A rendering of the project to produce green hydrogen that Gransolar is planning for the Port of Almería.

Image: Gransolar

A company spokesperson told pv magazine that the plant will produce hydrogen from seawater and will be powered by a 30 MW solar plant and a 20 MWh storage system with an autonomy of 4 hours.

The facility will be based on double-reverse osmosis treatment with energy recovery followed by electrolysis of deionized water through proton exchange membrane (PEM). Furthermore, secondary electrolysis of concentrated brine will be implemented by cell membrane electrolysis.

The main electrolyzer at the facility will have an installed capacity of 20 MW and an estimated production of 1,000 tons per year. The produced fuel will be then stored in trucks for pressurized gas at 400 bar pressure.

Hydrogen will be used as fuel for public transport at the port and urban cleaning vehicles in the city of Almería. It will also be utilized to feed the port's unloading machinery, the national and international transport of goods, and part of the energy demand of local manufacturing industries.

The project has a required investment of €80.5 million euros and is scheduled to be built by the end of 2024. Gransolar confirms that it has the interest and commitment of the Almería City Council, as well as multiple companies from different professional sectors, without providing further details.

Almería will not be the only Andalusian port with plans to produce hydrogen. The Port of Malaga is also expected to host green hydrogen production through a project that also contemplates the use of artificial intelligence.

This article originally appeared on pv-magazine-usa.com, and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine-usa.com)

The site where the new salt cavern is being built.

Image: EWE

German energy provider EWE has started the construction of a cavern for hydrogen storage in Rüdersdorf, near Berlin.

The cavern storage facility will have a capacity of 500 cubic meters, which corresponds to the volume of a single-family house. The company is working with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) on this project.

The DLR Institute for Networked Energy Systems will examine, among other things, the quality of the hydrogen during storage and after it has been extracted from the cavern.

In the first stage of the project, EWE will build a derrick on an existing borehole and this work is expected to take a week. The utility will then install and cement a steel pipe from the surface to a depth of 1,000 meters by the beginning of April. This will connect the pilot cavern with the earth's surface.  

“In the context of the research project, we particularly hope to gain knowledge of the degree of purity of the hydrogen after it has been withdrawn from the cavern,” said EWE project manager Hayo Seeba. This factor is crucial for the use of hydrogen in the mobility sector.

The knowledge that the small pilot cavern will provide should be easily transferable to caverns with a volume that is 1,000 times higher, the company went on to say. The aim is to use caverns with a volume of 500,000 cubic meters for large scale hydrogen storage in the future.

EWE owns 37 salt caverns that represent 15% of all German cavern storage facilities that could be suitable for storing hydrogen in the future. “This would mean that large quantities of green hydrogen generated from renewable energies could be stored and used as required and would become an indispensable component in order to achieve set climate targets,” Seeba added. 

Scientists at Germany’s Jülich Institute for Energy and Climate Research (IEK-3) recently revealed that Europe has the potential to inject hydrogen in bedded salt deposits and salt domes with a total energy storage capacity of 84.8 PWh. Most of these salt caverns are concentrated in northern Europe, at offshore and onshore locations. Germany accounts for the largest share, followed by the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, and Poland. Other potential sites are in Romania, France, Spain, and Portugal.

“Germany has the highest storage potential in both onshore and offshore contexts,” the group said.

This article originally appeared on pv-magazine-usa.com, and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine-usa.com)

Caverns like this one in the Salina Slănic salt mine in Romania could serve as large storage tanks for hydrogen from renewable energies.

Photo: Dan Tamas / Janos Urai

Salt caverns for storing energy from renewable sources have long been in focus. EWE, for example, wants to build a redox flow battery with an output of 120 megawatts in the caverns of a former salt dome near Oldenburg by 2023 . And RWE Gas Storage West GmbH and CMBlu Energy AG have started a joint research project aimed at converting the salt caverns previously used for gas storage into large, organic river batteries . Underground salt caverns are also seen as a promising storage option for storing hydrogen as an energy source. A team from RWTH Aachen University, Forschungszentrum Jülich and Fraunhofer IEG rolled out how large their storage potential is in EuropeStudy in the specialist magazine "International Journal of Hydrogen Energy" illuminated.

The interdisciplinary team estimates the total energy storage potential in the form of hydrogen in salt caverns on land and at sea to be 84.8 petawatt hours, with 23.2 petawatt hours on land and 61.6 petawatt hours at sea. According to the analysis, Germany has a total of 35.7 petawatt hours, of which 9.4 petawatt hours are on land - the largest national potential on land in Europe. For comparison: the potential for pumped water storage power plants in Europe is around 0.123 petawatt hours.

"Salt caverns are the most promising option for large storage facilities due to the low investment costs, good sealing and low shielding gas requirement," says Peter Kukla, Head of the Georesources Department at Fraunhofer IEG and Professor of Geology at RWTH Aachen University. In order to estimate the economic potential of the salt storage, a more detailed energy system analysis is necessary. This could correlate economic and ecological aspects, energy profiles as well as locations with high energy demand, high energy supply and high storage capacity.

The world already has a nascent hydrogen economy, according to IEEFA.

Image: Roy Luck/Flickr

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) estimates there are 50 green hydrogen projects under development worldwide. Those projects, have a planned annual production capacity of 4 million tons of hydrogen and a total renewable power capacity of 50 GW, according to the Ohio-based thinktank, with their combined capital cost estimated at $75 billion.

In its Asia, Australia and Europe Leading Emerging Green Hydrogen Economy, but Project Delays Likely study, IEEFA said the projects announced represent an embryonic global green hydrogen economy.

“Most of these 50 projects are at an early stage, with just 14 having started construction and 34 at a study or memorandum-of-understanding stage,” the report noted. “However, many of the 50 newly-announced green hydrogen projects could face delays due to uncertain financing, cumbersome joint venture structures and unfavorable seaborne-trade economics.”

The study stated the majority of the projects announced will begin commercial operation in the middle of the decade, with large scale facilities starting up in 2022-23 and 2025-26.

The report’s authors said the hydrogen strategies of China, Japan and South Korea appear to prioritize hydrogen generated using natural gas – designated grey hydrogen, or blue if facilities are intended to feature carbon capture technology – rather than ‘green’ hydrogen generated using renewable energy. IEEFA described the €430 billion ($507 billion) hydrogen strategy of the European Union as the the most ambitious and purposeful energy transition policy to date.

“The EU’s hydrogen capex [capital expenditure] commitment far outweighs the commitment from Korea and Japan, reflecting the EU’s ambition to remodel its energy system and vertically integrate the hydrogen value chain with wind and solar power, electrolysis, distribution and applications,” stated the report.

Annual green hydrogen demand could reach 8.7 million tonnes by 2030, according to the IEEFA study, prompting a big supply shortfall given the current capacity of the project pipeline.

The report lists all publicized projects, including five facilities announced in the last two months – an 85 MW Nikola Motor Company plant in the U.S.; a 4 GW facility in Saudi Arabia planned by Air Products, Acwa Power and Neom; a 20 MW electrolyser being developed by U.S. energy company NextEra; a 100 MW solar park, storage facility and hydrogen production site in Puertollano, central Spain, by Iberdrola; and a 30 MW electrolyzer project by German consortium WestKüste100.

“There remains ample room for more hydrogen projects to meet global demand and further policy support will be necessary to grow this nascent industry,” added the report’s authors.

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The "Choose Renewable Hydrogen" initiative, led by the employers Solar Power Europe and WindEurope and currently formed by Akuo Energy, BayWa re, EDP, Enel, Iberdrola, MHI Vestas, Solar Power Europe, Ørsted, Vestas and Wind Europe, remitted this Monday a letter to the vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans asking the European Commission to bet on the "most efficient, sustainable and profitable" ways to decarbonise the economy.

Among the correct decisions for the next integration of Europe's energy system, the importance of green hydrogen stands out, which will play "a key role as the most profitable and sustainable solution for total decarbonisation".

In that sense, direct electrification is pointed out to be the main means to decarbonize heating and road transport, but there are other difficult sectors to eliminate, such as heavy industry, long-distance road transport, aviation and transport. maritime, where direct electrification is insufficient. Here, renewable hydrogen will play a key role as the most cost-effective and sustainable solution for complete decarbonization.

Clean hydrogen has been one of the topics highlighted in the EU's ecological recovery plans, which will be announced this Wednesday: according to the draft published by the portal specialized in European affairs EurActiv, there will be 1.3 billion for R + D + i and another 10 billion co-financing in the next decade , to minimize the risk of large projects, as well as a “commitment” to reach 1 million tons of this gas.

For its part, Iberdrola announced in mid-March that it will build one of the largest green hydrogen plants in Europe in Puertollano , with an investment of 150 million euros.

This article originally appeared on pv-magazine.es and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine.es).

H2SITE will provide low cost, high purity small and medium scale distributed hydrogen.

Photo: Tecnalia

Ten years ago, the Tecnalia research and development center and the EIndhoven University of Technology (TUe) began collaborating on European projects around metal deposition technologies, and in 2018 they won the second EARTO Innovation award. A year later, they created a limited company, H2SITE, which French power company Engie has just joined through its corporate venture capital fund, Engie New Ventures.

The new company will be located in Bizkaia and will develop a technology for small and medium-scale distributed hydrogen generation, of high purity and low cost, using advanced membrane reactors. “For the creation of this new company, the strategy developed by Tecnalia in the field of gas separation membranes has been key. This technological excellence is combined with the strategic collaboration established together with the University of Eindhoven, for the development of advanced membrane reactors ”, the company states in a statement.

The project will represent the first investment by Engie New Ventures, one of the largest global funds in the utilities sector, in start-ups in Spain.

The new company has received from the beginning the support of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, and will have an initial staff of 3 people for the first year of activity. H2SITE will provide low cost, high purity small and medium scale distributed hydrogen for both stationary applications and isolated areas requiring energy and mobility. "H2SITE will facilitate the deployment of 100% green electric mobility, opening up the possibility for on-board systems, within the vehicles themselves, to generate hydrogen," says the company, adding that "as a hydrogen technology platform, H2SITE will be capable of producing hydrogen from various compounds, such as biomethane, ammonia, bioethanol, etc. "

H2SITE will exploit a technology developed by Tecnalia and TUe, based on the intensification of processes, through advanced membrane reactors, maximizing the efficiency of the hydrogen production process and minimizing the necessary resources.

As for its industrial customers, H2SITE will offer a reduction of up to 40% of its current costs associated with the consumption of hydrogen, while reducing environmental impacts and avoiding regulatory and safety problems associated with the storage of hydrogen as it is an spot on demand.

“The main business objective of the startup is to become a state and European benchmark in the generation of green hydrogen and therefore, a relevant lever in the necessary energy transition. To do this, the challenge is to become the main supplier of hydrogen generated in situ for industrial use in stationary applications in prioritized industrial sectors, which are chemical, food, metallurgical, glass and electronics, which together represent a great part of the regional and national GDP ”, the statement ends.

Enagás and Ampere Energy recently announced the signing of an agreement for the joint development of several R&D projects for hydrogen production with solar and batteries.

This article originally appeared on pv-magazine.es, and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine.es.

Photo: Areva H2Gen

In its new environment, the container is unlikely to attract attention. Because pipes, valves and pressure vessels abound in the Höchst industrial park near Frankfurt. There, various companies use hydrogen for their production and chemical processes, and this is where the latest Areva H2Gen product will find its first place. With its contribution to the “MethQuest” research project, the company shows in which direction the development of large-scale PEM electrolysis can go. The specific device has an output of slightly more than one megawatt. The novelty is the overcapacity in the same amount.

According to the optimistic cost estimate by project manager Lucas Busemeyer, the technology already comes at a hydrogen cost of 3.60 per kilogram, including electricity costs of 5 cents per kilowatt hour. This would place them where decentralized electrolysis will only take in the next five to ten years. However, only with almost full utilization of the device with 8000 hours a year over 20 years. It must therefore be operated with mains electricity.

But since hydrogen from steam reformation is often even cheaper, Areva wants to make its unit fit for marketing on the balancing energy market (FCR) and to cross-finance it with its revenues. In addition, the device then contributes to the integration of renewable energies.

The challenge for this is that the electrolyzer can run at times with twice the output of 2 megawatts, at times with only 250 kilowatts, without damaging it or aging faster. The adaptations of the technology to this highly dynamic driving style are deliberately kept to a minimum, explains Busemeyer. The overcapacity should only increase the investment costs by 20 percent. He expects this premium to pay for itself within three to five years and hopes that the novelty will lower the hydrogen price to around EUR 3.45 per kilogram.

Comments from the judges

Xavier Daval : “The solution can deliver balancing energy and contribute to grid stabilization. Once the energy is converted to hydrogen, it can be used for various applications such as mobility or industry. ”

This article originally appeared on pv-magazine-usa.com, and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine-usa.com)

German coach company planning start-up Flixbus will test hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on long-distance routes.

Flixbus may soon be operating European-made hydrogen fuel cell coaches across the continent.
Image: Janusz Jakubowski/Flickr

From pv magazine Spain.

Germany’s FlixMobility, parent company of coach firm FlixBus, is working with electromobility business Freudenberg Sealing Technologies to test hydrogen fuel cell buses on long-distance journeys.

Flixbus said it has already begun talks with bus manufacturers about the introduction of hydrogen models.

“After being the first to successfully launch three fully electric buses, we now want to develop the first long-distance buses powered by fuel cells, along with Freudenberg technology, to mark another milestone in the history of mobility,” said André Schwämmlein, founder and CEO of FlixMobility.

The first e-buses in France and Germany were produced by Chinese manufacturers BYD and Yutong for FlixBus. The company claims fuel cell transport offers European bus makers a chance to participate in the future of sustainable mobility.

Flixmobility said fuel cell vehicles must have a range of at least 500km and refueling should take a maximum of 20 minutes. The performance characteristics of fuel cell buses, such as power and acceleration, must also align with current long-distance bus standards, said the travel company.

Pilot fleet

Claus Möhlenkamp, ​​CEO of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies said: “A hybrid system that properly combines the battery and fuel cells is especially practical for heavy vehicles that cover long distances since purely electric vehicles still do not have the ability to cover long distances. In the first phase of the FlixBus fuel cell project, a representative bus fleet will be equipped with the technology as a pilot test.”

FlixBus – which owns no buses or drivers – offers permitting, network planning, marketing, pricing, quality management and customer services to regional bus companies, which supply coaches and drivers and day to day management of routes. The company was created in Munich in 2011 by three entrepreneurs who wanted to offer sustainable, comfortable and affordable travel. At the same time, MeinFernbus started in Berlin, with its green buses circulating throughout Germany.

The bus market was opened up to competition in Germany in 2013 and the rival startups merged two years later with Flixbus becoming the leader in the German market. In 2015, FlixBus began its international expansion with long-distance networks in France, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and Croatia and cross-border routes to Scandinavia, Spain, England and Eastern Europe.

By Pilar Sánchez Molina

Originally published on https://www.pv-magazine-india.com/2019/11/12/european-carrier-plans-hydrogen-buses-for-long-distance-routes/