Norwegian Hydro Energy in Germany (NHEG) Executive summary

Transfer of renewable energy from remote areas to energy intensive industrial regions might be of prospective importance. The case study NHEG considers a system where Norwegian hydro energy is exported to Germany as hydrogen or electricity. The aim is to evaluate the technical and economical feasibility of a demonstration project paving the way for larger commercial projects in the future. Primarily hydrogen is considered as the energy carrier. Liquid hydrogen is produced in North-Norway, shipped to German ports and distributed to specific cities. Three alternatives are studied. The reference case is based on 100 MW hydro power, the two others on 20 MW. In the former a ship with fixed cryogenic tanks is applied for the LH_2 maritime transportation and cryogenic 40' containers with ISO standard dimensions for distribution to the users. In the latter ones the containers are supposed to be used for both transportation and distribution. In all cases evaporated GH_2 is assumed to be returned to the production plant for reliquefaction. The study indicates that the most interesting demonstration project should be a system using about 20 MW_e_l and having a production rate of 4.000 Nm"3 GH_2 per hour from an existing electrolysis plant. This may bring about 40.000 m"3 LH_2 per year to the customers and have an overall energy efficiency of about 58%. The capital investment including storage in a German port may be about 87 MDEM and the cumulative product cost about 0,25 DEM/kWh_t_h. Including distribution of LH_2 in Berlin as one example may increase the investment to about 114 MDEM and the product cost to about 0,31 DEM/kWh_t_h on today's premises. Long distance transmission of electricity may be an alternative to hydrogen transport. If electricity from Norway is used for liquid hydrogen production in Germany, the product cost will under realistic conditions be nearly the same as for imported LH_2. (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: F93B846a+b / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekBundesministerium fuer Forschung und Technologie (BMFT), Bonn (Germany); Commission of the European Communities (CEC), Luxembourg (Luxembourg); Kongelige Olje-og Energidepartement, Oslo (Norway)DEGerman