Biden Eyes Long-Term Hydrogen Breakthrough in Plan to Send Gas to EU

(Bloomberg) -- The Biden administration says the infrastructure needed under a plan announced Friday to boost natural gas shipments to Europe will be built so that it can be converted later to distribute climate-friendly hydrogen. 

In the short term, the pipelines, tanks and terminals could expand the use of liquefied natural gas and encourage more production in the U.S., drawing the ire of environmentalists who want to wean the world from fossil fuels. But under the vision outlined by the U.S. and the European Union, the equipment could eventually be re-purposed to transport hydrogen.

A colorless, odorless gas, hydrogen is considered a potential breakthrough source of clean energy. When fed through a fuel cell or burned in turbines, it generates electricity without producing greenhouse gases. And it’s seen as one of the few ways to remove carbon-dioxide emissions from industrial manufacturing where high heat is required.

A joint U.S.-EU statement announcing plans to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian gas said the two sides will build “clean and renewable hydrogen-ready infrastructure.” They also pledged to use clean energy to power the new operations and plug methane leaks in the equipment and associated pipelines.

The goal is to ensure any new pipelines are built with the right materials, valves and equipment so they can be easily adapted to carry hydrogen, a senior administration official told reporters Friday. By contrast, re-purposing conventional natural gas pipelines to safely carry hydrogen is difficult and expensive.

Climate activists scoffed at the plan, arguing that it prolongs the world’s dependence on natural gas and its main component, methane, as a source for hydrogen.

“Nothing can justify a massive expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure that would devastate communities and make it impossible to achieve our climate goals and avert the worst of the climate crisis,” said Kelly Sheehan, senior director of energy campaigns at the Sierra Club.

The plan was cheered by a coalition of companies working to advance and deploy hydrogen, including Air Liquide SA, Linde Plc and Cummins Inc.

“Decarbonized hydrogen will play a key role in reducing emissions, particularly in the hard-to-electrify sectors of the global economy, and agreements like this one will ease the transition as markets increasingly move to lower-carbon fuels,” the Hydrogen Forward coalition said in an emailed statement. 

Building pipelines for hydrogen transport initially would allow much greater use of the fuel, going beyond existing goals to blend modest amounts of it into gas as a way of reducing power plant emissions, said David Burns, Linde’s vice president of clean energy development.

Flexible Design

“If you’re going to build new pipeline, you’d build it hydrogen-ready so it meets the specifications and requirements for hydrogen,” Burns said. “You can’t turn from one day using LNG to the next day using hydrogen,” but even at LNG export facilities there are ways to “build in flexibility,” he said.

The U.S.-EU approach is consistent with the vision of many natural-gas producers that see production of hydrogen as a way to buttress long-term demand for their fossil fuel. 

Yet the green bona-fides of hydrogen depend on how it is produced. 

The vast majority of hydrogen generated today is stripped from natural gas with steam in a technique that releases planet-warming carbon dioxide. The process can be made cleaner by trapping that carbon dioxide on site, and plugging leaks of methane, but there’s a near emission-free alternative using electrolysis to split hydrogen molecules from water. Truly “green hydrogen” plants that use electrolysis to generate the fuel are powered by renewable energy.

The U.S. and EU reiterated their climate goals Friday, saying they’re committed to limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). “Natural gas remains an important part of the EU energy system in the green transition, including by ensuring its carbon intensity decreases over time,” they said in the statement.

Yet those climate promises are undermined if new infrastructure is leveraged to create natural gas-based hydrogen in the future, Sheehan said. 

“Hydrogen made from methane gas is a false solution the fossil fuel industry is selling to greenwash their dirty product and lock in reliance on gas for decades,” she said. “The Biden administration shouldn’t be fooled.”

Methane Leaks

Leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, also could exacerbate the climate impact of a big shift to hydrogen. Methane is the prime component of natural gas, but when it escapes from wells, pipelines and other equipment it helps trap heat in the atmosphere. 

Regardless of whether it’s used as a source of energy or a hydrogen feedstock, natural gas production would be encouraged by the U.S.-EU plan. Environmentalists said that will inevitably unleash more pollution, with communities near drilling operations and coastal liquefaction facilities bearing the brunt. 

“The Biden administration and the EU gave the fossil fuel industry a green light to transform the Gulf Coast into a sacrifice zone for fracked gas,” said John Beard, founder of the Port Arthur Community Action Network in Texas. “President Biden can’t call himself ‘the climate president’ while ignoring the needs and realities of impacted communities.”

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