Provaris Energy's compressed gaseous hydrogen carrier design 'ready in June'

Australia's Provaris Energy is set to finalize the design of a compressed hydrogen carrier in June while progressing renewable hydrogen projects with a view to first exports in 2026, Martin Carolan, Managing Director & CEO told S&P Global Commodity Insights May 26.

Provaris is developing a full value chain for supplying renewable hydrogen in Europe and Asia in compressed form, saving process and energy costs compared to other transportation methods, Carolan said.

The company has just announced a technical partnership with Northern Marine Management of the UK to develop a first compressed gaseous hydrogen (GH2) carrier, H2Neo, with Northern Marine potentially providing shipping services to a fleet of such carriers in future.

"We have completed the detailed design of the ship and have started to present some of those drawings to yards," Carolan said.

Over the next 12 months Provaris would work to finalize the design and approvals, which at present is similar to a Handymax size and features two tanks with a capacity of 26,000 cubic meters (430 metric tons) able to carry hydrogen at 250 bars pressure. It is s targeting approval for construction mid-2023.

Provaris, which was earlier Global Energy Ventures, also has approval in principle to build a 120,000 cubic meter carrier.

Compression of hydrogen was not uncommon with inland transport of hydrogen typically under 500-700 bars pressure, according to Carolan.

"We're not creating a new product," he said. "We are just creating a method of moving it in a compressed form within a ship at scale."

A fleet of vessels was expected to be ready and operational in late 2026 to support the 100,000 metric tons/year Tiwi Hydrogen Project in Northern Territory, a 2.8-GW solar and electrolysis scheme being developed by Provaris.

Provaris was also looking at the feasibility of compression for exports under an MOU from the HyEnergy Project in Western Australia being developed by Total Eren and Province Resources. The export-oriented project targets phase one hydrogen production up to 275,000 mt/year.

"On Tiwi we are submitting (the Environmental Impact Assessment) mid-June and for HyEnergy we are completing our feasibility looking at compression in June as well," Carolan said.

Positive scoping study

Provaris aimed to transport 50,000 mt/yr to 400,000 mt/yr of compressed hydrogen by 2026 as part of initial shipments, he said.

A scoping study by the company concludes that compressed hydrogen transportation is highly competitive up to a distance of 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km, north west Australia to Singapore) against liquefaction and ammonia, and remains competitive up to 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km, Australia to Japan, South Korea and China).

Noting recent interest from several parties in Europe and Canada, Carolan said Provaris was in discussions "on some of the initial volumes and how compression can make delivery efficient and cost competitive."

Having looked at the trading, storage and transport potential of ammonia, liquid hydrogen and liquid organic hydrogen, suppliers and buyers were now looking at compression as an alternative for getting early volumes of pure hydrogen to market, Carolan said.

In February, Kawasaki Heavy Industries' Susio Frontier ship completed a maiden voyage carrying liquid hydrogen from Australia's Port of Hastings to Kobe. Liquefaction requires cooling gaseous hydrogen to minus 253 degrees Celsius.

S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed Western Australia hydrogen produced via alkaline electrolysis at $1.78/kg May 26, down 22.6% from a month ago.

Japan hydrogen produced via alkaline electrolysis (including capex) was assessed at $9.21/kg May 26, down 13% from a month ago.