Ukraine war | Denmark approves new green hydrogen tender and 4-6GW target for 2030
Nation aims to produce ammonia, methanol and e-kerosene from renewable H2 as part of a bid to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian fossil fuels
The primary aim of the new policy is to produce green fuel from the hydrogen to power aircraft, ships and trucks — a strategy that has taken on new urgency after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The plan had originally been announced in January, and will now move forward after the minority Social Democrat government won backing from all the major parties in the Danish parliament. Such support makes it extremely unlikely that a future government would overturn the agreement.
Climate and energy minister Dan Jørgensen said that the deal will ensure that the country can be a leader in the move away from fossil fuels, and help make Europe “more independent of Russian black energy”.
The Danish government said the 4-6GW target will produce about two million tonnes of green hydrogen per year, and added that it will present a plan to ensure that Denmark will be a net exporter of green energy, taking into account the new Power-to-X (PtX) goal.
On top of the DKr1.25bn tender — which will essentially subsidise the production of e-fuels for ten years — regulatory frameworks will also be amended to make PtX more attractive.
“With the new agreement, we remove the known barriers to large-scale PtX, and pave the way for the production of new green fuels and a better and more flexible use of our energy system,” said Anne Paulin, climate and energy spokeswoman for the ruling Social Democrats.
The agreement does not appear to define “green fuels” or “PtX”, but it does refer to ammonia, methanol and “e-kerosene” — the latter being chemically identical to existing jet fuel, but produced by combining green hydrogen (derived from electricity, hence the “e-“) with captured carbon dioxide.
Hydrogen itself can also be considered to be a green fuel for trucks and possibly short-distance airplanes and vessels, while ammonia and methanol — both derived from hydrogen — are being discussed as potential shipping fuels. Other potential green fuels include e-methane, synthetic petrol and e-diesel.
All of these e-fuels will be far more expensive than fossil fuels due to their high production costs, the inefficiencies of the conversion processes and the huge amounts of electricity required to power them (which would need to be renewable to ensure significant greenhouse gas reduction).
The Danish government has an ambition to use e-kerosene, or synthetic aviation fuel, on at least one domestic flight route by 2025.
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