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MALTATODAY 22 August 2021

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6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 AUGUST 2021 NEWS JAMES DEBONO THE Maltese government is ex- ploring the possibility of having hydrogen and blends of oth- er renewable fuels, including bio-methane, delivered to Malta through a gas pipeline from Gela in Sicily from 2030 onwards. A tender for a market research survey issued by Melita Trans- Gas, the national company en- trusted with the pipeline project, aimed at gauging the interest of potential investors in hydrogen production, storage and trans- portation. The prospect of securing EU funds for a hydrogen-ready pipeline were boosted after en- ergy minister Miriam Dalli se- cured a derogation in 2021 to have Malta's gas pipeline, which lost out on Connecting Europe Facility funds, be once again in with a chance as an EU project of common interest. The original gas pipeline is now being re-purposed for the transport of green hydrogen and "other gases and the transport of blends containing natural gas, renewable gases" and "up to 100% green hydrogen". As reported by MaltaToday last month, the most likely source of hydrogen will be in the area around Gela where Eni has commenced a pilot study in the production of green hydrogen, namely hydrogen produced by renewable energy sources. The market research study will identify any potential investors such as Italian energy compa- nies Eni, Snam, Enel, Edison, SGI and others, "to acquire a better-informed insight" about their plans to produce and make available green hydrogen or bio-methane gases in the area of Gela in Sicily, and estimate the available volumes and costs for 35 years from the finalisation of the pipeline. The study will also explore funding opportunities pro- grammes at European and na- tional level, for different pro- jects along the hydrogen chain in southern Italy particularly in Sicily. The study will also assess the cost of hydrogen production. Gela in Sicily is already the site of Eni's bio-refinery, where "grey" hydrogen is used to pro- duce biofuels. The town is still reeling from the closure of its petro-chemical plants built in the 1960s and is increasingly de- pendent on ENI's energy invest- ments – energy-hungry Malta may well end up boosting the town's economy. When quizzed in July by Malt- aToday, the energy ministry did not give specific details on how Malta will access the "green" hy- drogen market, recognizing that the technology is in fact still in its infancy, though promising. The ministry acknowledges that green hydrogen is still an emerging technology, by thinks that it is expected to develop at a fast pace. Eni currently uses hydrogen for making hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO) biofuels in its Venice and Gela bio-refineries. Most of its hydrogen is generated through steam methane reform- ing (SMR), which is considered to be a grey hydrogen. In December 2021, Eni and Enel announced they were working together to devel- op green hydrogen projects through electrolysers that are powered by renewable energy. The electrolysers will be located near Eni refineries in Taranto and Gela. In Gela, ENI plans to comple- ment existing plants using grey and blue hydrogen, with green hydrogen to explore how these can "interact and integrate with each other". Only in May, Enel Green Pow- er's head of hydrogen business Paola Brunetto acknowledged that green hydrogen was more expensive to produce than grey hydrogen, and that the emer- gence of a green hydrogen mar- ket depends on public incen- tives. Unlike grey hydrogen, which is produced by using fossil fuels, and blue hydrogen which relies on expensive and unreliable car- bon capture and storage tech- nology, green hydrogen, the op- tion being considered by Malta, is produced by electrolysis: the use of electricity from renewable energy sources, to split water in- to hydrogen and oxygen. Presently on a global level, on- ly around 2% of global hydrogen production is from electrolysis, with most hydrogen made di- rectly from fossil fuels like lig- nite, coal and methane. Environmentalists are general- ly wary of the new technology, fearing that this could prolong the dependence on fossil fuels and the life of existing gas-pow- ered power stations. The provision of hydrogen will require the retrofitting of exist- ing power stations. MaltaToday is informed that the Electrogas plant has been designed by Sei- mens to cater for the eventuality of a conversion to hydrogen. A PWC analysis of global en- ergy markets forecasts that de- mand for green hydrogen to accelerate from 2035 onwards as the fuel becomes cheaper to produce. Malta aims for 2030 hydrogen import through gas pipeline Market research study launched to determine interest in hydrogen production in Sicily

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