Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd., First Gen Corporation’s partner in its liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, is looking to introduce green hydrogen in the Philippines.
In a report by Business Mirror, First Gen Chairman and CEO Federico Lopez said that Tokyo Gas is conducting studies on hydrogen or e-methane.
Tokyo Gas reportedly has plans to construct a large-scale synthetic methane (e-methane) supply chain and expand it to offshore wind power, hydrogen, and other renewable energy (RE) businesses.
The company has begun testing a new process that uses CO2 and green hydrogen to create methane, which can be mixed into supplement natural gas.
Lopez said that as the said technology becomes viable, it can be used to repower natural gas plants, adding that the natural gas-fired plants they are “putting in are capable of firing on blended with hydrogen if it were available today.”
First Gen has expressed interest in exploiting the technology where hydrogen can run on combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants.
Lopez said that CCGT’s can eventually be run on hydrogen if it becomes commercially available. “That’spart of our perspective, that’s why we think CCGT plans are probably the best complement for this transition,”
First Gen’s LNG terminal is set to be completed by the first quarter of 2023 and is expected to make its first gas delivery by the month of July. The LNG project is under subsidiary FGEN LNG Corp. along with BW LNG.
Lopez said that they are targeting to finish the LNG terminal by March, while the floating storage regasification unit vessel will come in around June or July.