HIL Issue 05

FOREWORD

CAN WE TACKLE MULTIPLE ISSUES WITH ONE SOLUTION?

If we can tackle multiple problems in one solution, we will decarbonise transport on a large scale.

TECHNOLOGY COSTS

Industry report finds key stakeholders must back demonstration centres to cut low-carbon technology costs rapidly.

With the hydrogen economy expected to kick into gear over the next decade, a recent report published by the Technology Leadership Board, Net Zero Technology Centre, and Accenture found key stakeholders must back demonstration centres to cut costs of low-carbon tech rapidly.

The report set out robust recommendations detailing how rapid investment in technology innovation can help enable the delivery of the North Sea Transition Deal’s (NSTD) emissions targets and the creation of a net zero energy system in the North Sea.

Named ‘Technology Driving Green Energy Growth,’ it highlighted that a focus on testing and developing innovative technologies is needed to unlock the lowcarbon opportunity within the UK. Further, it recommended rapid investment to address today’s challenge of expensive and immature technologies.

As the sector already knows, the UK must generate 10GW of low-carbon hydrogen by 2030. On top of this, at least 5GW needs to be produced through green hydrogen and create four carbon capture and storage (CCS) clusters to meet the NSTD targets.

Unlocking £16bn of investment, the NSTD seeks to secure up to 40,000 energy jobs and dramatically reduce emissions by around 60mn metric tons per year.

Three core priorities to achieve a secure hydrogen economy

Prioritising three recommendations that will accelerate the energy transition opportunities across hydrogen, offshore wind and CCS, the report explained: “Industry should be supported and incentivised toward rapid test and deployment of technologies to drive improvements in efficiency, modularity and scalability that will reduce levelised costs by at least 50 per cent across offshore wind solutions, electrolysers, carbon capture technology and innovative materials.”

The second aspect to consider is: “Government sponsorship and championing of the delivery of test and demonstration centres would de-risk, standardise and scale promising technologies.”

Thirdly, the report explained that key stakeholders must ensure: “An infrastructure plan is constructed to transport, transmit, store, and manage new energy commodities such as hydrogen, ammonia, renewable electricity and CO2.”

Costs of hydrogen could drop by 60% if opportunities identified are met

Anticipating what the face of a hydrogen economy will look like in the future, the report concluded that: “If the opportunities identified are realised, it will reduce the cost of green hydrogen by up to 60%; reduce the cost of floating wind by up to 40% through optimised integration; and de-risk blue hydrogen, lowering the cost of delivery and enabling a future import market for CO2.”

KEY STAKEHOLDERS MUST BACK DEMONSTRATION CENTRES TO CUT TECHNOLOGY COSTS

Speaking about the capabilities of the UK supply chain, Katy Heidenreich, OEUK’s supply chain and operations director, said: “With over 50 years supporting offshore operations, our UK supply chain has the skills and capability and a track record of driving innovation, leading the transition to a low-carbon energy future.”

Additionally, the UK Government Minister for Scotland, Malcolm Offord, explained: “The report is a beneficial contribution to the conversation about how we deliver a net zero future. The North Sea Transition Deal is a key driver for delivering the skills, innovation and new infrastructure necessary to facilitate the UK embracing renewable energy. The UK Government is also investing £90 million in the Net Zero Technology Centre.”

Government sponsorship and championing of the delivery of test and demonstration centres would de-risk, standardise and scale promising technologies.

HYDROGEN SAFETY

As you mentioned, these are really exciting times with the US and the 8 billion dollar investment. Still, as we move into that, really the challenge we have is that those that are involved in the use of hydrogen may not have the experience or expertise to do so. As you stated, safe work practices are going to be really important.

Best safety practices, lessons learned, all that really comes to bear. We have things like codes of standards, and those are very important. A lot of research has been done over the last ten to 15 years with codes of standards, and a lot of R&D activities are

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ENSURING THE SAFETY OF HYDROGEN AS THE INDUSTRY SCALES UP PRODUCTION

As you shared, if we don’t do this well, we will have incidents. And those incidents, especially with new technologies, can be really huge setbacks and can be a roadblock to our success moving forward. So, that’s really what we’re focused on and what we feel is the most significant aspect of what we’re doing. Communicating the safety knowledge, communicating the lessons learned, and the best practices are our core focus.

I’ve often been asked in some presentations, the audience would say, well, what is the most significant safety hazard? And to me, it’s certainly technical issues that can come to bear. There’s work being done on those technical issues, whether it’s on the equipment and the technologies or whether it’s going back to our fundamental understanding of some of those things. But ultimately, I really think it’s about communication. How do we get the word out that hydrogen can be used safely? It’s been used safely for about the last century in other parts of the industry. This transition to using it as fuel is going to make it a bit of a challenge. Certainly, there are some paradigms and preconceived ideas around hydrogen and its safety.

So, getting the word out and making that known is an important aspect of what we’re doing. If we’re going to be successful, what’s going to be the key is the communication of safety knowledge to all those involved. And that’s really what we’re trying to do with the centre. They’re involved in the industry to remove those barriers and hopefully set us up for some good long-term success.

FINAL INVESTMENT DECISION

UNDER 10% OF HYDROGEN PROJECTS HAVE REACHED FID

With the Hydrogen Council releasing its Hydrogen Insights 2022 report to give an updated perspective on hydrogen market development and actions required to unlock hydrogen at scale, what were the key findings?

To summarise the findings of the report, the Hydrogen Council highlighted that the pipeline of hydrogen projects is continuing to grow, but actual deployment is lagging.

Additionally, they found that the urgency to invest in mature hydrogen projects today is greater than ever, and joint action by the public and private sectors is urgently required to move from project proposals to FIDs.

Focusing on the pipeline of hydrogen projects and the lag in deployment, the report found: “In 2022, some 680 large-scale hydrogen project proposals, equivalent to USD 240 billion in direct investment through 2030, have been put forward – an investment increase of 50 per cent since November 2021.”

Under 10 per cent of projects have reached FID

Despite this, “Only about 10% (USD 22 billion) have reached final investment decisions. Europe is home to over 30% of proposed hydrogen investment globally. However, other regions are leading the implementation on the ground: 80% of operational global low-carbon hydrogen production capacity is in North America.”

Expanding on this, the report went on to discuss how the urgency to invest in mature hydrogen projects today is greater than ever. It stated: “Out of the more than 680 projects announced, 45 projects worth USD 29 billion are in the FEED phase, and 120 projects worth USD 80 billion are undergoing feasibility studies.”

However, only around 10% of proposals have reached a final investment decision (FID) or are under construction or operational. This number has only grown by USD 2 billion in the six months, significantly slower than the growth in project announcements.

Speaking to industry leaders, it was found that: “The key barrier that project developers face today is a lack of demand visibility – many are awaiting decisions on the enabling regulatory frameworks and funding to incentivise offtakers to enter long-term hydrogen supply contracts.”

The third focus of the report was on the need for joint action by the public and private sectors urgently required to move from project proposals to FIDs.

We must react to growing climate change issues

It was found that: “For policy ambition and project proposals to materialise into actual investments and start delivering environmental and socio-economic benefits, enabling conditions are necessary today.”

Splitting the priority actions for policy and industry, the Hydrogen Council set out six core principles that the industry must follow to grow the hydrogen economy on a scale required to be feasible.

Six core action plan points for the industry to follow

Policy - Priority actions for 2022-2023:

1. Enable demand visibility and regulatory certainty by adopting legally binding measures. Create demand visibility through targets or quotas for hydrogen consumption across end-use sectors, alongside public procurement measures or competitive bidding for CfDs.

2. Fast-track access to public funding for hydrogen projects. Introduce measures such as grants, loans, and tax credits, as well as funding support schemes based on competitive bidding.

3. Ensure international coordination and support credible common standards and robust tradeable certification systems. A common standard methodology for assessing all hydrogen production pathways is essential to allow the hydrogen with the lowest carbon footprint to reveal its climate benefits.

Industry - Priority actions for 2022-2023:

1. Advance project proposals to FID by committing to funding and resource deployment. As regulatory certainty is being strengthened and funding support starts rolling out, the industry should commit to deploying resources to mature projects towards FID by conducting feasibility and FEED studies to realise the USD 240 billion project proposals.

2. Scale up hydrogen supply chain capability and capacity. The industry should start ramping up capacity to enable deployment at scale. Alignment and synchronisation between the policy, infrastructure, and end-use applications are essential.

3. Build infrastructure for cross-border trade. Global trade unlocks the full benefits of hydrogen as transportable, clean energy. But project proposals to develop hydrogen infrastructure are lacking, and the industry should concentrate on establishing infrastructure to enable cross-border trade.

The overarching theme is that public and private sector bodies will need to work in tandem with each other, not just on a national scale but on a global level, if we are to improve the level of hydrogen projects reaching a final investment decision.

Transitioning to alternative energy systems is one of the most ambitious targets all sectors have ever faced. To transition effectively, finding a solution that can combine volume hydrogen gas storage, transportation, and dispensing in a single solution is essential.

To discuss how NanoSUN offers a solution that meets these requirements, Hydrogen Industry Leaders spoke to Jishnu Battacharya, Application Engineer at NanoSUN.

While there is no one size fits all solution to decarbonisation, hydrogen in transport will play an integral role in reaching climate goals. One way to boost the role in transport is by having one solution for multiple aspects.

Combining storage, transportation and dispensing in a single solution

Highlighting how NanoSUN can offer precisely that, Hydrogen Industry Leaders heard: “The Pioneer is a combined volume hydrogen gas storage, gas transportation and gas dispensing solution in a single, transportable 20’ ISO container.”

The system uses NanoSUN’s novel cascade technology to deliver high-pressure hydrogen refuelling, which means no compressor is required at the dispensing location.

With a focussed design, the system will refill 350 bar vehicles and can utilise around 250kg of its inventory for entire vehicle fills. It can then go on to offer additional refills but at depleting pressure. When the Pioneer is depleted, it is returned to the hydrogen source to be refilled and then returned to the deployment site.”

Continuing Hydrogen Industry Leaders were told: “Its ‘plug & play’ design simply reduces maintenance requirements and ensures high availability with zero downtime. It is ideal for small to medium fleets of heavy-duty vehicles and works as a network extender for sparse hydrogen vehicle populations.”

The solution can be used as a backup to fixed infrastructure

A further benefit of the Pioneer is that it can also act as a backup solution to fixed infrastructure whenever downtime is experienced.

Offering security as we transition is essential for the acceptance and uptake of new technologies and energy sources.

Overcoming existing challenges in the sector is vital as we get closer to 2050. Refuelling is one of the main issues to address in the transport sector. The Pioneer plays a vital role in the transition to hydrogen gas as a clean fuel for the transportation and mobility sector.

Current fixed hydrogen infrastructure costs in the region of £2/3 million to procure, install and commission and it can take several years to get it up and running and operational. In the early days of hydrogen usage, with only a handful of vehicles currently on the road, the ROI on a fixed infrastructure like this is not plausible.

Furthermore, they explained: “As it’s fixed, the accessibility of hydrogen for users pivots around this station and is therefore limited (unless there are several in the vicinity, which is unlikely). In addition, if one station suffers from downtime, the area users will struggle to find another accessible source.”

COMBINING HYDROGEN STORAGE, TRANSIT AND DISPENSING IN A SINGLE SOLUTION

HYDROGEN SOLUTIONS

“Its ‘plug & play’ design simply reduces maintenance requirements and ensures high availability with zero downtime.”

Fixed Stations can be up to ⅔ more expensive

The mobile Pioneer HRS is 1/3 of the price of a fixed station, and its mobile nature means it can cover a larger area, increasing the accessibility of hydrogen to users. It can be deployed onto a new site in ~30 minutes and packed away at the same time to another refuelling site. It requires very low utilities for deployment, all it requires is either a standard industrial power supply or a portable fuel cell/battery generator at 500W to operate it.

Scalability is arguably the most critical aspect of the energy transition

NanoSUN has designed the Pioneer HRS to intentionally be manufactured quickly and easily scaled up in terms of volume when demand is required.

Each aspect of the Pioneer has been designed as sub-assemblies, allowing numerous assets to be assembled independently. In doing this, several work streams on the Pioneer build can occur in parallel and not in series. All assemblies then come together for final integration at the later manufacturing stage, minimising the risk of delay on the entire build.

When asked about the future of the product when more efficient hydrogen refuelling infrastructure is in place, Jishnu explained: “We at NanoSUN see the importance of fixed infrastructure as hydrogen use increases. The Pioneer acts as a stepping stone to get more users utilising hydrogen. When a reliable infrastructure is in place, the simple transportable nature of the Pioneer can be taken to a region where hydrogen infrastructure is not fully established to act as an enabler.”

Alternatively, it can remain as a backup refuelling station for when fixed infrastructure exhibits any downtime and vice versa, hence complimenting one another.

BREAKTHROUGH AGENDA REPORT 2022

STRENGTHENING INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION TO ACCELERATE TRANSITIONS

The Breakthrough Agenda Report 2022 is a new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions, focused on supporting stronger international collaboration to drive faster reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions.

Capturing the essence of the report, it was stated that the faster the energy transition advances, the quicker it will deliver clean technologies at a lower cost, making them available for all.

In a first-of-its-kind report, there was an extensive assessment of the progress on reducing emissions in five key sectors –power, hydrogen, road transport, steel and agriculture. The authors recommend strengthening collaboration between governments, businesses and civil society in common standards, technology R&D, a level playing field for trade, and improving technical and financial assistance.

The report explained the crucial role of international collaboration when building a hydrogen economy. It said: “International collaboration will be critical to success, given the global scale and fast pace of change required. Action by governments and businesses individually is necessary but not sufficient. Well-targeted international collaboration can make low carbon transitions faster, less difficult, and lower cost.”

The Breakthrough Agenda is designed to strengthen international collaboration where it is most needed. Leaders of signatories (44 countries plus the European Union), representing over 70% of global GDP, committed at COP26 to work together to

make clean technologies and sustainable solutions the most affordable, accessible and attractive option in each of the emitting sectors before the end of this decade.

Action in the five sectors for which the signatories have so far agreed on goals under the Breakthrough Agenda – power, hydrogen, road transport, steel, and agriculture – is essential to achieving international climate goals. Global greenhouse gas emissions have reached almost 60 GtCO 2 e and these sectors today account for over 50% of that total (IPCC, 2022).

Looking more closely at the five action areas in the power sector, the immediate focus for international action must be growing, coordinating and improving the accessibility of support to developing countries.

The report explained: “This will be vital to mobilise investment in the additional 7.4 – 8 TW of renewable power capacity needed globally by 2030, as well as in other clean power options. At the same time, there must be more dedicated international support for developing countries and an exchange of best practice among all countries on the socioeconomic challenges of the transition.”

Secondly, to increase the availability and affordability of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen, the immediate priority is for countries and companies to work together to create larger markets for its deployment and trade, including through purchase commitments.

Continued on page 14

• The power sector accounts for around 13 GtCO2e or 23% of total emissions. This has risen by around 10% since 2010. These need to fall by over 50% by 2030.

• Emissions from the power sector should fall by around 8% each year to 2030.

• Investment will need to grow 25% annually, reaching USD 2 trillion per annum required by 2030.

The report explained: “This will also incentivise investment in production, which must scale from less than 1 Mt in 2020 to around 140-155 Mt per year by 2030. Stronger international action on two fronts is essential: countries and companies should coordinate measures to move away from production based on unabated fossil fuels in sectors where hydrogen is already used and share best practice in deploying new hydrogen applications such as steel, shipping, and energy storage.”

Focusing on road transport, the largest contributor to overall transport emissions, countries and manufacturers should align target dates for all new vehicles to be zero emission to shift investment more quickly towards the new technologies and accelerate their cost reduction.

• Hydrogen production and use account for around 0.9 GtCO2e emissions, or 1.5% of total emissions.

• Renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production currently accounts for less than 1% of the total.

• 15% of ammonia and 28% of methanol is internationally traded.

Echoing this, the report stated: “Zero emission vehicles accounted for around 9% of global car sales in 2021; this should reach about 60% by 2030. More systematic exchange of best practice is needed to promote effective policies to mobilise investment in charging infrastructure, narrowing the wide gap between the countries furthest ahead in this regard, and the rest.”

In the steel sector, the immediate opportunity is for aggregation of demand to mobilise investment in the production of near-zero emission steel. Less than 1Mt of primary near-zero emission steel per year is produced, whereas over 100Mt per year will be needed by 2030.

• The road transport sector accounts for around 6 GtCO2e or 10% of total emissions. That’s risen by 13% since 2010. These need to fall by nearly a 1/3 by 2030.

• If major markets align their policies with 100% ZEV sales by 2035, cost parity between ZEVs and ICE vehicles could be reached several years earlier.

• Over 60% of the vehicles added to the roads in Africa each year are imported used vehicles.

“Joint procurement commitments by groups of countries and companies should be greatly increased, and be supported by measures such as advance purchase commitments, to mobilise the needed investment. To accelerate learning, collaboration on commercial-scale pilot projects is needed in all major steel producing regions.”

Agriculture is also an essential sector that needs to be decarbonised. Highlighting this in greater detail, the report stated: “In agriculture, an immediate priority for international collaboration must be to improve access to finance for smallholder farmers in developing countries – by increasing the flow of public finance, and its leverage of private finance.”

2020

Agriculture and related land use account for around 10GtCO2e, or 17% of total emissions. Of those, about 7 GtCO2e come from direct, farm-gate emissions.

Farm-gate emissions have increased by 0.6% per year since 2000. These need to fall by around 20% by 2030, and agricultural expansion needs to halt.

27% of all agriculture and land use emissions can be attributed to agricultural products that are internationally traded.

• The steel sector accounts for around 3 GtCO2e emissions, or 5% of total emissions. That’s risen by around 15% since 2010. These need to fall by around ¼ by 2030.

• The global average direct emissions intensity of steel production needs to fall by around 30% by 2030.

• 114 Mt of conventional, high emission plants is currently underway or in the planning stage.

INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

HYDROGEN PROJECTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Mexico Project

Ohmium International has signed an agreement to provide 343 MW of green hydrogen electrolysers to Tarafert to develop green ammonia and urea fertiliser production facility in Mexico.

The green hydrogen produced by the electrolysers is said to enable the production of up to 200,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year and is planned to be powered by solar.

It is said that Ohmium will deliver electrolysers over three tranches, with the first 69 MW expected to be delivered in 2025.

Arne Ballantine, CEO of Ohmium International, said: “Ammonia shortages this year have shown the importance of countries developing their own production that doesn’t rely on fossil fuels.”

For too long, ammonia production has been an energy-intensive process that produces tonnes of greenhouse gas. Green Hydrogen can reduce those carbon emissions to zero.”

Singapore Project

Singapore is expected to get its first hydrogen-ready power plant by the first half of 2026. How will this help Singapore transition its power sector into one using less carbon-emitting fuels?

Built on Jurong Island, the Keppel Sakra Cogen Plant can run entirely on cleanburning hydrogen in the future and produce up to 600 MW of electricity.

Keppel Infrastructure, Mitsubishi Power and Jurong Engineering have said that this amounts to about 9 per cent of Singapore’s peak electricity demand in 2020 and could power around 864,000 four-room Housing Board flats for a year.

The combined cycle gas turbine power plant developed by Keppel Infrastructure will now use natural gas as its primary fuel. However, the plant is also designed to operate on fuels with 30 per cent hydrogen content.

Compared to other power points in Singapore, more energy-efficient technology at this power plant will reduce 220,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.

Norway Project

Norwegian-based HydrogenPro has revealed that the ‘world’s largest electrolyser’ has been delivered to its test facilities in Herøya, Norway. How will this electrolyser set a new industry standard?

The 80-tonne electrolyser has been shipped from the company’s factory in Tianjin, China and is expected to produce up to 100kg of pure hydrogen every hour.

HydrogenPro believes that the electrolyser will set a new standard for the industry and is expected to have an output of 1100 Nm³ per hour.

Test runs will begin in the next couple of weeks and are aimed to verify that the electrolyser produces the expected amount of gas per unit of times.

Erik Christian Bolstad, Chief Commercial Officer at HydrogenPro, added, “It was with great excitement and joy that I witnessed the reception and placement of the large electrolyser at our test plant at Herøya.

“This marks a significant milestone for HydrogenPro and the further verification of our technology for large-scale green hydrogen production. The plant results will help optimise our delivery to one of the world’s largest factories for green hydrogen.”

New York Project

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has awarded nearly $13 million to three hydrogen storage projects. Will this advance renewable energy integration and cut emissions in New York?

With hopes to reduce emissions from the New York Independent System Operation gird, $12.5m is destined for Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, which plans to demonstrate nuclear hydrogen fuelled peak power generation, paired with long duration hydrogen energy storage unit.

Power to Hydrogen is set to receive $100,000 to develop a reversible fuel cell system for hydrogen production and energy storage called the Clean Energy Bridge.

In addition, a further $100,000 will be made available to ROCCERA to evaluate and demonstrate a commercially viable solid oxide electrolyser cell (SOEC) prototype for clean hydrogen production.

It comes after New York confirmed it aims to become a major hydrogen hub for the US. The state signed a multi-state agreement with 40 hydrogen ecosystem partners to develop a proposal for its ambitions, to receive US federal funding to establish a regional hydrogen hub.

EXPLORING HYDROGEN

EXPLORING THE UK HYDROGEN VISION

But we have recently announced 49 projects funded through this initiative which you can find on our website, and there are loads of really beautiful videos on there as well to demonstrate what each of these projects is doing. And that’s not just for hydrogen but for electricity and gas too. This is just a quick snapshot of some of the projects that we’ve been involved in, from hydrogen ambulances all the way through to hydrogen flights and clusters.

As I’ve demonstrated through all of these slides, that partnership is really important for Innovate UK, and this demonstrates the

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WEBINAR

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