Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1395902
5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 JULY 2021 NEWS While in favour of getting rid of the LNG tanker from De- limara, FOE insists that a hy- drogen-ready pipeline is not a long-term solution to Malta's energy provisions. "Having a second interconnector and investing more in renewables, coupled by a drive to reduce energy consumption should be the main solutions to im- plement," FOE spokesperson Martin Galea Degiovanni told MaltaToday. While agreeing that Mal- ta should diversify its energy provision by relying on a mix of sources the country "cannot depend on a source which is currently in experimental stag- es" at a time when most hydro- gen sources are still coming from non-renewable sources linked to fossil fuel generation (grey and blue). Galea Degiovanni described hydrogen as simply a vector to store and move energy around. "If the production of hydro- gen releases CO2, as that from splitting methane gas, it wors- ens global warming," he said. He dismissed the fossil fuel industry's claims that it can in future capture and store the carbon. "In reality, the large- scale and secure storage of carbon remains unproven and uneconomic." Moreover, he adds that com- pared to solar and wind ener- gy, hydrogen produced both by fossil fuels and by renew- ables is also inefficient. "Five times more wind or solar farms would be needed to heat our homes with (green) hydrogen than if we were to heat them directly with electricity using a heat pump. It is a similar sto- ry with hydrogen cars versus electric cars." He also warned that retro- fitting existing power stations to hydrogen is very expensive. "The question is, do we want to risk having a pipeline that leads to nowhere or will this be yet another opportunity for contractors to syphon off pub- lic funds?" The energy ministry did not answer MaltaToday's ques- tions on the cost of retrofit- ting the existing LNG operated power stations at Delimara. MaltaToday is informed that retrofitting the BWSC plant, which has already been ret- rofitted from heavy fuel oil to natural gas, and eventually to hydrogen, is very difficult. But the Electrogas plant has been designed by Seimens to cater for the eventuality of a conversion to hydrogen. Neither did the ministry reply to questions on whether Malta is considering other funding mechanisms if the European Commission refuses to fund the proposed hydrogen ready pipeline. An Environmental Impact Assessment on the construction of the LNG pipe- line between Gela and Delima- ra has already been presented and the project is expected to be approved by the Planning Authority in the next weeks. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt A green hydrogen production plant in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, which uses 20 megawatt solar power generation facilities along with power from the grid to conduct electrolysis of water. The Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field (FH2R) has the ability to produce as much as 1,200Nm3 of hydrogen per hour using renewable energy