German industry projects to boost hydrogen sector
Germany's nascent hydrogen sector got some momentum today through the announcement of two new projects.
Trading firm Mabanaft and speciality products producer H&R have established a joint venture, P2X Europe, to purchase and market synthetic fuels produced in a power-to-liquid (PtL) process. H&R will build a pilot PtL plant in Hamburg that will transform renewable hydrogen, already produced on site, and carbon dioxide into so-called e-fuels and synthetic raw waxes.
E-fuels can be used in conventional combustion engines and can be distributed through existing infrastructure and filling station systems. Mabanaft aims to be one of the first suppliers of carbon-neutral synthetic fuels in Germany.
Also today, a consortium involving utility RWE, BP, speciality chemicals company Evonik and others said it has submitted an application for double-digit million euro amount from the EU Innovation Fund. It will put any funds towards the investment and operating costs of production and purchase of green hydrogen. The GET H2 Nukleus venture aims to initiate a national expansion of a hydrogen economy in Germany.
The constortium plans for green hydrogen produced in RWE's Lingen plant to be transported in existing natural-gas grid pipelines to be used at BP's 265,000 b/d Gelsenkirchen refinery.
Under the German government's biofuels draft law, which aims to implement the EU's revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), the use of green hydrogen in the refining process can counted towards the country's greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction quota. But industry associations including oil body MWV and automotive group VDA have said that the proposal does not adequately promote the use of synthetic fuels such as e-fuels in road transport.
Germany's economic stimulus package, brought in as a recovery plan from the Covid-19 pandemic, includes €7bn to bring green hydrogen technology to market and €2bn for fostering international partnerships. Hydrogen development is at an early stage, but Germany is not alone in Europe in trying to develop a sector. The UK government plans to invest up to £500mn as a first step toward a target of 5GW production capacity by 2030. This will be "low-carbon hydrogen" capacity, so may not necessarily be green hydrogen generated from renewable energy.
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US judge halts 'pause' on LNG export licenses
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Japan mulls seeking more gas-fired capacity in auction
Japan mulls seeking more gas-fired capacity in auction
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Denmark to launch carbon tax on agriculture from 2030
Denmark to launch carbon tax on agriculture from 2030
Dalby, 1 July (Argus) — The Denmark coalition government has introduced the world's first carbon emissions tax on agriculture, which will take effect from 2030. The agreement was reached on 24 June after five months of negotiations between the Government of Denmark, the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, the Confederation of Danish Industry, Danish trade union NNF that organises workers within the domestic slaughterhouse and meat industry, and association Local Government Danish. Farmers will have to pay 120 Danish kroner/t ($17.30/t) of emitted CO2 equivalent from livestock from 2030, rising to DKr300 from 2035 onwards. Revenues from the tax will be channelled back to the sector and reinvested into green initiatives, climate technology, and production transformation, targeting agricultural sectors facing the most difficulty transitioning, according to the British Agriculture Bureau (BAB). Copenhagen is a significant exporter of pork and dairy, and agriculture is currently expected to account for 46pc of emissions by 2030. Experts believe the carbon tax will cut these emissions by 1.8mn t in 2030, its first year of operations, enabling Denmark to meet its target of cutting 70pc of its total emissions by that year, according to BAB. Resistant farmers have brought traffic to a standstill in European capitals several times this year, in protests for EU leaders to remove rules designed to clean up the agriculture sector. New Zealand in late 2023 delayed the introduction of a proposed tax on cow emissions which was set to start at the end of 2025, but the newly elected New Zealand government in June cancelled the plan to tax livestock producers on methane production. The then New Zealand government had forecast the levy would have reduced the amount of methane released by livestock into the atmosphere by as much as 47pc by 2050, without disclosing the baseline year. By Jessica Clarke Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
British Columbia raises biofuels output goal
British Columbia raises biofuels output goal
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