Browsing: Hydrogen

Czechia has commissioned its first electrolyzer designed to produce renewable hydrogen at industrial scale, but the 8,000 kilograms of annual output at Solar Global’s Napajedla facility also illustrates the gap between early projects and the country’s longer term hydrogen ambitions.

Sunfire has broken ground on a new high temperature electrolysis test facility at BASF’s Schwarzheide site in Germany, moving its solid oxide electrolysis cell technology toward longer duration industrial validation as electrolyzer developers seek higher efficiency and lower hydrogen production costs.

Japan is moving from hydrogen technology demonstrations toward commercial infrastructure with the development of the Kawasaki LH2 Terminal in Ogishima, about 30 kilometers south of Tokyo. Kawasaki Heavy Industries has selected ABB to supply the facility’s distributed control and safety systems as Japan works to establish an international liquefied hydrogen supply chain.

Toyota’s electrification strategy is increasingly moving beyond the question of whether battery electric vehicles will dominate the market and toward a more differentiated approach in which hybrids, plug in hybrids, battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells are deployed according to vehicle segment, infrastructure availability and regional energy systems.

Hamburg is beginning construction of an infrastructure link designed to connect local hydrogen production with Germany’s emerging national hydrogen backbone and the wider European gas network, as the city moves from individual hydrogen projects toward an integrated industrial supply system.

Uttar Pradesh is moving to turn its emerging green hydrogen strategy into a technology and investment partnership with Japan, as the state and Yamanashi Prefecture expand cooperation beyond research toward pilot projects, skills development and potential commercial deployment.

Namibia has commissioned an integrated green hydrogen facility at Walvis Bay that combines a 5 MWp solar park, a 5 MW proton exchange membrane electrolyzer and 5.9 MWh of battery storage, creating an operating model that links renewable electricity generation directly with hydrogen production, storage and end use.

The UK is putting public money behind technologies designed to store electricity for at least 100 hours, reflecting a growing recognition that a power system increasingly dependent on wind and solar cannot rely solely on short duration batteries to manage prolonged periods of low renewable generation.

Hydrogen equities are once again showing how quickly investor enthusiasm can turn when financing conditions tighten. On August 20, FuelCell Energy, Bloom Energy and Plug Power all moved lower, with FuelCell Energy experiencing the sharpest intraday decline.

Europe’s green hydrogen strategy is rapidly becoming a foreign policy instrument, but the emerging network of partnerships with the Middle East, North Africa and Sub Saharan Africa remains far smaller and less institutionalized than the political rhetoric surrounding it suggests.