可再生天然氣的未來(lái)看起來(lái)越來(lái)越有希望，世界各地的能源公司已經(jīng)在談?wù)摓橄M(fèi)者提供碳中和天然氣的想法  

為了確保可再生天然氣的必要數(shù)量和基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施，將需要大量投資，這意味著可再生天然氣在數(shù)年內(nèi)不太可能實(shí)現(xiàn)商業(yè)可行性  

“可再生天然氣”通常指的是綠色氫氣和生物甲烷，這兩種截然不同的氣體如今有大量試點(diǎn)項(xiàng)目正在運(yùn)行，并有重大投資機(jī)會(huì) 

據(jù)美國(guó)油價(jià)網(wǎng)7月20日?qǐng)?bào)道，澳大利亞7月份發(fā)布的一則廣告廣泛宣傳“可再生天然氣”的未來(lái)，旨在開(kāi)始提高公眾對(duì)新的綠色能源項(xiàng)目的認(rèn)識(shí)，這些項(xiàng)目最終可能會(huì)改變?nèi)祟?lèi)的家庭能源使用。汽車(chē)制造商和許多能源巨頭已經(jīng)把目光投向了綠色氫氣，但公眾很少意識(shí)到從天然氣轉(zhuǎn)向氫氣和其他替代能源的潛在轉(zhuǎn)變。雖然要普及這些能源可能還有很長(zhǎng)的路要走，但隨著能源供應(yīng)商希望消費(fèi)者歡迎新能源進(jìn)入他們的家庭，營(yíng)銷(xiāo)活動(dòng)現(xiàn)在就已開(kāi)始。 

最近的一則廣告說(shuō)，“比你預(yù)期得更快，你的爐子或燒烤將燃燒出明亮的橙色‘向日葵’火焰——這是一個(gè)信號(hào)，表明你正在使用碳中和的可再生氫氣，其唯一的副產(chǎn)品是純凈水?！边@個(gè)信號(hào)旨在提高公眾對(duì)可能很快進(jìn)入市場(chǎng)新替代能源的認(rèn)識(shí)，向消費(fèi)者表明，太陽(yáng)能和風(fēng)能發(fā)電可能不是未來(lái)幾十年里唯一的可再生能源選擇。

全球許多國(guó)家的政府都在努力爭(zhēng)取到2050年前實(shí)現(xiàn)凈零碳排放，并向能源公司施加壓力，要求它們也這么做。這導(dǎo)致石油和天然氣公司投資碳捕獲和存儲(chǔ)（CCS）技術(shù)，使其運(yùn)營(yíng)電力化，并大量投資可再生能源項(xiàng)目以抵消化石燃料活動(dòng)。澳大利亞天然氣分銷(xiāo)巨頭AGIG是旨在實(shí)現(xiàn)凈零碳排放的公司之一。

AGIG負(fù)責(zé)人事和戰(zhàn)略的執(zhí)行總經(jīng)理Kristin Raman強(qiáng)調(diào)，AGIG的目標(biāo)是從天然氣轉(zhuǎn)向可再生能源。她解釋說(shuō)：“可再生天然氣不僅僅是一個(gè)新名字，而且是一種包括可再生氫氣和生物甲烷在內(nèi)的新天然氣，將由目前的天然氣網(wǎng)絡(luò)提供?！彼f(shuō)：“今天澳大利亞的能源系統(tǒng)依賴(lài)多種能源，天然氣和液體燃料，汽油和柴油，液化石油氣的使用量是電力提供的兩倍多。在我們邁向凈零排放的過(guò)程中，我們繼續(xù)使用多種能源是很重要的。”

歐洲的能源公司對(duì)綠色氫氣越來(lái)越感興趣，歐洲幾家主要的石油和天然氣公司通過(guò)開(kāi)發(fā)超級(jí)工廠投資歐洲的氫氣熱潮。藍(lán)色氫氣或灰色氫氣由天然氣產(chǎn)生，而綠色氫氣則依賴(lài)?yán)每稍偕娏⑺纸鉃闅浜脱?，從而產(chǎn)生零碳?xì)錃馊剂稀W洲的幾家汽車(chē)制造商希望在未來(lái)的燃料電池汽車(chē)中使用綠色氫氣作為電動(dòng)汽車(chē)的替代品，提供更快的加氣時(shí)間和更長(zhǎng)的續(xù)航里程。但隨著氫氣產(chǎn)量在全球范圍內(nèi)的逐漸擴(kuò)大，它也可以用于家庭烹飪。

與此同時(shí)，生物甲烷（又稱(chēng)可再生氣體）是一種近乎純凈的甲烷來(lái)源，通過(guò)去除沼氣中存在的任何二氧化碳和其他污染物來(lái)“升級(jí)”沼氣，或者通過(guò)固體生物質(zhì)氣化后的甲烷化來(lái)生產(chǎn)。生物甲烷可以用作物殘?jiān)?dòng)物糞便、城市固體廢物、工業(yè)廢物或廢水污泥作為原料生產(chǎn)。 

雖然這家澳大利亞天然氣公司暗示消費(fèi)者轉(zhuǎn)向可再生天然氣可能有些夸張，但這很可能在未來(lái)幾十年內(nèi)實(shí)現(xiàn)。隨著能源公司增加對(duì)零碳開(kāi)發(fā)的投資，重要的是他們要迅速傳播信息，建立一個(gè)消費(fèi)者市場(chǎng)，一旦新能源可用，他們就會(huì)準(zhǔn)備好接受新能源。在澳大利亞，一些可再生天然氣試點(diǎn)項(xiàng)目已經(jīng)啟動(dòng)并開(kāi)始運(yùn)行，南澳大利亞州氫氣園區(qū)向大約700戶(hù)家庭提供混合可再生天然氣，并計(jì)劃擴(kuò)大其覆蓋范圍。

氫氣和生物甲烷可以提供比電氣化更便宜的解決方案，因?yàn)樗恍枰码姉U和電線等電力基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施，也不需要增加額外的電池。雖然生物甲烷可以用于人們現(xiàn)有的炊具，但家用電器需要更新或更換以適應(yīng)綠色氫氣燃料。 

然而，為了推廣綠色氫氣和生物甲烷氣體，能源公司將不得不在生產(chǎn)設(shè)施的開(kāi)發(fā)上投入大量資金。雖然可能有足夠的原料來(lái)生產(chǎn)生物甲烷，但目前沒(méi)有足夠的加工廠來(lái)生產(chǎn)能夠供國(guó)民消費(fèi)的天然氣。然而，澳大利亞天然氣網(wǎng)絡(luò)運(yùn)營(yíng)商Jemena表示：“到2030年前，我們可以在整個(gè)天然氣網(wǎng)絡(luò)中整合多達(dá)20%的生物甲烷和20%的氫氣，這是一個(gè)廣泛的共識(shí)。”

這不僅發(fā)生在澳大利亞，隨著世界從化石燃料過(guò)渡到更綠色的替代品，世界各國(guó)政府和能源公司都在尋求開(kāi)發(fā)各種各樣的可再生能源項(xiàng)目，而不僅僅是太陽(yáng)能和風(fēng)能，以確保穩(wěn)定可靠的可再生能源輸出。在接下來(lái)的幾年里，我們可以期待在幾個(gè)國(guó)家看到更多的推廣活動(dòng)，隨著能源公司開(kāi)始發(fā)展他們的綠色能源市場(chǎng)，這將更新并提升消費(fèi)者對(duì)各種替代能源的認(rèn)知。 

李峻 編譯自 美國(guó)油價(jià)網(wǎng)

原文如下：

The World Is Ready For A Renewable Gas Revolution

·     The future for renewable gas is looking increasingly promising, with companies around the world already teasing the idea of providing consumers with carbon-neutral gas.

·     Significant investment will be needed in order to ensure the necessary volume and infrastructure for renewable gas, which means it is unlikely to be commercially viable for years.

·     The term ‘renewable gas’ tends to refer to green hydrogen and biomethane, two distinct gasses that have plenty of pilot projects running and significant investment opportunities. 

An Australian advert hyped up the future of “renewable gas” this month in a bid to start raising public knowledge of new green energy projects that could eventually change our home energy use. Automakers and many energy majors have already set their sights on green hydrogen, but there is little public awareness of the potential shift away from natural gas to hydrogen and other alternatives. While it may be a long way off until universal access to these energy sources, the marketing drive starts now, as energy providers hope consumers will welcome new energy sources into their homes. 

A recent advert stated, “Sooner than you expect, your stove or barbecue will be burning with a bright orange “sunflower” flame – a signal that you’re using carbon-neutral renewable hydrogen gas, whose only by-product is pure water.” It was aimed at increasing public awareness of new alternative energies that may soon be making their way to the market, showing consumers that electricity from solar and wind power may not be the only renewable options in the coming decades. 

Many governments around the globe are striving for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and putting pressure on energy companies to do the same. This has led oil and gas firms to invest in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, electrify their operations and invest heavily in renewable energy projects to offset fossil fuel activities. One of the firms aiming to achieve net-zero is Australian gas distribution major AGIG.

Kristin Raman, Executive General Manager of People and Strategy at the company, highlights AGIG’s aim to shift away from natural gas to renewable alternatives. She explains, “Renewable gas is not just a new name, but a new gas including renewable hydrogen and biomethane that will be delivered by the current gas network.” “Today Australia’s energy system relies on diverse sources of energy – natural gas and liquid fuels - petrol and diesel – and LGP are used for more than double the energy provided by electricity… It’s important that as we move towards net-zero emissions we continue to use diverse sources of energy,” she added.

Energy firms in Europe have grown increasingly enthusiastic about green hydrogen, with several major oil and gas firms investing in Europe’s hydrogen boom through the development of gigafactories. Blue or grey hydrogen is produced from natural gas, while green hydrogen relies on using renewable energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen to create zero-carbon hydrogen fuel. Several automakers expect to use green hydrogen in fuel cell cars as an alternative to electric battery vehicles in the future, offering faster fuelling times and longer ranges. But hydrogen could also make its way into homes for cooking purposes as production gradually expands worldwide. 

Meanwhile, biomethane (aka renewable gas) is a near-pure source of methane produced either by “upgrading” biogas by removing any CO2 and other contaminants that are present in the biogas or through the gasification of solid biomass followed by methanation. Biomethane can be produced using crop residues, animal manure, municipal solid waste, industrial waste, or wastewater sludge as feedstocks. 

While the Australian gas firm may have been exaggerating by suggesting that a consumer shift to renewable gas is just around the corner, it may well be on its way within the next few decades. As energy firms increase their investments in zero-carbon developments, it is important that they get the message out there quickly to establish a market of consumers that will be ready to adopt the new energy sources once they become available. And in Australia, some renewable gas pilot projects are already up and running, as the Hydrogen Park South Australia delivers renewable gas blends to around 700 homes and plans to expand its reach. 

Hydrogen and biomethane could offer much cheaper solutions than electrification, as it does not require the need to update electrical infrastructure such as poles and wires and add additional batteries. Although, while biomethane can be used in people’s existing cookers, appliances will need to be updated or changed to accommodate green hydrogen fuel. 

To roll out green hydrogen and biomethane gas, however, energy firms will have to invest heavily in the development of production facilities. While there may be enough feedstocks to fuel biomethane production, there are not enough processing plants to make gas production for national consumption at present. However, Australian gas network operator Jemena says there is a “broad consensus that we could integrate as much as 20% biomethane and 20% hydrogen by 2030 across the gas network”.

This is not only true in Australia, with governments and energy firms worldwide looking to develop a variety of renewable energy projects, beyond just solar and wind power, to ensure stable and reliable renewable energy output as the world transitions away from fossil fuels to greener alternatives. We can expect to see more marketing campaigns across several countries in the coming years, raising consumer awareness around a variety of alternative energy sources as companies begin to develop their green energy markets.