Accenture | Transition Talk On site

In this episode we're discussing an exciting topic: the opportunities and challenges of offshore hydrogen. We’ll delve into the reasons for a growing interest in offshore hydrogen, the practical development of hydrogen plants and the environmental implications and sustainability potential. Joining Maria in the studio are Werna Udding, Manager business development for offshore hydrogen at Gasunie, a network operator for energy in The Netherlands and our own Lonneke Tabak, Strategy and Consulting Utilities Lead at Accenture. 

In this episode we are tackling a pressing issue: the scarcity of critical materials in the renewable energy sector. We’ll delve into what these materials are, the challenges posed by their limited availability, and how companies can navigate this landscape to ensure a sustainableenergy future.Joining Maria in the studio are Monique Kootker, a Manager in Sourcing and Vendor Management at Stedin, a Dutch energy network operator responsible for the distribution of electricity and gas in the Netherlands and our Adriana Begeer, Managing Director Energy and Sustainability at Accenture.

We kick off the new season in a renewed set-up. We have joined forces again with one of our previous hosts, Maria Punch. In the upcoming episodes you will hear Maria discuss different kinds of topics related to the Energy Transition. She will do this in collaboration with both an Accenture expert as well as an expert from the field.In the first episode of this season, we will dive into Circularity in the Renewables industry. For this topic we have invited Adriana Begeer, part of Accenture Leadership and Supply chain & Sustainabilty expert, and Maria Orbant, who is an expert on the topic of circularity and decarbonization. The episode will cover the importance of circularity in renewables,  the challenges we need to overcome and how we can actually measure circularity.

In previous episodes we dove into some specific topics contributing to the Energy Transition. For this season's finale, we decided to zoom out and take a closer look at some more global trends affecting the energy industry and we'll look at how the Netherlands is performing within this space. For this episode, Lonneke Tabak (Energy Transition Services Lead, Accenture) invited one of our own Accenture colleagues, Pim Spierenburg to dive into the topic. Pim has been named Global Head of Net Zero Transitions as of September 2023 and can therefor provide us with some unique global insights. Do you want to know more about the mentioned reports, click the links below to find the complete reports: Destination net zero focuses on the progress that the world’s largest 2,000 companies (G2000) by revenue are making toward their net-zero targets. It shows that just over one-third of these companies have full net-zero targets, and only 18% of those are on track to reach their targets. It also lays out the steps that individual businesses can take to accelerate their progress through combining up to 20 different actions. Powered for change is focused on the decarbonization of industries and the opportunity for oil, gas, power, and other industries to work with heavy industry (chemicals, natural resources, freight/logistics)–the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases–to decarbonize. The key will be developing smart pricing strategies for green products and services; scaling low carbon power and hydrogen to lower production costs; optimizing costs and productivity of capital projects and operations.

With the world facing the daunting challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has emerged as a critical technology to mitigate the impact of carbon on our planet. This importance is underscored by the IPCC as they reveal that without CCS, we cannot reach the climate targets.The empty gas fields located in the North Sea have the potential to function as offshore CO2 storage locations. This geographical advantage offers the Netherlands a remarkable opportunity to play a pivotal role in the development and deployment of CCS technology.In this episode, Lonneke Tabak, Energy Transition Services Lead, invited Nico de Meester, Manager External Relations at Porthos. They will shed light on Porthos – the pioneering CCS initiative in the Netherlands that recently was given green light by the Dutch Council of State – and discuss the future outlook of CCS in Europe.

The ‘Fit for 55’ package has raised the decarbonisation ambition for Europe, and with that, the need for faster progress in decarbonizing end usage and the overall power system. The Decarbonization Speedways study, conducted by Eurelectric and Accenture, provides insight into applying the accelerated decarbonisation ambition. In this episode, Lonneke Tabak (Energy Transition Services Lead, Accenture) and Michelangelo Aveta (Policy integration lead at Eurelectric) explore the massive necessary transformation to decarbonize the power sector, focusing on viable technologies like solar PV, wind, nuclear, and hydrogen. Flexibility is vital in a system with variable power sources, addressed through demand-side response and storage assets. Lastly, the required substantial investments in generation technologies, grid infrastructure, storage, and flexibility assets are highlighted. Join us as we uncover the speedways towards a decarbonized power sector and a sustainable future.

The electric vehicles (EV) market has grown rapidly in the last 10 years. With a growing share of renewable energy production on a supply side and a tremendous increase in electric vehicles on the demand side, more and more grid congestion occurs. Grid expansion and reinforcement cannot keep up with the increasing loads. Smart charging unleashes the power to provide grid stability by using electric vehicles as a storage option. Charging stations are becoming increasingly smart by optimizing the software that operates them. In this episode, Lonneke Tabak, Energy Transition Services Lead of the Netherlands, invited Hans de Boer, a true expert with years of experience in the field of smart charging. The challenges and opportunities of smart solutions and specifically the software that operated them are explored. 

By now hydrogen has a wide scale of applications and is a prominent theme within the energy transition. The most sustainable hydrogen requires large-scale renewable electricity, which is often found in different areas than where demand is high. Matching sustainable hydrogen supply and demand requires long distance transportation, in which hydrogen in the form of ammonia is most efficient. Besides an energy carrier, ammonia is also a direct feedstock or intermediate. Together with ammonia, methanol is a key enabler. They provide ways to directly decarbonize numerous hard to abate applications like industrial feedstock and heat, shipping and heavy transport. In this episode, Lonneke Tabak, Energy Transition Services Lead of the Netherlands, invited Hanh Nguyen, Vice President of sustainability at OCI Global. At the ammonia import terminal in Rotterdam, they discuss different perspectives on how sustainable hydrogen can be stimulated from both the demand and supply side. 

The Netherlands is still heavily dependent on fossil gas for heating our homes. But the use of fossil gas comes at a price:  CO2-emissions, earthquakes in Groningen and dependency on oil-rich countries. Green gas seems an ideal alternative.We are uniquely positioned to provide large volumes of Green Gas that can replace existing fossil Natural Gas and be fed into the Dutch gas grid. In the Netherlands, it provides an additional means to enable the heat transition in the built environment, complementing heat pumps and district heating networks.In the first episode of the new season of Transition Talk, Martijn van Drunen, Programme Manager Green Gas at Vattenfall, and Lonneke Tabak, Energy Transition Services Lead of the Netherlands, discuss the opportunities and challenges of green gas at the digestor of Cow Farm Stokman.

In this 10th episode, we discuss the future of heat networks as one of the main technical challenges in our ambition toward a fossil-free world. What exactly are heat networks? How sustainable are they? And which sources of heat should be applied?A district heating network is as sustainable as the resources that feed it. Therefore, we need to move away from traditional district heating systems that are often dependent on one fossil fuel-based heat source to more sustainable ways of supplying heat. This transition comes with innovations and challenges. Innovations include the application of huge e-boilers, diversification in heat sources, and moving towards more flexibility in the supply of sources to our networks. What are the biggest challenges to overcome in these innovations? How dependent is district heating on the gas market? And how affordable is district heating for the consumer? Bart Dehue (Manager of Green Heat Source team at Vattenfall), Britt Verhesen (Project Leader of Energy Transition at the City of Antwerp), and Henk Jan Top (Managing Director Utilities at Accenture), discuss the future of heat networks and how sustainable district heating networks are. They discuss the challenges and possibilities of moving to sustainable heat sources.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.