Søren Bjerregaard Pedersen is CEO of Hydrogen Valley and CEMTEC, which is located on the outskirts of Hobro in North Jutland. CEMTEC stands for Center for Energy and Materials Technology and was established in 2001 as a non-profit organisation. Hydrogen Valley specializes in hydrogen, PtX and CO2. Right now there is a stumbling block that worries the CEO in relation to the green transition. It is largely about how to store the energy, and here hydrogen has an advantage.
- What do we do on a cold February day without energy from the sun and wind, when we no longer have the coal power plants? Batteries are only good for large amounts of energy for short periods, but with hydrogen we can store large amounts of energy for long periods, explains Søren Bjerregaard Pedersen, who also sees another connection:
- The development of on- and offshore wind is going far too slowly. It is also my assessment that we will not see the energy companies setting up more offshore wind farms before a hydrogen pipeline has been decided. Here, "replanting" is important. It is an integral part of the offshore seawing range that is out right now.
Overplanting means that we set up more turbines in each park, in order to be able to supply enough electricity also during the day, when it is only 80 percent windy. force. But this requires that you can get rid of the current in the form of hydrogen when the wind is 100 per cent.
A hydrogen pipeline must help create flexibility in several ways, and the Danish underground plays a role. A hydrogen pipeline would make it possible to export hydrogen to heavy German industry - but there would also be an opportunity to create Danish energy stores, and here depleted salt caverns in the Danish underground play a central role.
- There are salt caverns in Lille Torup, Hvornum and Suldrup. If you make a hydrogen pipeline for them, then two salt caverns can form a hydrogen power plant the size of the Nordjyllandsværket or the Esbjergværket. One of the salt caverns can be used for hydrogen storage for a combustion of the hydrogen, while the other is used for compressed air that can drive a turbine. The hydrogen from the renewable green energy can be stored here, but it requires a hydrogen pipeline, asserts Søren Bjerregaard Pedersen.
Not enough with the power grid
An expansion of the electricity grid must be carried out and preferably as soon as possible - but it cannot stand alone, it continues.
- It is the only way we can create an efficient energy system, and it is 100 per cent. necessary when we no longer have the coal-fired power plants. It is significantly more expensive to transport electricity than hydrogen, says Søren Bjerregaard Pedersen and recalls that there is absolutely a need for both electricity and hydrogen.
- There is a need for both hydrogen and electricity. But where we can use electricity, we must do so, because it is far more efficient. However, there are some heavy duty things where we need the hydrogen, says the CEO, who also has an electric car parked in the car park.
That is why he also sees a mutual need both between wind and solar power and a hydrogen pipeline.
- Hydrogen is an enabler to get both the solar cells and the offshore turbines up and running. It is also the other way around, because there is no need for a hydrogen pipeline without solar and wind energy. Hydrogen and offshore wind are each other's necessity, it says.
Possible energy storage for Norway, Sweden and Finland
The Danish capacity of storage options for hydrogen in salt caverns is even so great that it allows Denmark to store for Norway, Sweden and Finland, where there is no underground suitable for storing hydrogen.
- In Denmark, we can become a warehouse for the entire Nordic region, because we are the northernmost country with a suitable underground and salt caverns. Norway, Sweden and Finland have good opportunities to make green hydrogen from hydropower - but there is no possibility to store the hydrogen, says Søren Bjerregaard Pedersen and gets to the main message for the politicians and the billion-dollar investment in a Danish hydrogen pipeline:
- That is 16 billion. DKK to make an even more green transition, and compared to that, it is not a lot of money.
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