Russia’s war on the Ukraine has prompted the EU to accelerate its transition to clean energy and Global Energy Venture plans to be at the forefront of the region’s green hydrogen integrated supply chain.

With Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine signalling to international markets the importance of energy security, Global Energy Ventures (ASX: GEV) has continued to cement its position in the world’s green hydrogen industry as an integrated producer and exporter of the fuel.

Last month, the European Commission outlined hydrogen as critical to the region’s goal to decarbonise and cut its reliance on Russian gas.

As a result, the EU has developed the hydrogen accelerator strategy, which aims to further fast-track development of infrastructure, storage facilities and ports for the fuel.

Under the plan, a further 10Mt of renewable hydrogen will be imported into the EU from diverse sources, with an additional 5Mt of domestic renewable hydrogen to be generated in addition to the 5Mt already planned.

This is expected to result in 20Mt of renewable hydrogen available in the EU by 2030.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the region needs to become independent of Russia’s oil, coal and gas.

“We need to act now to mitigate the impact of rising energy prices, diversify our gas supply for next winter and accelerate the clean energy transition.”

“The quicker we switch to renewables and hydrogen, combined with more energy efficiency, the quicker we will be truly independent and master our energy system,” Ms von der Leyen explained.

Global Energy Ventures has EU as target market

In parallel with advancing its hydrogen plans in the Asia Pacific region, Global Energy Ventures sees the EU as priority market for its integrated green hydrogen production and compressed shipping technologies.

As part of this, during the March quarter, the company appointed European-based executives Per Roed as chief technical officer and Mats Fagerberg as commercial advisor to drive hydrogen plans in the region.

“The energy crisis in Europe has resulted in an increased level of interaction, as new natural gas infrastructure proposals will be required to be hydrogen ready, meaning the infrastructure available to hydrogen can be brought forward to before 2030 and strategies for energy security include greater volumes of renewable energy, including hydrogen,” Global Energy Ventures managing director and chief executive officer Martin Carolan said.

“The recent appointments of senior technical and commercial resources into Europe are increasing the awareness of compression as an alternative approach to bulk carrier transport of hydrogen, and we are now marketing to several high-demand hubs in Europe within a 2,000 nautical mile distance from supply,” he added.

Compressed hydrogen shipping solution

To make transport of green hydrogen faster, more efficient and cost competitive, Global Energy Ventures has developed compressed hydrogen shipping technology.

During the March quarter, the company’s ship design team progressed the detailed contract design package phase which involved advancing key design and engineering plans for its proposed GH2 carriers.

This contract design package is on track for completion in June.

In parallel, Global Energy Ventures is running a two-stage testing program to achieve approval for construction from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). This is expected to be secured in the first half of next year.

Global Energy Ventures has already secured ABS approval in principle for its two GH2 carriers under development: a 430t ship and a 2,000t carrier.

In readiness for construction and testing of a prototype tank, Global Energy Ventures has begun evaluating suitable shipyards.

Tiwi hydrogen export project

As part of its strategy to export its first green hydrogen fuel with its compressed shipping technology by 2026, Global Energy Ventures is advancing the Tiwi H2 export project on the Northern Territory’s Tiwi Islands.

Through this project, Global Energy Ventures is developing green hydrogen completely off-grid using 2.8GW of solar generation.

Other developments will comprise establishing at 30km high voltage transmission line, back-up power, desalination, electrolysis, compression and port facilities.

The company says this will avoid up to 1.4Mt of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

Global Energy Ventures is developing the project using a phased approach, with the goal of producing up to 100,000tpa of hydrogen.

During the March quarter, the company progressed the project to achieve key goals of environmental approvals by mid-2023, followed by an investment decision in late 2023.

First production for export is targeted at late 2026 in line with the scheduled completion of the GH2 carriers.

Global Energy Venture plans to ship the hydrogen to future demand markets in the Asia Pacific.

Mr Carolan said awareness in Asia Pacific countries was building about the Tiwi export project.

He said this growing awareness was facilitated by Australian Trade Commissions across Asia.

“The selection of Global Energy Ventures by Austrade for the Team Australia stand at the World Hydrogen Summit in May is another example of our promotional activity begging to see compression as mainstream when marine transport is being considered,” Mr Carolan added.

HyEnergy export feasibility study

In addition to its Tiwi H2 export project, Global Energy Ventures is supporting a feasibility study into exporting green hydrogen with its compressed shipping technology from Province Resources (ASX: PRL) and Total Eren’s HyEnergy project in WA’s Gascoyne.

From the HyEnergy project, Province and Total Eren are looking to export about 200,000tpa of green hydrogen produced using 4GW of renewable energy.

The March quarter saw Global Energy Ventures advance its integrated compressed shipping solutions for the project partners.

This involved reviewing offshore sites, environmental risks, designing offshore facilities and onshore compression infrastructure, as well as onshore storage concepts.

Well-funded to continue hydrogen strategy

At the end of March, Global Energy Ventures had $13.6 million in cash, which it says will fund all its planned 2022 development programs.

The company has also revealed a proposed name change to Provaris Energy, saying the new name reflects its transition and growth into a developer of integrated renewable energy projects.

“Our new name is derived from a combination of Latin words that give rise to the pursuit of the original or universal energy, with hydrogen being the original or first element created,” Mr Carolan explained.

“It reflects our aim to be the first to market in the delivery of an integrated hydrogen supply chain.”