B9 Energy Storage Ltd has concluded that e-methanol synthesis provides the fastest and largest route to market for green hydrogen. There are a range of target e-methanol offtakes in NI, such as blending into E10 petrol, M100 product for HGV tractor units and onward synthesis into SAF and/or plastics, for example, but the largest market is currently seen as the growing sector of renewable bunker fuels for ships, especially ro-ro freight ferries and cruise ships.
B9’s key contributions to the NIMO organisation are to provide solutions for offshore wind farm curtailment / constraint and to produce sufficient scale of e-methanol production in NI to decarbonize the logistics networks to and from NI by both road and sea.
Projects
Ballylumford, Belfast and POWER-2-X projects
B9 Energy Storage Ltd was formed in 2013 as a Power-to-X project developer to provide practical solutions to the worsening problem of wind farm curtailment in NI and ROI. A techno-economic model has since been generated through the H2020 program, funding has been secured from SBRI, DfE and DESNZ for first-of-a-kind hydrogen production projects in the waste water, mobility and power generation sectors, a first electrolyser has been purchased and deployed, collaborations have been formed and a portfolio of development projects is emerging that has potential to deliver over 3.45 GWe of Power-to-X capacity – i.e. more than enough to meet the government’s 2030 wind energy expansion targets.
