INTERVIEW Greening the entire supply chain
For Gasunie, the energy transition does not end with the construction of infrastructure for new, sustainable forms of energy: our own business processes must become greener too. And this we cannot do without our suppliers. Peter Wagner, Head of On-Site Account Management Benelux at Linde, and Hans Jonk, Network Development & Planning Manager at GTS, explain how Linde and Gasunie’s sustainability ambitions are being realised in the production of green nitrogen.
Production of gases
Peter: ‘Linde is the global market leader in the production of industrial gases, for the chemical industry, hospitals and the food sector, for example. The Linde Gas production site in IJmuiden (Netherlands) is Linde’s largest plant in western Europe and supplies gases to Gasunie subsidiary GTS, among others. The people at GTS and Linde have been working together day in, day out for about thirty years. This concerns huge volumes of nitrogen, and GTS is one of our largest customers in Europe.’
Nitrogen for gas quality
‘We have indeed been working with Linde for a very long time,’ Hans adds. ‘However, our need for nitrogen has increased significantly in recent years due to the phasing out of natural gas extraction in Groningen. As a result, our shippers are importing more high-calorific gas, H-gas. By blending this H-gas with nitrogen, we can produce the low-calorific gas that we are used to using in the Netherlands. GTS currently makes half of the nitrogen itself, the other half is supplied by Linde.’
High energy consumption
Peter: ‘We make the nitrogen from atmospheric air, separating air drawn from outside into oxygen and nitrogen. You can compare it to the distillation process for making spirits, where you also make use of the different boiling points of substances. It may sound simple, but in reality it is a major technical operation. We work with large machines and supply the nitrogen in gaseous form compressed to 80 bar. The whole process also consumes a lot of energy.’
Green ambitions
Hans says, ‘And we want to make that energy usage greener. Gasunie’s ambition is to make our energy consumption 100% green, preferably also using local sources, such as green electricity generated in the North Sea off the Dutch coast. And we do not just consider our direct energy consumption, but the entire supply chain, which is why we ask our suppliers to do the same. It’s one of our Gasunie “Green Deals”. So, we are very pleased that Linde is willing to contribute.’ ‘Linde also has ambitious goals,’ Peter adds. ‘We want to drastically reduce our emissions in the coming years, among other things by using more green energy and by making our processes more energy-efficient.’
Green origin
Hans says, ‘The first step forward is working with Guarantees of Origin, GOs,’ says Hans. ‘Together we ensure that these GOs are directly linked to Linde’s production. This means that we can provide a written guarantee that green energy has been used for the production of the nitrogen supplied to us. In the future, we want to buy green electricity directly from a sustainable source instead. But that’s complicated and takes time. In the meantime, GOs are a good solution: they are the shortest route to greening and, what’s more, a real milestone for both companies.’
Milestone in the supply chain
‘Linde is our first major supplier to do this,’ Hans continues. ‘I see this as a great success, that a supplier participates in our green ambitions in this way.’ ‘This is new for us too,’ says Peter. ‘GTS is one of our first major customers we are selling such large volumes of a green product to. But there’s no doubt that this needs to become more common, that supply chains as a whole must become greener. Governments, regulations, citizens: everything and everyone is moving towards a greener economy. And every market has initiators, just like we are now. The rest will surely follow. I expect a huge increase in green production and similar collaborations over the next five years.’
Proud of our role
‘The difficult thing about choosing between grey and green energy is that you can’t tell which it is by the end product,’ says Peter. ‘The nitrogen, or whatever product you make, will not change. Using green energy does make it more expensive, however, and so a willingness to pay for this is essential for the energy transition.’ Hans says, ‘Keep in mind that Gasunie is a state-owned company. We feel a certain responsibility. If we don’t do this, who will? We want to lead the way in these kinds of developments. I am very proud that this is now possible in our collaboration with Linde.’