Hybrids project

On 24 June 2021, SGI signed an agreement with Società Chimica Bussi (“SCB”), a chemical company based in Bussi Sul Tirino (Pescara) belonging to the Gruppo Gestioni Industriali (“GIG”), the main national operator in the electrolytic base chemistry segment, aimed at starting a first-of-a-kind pilot project for the injection of green hydrogen into the network, generated through industrial processes powered by renewable energy, obtaining a 1% blend of methane and hydrogen with a possible increase in the decarbonised share as soon as the legislation allows it, in accordance with the provisions of the National Hydrogen Strategy (up to 10%). 

The Hybrids project, which involves an investment of approximately €7M and will last between 24 and 36 months, is included among the 997 projects of the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, of which SGI is a member. 

SCB already produces green hydrogen through electrolytic processes powered by hydroelectric energy, which (up to 72 tons per year) will be allocated predominantly to the Hybrids project, and therefore destined for tests through the SGI network, but also to other projects for the development of green gas applications, which together will achieve savings in terms of CO2 emissions of at least 560 tons per year. 

The objectives

The industrial and ecological value of the Hybrids project lies in testing in the field the procedures and plants for the continuous blending, variable throughout the day, of green hydrogen-methane and in demonstrating the functionality of a dynamic operation of the hydrogen pipeline, both as H2 storage and reverse flow for delivery to the producer, in parallel with its injection into the network.

In this way, innovative know-how will be developed to be applied in future projects relating both to the other production sites of the GIG group and to SGI’s gas transmission network, including on the end user side. This will highlight the best systems to convert the existing gas transmission infrastructure – which extends, in the case of SGI, for about 1,800 km – to the transmission of hydrogen generated from renewable energies and/or with reduced CO2 content, within plants already equipped with the necessary production and plant engineering expertise, in line with national and European objectives for sustainability and the energy transition.

Alongside this, Hybrids will enable the development of market mechanisms that can encourage and enhance the production and consumption of green hydrogen.

Development

In detail, SCB will create, as part of the project, infrastructure for the collection, purification, compression and measurement of hydrogen produced by its electrolytic production processes powered by hydroelectric energy, in order to make it compatible with mixing in the gas transmission network. SGI will build the infrastructure to connect the SCB plants to a hydrogen pipeline with a diameter of 8 inches (approximately 20 cm), which will also have a storage function with the possibility of reverse flow, or the return of hydrogen to SCB in case it is needed by its production processes.

Finally, SGI will also build the hydrogen blending and feed-in plant, equipped with instruments to control the flow of natural gas in transit, to automatically dose the H2 fed into the network, to identify and monitor the hydrogen-methane blending percentage, which varies over the course of the day in the transmission infrastructure, and to remotely control the plant’s operation (adjusting the hydrogen input flow rate, operating pressure, etc.) as well as the metering and assessment of the energy carrier.

In 2022, the Hybrids Project was expanded with the “Hybrids Downstream” project, which applied to the Arera 404 Resolution innovation call and received funding. The “downstream” project in collaboration with 2iRete gas, involves the construction of a new hydrogen pipeline, built through the repurposing of an existing abandoned pipeline, which will reach the municipality of Torre de Passeri, located about 9 km from the green hydrogen production site.

The new hydrogen pipeline will be equipped with an innovative IoT System for the monitoring and optimised management of the transmission infrastructure through the prediction of gravitational phenomena and the control of hydrogen permeation. A further plant will be designed in Torre de Passeri in order to blend hydrogen with natural gas from the SGI pipelines, and the blending product will be injected into the local distribution network for another pilot project regarding the use of hydrogen for civil utilities.