To heat homes in Brussels we need a mix between green electrons and molecules – why not hydrogen?

Wind energy is not an option in Brussels – there is only one wind turbine in the city and I am looking at it now, out there in front of our headquarters, as I write this from my office. Capturing industrial waste heat is also not an option – we have relatively little industry. There’s really only one possibility for renewable electricity production in Brussels itself: solar energy.

CEO Sibelga

In 2030, Sibelga fully plays the role of ‚notary‘ of the energy sector. It facilitates the provision of new energy services through its smart meters, data, and GDPR. After several discussions, Sibelga and Elia found a modus vivendi and common vision on the balancing responsibilities Sibelga needed to take. Sibelga now plays a balancing role in order to avoid imbalance in certain districts in Brussels while reconciling balancing and congestion activities on its network. It is indeed the role of the DSO to ensure the security of the access to electricity at the level of the energy consumer or in certain districts by making the necessary investments in the network and actioning the flexibility of the customer. 

Sibelga also facilitates the creating of energy communities. In 2022, there were only 5 communities spread throughout Brussels. But in barely eight years, the number has significantly increased representing 20% of Brussels’ total electricity consumption. Once an energy community has formed, we place the necessary intelligent energy meters at all the members of the community to calculate how much energy each member consumes and produces every 15’. We then send the consumption and production data to the energy community administrator, who bills each community member for the produced and autoconsumed energy, and to the energy supplier for the remaining necessary energy.

However, we leave the creation of energy communities to commercial players. Today, in 2030, energy suppliers fully take on this role. In the early 2020s, they were more likely to see these communities as a threat, but by now they have realized the value of it and are helping to create them. Energy production has been uberized by the growing active role played by the customer.

Integrating solar energy and electric mobility into the Brussels electricity grid will only have led to local congestion problems in 2030. But heating is another matter. In 2022, 50% of the final energy consumption in Brussels was natural gas for the heating of homes and businesses. And the problem is: everyone is cold at the same time. If we would heat all Brussels consumers electrically today, all together, we would reach unfeasible peaks in electricity consumption.

We did a study of alternatives to electric heating as early as 2022. An electric heat pump only works adequately in well-insulated homes and preferably with underfloor heating, which requires huge renovations. Heat pumps with geothermal energy then? Also not an option in Brussels. The only possibility left is air-to-air heat pumps, which are less performant.

It became clear: we needed to heat with another molecule as part of a diversified mix of solutions for heating besides electrification. This could be biomethane or synthetic gas, but we also wanted to analyze whether hydrogen would be an option. From our study, hydrogen proved to be a possible solution for heating, especially in those neighborhoods where homes are difficult to renovate.

Hydrogen was expensive but taking the total cost (including the cost of renovations and managing the system costs) into account it appeared in some cases feasible, both economically and technically. We had to replace certain sleeves and taps, but we could simply reuse the polyethylene pipes of our grid. And to avoid the need for everyone to have a hydrogen boiler in their home, we would build heat networks at the neighborhood level.

One main question that remained was and is: would there be enough hydrogen? Who could supply it? And would that hydrogen be green? But in the end, whether the solution is biomethane, synthetic gas, or hydrogen, the Brussels Region is always going to have to import green molecules.

Have we realized this ambitious project today, in 2030? Not quite yet. But if all goes well, by 2050, we will be completely off natural gas in Brussels, period.