In this exclusive interview, H2 EnergyNews.Biz spoke with Viacheslav Shirokikh, the Managing Director and CFO of Hydrogen Age, a pioneering startup in Spain’s natural hydrogen exploration sector.
With an impressive career spanning 27 years in upstream oil and gas, and extensive leadership experience as CFO and CEO in oilfield servicing, oil and gas, and geological exploration companies, Shirokikh brings a wealth of knowledge to the burgeoning field of natural hydrogen.
For the past 12 years, he has dedicated part of his career to exploring the potential of natural hydrogen, positioning Hydrogen Age at the forefront of this innovative energy frontier.
What are the most promising geological formations for finding natural hydrogen?
Natural hydrogen may occur anywhere underground, if we attend the thesis from Mr. Vladimir Larin on the Hydridic Earth.
Nevertheless, we narrowed the focus to find hydrogen in several areas of the Iberian Peninsula, where we have located a higher potential to find hydrogen with a commercial flow rate.
How does the natural hydrogen production method you developed compare in cost and efficiency to other hydrogen production methods?
We are the only team in the world prepared to produce natural (white) hydrogen – just like the same way methane gas is produced today. In contrast, every competitor’s plan is to extract it artificially by pumping water into olivine-rich rocks, producing a process called ‘serpentinization’, which is the result of a chemical reaction where hydrogen is being formed through the serpentinite mineral.
For more information, you can check the article “The technological race of the natural white hydrogen hunters: which team to bet on?”
What challenges have you encountered in your pilot project in Spain?
The first one is that natural hydrogen has the same consideration as natural gas, so we have to undergo thorough the same rules as if we were extracting oil. While France, USA, Australia and other countries already made some changes in favor of white hydrogen exploration, Spain is still taking consideration on this matter.
Furthermore, we are getting familiar with the Spanish investment community. We understand that the scale of our project is substantial, with no one ever before trying the implementation of what we want to do in such a systematic way. Basically, this is like a flight to Mars for investors.
How do you assess the global potential for natural hydrogen resources?
If we attend to the Hydridic Earth concept we operate on, there is more than enough white hydrogen to cover the global economy needs for several generations, as the hydrogen is constantly emitted by the Earth’s core.
This contrasts much with the cycle of fossil fuels, as they needed millions of years to shift from organic matter from the cretacic or the jurassic era, and after barely less than 200 years of extraction, oil is becoming more difficult to produce.
Can you explain the role of natural hydrogen in the broader context of renewable energy and decarbonization strategies?
The situation with bringing natural (white) hydrogen to the market can be compared to the energy transition from whale oil to petroleum some 180 years ago. Now we are about to perform a similar transition from hydrocarbons to natural (white) hydrogen.
How do you ensure the sustainability and safety of natural hydrogen extraction processes?
The modern technologies developed by the oil and gas industry for exploration and production provide us with the peace of mind in regards to the required level of production of natural (white) hydrogen. Safety requirements and standards for all operations, equipment and materials used by the industry will have to be adjusted accordingly.
What technological advancements are necessary to scale up natural hydrogen production?
We are at the very beginning of this journey. There are no hydrogen wells with commercial flow yet – therefore, there is nothing to scale up as yet.
It is very important to look for natural hydrogen having full understanding where and how to search for it – exploration of natural hydrogen is a fund-intense science-based process.
In stark contrast from the first oil and gas explorations two centuries ago, amateurs have no place here today: random drilling, as it was in the early days of the oil and gas industry 150 years ago, will only lead to useless waste of financial resources and time, and may result in the investors’ disappointment, as it is already happening in the green hydrogen (electrolysis) industry.
How does the regulatory environment impact natural hydrogen exploration and production in different countries?
So far, only a handful od countries, with the USA, Australia, and France among them, have adopted changes to their subsoil legislation in terms of recognizing natural hydrogen as a subsurface resource and allowing its exploration. Unfortunately, without this first step, it will be impossible to launch such operations in other countries.
Can you share some insights on the collaboration between Hydrogen Age and other stakeholders in the hydrogen energy sector?
We are open for such cooperation, our financial memorandum is publicly available on our website: https://hydrogenage.eu. We see a lot of potential for synergies in T&D, exploration, evaluation and development of natural hydrogen resources, as well as in the legislation adjustment sphere.
We welcome all potentially interested parties to review it and proceed with negotiations.
How do you see the market for natural hydrogen evolving in the next decade?
We foresee a significant increase of investment into production and utilization of natural hydrogen. Already, an important number of companies and venture capital funds are realizing the potential of this energy source, investing in its development. Improvements in exploration and production technologies will significantly reduce the cost of hydrogen production, making it more competitive with conventional and green sources.
Also, with the actual quest to reduce dependence on fossil fuels while reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the same time, natural hydrogen may play a key role. To ease this shift, we expect governments to introduce incentives such as tax breaks, subsidies and grants for natural hydrogen research and development as regulation and standardization will promote the safe and efficient extraction and utilization of this resource.
Furthermore, significant investments in this area are already planned in the coming years, such as the construction of hydrogen pipelines, storage facilities and refueling stations. All these factors are to make natural hydrogen more accessible for end users and reduce the cost of its use.
It is also important to consider the possibility of integrating natural hydrogen with other technologies such as fuel cells and energy storage systems, creating integrated solutions for a number of industries.
What are the key factors that investors should consider when looking at natural hydrogen projects?
When it comes to investors, they first come to us with the money side of the project, of course, such as its cost of production, the market prices and its profitability, so they want to see if the project is sustainable in the long run. They are also interested in the technological base of Hydrogen Age’s project, as they want to understand the scientific concepts and the tech used to find natural hydrogen. The regulatory environment and the environmental aspects of the extraction, transformation and transportation of natural hydrogen are also some of the factors where investors demand more information about.
How do you address public and industry concerns about the reliability and viability of natural hydrogen as an energy source?
This is a very broad question of the future. For now, the industry is focused on answering the main question: where natural hydrogen may be discovered? Without resolving this, all other matters are of a secondary level of priority.
What future projects and initiatives do you have planned to further the development and adoption of natural hydrogen?
Hydrogen Age goals are quite ambitious. First of all, we expect subsoil legislation to be harmonized to ensure natural (white) hydrogen exploration and production to be streamlined in the countries where we plan to operate. We would like to see the attitude of the governments in those countries to be fair in terms of redistribution of subsidies from green hydrogen to natural hydrogen at the beginning of such projects, in order to attract the private investors’ interest. We would like to see the natural hydrogen industry representatives participating in all bodies and organizations involved today in the carbon-neutral hydrogen legislative initiatives. It is time to finally realize that only natural (white) hydrogen meets all requirements of the future energy transition for the whole planet, and it is impossible to ignore it.
