Panorama – The national gas network would need 700 million euros to transport a maximum of 20% of hydrogen

Between 92 million euros, for a mix of 5%, and 703 million euros for “un máximo del 20%”. This is the main conclusion of CavendisH2, the study that Sedigas just presented and that the employer of the sector has elaborated in collaboration with the company Bip Consulting. The authors of the study, which analyze the viability of using the existing gas infrastructure to transport different types of renewable gases, recognize that, to begin with, there would be “some modifications” to be planted in the actual network. Y eso que la employer del gasístico sector presumes de los “altos de calidad” que ha applied a la “construcción, operación y maintenance” de esa su red. The modifications in any case would involve investments ranging from almost a hundred million to adapt the grid to the 5% mix (the other 95% would be fossil gas) and the more than seven hundred that would be needed to raise this mix to 20% ( +80% de gas fósil, también apellidado natural). The investments would be necessary “to assure the total compatibility of materials and reinforce the capacity of certain operational elements”.

Lo que dice el informe
“Considering a scenario in which the assets of all gasified municipalities in our country will be adapted and the same energy demand of today will be transported, the investment required to adapt the infrastructure for increasing scenarios of the use of renewable hydrogen, from the 5 % to 20% in volume, it would reach an import of between 92 million euros and 703 million euros, respectively. Assuming the largest of them, this would represent 2% of the annual regulated costs of the gas system in an estimated amortization period of 20 years of useful life”

CavendisH2 also recognizes the need to implement “a series of additional measures in the areas of regulation, administration and development of technology and infrastructure” that would place Spain -surely- in a position “more favorable for the development of renewable gases” . Along these lines, it recommends the development of an ambitious normative framework and binding objectives aligned with the potential of renewable gas production in Spain, as well as the simplification and streamlining of administrative processes for the launch of hydrogen projects, without passing through alto la adopción de medidas que favorezcan el desarrollo de la tecnologia y faciliten la inversión en las infraestratuses necessarias.

Renewable gases
Sedigas advocates for guaranteeing that renewable gases adopt a more relevant role in the energy transition. The employer of the sector assures that this position is based “on the availability of the infrastructure and the reasonableness of the associated investments required”. In this sense, the Spanish Gas Association considers that there would be more ambitious objectives “singularly for biomethane in the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan and Long-Term Decarbonization Strategy”.

The objectives defined in the different policies published at the national level establish a roadmap between 2020 and 2050 that includes a 350% increase in the use of renewable energy – including renewable gases – in final consumption and a 94% reduction in use de combustibles fósiles en el consumo final, “objetivos de carbonización -señalan desde Sedigas- que implican importante cambios para la generación de energía como en las infrastructuras para vehicularla a todos los segmentos de consumo”.

The CavendisH2 study considers that the technologies to decarbonize “are already on the table in the majority of segments”, while recognizing that “their future relevance and the speed of adoption are the main uncertainties”.

Sedigas opina in ese sentido que no puede desdeñarse, cuando se trata de competitividad, el “principio de neutralidad tecnologidad como central elemento el que deba pivotar la planninga de nuestro energy modelo de futuro”.

Joan Batalla, presidente de Sedigas: “España has two great bases for incorporating renewable hydrogen into the energy model of our country: an elevated production capacity given the natural conditions of renewable resources and a modern and quality gas network. We are talking about an advanced gas infrastructure that has 7 regasification plants, 6 international connections, more than 14,000 kilometers of transport network, 80,000 kilometers of distribution network and about 8 million supply points, and that should be a key element to enable and favor the deployment of renewable gases to accelerate decarbonization”

For comparison: the Spanish electricity transmission network has more than 45,000 kilometers of high tension power lines. The distribution network has more than 700,000 kilometers.

Estudio CavendisH2. Análisis sobre el valor de la infrastructure gasista como eje para la transition energetica