ABB: Unlocking the Power of Green Hydrogen to Play a Key Role in the Energy Transition
Green hydrogen can and must play a significant role as a new energy source to help decarbonise industry, especially in segments such as ammonia for fertilisers, and methanol and e-fuels for power generation and transport where its use is fundamental to the process. It also plays a key role in hard to abate sectors, such us iron and steel production, for the iron ore reduction process, as well as the pulp and paper and cement industries.
When we talk about the energy transition, in many cases this relates to direct electrification from green power supplies. Green hydrogen is no different; it is another process being electrified. However, green hydrogen production involves Variable Renewable Energy Sources (VRES) and given that every energy profile is different due to its nature, the project architecture needs to be able to handle a variety of scenarios and adapt to uncertainties of power supply.
At ABB we partner with developers and customers to co-design the overall project to achieve maximum performance and reduce CAPEX costs. Design principles such as efficiency, stability, predictability and flexibility of the electrical architectures are critical to ensure we connect the point of generation to the point of consumption in the most robust way, delivering reliability, safety, and performance.
With our digital and co-design capabilities we enhance and link the integration of VRES with tier one electrical and automation solutions, essential for the electrification of complex systems in volatile environments.
The question of cost
At ABB we believe that the greenest energy is the energy you don’t use. That is why we are working with partners across the world to combine respective expertise and solutions to optimise green hydrogen production operations. In 2023, we launched our energy management system ABB Ability™ OPTIMAX® for green hydrogen which strategically directs energy flows and assets to ensure that industrial processes run in the most efficient way possible with minimal losses, helping production companies reduce energy costs by up to 20 percent.
Such savings are critical. Green hydrogen cannot become viable until the levelised cost of production is reduced. Production is at an inflexion point: projects need to scale – but scale comes with costs.
To put this into context, more than 70 percent of the total operating costs required to make 1kg of hydrogen are estimated to come from electricity. For hydrogen to increase its role as a driver of decarbonisation – and scale up to the gigawatt levels required – it must achieve cost parity with other processes.
Project references
ABB is collaborating with partners and projects, applying its portfolio of digital solutions to optimise the cost of green hydrogen production
Earlier this year, we signed an agreement with Green Hydrogen International to support its major Power-to-X green hydrogen project in Texas. Set to produce 280,000 tons of green hydrogen per year, the project – powered by behind-the-meter solar and onshore wind energy – will store up to 24,000 tons of green hydrogen in an underground salt cavern, ready for shipment via a 120km pipeline to an ammonia production facility for conversion and export to Europe and Asia.
Also, ABB is collaborating with Lhyfe and Skyborn to optimise SoutH2Port, one of Europe’s most ambitious renewable hydrogen projects. The aim is to explore opportunities to tie-in Power-to-X conversion technologies that turn renewably sourced electricity into carbon-neutral energy carriers and storing the energy for later use. Production using offshore wind will be integrated into the energy system at SoutH2Port, which will produce around 240 tons of green hydrogen per day.
Digital technologies give hydrogen plants unprecedented visualisation and control of the production cycle, allowing them to monitor and optimise key processes, identify and eradicate inefficiencies, reduce downtime, and employ data acquisition and analytics for more informed decision making.
As the industry prepares for the World Hydrogen Congress in October, I remain optimistic that with continued collaboration and knowledge-sharing, we can leverage the latest digital innovations to solve the issue of production costs – ensuring green hydrogen takes its rightful place in the global clean energy mix.
Byline: Jorge Batarce, Global Hydrogen lead at ABB Energy Industries
