‘On the most busy surface in the Netherlands’ makes Gasunie Tempo with the construction of pipelines for CO2 storage

The large blue shovel that the sleepers prepares for the real heavy machines, drives and off. Every minute he lifts such a huge wooden thing – they are about five meters long and about a meter wide – from a trailer, and places it with a dull slap at the back of the last biels placed. Then the dust flies up and bystanders are slightly sandblasted.

On this ‘reinforced substrate’ the large crane trucks will soon be able to ride again, which are the brand new pipeline pieces of Gasunie’s new co₂-Understanding and storage infrastructure project Porthos in the port of Rotterdam will be placed in place in the ground. Hundreds of meters of pipeline pieces in turn are ready along one of the sides of the Billzenweg.

Further on, a team of welders is busy (under a tent, to prevent dust coming into the seams) to weld the next set of blowjobs. Another further on, another group of craftsmen is working on placing a pipeline for hydrogen, just next to the CO₂-tube.

It seems like a well -oiled machine – even though the complex is work, says Jan Willem Rongen, hydrogen project manager, during a tour. He often compares it himself with « Mikado, but with pipelines. The entire land here in the port is already full of pipelines and cables. This is the most busy surface in the Netherlands ».

Sometimes they come across a bomb from the war, his colleague Helen Miley, who deals with the « mikado pipes ». « Or anchors of ships. » Occasionally it also happens that they find blowjob for natural gas in a place where, according to the cards, they should not be at all. « Staying off, » is the motto, says Miley. « Don’t arrive. »

Fickle sources

The solid pace is becoming more important every day, they say at Gasunie. At the state -owned company, they believe that there are only two promising ways for the industry for the time being to make it more sustainable. And that is through the use of hydrogen (instead of fossil fuels) in their production processes, and by capturing and storing the CO₂ they emit. Die CO₂ Then Gasunie stores again in an empty gas field in the North Sea.

“In the short term it must be made of hydrogen and co₂-Storage, « says chairman of the board Willemien Terpstra, in an office near the building site. Here she just explained annual figures to journalists: the turnover fell from 2.1 billion euros to 1.29 billion, the profit dropped from 483 million to 70 million. This is mainly transported by the descending Volumes Gas.

Some other (state) companies, such as Tennet Streamnet Company, are fully committed to large -scale electrification of the industry. Too many of those processes, for example those of chemical companies, cannot be electrified at all at all, according to Terpstra. Some plastics manufacturers need high temperatures in their production process. Electrical installations do not make it.

And even if there is to be electrified, there will be a great need for alternative ‘molecular’ energy sources, such as hydrogen (and old -fashioned natural gas), Terpstra said. Because it just doesn’t always blow and the sun does not always shine. Then gas -fired power stations must take over.

That they think this at the Gasunie is not surprising. This is the new business case that Gasunie came up with for itself, when it became clear a few years ago that the Netherlands, in the long term, would ‘get off the gas’. Hydrogen and CO₂-Storage became the new ‘strategic’ pillars.

But you now also hear this view to the industry itself. The focus on sun and wind is very strong, especially in politics, it sounds there, but that remains fickle sources. You cannot set up business processes on that. Moreover, the production of green electricity is growing fast, but for the time being all that extra production is just enough to overcome the increased demand for electricity, not the existing ones.

The plans of Gasunie sometimes seem straight in violation of those of TenneT. At the important energy infrastructure connection Delta Rhine Corridor, which runs from the port of Rotterdam to Germany, Tennet (which wants to put a large power cable through it) was recently ‘out’, because Gasunie (that there is a hydrogen and co₂-Want to put a tube through) Want to make more hurry and said he couldn’t wait.

But according to Terpstra there is « no competition. » The two companies and their energy plans would be ‘complementary’.

Worries about industry

At Gasunie they are currently at the moment very worries about the condition of the industry itself, in the Netherlands and in Europe. That industry has a hard time, due to fierce competition from China, high energy costs and high network costs, says Terpstra.

She seizes the publication of the annual figures to ring the alarm bell about the industry, which also contain various Gasunie customers. Various companies, such as Lyondell-Basell, have recently closed their doors or leave abroad. Oil and gas company Shell said last week to investigate whether it will remain in Moerdijk and Pernis.

« If a lot of industry disappears, it is disastrous for employment, prosperity and our autonomy, » said Terpstra. The industry accounts for 12 percent of the gross national product, she says, and 10 percent of the labor force works in it. An empty run is a « danger » for the Netherlands, according to Terpstra. « And ultimately for Europe. »

If you sit down for everything, anything will never get off the ground

According to Terpstra, the Netherlands is facing a tipping point. « Are we going to make it more sustainable with or without industry? » She hopes that the government has a sufficient eye for industry and taking measures. But Gasunie’s own transition plans can also help to keep the industry here and keep energy affordable, she believes. The Netherlands does not have to import energy.

That is why the company will add a little extra in the coming years when it comes to investments in hydrogen, CO2 storage and ‘traditional’ natural gas: up to and including 2030, Gasunie invests a total of 12 billion euros in it. _{Last year there was already an investment plan of 11.5 billion ready, so not much has been added with 0.5 billion. But Gasunie now wants to publish that in a slightly shorter time, and check whether it can also speed up the different projects in other ways. « That is the contribution that we can make. »}

Hesitate

Whether such a disaster scenario is really waiting for the industry is the question. Central Planning Bureau Director Pieter Hasekamp enrolled this weekend in an opinion piece Het Financieele Dagblad That it will not go so fast, and that many of the plea for preserving the basic industry are based on ‘incorrect arguments’.

But if that, there are other reasons why it is quite exciting what Gasunie wants to do. With many of the plans, the company runs out for the troops, it acknowledges itself. For the planned expansion of the hydrogen network and a new, even larger CO₂-Storage project in the North Sea, called Aramis,, for example, are not yet enough customers, the large industrial emotors in the Netherlands, to have ‘covered’ the full investment.

Terpstra: « It is a complex process. But if you sit down until everything is certain, anything will never get off the ground. » The risk that Gasunie will soon be with ‘capacity’ that nobody needs, tries to limit it by asking the government whether he wants to take over some risks. « We are now talking about that. »

On the investor side, parties, such as banks, pension funds and asset managers, must also be found who want to borrow the money for all desired expenditure on Gasunie. Because large -scale hydrogen production and co₂-Storage, despite all the infrastructure preparations, are still in its infancy, they may hesitate. But at Gasunie they think that things will be fine in this area. After all, there was a lot of interest in previous financing rounds.

Outside the professionals continue undisturbed. Co₂-Pipple pipe is now 80 percent off (from the part that is about land). The hydrogen management is slightly less advanced but project manager Rongen is in good spirits. « It can be a life -size mikado here, but we cheerfully continue those pipes. »

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