RACHAEL ESPINET
This is part two of a Climate Tracker inquiry into Trinidad and Tobago’s energy transition. The first article was published on October 9.
To date, this country produces grey hydrogen, which is hydrogen created from natural gas. Sunday Newsday spoke to Dr Vernon Paltoo, president of National Energy, on October 1 to discuss how the country is perfectly positioned as an energy producer to transition into a green-hydrogen economy.
In the near future, as an intermediate step, there is a national programme on carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS). This means the carbon that has been emitted when grey hydrogen is produced will be stored. That is a carbon-reduction measure.
“So we are looking at, as a country right now, how to do that in an economical fashion,” Paltoo said.
Blue hydrogen is where the carbon dioxide that has been emitted when grey hydrogen is produced is captured and stored.
“If we are able to capture that carbon dioxide, we transform it to blue hydrogen, which has a lower carbon footprint – but that does not mean that carbon dioxide does not exist. It means that we capture it and store it underground, or we find another use for it in terms of another product or an input to another product.”
[caption id="attachment_980812" align="alignnone" width="778"] Dr Vernon Paltoo, president of National Energy. - Photo courtesy National Energy[/caption]
Paltoo describes this as an intermediate step for getting to green hydrogen, where carbon isn’t used at all. Currently, there is a national effort to formulate a strategy and a plan to get to the blue hydrogen or carbon-capture utilisation.
Because TT is primarily an energy economy, some of the infrastructure needed for a clean energy transition that leads to net zero-carbon emissions already exists.
“Because of TT’s history in the energy sector, the country is well positioned to make a transition to clean energy. That is again where we benefit from what we have already. We do actually have some of the infrastructure required, as a result of our gas and oil industry.”
Beyond blue hydrogen, the country is working to make hydrogen from renewable energy only, which does not require gas to be used. This is called green hydrogen.
The renewable energy needed will come from solar photovoltaic (PV) or wind energy, and creates power that drives the electrolysers.
An electrolyser is a device that uses electricity to break water into hydrogen and oxygen. That hydrogen is used to create green hydrogen because there’s no carbon associated with its production.
“That is where we are going in the future with the production of green hydrogen only from renewable energy.
“Renewable energy will be a combination of solar and wind, right for the future, because we don’t have sufficient land space in terms of producing enough electricity with solar PV: that is why we have to use wind as well,” Paltoo said.
Studies are currently being done to determine the best locations for wind energy.
Paltoo believes a nationwide adoption of gree
