Every efficiency gain discovered in the lab feeds through to the final cost of electricity. Anne Trafton at MIT describes new research looking at how electrons and protons couple at an electrode surface, which drives electric current. It’s a critical step in many energy technologies, including fuel cells, hydrogen electrolysers, batteries, and CO2 conversion into chemical fuels. The first step was to develop a way to design electrode surfaces … [Read more...]
Hydrogen: most nations’ plans to export to Europe don’t match reality. The EU should make it itself
The EU’s RePowerEU plan, quickly made in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, aims to produce 20m tonnes of renewable hydrogen by 2030, with half coming from imports. Here, T&E summarise their report that concludes this is unrealistic. The report looks at six key countries with plans to export hydrogen to the EU: Norway, Chile, Egypt, Morocco, Namibia and Oman. T&E says these countries combined would only be able to deliver a quarter … [Read more...]
Iron Ore miners try different multi-billion strategies to lower emissions for Steel producers
2024 should see a further acceleration in steel’s transition away from coal, with increasing pressure on companies in the value chain to act on their Scope 3 (indirect) emissions, explains Simon Nicholas at IEEFA. Old coal-fired blast furnaces that use low-grade iron ore are already being replaced with the direct reduced iron (DRI) process in Europe and China. That means the “big four” iron ore miners have to ramp up production of high-grade iron … [Read more...]
Will EU decarbonisation policies shift the Fertiliser industry into making Ammonia for energy (but outside the EU)?
The EU’s fertiliser industry must face up to the region’s ambitious decarbonisation rules, making its carbon-intensive processes much more costly. But a door of opportunity is also being opened: the industry already produces ammonia which is increasingly being seen as an alternative clean fuel, explains Hyung-Ja de Zeeuw at Rabobank. The problem for EU nations is that it will be cheaper for the industry to relocate and make that ammonia somewhere … [Read more...]
Scaling Hydrogen financing in Emerging Markets and Developing Countries
To meet the global target for clean hydrogen of 10-15% of energy use by 2050 we need to produce 40m tonnes by 2030. The rich OECD countries simply do not have the renewables resources to do it alone. So there must be a global effort to actively support hydrogen production in Emerging Markets and Developing Countries (EMDCs), explain Carolina Lopez Rocha and Dolf Gielen at the World Bank Group and Ignacio de Calonje at the IFC. They summarise the … [Read more...]
Fuel Cells and Electrolysis: nanoparticle catalyst electrodes can advance clean power and Hydrogen production
Fuel and electrolysis cells both involve electrochemical reactions (one is the reverse of the other), and their efficiency depends on the catalysts used on the electrodes. Conventional metal catalysts coarsen at high temperatures, reducing activity and durability. Elizabeth Thomson at MIT describes new research there that uses ion irradiation to precipitating metal nanoparticles onto the surface of the electrode. The process allows close control … [Read more...]
Nearly 2,000 Hydrogen projects worldwide: IEA’s interactive tools give snapshot on progress, costs
The IEA has released new interactive data tools to track the development of low-emissions hydrogen production around the world. They provide a snapshot of progress on hydrogen production, with data on almost 2,000 projects that are either already in operation or have been announced. Most projects to date are concentrated in Europe and Australia, with a growing number planned in Africa, China, India, Latin America and the U.S. One of the tools … [Read more...]
Improved “Solar Thermochemical” process captures 40% of the sun’s heat to produce Green Hydrogen
The U.S. Department of Energy has set a goal to make green hydrogen domestically at $1 per kilogram by 2030. Current costs range from $3 to $8 and none of it is being done at scale. Getting the cost of green hydrogen down is a serious concern for policymakers and industry alike. Most efforts are through electrolysis, which used electricity to split the water that delivers the hydrogen production. Jennifer Chu at MIT describes research there on … [Read more...]
Middle East & Africa to export Hydrogen to Europe? Better to make green Iron & Steel and export that
The MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) is well suited to making green hydrogen. There’s huge potential for powering green hydrogen production with cheap solar. And Europe wants to import it. But Soroush Basirat and Simon Nicholas at IEEFA argue that MENA should use the green hydrogen to make green iron and steel and export that. It already has an established direct reduced iron (DRI) sector: now powered by gas which can be swapped out for … [Read more...]
Cost vs Resilience: Europe’s sourcing strategy will shape the regional Hydrogen economy
The upcoming EU Hydrogen Bank pilot auction and trilogue discussions are focussing minds on the future of hydrogen. Jonas Lotze and Massimo Moser at TransnetBW and Janina Erb, Roman Flatau, Felix Greven and Max Labmayr at d-fine present the results of their modelling of two hydrogen sourcing scenarios: "Global Market" (GM) where the import of hydrogen into Europe is unrestricted, and "Energy Resilient Europe" (ERE) where almost all hydrogen is … [Read more...]
Europe’s big Hydrogen ambitions won’t deliver. Stick to ammonia-fertiliser, refining, shipping, aviation (maybe later)
Europe’s hydrogen ambitions need a reality check. The EU’s goal to produce and import 20m tonnes of clean hydrogen by 2030 is now widely seen as completely unrealistic, says William Todts at T&E. The business case is not good enough because of the high costs that aren’t coming down as hoped. It’s why only 4% of hydrogen projects get financed. Far better to focus on no regrets, low infrastructure hydrogen applications for ammonia-fertiliser, … [Read more...]
H2 Green Steel has raised billions in 3 years: a case study of Industrial Project Finance
The financing of H2 Green Steel (H2GS), founded in 2020, can be taken as a template for capital intensive industrial first-of-a-kind projects that must raise billions quickly to build from scratch and go live. Shravan Bhat and Asia Salazar at RMI describe H2GS’s financing journey to reveal five key lessons for raising funds. Against the usual logic, large, diverse, equity investor pools can work (H2GS counts over 20 different equity investors). … [Read more...]
Could big U.S. subsidies for Hydrogen create perverse incentives, raise emissions?
There is a danger that the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) subsidies for hydrogen production (defined in provision 45V) may create perverse incentives that do not reduce emissions and may increase them. James Sallee at the Energy Institute at Haas explains why. The goal is to make “green” hydrogen powered by newly built clean energy. But what if the generously subsidised hydrogen is made from clean energy (new or not) that should be powering … [Read more...]
Iron and Steel: how can Hydrogen and Direct Electrification replace fossil-based production?
Karan Kochhar, Luis Janeiro and Francisco Boshell at IRENA look at the decarbonisation of iron and steel. They account for about 7% of global energy–related carbon emissions. The authors explain what’s needed for green hydrogen and direct green electrification to take over from traditional fossil-based production. Many projects are in the pipeline, and the authors reference case studies like H2 Green Steel, SIDERWIN and Boston Metal. Though that … [Read more...]
Ammonia from water microdroplets: lab demonstrates cheap, low-tech production
Very early stage research has discovered a new way of making ammonia cheaply, on a small scale (or large, if you want!), and with no harmful emissions, explains Adam Hadhazy writing for Stanford University. The process uses a cocktail of water, nitrogen gas, and a solid catalyst sprayed through a simple, low-tech instrument to make the ammonia. In contrast, the existing industry-standard Haber-Bosch process is energy intensive, large scale, and … [Read more...]
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