The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a US non-profit organisation, expects 2024 will be a year of “significant progress” for green hydrogen despite major headwinds. A growing number of green hydrogen projects have been shelved or scrapped this year amid rising costs, while delays to the roll-out of production tax credits in the US and H2 subsidies in the EU have resulted in slower-than-expected progress in the industry. EXCLUSIVE | This Shell-backed project to ship vast volumes of liquid green hydrogen from Portugal to the Netherlands has been scrapped Read more RMI also notes that the International Energy Agency has revised down its figures for how much hydrogen will be needed to meet net zero by 2050, in part due to the expectation that more sectors will be directly electrified rather than depending on H2. However, the sustainability-focused research institute remains positive about the sector's progress. “We believe these are signs of constructive iteration in the market, not of looming failure,” it wrote in a blogpost entitled: “Hydrogen State of the Union”. RMI expects that 2024 will be a take-off year for green hydrogen as a sector for a number of reasons.Article continues below the advert Firstly, supportive policy either directly…
German electrolyser manufacturer Sunfire has begun designing the set-up for a massive 500MW green hydrogen project in Europe, which would be one of the continent’s largest if it comes on line as scheduled in 2028. The mystery project — which has not yet reached final investment decision (FID) and has not been identified by Sunfire — would produce green hydrogen from wind and solar power for use in various applications, including refinery operations and ammonia production. Sunfire’s participation in the on-going front-end engineering and design (FEED) study for the project envisages the company defining the operational parameters, site requirements and execution guidelines for the installation and operation of 500MW of its pressurised alkaline electrolysers. “Europe is at the forefront of adopting green hydrogen solutions,” said Nils Aldag, Sunfire’s chief executive. “We are seeing the first 100MW projects reaching their FIDs. As larger-scale projects like the 500MW initiative emerge, Sunfire reaffirms its commitment to providing reliable industrial electrolyser technology, capable of facilitating transformative projects.” There are few green hydrogen projects of this scale at advanced stages of development, but there are several that are still in the preliminary stage. For example, Tree Energy Solutions and EWE’s 500MW green gas and green…
Norwegian electrolyser maker Nel saw its losses shrink in the first quarter of 2024 — mainly buoyed by NKr96m ($8m) of extra revenue from a renegotiated deal with truck manufacturer Nikola. Nel had originally signed a supply agreement with Nikola in 2018, which included a firm purchase order of 85MW of electrolysers and refuelling equipment for the latter’s Phoenix Hydrogen Hub in Arizona. However, in the following years, Nikola sold the Phoenix Hydrogen Hub to Australia’s Fortescue, which reduced the scope to 80MW although the original capacity had already been delivered. In February, Nel and Nikola cancelled their old supply agreement and agreed to a new deal for 110 stacks and balance-of-stack equipment — which corresponds to 275MW of capacity, although this is not a firm order and therefore not recognised in the order backlog. However, since the old deal also included refuelling equipment, Nel was compensated with $9m in total from Nikola, although only $8m was recognised this quarter. Our customers are waiting for that [subsidy] cash, and until they have that cash, they’re not willing to go ahead and place a firm purchase order with Nel or any other [manufacturer] This extra, cost-free cash meant that the Norwegian…
The European steel industry needs five million tonnes of green hydrogen a year to fully decarbonise and the European Hydrogen Bank (EHB) funding mechanism is not furnished with enough cash to achieve this, Europe’s steel production trade association has told Hydrogen Insight. Steel producers need green hydrogen to cleanly extract iron from ore through the direct-iron reduction (DRI) process, in place of coke-fired blast furnaces, so as to minimise their 7-8% contribution to all global carbon emissions. It will need to cost no more than €2-3/kg ($2.13-3.19/kg), a spokesperson for industry association Eurofer said, which implies the need for significant subsidies. The cost of green hydrogen in Europe is expected to be in the region of €4.50-6/kg, according to analyst S&P Global Platts. “[But] the European Hydrogen Bank has not enough firepower for the huge task it has been set,” the spokesperson explained, referring to the EHB’s €800m pilot auction, launched in November with the aim of bridging the gap between grey hydrogen made with fossil gas and renewable H2. Europe’s first DRI plants are due to come on line in 2025-27, with at least two incumbent German developers putting out tenders for thousands of tonnes of green hydrogen by…
Blending up to 20% hydrogen into fossil gas networks — as many operators hope to do — could massively increase leaks from normal household appliances such as cookers and boilers, and wipe out any climate benefit of using expensive H2 in the first place, lab tests have revealed. Tests carried out in a UK certified lab (but not peer-reviewed) on behalf of environmental non-profit the Environmental Coalition on Standards (Ecos) found that using a 20% hydrogen blend in methane more than doubled leaks from domestic gas cookers compared to using fossil gas alone, when used under normal household conditions. Boilers tested by UK scientists at Enertek International saw emissions increase by 44% on average. Leakages of just 0.7% — likely in most homes on most days, the test shows —would cause additional annual greenhouse-gas emissions equivalent to 574,538 tonnes of carbon dioxide if applied to all households in the EU, and 155,755 tonnes in the UK, equivalent to the emissions from 300,000 and 84,000 fossil fuel-powered cars, respectively. Crucially, this would mean that the climate benefit of blending 20% hydrogen into the gas — estimated at a 7% reduction in emissions due to the lower volumetric energy density of H2…
