Energy News brings you the most popular articles for each month in 2021. Based on monthly statistics, the ‘Monthly recap 2021′ represents the readers’ choice.
January: Enphase Energy and Sunnova expand battery storage collaboration
Enphase Energy has expanded its long-term relationship with Sunnova Energy International to include Enphase Encharge storage systems.
As a power service provider, Sunnova will empower its network of solar dealers in the U.S. to provide a simple upgrade path for existing Enphase homeowners as well as homeowners who are new to solar and storage.
February: ScottishPower and GEG to generate green hydrogen in Port of Nigg
ScottishPower has signed an agreement with Global Energy Group at its Port of Nigg site to identify processes and plant that could be powered by green hydrogen.
Green hydrogen will be generated at the Nigg site and used to power heavy plant, machinery and vehicles used in the daily operations at the site and to power high temperature, energy intensive processes like the manufacturing of offshore wind components.
March: Haldor Topsoe and Nel to offer green ammonia and eMethanol solutions
Topsoe is actively working on a number of programs to generate renewable hydrogen, green ammonia, eMethanol, and green fuels.
Topsoe supplied the world’s largest ammonia loop (1.2 million tons a year) to the Helios project in NEOM, Saudi Arabia, which was announced in July 2020.
April: Clean electrification and hydrogen can deliver net-zero by 2050, says global private-sector coalition
The Energy Transitions Commission (ETC) is a coalition of over 45 global energy producers, energy industries, financial institutions, and environmental advocates–including ArcelorMittal, Bank of America, BP, Development Research Center of the State Council of China, EBRD, HSBC, Iberdrola, Ørsted, Shell, Longi Solar, Tata Group, Volvo Group, and the World Resources Institute.
May: Green Swan and sHYp agree on Hydrogen Venture
Green Swan Partners LLC and sHYp BV have announced a joint business development agreement as a first step toward forming a formal joint venture.
The membrane-less electrolyzer developed by sHYp produces hydrogen from seawater or brine. Desalination is not necessary, unlike with other electrolyzers. It also doesn’t use a membrane, can be 3D printed, and is built for point-of-use modular generation.
June: Australia and Singapore partner on maritime hydrogen project
Australia and Singapore will collaborate on a $30 million project to expedite the use of low-emission fuels and technology such as clean hydrogen in maritime and port operations.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison stated that the country is pursuing practical international collaborations to bring new energy technologies to commercial parity with established ways.
July: DNV assesses safety of world-first offshore hydrogen facility
DNV will lead the process of safety assessment to identify the most significant environmental, safety, and operational risks for the world’s first offshore hydrogen production facilities.
Lhyfe, a producer and supplier of green and renewable hydrogen for transportation and industry, and Centrale Nantes, a French engineering and research school that oversees the SEM-REV offshore test site.
August: Nel Hydrogen part of ammonia investigation team
Nel Hydrogen, the parent business of Proton Onsite, is a member of a team investigating more sustainable methods of producing ammonia, with funds provided by a government grant.
According to Dr. Kathy Ayers, vice president of research and development at Nel, the production of ammonia – a nitrogen-hydrogen combination — consumes the most energy and produces the most carbon dioxide of all the compounds produced at scale.
September: Technion develops system for fast production of hydrogen from water
The Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) said on Thursday that Israeli researchers have invented a new technology for producing hydrogen from water quickly and cheaply.
While hydrogen is a clean and sustainable fuel, electrolysis requires a high electric potential, high pH levels, and expensive metal catalysts to produce it efficiently. Technion researchers stated they devised a rapid system that uses readily available copper catalysts in a report published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
October: Efficiency record set for solar hydrogen production
Researchers from the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales have achieved a new world record for producing renewable hydrogen from solar energy using low-cost components. The scientists were able to obtain a solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency of more than 20%.
The researchers combined tandem solar cells with low-cost catalyst materials to electrolyze water and split it into hydrogen and oxygen.
November: Hydrogen bus catches fire in the Netherlands
A fire broke out in an Arriva transport business depot in Doetinchem, the Netherlands, on Thursday afternoon.
A bus fuelled by hydrogen caught fire. The local fire department stated on Twitter that no one was hurt. The cause of the fire has yet to be identified, and it is currently being investigated. Arriva bought ten Urbino 12 fuel cell buses from the Polish manufacturer Solaris this year.
December: Hydrogen harmless to natural gas pipelines
Hydrogen is a critical component of the energy source of the future. It may be used to store extra solar or wind energy via electrolysis.
If power is required later, hydrogen may be turned back into electricity using fuel cells. Hydrogen may also be utilized for heating, industrial activities, and chemical reactions directly. This, however, presupposes that the gas can be transferred to the intended location.
