Norway
Involvement
The hydrogen and fuel-cell-related activities in Norway have mostly been parts of larger research and development (R&D) programs within the field of renewable sources of energy. With respect to fuel cells, in 1990 some government-funded research was conducted on solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs); however, a major part of this activity has been discontinued. More recently, there have been a few projects on fuel cell activities funded through other energy research programs. The main effort during the last 5 to10 years has been on fundamental and basic R&D related to material sciences, membranes for fuel cells, catalysts for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells, electrolyses, and materials for types of hydrogen storage (mostly hydrides).
Given Norway’s significant natural gas resources, the production of hydrogen from natural gas with carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage is now a high priority in Norway. In addition to natural gas resources, Norway has access to huge areas in the North Sea that are suitable for CO2 sequestration — these areas are estimated to have the capacity to store all CO2 from power production taking place throughout all of Western Europe for at least 600 years. The possibility of using CO2 in enhanced oil recovery also holds great promise for oil production, and a project on the Gullfaks oil field is under consideration. The Norwegian oil and gas company StatoilHydro is also one of the world’s leading producers of electrolysers, with a strong competency in electrolysis technology that has been built up over many years.
The Norwegian National Hydrogen Commission identified hydrogen production from abundant, domestic natural gas resources as a key priority.