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Hydrogen projects to raise demand for water supply via desalination

Oil&Gas Materials 18 September 2021 09:34 (UTC +04:00)
Hydrogen projects to raise demand for water supply via desalination

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.18

By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:

Hydrogen projects will raise demand for water supply via desalination in coming decades, Trend reports with reference to Rystad Energy, a Norway-based independent energy research and business intelligence company.

Rystad Energy estimates that the current pipeline of projects aims to produce about 30 million tonnes of hydrogen per year by 2040, with an annual requirement of 620 million cubic meters of purified water. More than 70 percent of these hydrogen electrolyzer projects will be located in water-stressed areas such as Spain and Chile, and as a result nearly 85 percent of the hydrogen capacity lined up for 2040 may need to source water supply via desalination.

“To ensure the hydrogen produced is green, additional renewable energy capacity will be required for the desalination process, as currently only 1 percent of global desalination projects are powered by renewables. Most operating desalination plants use thermal energy or power from the local grid,” said the company.

Rystad Energy’s analysis finds that 14 green electrolyzer projects are planned in countries with extremely high water-stress levels, 53 projects are in countries with high water stress, and 162 projects are located in regions with medium to high water stress. Hydrogen electrolyzer projects in the high to extremely high water-stressed countries will almost certainly require desalination for their water supply – potentially implying a demand of 125.7 million cubic meters of water annually for desalination by 2040. Some notable green hydrogen projects in Oman (Alwusta) and Saudi Arabia (Neom) as well as numerous projects in Spain will be in this category.

“Demand for desalination could grow fivefold to 526 million cubic meters by 2040 if all the hydrogen projects within regions with water stress levels above medium are realized. This will include heavy hitters in the green hydrogen pipeline such as projects in Australia (e.g., TotalEnergies’ HyEnergy 5 GW electrolyzer) and Germany (e.g. Aquaventus at 10 GW by 2035). The United Nations (UN) expects freshwater demand to increase globally by 60% by 2025 − for agriculture alone. Therefore, regions with water stress levels above medium will most likely need to develop this additional desalination capacity to support green hydrogen facilities,” said the company.

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