France plans to mix hydrogen with natural gas to reduce carbon emissions

Reuters reported that as part of efforts to reduce carbon emissions, France's natural gas network may be adjusted from 2030 to deliver natural gas mixed with 20% hydrogen. Hydrogen, when burned, produces water, not carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas. If it is produced from renewable sources such as wind or solar energy, rather than oil and natural gas, which are the source of most of the hydrogen currently produced, it provides a clean fuel. According to grtgaz, grdf, elengy and other operators, the natural gas network in France can initially deliver a natural gas mixture containing 6% hydrogen. They suggest that the government set the hydrogen content at 10% by 2030 and increase it by another 20%. At a meeting in Paris, operators said the network could be adjusted to cope with changes at a limited cost. Germany and other European countries have been studying how to mix natural gas and hydrogen in the network to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the use of hydrogen as fuel is still facing great challenges. The gas can be produced from water by electrolysis, but it requires a lot of electricity, so if electricity comes from fossil fuels, its benefits will be weakened. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a June report that hydrogen production from low-carbon energy sources is still expensive, and low-carbon energy infrastructure construction is slow. Paul Frank, head of renewable energy at the International Energy Agency, said at the meeting that the world produces about 70 million tons of hydrogen annually, equivalent to the consumption of 500 million cars. But he points out that 90% of it comes from fossil fuels, which produce about 800 million tons of carbon dioxide. According to the data of the French Ministry of energy, hydrogen in France is mainly produced by oil and natural gas and is mainly used for industrial purposes. Its carbon dioxide emissions account for about 3% of the total emissions. In its long-term energy plan, France aims to decarbonize industrial hydrogen production by 10% by 2023 and allocate 100 million euros (US $110 million) this year to encourage hydrogen use, especially in transportation.