Plans for what would be the world's first international offshore hydrogen pipeline are being looked at by the government of Malta.

Italian contractors TechFem and SPS have submitted a pre-feasibility study report to support the Mediterranean island nation’s domestic energy strategy, highlighting the benefits of an offshore pipeline designed with the potential to transport pure H₂.

TechFem delivered the report to state-owned Melita TransGas, an affiliate of Malta’s Ministry of Energy & Water Management, after the two Fano-based contractors investigated several options on how best to meet the country’s energy needs.

One possibility is a combined-cycle power plant fueled not by natural gas but instead by hydrogen imported from Italy via an offshore pipeline, which is thought to be a strong solution and would support Malta's decarbonisation goals.

If the project advances, it would be the first offshore hydrogen pipeline in the world, and comes as the debate over the role of the key energy transition gas rages across the EU, with competing factions arguing the merits of green H₂ from renewables or the blue variety from abated fossil generation.

In late 2018, TechFem and SPS were awarded a front-end engineering and design study on a pipeline — known as the Melita TransGas line — that would import gas from Italy.

This 22-inch line would run for 159-kilometres between Gela in Sicily and Delimara port in Malta.

Since then, as the energy transition in the EU progressed, the pipeline has also been designed so it can transport a blend of hydrogen and/or bio-methane with gas, and could also transport pure hydrogen.

If implemented, the pipeline would eliminate the need for the floating storage and regasification unit that has been operational since early 2017 at Delimara.

It is understood that the bulk of the FEED work on the gas-hydrogen pipeline is essentially complete, albeit a few months delayed due to, among other things, permitting issues in both Italy and Malta.

However, securing all the necessary approvals could perhaps take up to one year, remarked a source with knowledge of the scheme.

An additional potential challenge is securing funding — particularly from the EU — for a new pipeline that may carry gas.

Another energy supply solution studied by TechFem-SPS included combining floating wind farms and photovoltaic parks linked to lithium-ion battery storage units.

The report also assessed building an onshore liquefied natural gas terminal at Delimara where the FSRU has been operating for a few years with gas sent to the an existing power plant.

A further option evaluated closely was to install high voltage, direct current and alternating subsea inter-connectors linked to different Mediterranean countries, feeding into lithium-ion battery storage units.

This article first appeared in Recharge's sister publication Upstream

Transition

Plan unveiled for world's first international offshore hydrogen pipeline