Latest News on the UK Hydrogen Economy - 20/01/21

Happy New Year form the whole team here at Ceimig. We wish you the best for 2021.

Ames Goldsmith Ceimig, as a manufacturer of catalysts such as Iridium Oxide, Iridium Ruthenium Oxide, Iridium Black, Platinum Black & Platinum on Carbon support, are strong supports of the emerging Hydrogen Economy and supply many manufacturers of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) technology including PEM Electrolysers and PEM Fuel Cells.

In the UK we are members of the UKHFCA & SHFCA. Here are some of the recent developments in Hydrogen happening in the UK and affecting the Hydrogen Economy more broadly:

H2 View Editor’s pick: Ames Goldsmith Ceimig: Focused on green energy: weblink

Ames Goldsmith Ceimig were featured in December on H2 View’s website and newsletter.

Hydrogen Council report on H2 Decarbonisation Pathways: weblink

On 19/01/21 the Hydrogen Council released a new report on Hydrogen Decarbonization Pathways. This shows that low-carbon hydrogen supply at scale is economically and environmentally feasible and will have significant societal benefits if the right localised approach and best-practices for hydrogen production are used.

The Hydrogen Decarbonization Pathways Executive Summary highlights that low-carbon hydrogen supply at scale is fully achievable using ‘green-only’ or ‘blue-only’ production, and neither is limited by the world’s renewables potential or carbon sequestration (CCS) capacities. The new study also indicates that a combination of ‘green’ and ‘blue’ production pathways would lead to overall cost reductions. Using of the near-term cost advantage of ‘blue’ while also scaling up ‘green’ hydrogen will be the most cost-efficient option in many regions in the medium and long-term.

Scottish Government releases updated Climate Change Plan: weblink

The Scottish Government has today published Securing a Green Recovery on a Path to Net Zero: The Update to the Climate Change Plan 2018–2032 as an update to Scotland's 2018-2032 Climate Change Plan. This will take forward actions to develop the role of hydrogen in Scotland’s energy system. The update sets out the Scottish Government's pathway to deliver new and ambitious targets set by the Climate Change Act 2019, and is a key strategic document for Scotland’s green recovery from COVID-19.

This update to the Climate Plan will build on the outputs of the Hydrogen Assessment project, with the publication of a Hydrogen Policy statement this month, and then a Hydrogen Action Plan in 2021. The potential scale of the economic opportunity for Scotland from the production of hydrogen has been calculated, and gross impacts by 2045 across three scenarios modelled range from 70,000 to over 300,000 jobs protected or created and GVA impacts of between £5 billion and £25 billion.

UK company, ITM Power, sells the World’s Largest PEM Electrolyser to Linde: weblink

ITM Power announce the sale to Linde of a 24MW electrolyser. This will be the world’s largest PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) electrolyzer plant at the Leuna Chemical Complex in Germany

FCH JU Study predicts 110,000 Fuel Cell Trucks deployed by 2030: weblink

A new fact-based Study on Fuel Cells Hydrogen Trucks commissioned by Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking and conducted by Roland Berger was released on 15 December 2020. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the market potential of heavy duty fuel cells trucks underpinned with concrete case studies.

The study revealed that by 2030 there could be as many as 110,000 FCH trucks on the European roads avoiding up to 11 million tonnes CO2. Furthermore, in order to gain a concrete perspective and apply the data-driven TCO analysis to case-specific scenarios, an analysis of nine different case studies was conducted. These case studies explored potential opportunities of FCH technology and assessed the economic and technological feasibility of specific routes, operations and business cases. This analysis confirmed that FCH trucks are especially well suited for routes with a high daily range and compared to other zero-emission alternatives FCH trucks offer superior performance in terms of range, refuelling time and payload capacity.

Manufacturing Commences at the ITM Power Gigafactory: weblink

ITM Power, the energy storage and clean fuel company, announces an update on the fit out and opening of the Company’s first Gigafactory at Bessemer Park in Sheffield.

The fit out of the 1GW (1,000MW) per annum Gigafactory at Bessemer Park has now reached ‘Practical Completion’ – the handover to the Company by the contractors of the completed building - having suffered only a minor delay from the Covid-19 pandemic. The completed fit out included an expansion of the existing offices, enlargement of the stack manufacturing and production areas and a dedicated ATEX rated space for factory acceptance testing of products, all coupled with the necessary 5MW power supply on site.

FCH JU awards €5M to OYSTER offshore wind-H2 project: weblink

The consortium behind the FCH JU OYSTER project have been awarded EUR 5 million to investigate the feasibility and potential of combining an offshore wind turbine directly with an electrolyser and transporting renewable hydrogen to shore. The OYSTER consortium consists of SHFCA members ITM Power and Element Energy, together with Ørsted and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy.

OYSTER will demonstrate and investigate a combined wind turbine and electrolyser system designed for operation in marine environments, testing a megawatt-scale fully marinised electrolyser in a shoreside pilot trial. To realise the potential of offshore hydrogen production, there is a need for compact electrolysis systems that can withstand harsh offshore environments and have minimal maintenance requirements while still meeting cost and performance targets that will allow production of low-cost hydrogen.

The electrolyser system will be designed to be compact, to allow it to be integrated with a single offshore wind turbine, and to follow the turbine’s production profile. The electrolyser system will integrate desalination and water treatment processes, making it possible to use seawater as a feedstock for the electrolysis process.

£12M HyFlyer2 will develop 19 seater H2 plane with EMEC: weblink

The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) has strengthened its partnership with ZeroAvia through the launch of the HyFlyer2 project. EMEC will supply green hydrogen from Orkney for the 19-seat hydrogen-electric aircraft development programme, to help make zero-emission flights a commercial reality. Within the £12.3 million funded project, EMEC will deliver the green hydrogen fuelling systems required to power the aircraft for flight tests, including its mobile fuelling platform designed to suit an airport environment.

ScottishPower announces green Hydrogen business division: weblink

ScottishPower has launched a new business division dedicated to delivering green hydrogen, signalling the company’s commitment to the roll-out of the low carbon technology. The news follows Iberdrola, ScottishPower’s parent company, commitment in November to install 600MW by 2025, with the first green hydrogen projects expected to be announced in 2021 focussing on decarbonising large industry, food and drink and heavy transport.

This new ScottishPower business is expected to contribute significantly to the Scottish Government’s ambition of 5GW of low carbon hydrogen by 2030 which was announced earlier today. ScottishPower has been at the forefront of the renewables revolution for over two decades, removing all coal and thermal generation from their portfolio in 2018 to generate 100% renewable energy.

Scotland’s first hydrogen-powered train to debut this year: weblink

A newly formed consortium, led by hydrogen fuel cell integration specialist Arcola Energy, is working to deliver Scotland’s first hydrogen-powered train before the end of the year, ready for demonstration at the COP26 event.

The milestone project will see the conversion of a Class 314 car passenger train, made available by ScotRail, into a deployment-ready and certified platform for hydrogen-powered train development.

North West’s net zero industrial cluster receives financial support: weblink

A share of £8m in Government funding will be invested in developing a comprehensive Cluster Plan, which will feature both hydrogen and CCUS technologies, as part of an effort to prepare the North West and North East Wales for a net zero future.

Part of the latest phase of the Government £170m Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge to support industrially intensive areas to establish low carbon and net zero industrial clusters, the funding will support a number of projects including the UK’s first waste plastic to hydrogen facility at Protos in Cheshire.