Gas network operator Netze BW says it has successfully demonstrated in practice that hydrogen can be mixed into an existing natural gas network.
The distribution network for natural gas in Baden-Württemberg is generally capable of transporting hydrogen. This is one of the conclusions reached by the natural gas network operator Netze BW following a pilot project in the town of Öhringen in north-eastern Baden-Württemberg. There, Netze BW fed up to 30 percent hydrogen into the natural gas network in a real network operation.
To do this, Netze BW separated a localised supply area with a 500-meter-long sub-network from the existing natural gas network and independently supplied it with hydrogen that was gradually blended in at up to 30 percent. This “island area” included a property used by Netze BW itself and 26 neighbouring households. The local authority, end appliance manufacturers, chimney sweeps and associations were involved in the project, which also received scientific support.
“The addition of hydrogen worked without any problems,” summarizes Martin Konermann, Managing Director Technology at Netze BW. Neither the infrastructure nor the gas boiler had to be extensively adapted. Prior to this, the grid operator had already worked with industry, science and start-ups on concepts to make the electricity and gas distribution grid fit for the challenges of the future. They were tested in Öhringen, for example, under the name NETZlabore.
Three heating pillars
For Konermann, the heat supply of the future rests on three pillars: heat pumps, heating networks and hydrogen. Netze BW currently assumes that the hydrogen transformation will begin in Baden-Württemberg from 2032 and that hydrogen will be transported in the existing gas networks from 2040. Most of Netze BW’s gas pipelines are also suitable for transporting 100 percent hydrogen.
This was also the result of a study by the Materials Testing Institute at the University of Stuttgart. It had randomly tested steels used in German and some European pipelines and exposed them to extreme operating and ageing influences under hydrogen. New pipelines are to be built for the hydrogen core network and existing pipelines are to be repurposed. A pilot project has been running in Lower Saxony since last fall.
However, Baden-Württemberg would have to be connected to the planned national hydrogen core network, said Konermann. Which regions are connected to this core network with hydrogen depends largely on the demand from industrial customers who need hydrogen for their production. According to the current plans of the Federal Ministry of Economics for a 9700 km long hydrogen core network, which is to be created by 2037, Baden-Württemberg would be connected. However, Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Economic Affairs Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut (CDU) criticized in the Bundesrat in December that large parts of her federal state were not planned to be connected to the core network.
SOURCE: heise online
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