating carbon emissions. Now, scientists are attempting to advance a process called “electrolysis” to create pure, clean hydrogen by splitting water into pure hydrogen and oxygen using high-temperature electrolyzers.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), the cost of producing hydrogen from renewable energy is around $5 per kilogram, or approximately 3X higher than producing hydrogen from natural gas. The DoE hopes the billions of dollars it’s pouring into R&D now will reduce hydrogen production costs by 80% (to an ideal of $1 per kilogram) within a decade.
By the company’s estimates, GH Power’s reactor is already 60% cheaper than producing hydrogen than DoE estimates, and it is a net producer of electricity to the grid. Its green alumina by-product production costs are also 85% cheaper than the most commonly used processes such as hydrochloric acid leaching and hydrolysis for alumina production.
The company has also had successful tests using scrap steel (iron) as another metal fuel providing a scalable hydrogen generation solution with a much lower costs basis at under a $1/kg hydrogen. Scrap steel (iron) is a widely available metal fuel that GH Power is testing.
Zero-Carbon Alumina—A World First
GH Power’s reactor produces green high-purity alumina (HPA)—a valuable specialty product used by several high-growth technology markets, including semiconductors, LED products, lithium-ion batteries, Smartphones, a multitude of other electronic devices, and industrial ceramics.
LED is a high-growth industry because it is critical to improving energy efficiency. Lithium-ion batteries are likewise experiencing soaring growth amid an energy transition driven heavily by the mainstream adoption of electric vehicles. Demand for Smartphones and other electric devices is also continuously rising. All of this suggests significant growth in demand for HPA.
Today’s supply is determined by production processes that are highly capital-intensive. Projects face financing issues as a result of high energy prices for production, leading to tight supply. GH Power looks to be very well position to compete in this market sector with their low-cost green alumina products.
Exothermic Heat & Carbon Credits
This is a new technology based on a circular economy. Not only does it use recyclable inputs, but the exothermic heat from the reaction can also be used to generate high quality steam and hot water for industrial applications.
And once scaled up, GH Power’s 27-megawatt plant will run off the combustion of hydrogen gas and capturing the energy from the reaction’s exothermic heat. This combined cycle (CHP) approach can be added to an existing power generation asset which could significantly reduce CO2 emissions or it can be utilized in a green field application thus significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with traditional fossil fuel power generation.
First Revenue Generation
First revenue generation is anticipated in the fourth quarter, and then the future plan is all about scaling up the modular technology to much larger Combined Cycle Power Plants.
WHAT NEXT? SCALING UP THE ENERGY TRANSITION
“The only practical solution for society to reduce carbon emissions is to transition from 100% fossil fuels to cleaner tech,” and one of the steps in tackling this is to blend hydrogen with fossil fuels and ramp up the hydrogen content whenever possible,” says Dave White, GH Power CEO and a veteran engineer in the power generation space. GH Power’s technology is modular and scalable which makes a plant’s configuration very flexible with maximum efficiency while meeting a customer’s energy requirements. GH Power has modeled a 27MW combined cycle plant and is in the early planning stages with customers.
Other companies looking to compete in the hydrogen race:
TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE) is not the sort of company that half-commits to anything, and its hydrogen plans are no different. We're talking about a traditional oil and gas titan that's increasingly putting its chips on green energy—hydrogen being a key player. This isn't just some pilot project or a sideline venture; they're in it to become leaders in the hydrogen value chain.
Now, when a company with TotalEnergies' clout gets serious about something, you've got to take notice. They're applying their years of experience in the energy sector to this nascent industry, and it's pretty exciting. They're not just dipping their toes in the water—they're doing a full swan dive.
For investors, the upshot here is simple yet profound. TotalEnergies offers a balanced bet. They've got the traditional fossil fuel revenues to offer stability and a burgeoning green energy portfolio that promises growth. Hydrogen is a cornerstone of that portfolio, and the company's aggressive push into this sector could be a boon for shareholders.
Chevron (NYSE:CVX) seems to have taken the old adage "Go big or go home" quite seriously when it comes to hydrogen. This is a company that's looking at the whole hydrogen landscape—from fuel cell vehicles to power plants—and thinking, "We can do something big here." And considering their financial muscle, who's to say they can't?
What's different about Chevron's hydrogen endeavors is that they're not abandoning their old roots; they're leveraging them. It's a multi-layered approach, integrating hydrogen into their existing operations. That's both smart and economical, an evolutionary rather than revolutionary approach.
Investors, here's your cue. Chevron's in-depth involvement in hydrogen doesn't just offer a slice of the green pie; it promises a whole new bakery. They're using their financial clout and existing infrastructure to make a significant mark in this emerging field, and that could mean robust returns down the line.
ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) in hydrogen? Yep, you heard it right. They might be a latecomer, but they're no slouch. The plan here is meticulous, using their already sprawling infrastructure to tap into this growing market. It's a masterstroke that adds another layer to their energy portfolio without starting from scratch.
Sure, ExxonMobil isn't ditching oil and gas anytime soon. But here's the kicker: they don't have to. They're looking to be the smart integrators, the folks who can blend the old with the new seamlessly. If they pull it off, it's akin to having their cake and eating it too.
For those with their eye on long-term investment, ExxonMobil’s foray into hydrogen offers something tempting—a blend of the stability from traditional fuel sources and the growth potential of renewable energy. In an evolving energy market, that could be a sweet spot for many an investor.
Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) play in hydrogen has a distinct character. Think of it as the Norwegians doing what they do best—leading by example in sustainability. Yes, we're looking at a company that aims to fully integrate hydrogen into Europe’s energy transition. They've got projects focused not just on hydrogen production, but also on carbon capture and storage.
You can think of Equinor as a puzzle master of sorts. Their talent lies in piecing together the many elements of the hydrogen economy into a coherent whole. And hey, they've got the Scandinavian flair for efficiency and sustainability.
For investors with an appetite for something a bit more international, Equinor presents a tempting option. This is a company that's got its hands in several cookie jars—from oil and gas to wind energy—and now it's diving deep into hydrogen. It’s a well-rounded play in an energy market that's becoming increasingly complex.
Eni SpA (NYSE:E) hydrogen story is intrinsically linked to Italy’s energy transition. From a company deeply rooted in the oil and gas industry, Eni is making audacious strides into hydrogen. Their recent partnerships aim to develop hydrogen production from renewable energy sources, and they’re already knee-deep in European projects aimed at creating hydrogen valleys.
The thing that sets Eni apart is their clear-cut focus on partnerships and collaboration. They're not going it alone; they're enlisting academic institutions, tech companies, and governments in their hydrogen endeavor. It’s a comprehensive ecosystem approach, which might just be their winning formula.
Now, why should an investor get hyped about Eni? Well, we’re talking about a company that’s making all the right moves to ensure it remains a key player in the future energy landscape. Their diversification into hydrogen is more than a fling—it's a long-term commitment that could yield solid returns.
Dow Inc. (NYSE:DOW) brings a unique lens to the hydrogen world. This isn't just about energy production for them; it's also about industrial applications. Dow is keen on using hydrogen as a raw material in its chemical manufacturing processes, which is a pretty smart way to kill two birds with one stone: reducing their carbon footprint and advancing hydrogen use.
Investors should take note of Dow’s multipronged approach. They’re not just consumers of hydrogen; they’re enablers. This dual role makes their involvement in the hydrogen economy distinct and impactful. They’ve got the muscle and the motivation to be influencers in this sector.
So, where does this leave an investor? With Dow, you're backing a company that's more than just a sideline spectator in the hydrogen game. They're a major player with skin in the game. As hydrogen becomes increasingly vital for both energy and industrial applications, Dow’s stock might just rise alongside.
Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE:HON) isn't just a spectator in the hydrogen game; it's an enabler. With a rich history in developing technologies for a range of industries, Honeywell sees hydrogen as a natural extension of its existing operations. We're talking about hydrogen production tech, storage solutions, and even safety systems tailored for hydrogen applications.
If you're thinking this sounds like a hydrogen one-stop-shop, you're not wrong. Honeywell is crafting an integrated approach that makes hydrogen adoption simpler and more efficient for everyone else. They’re the architects building the very framework upon which the hydrogen economy could stand.
For investors, Honeywell represents an investment in the backbone of the burgeoning hydrogen economy. It's a way to wager not just on one company, but on the success of hydrogen as a whole. Their cross-industry involvement provides a diversified hydrogen play that's worth paying attention to.
NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) is big on wind and solar, but let's not overlook their hydrogen agenda. They’ve recently initiated pilot projects to produce hydrogen from solar power, a method that's as green as it gets. This is the firm betting that hydrogen will be the perfect companion to renewable energy sources, providing storage and versatility.
It's like they've put their ear to the ground, heard the rumblings of the green hydrogen revolution, and decided they need a piece of that action. Their pilot projects may be small-scale now, but the implications could be massive. They're not just dabbling in hydrogen; they're connecting the dots between different renewable sources.
If you're an investor looking for a diversified renewable energy portfolio, NextEra is where the action is. They’re already a powerhouse in renewables, and their hydrogen projects could add another layer of growth potential. It’s the sort of multi-layered bet that might just pay off big.
Dominion Energy Inc. (NYSE:D) is carving out a niche for itself in the hydrogen economy by focusing on clean hydrogen solutions. They're taking their utility expertise and applying it to the production, storage, and distribution of hydrogen—creating an integrated, end-to-end offering that's not easy to come by.
Here's the kicker: Dominion isn’t just looking at hydrogen as an add-on; they're eyeing it as a critical piece in a broader clean energy strategy. They've got projects focused on using excess renewable energy to produce hydrogen, creating a synergistic relationship between two of the hottest sectors in clean energy.
So, why should this matter to an investor? Dominion is a prime example of an established utility company leaning into the future. By embracing hydrogen, Dominion is positioning itself as a leader in what could become one of the most transformative shifts in the energy landscape. It's like betting on a seasoned athlete who has found a second wind.
PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG) has had its share of challenges, but don't overlook their foray into hydrogen. They've been working on integrating hydrogen into California's renewable energy scene, which is no small feat. The company is exploring projects to harness wind and solar power for hydrogen production, effectively knitting together a sustainable energy tapestry that's hard to rival.
What's intriguing about PG&E is how they're leveraging their existing infrastructure. The company is investigating the potential for hydrogen blending in natural gas pipelines, which could be a game-changer. It's like they're playing 3D chess while the rest of us are still figuring out checkers.
From an investment perspective, PG&E’s involvement in hydrogen is noteworthy. This is a company that's looking to redefine itself and emerge stronger from its past setbacks. Their hydrogen initiatives provide a glimpse into a more resilient and diversified future, potentially offering investors an opportunity for both redemption and growth.
By. James Stafford
The Science Behind A Cleaner, Greener Pipeline System
The research team used nonlinear partial differential equations to model the transport of a mixture of hydrogen and natural gas through pipeline systems, considering variables like pressure and flow rates.
Their findings suggest that limiting the rate at which hydrogen is injected into natural gas pipelines can prevent sudden, large changes in pressure, thus enabling safe and predictable operations.
Despite the advantages of hydrogen as a clean fuel, the article points out challenges such as "hydrogen embrittlement," where hydrogen soaks into steel, making it brittle and potentially dangerous under high pressure.
Anatoly Zlotnik, a co-author of a new paper on the modeling in the journal PRX Energy. Zlotnik, a mathematician at Los Alamos National Laboratory, has expertise in modeling, designing and controlling energy-transmission systems briefly explained, “Mixing hydrogen into a natural gas pipeline changes how the gases flow, which will create new conditions for operators. Our modeling shows that injecting hydrogen gradually into a natural gas pipeline network allows safe, predictable operations.”
According to the paper, Zlotnik and his Los Alamos colleagues used nonlinear partial differential equations to develop the model for transporting heterogeneous mixtures of natural gas and hydrogen through pipeline systems. The infrastructure modeling includes compressor and regulator units, supply stations that inject gas into the network at defined pressure and hydrogen blends, and flow stations that withdraw the mixture from the network.
Solving challenges to pipeline operation
Transporting hydrogen in existing natural gas pipeline networks would enable operators to maximize the utility of these extensive and expensive facilities as part of a strategy to reduce carbon-emitting fossil fuels. Hydrogen is much lighter than natural gas, which is mostly methane, so blending them challenges pipeline operation in new ways.
The Los Alamos team’s mathematical modeling determined that limiting the rate of change of hydrogen injection into a natural gas pipeline will prevent large, rapid changes in pressures. The team’s methods for simulating a pipeline network could allow operators to develop standards on injection rates.
Hydrogen offers several advantages as a clean fuel that doesn’t emit carbon dioxide. In a fuel cell, hydrogen plus oxygen create electricity to power cars, trucks and facilities. Hydrogen can also be blended with natural gas for use in appliances such as household furnaces and dryers, or it can be burned to power manufacturing facilities or generate electricity.
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Getting a method in hand to handle the pressure variances that occur when pumping the very light hydrogen into a heavier gas is a critical improvement. A mixed gas system seems to be a very good idea.
There remains the hydrogen embrittlement of steel problem. Its no small problem, either. Hydrogen under pressure in a simple steel vessel just soaks into the steel, like hydrogen seems to soak into about everything when contained under pressure. To get appreciable volumes the pressure needs to be quite high. Over time the hydrogen simply makes the steel a brittle hydrogen alloy and could become easily fragmented. High pressures in a fragmentable vessel offers a quite unpleasant possibility.
It would really be better to alloy the hydrogen to some carbon and cut or eliminate the pressure and the destruction of the storage vessels with the possible consequences.
Water Woes Cloud Green Hydrogen's Future In The Middle East
Green hydrogen, produced using renewable energy, is gaining traction as a clean fuel, but its production can be environmentally damaging in regions with water scarcity.
Countries like Saudi Arabia and Tunisia require large-scale desalination for green hydrogen production, which is a dirty, energy-intensive process with irreversible ecological impact.
The EU’s green transition plans depend heavily on green hydrogen produced in water-scarce regions, which undermines the fuel's clean image and puts pressure on low-income countries.
A host of energy companies and governments around the globe are backing green hydrogen as the next big renewable energy source. The fuel is highly popular as it can be used to decarbonise the transportation sector, which is notoriously hard to make clean. It could also be used in highly polluting industries. As 1kg of hydrogen contains around three times as much energy as 1kg of petrol, it is viewed by many as a super-fuel for the green transition. But despite much optimism around the energy source, some are now accusing companies of exaggerating the cleanness of green hydrogen when produced in certain settings.
Green hydrogen is typically made using clean energy from surplus renewable energy sources, like wind or solar power, to split water into hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis. It differs from grey hydrogen, which is derived from fossil fuels. By the end of 2021, around 1 percent of global hydrogen production was green. The reason this figure was so low was due to the high costs associated with green hydrogen production, compared to grey or brown hydrogen production.
Following the recent COP climate summits, and the push from several governments around the world to move away from fossil fuels in support of a green transition, more and more companies are investing in green hydrogen projects. Energy firms are developing huge green hydrogen plants in various areas of the world, while governments and regional organisations are developing major transport corridors for the clean fuel.
While developing the green hydrogen industry sounds like a good way to cut carbon and produce clean energy, it is highly important to consider where this hydrogen is being made. Green hydrogen production requires vast amounts of water, which is fairly easy to supply in regions such as Europe and North America, but less so in areas of drought, such as the Middle East and parts of Africa. Producing green hydrogen in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Tunisia requires the large-scale desalination of seawater to provide water for the production process.
While Europe is currently leading in green hydrogen production, several countries in the Middle East hope to soon compete to become world leaders in clean hydrogen output. Meanwhile, energy companies are investing in projects in low-income countries, such as Tunisia, where they can produce the high-cost energy source for cheaper. This makes sense, apart from the fact that developing projects in arid countries may make the hydrogen less green.
The EU views Tunisia, one of the driest countries in Africa, as key to producing green hydrogen for export to Europe. It is easy to produce the solar power needed for electrolysis from the abundant sun rays available in the country, but it is less easy to source the water needed for the process. To acquire the water needed for green hydrogen production, companies must use and desalinate water from the Mediterranean Sea. However, a 2022 report for the Heinrich Böll Foundation showed that this is typically a dirty, energy-intensive, water-guzzling process. In Tunisia, it is thought that the degradation of marine ecosystems from the toxic sludge produced by desalination facilities would be irreversible. Further, it once again shifts reliance to some of the world’s poorest countries to provide energy for high-income countries.
At present, the EU’s green deal depends heavily on green hydrogen production in North Africa and Ukraine to deliver on its pledge to cut 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Companies are setting up projects in low-income countries due to the high costs associated with producing green hydrogen. Until the EU or state governments can offer major subsidies to European projects, like those being seen under President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the U.S., firms are unlikely to be willing to invest in home-grown hydrogen projects.
While it is important to invest in renewable energy projects in low-income countries to help reduce reliance on fossil fuels, help develop their economies, and support a green transition, it is important to ensure that “green” projects promote strong ESG values and provide wholly clean energy. Calling a project green simply because it uses a green process to provide the end project when the earlier processes were polluting or detrimental to the environment or residents of a country, is a slippery slope to endorsing even more greenwashing in the energy industry.
To effectively develop the green hydrogen industry, governments across regions of the world with large freshwater sources must develop national policies that promote the development of the industry, as well as provide subsidies and favourable tax frameworks to encourage new green hydrogen projects. The rapid expansion of the sector and greater investment in innovative technologies will help drive down the high costs associated with green hydrogen, to ensure production is clean and make the clean fuel source more widely available.
