Image: Swinburne University

Researchers from Swinburne University’s Centre for Translational Atomaterials and Shaanxi Normal University have developed a novel catalyst that can produce high-performance solar-triggered hydrogen from seawater. If there is one thing that we all know about seawater, it’s that there is a lot of it, so it's no surprise that this  scientific discovery has great potential.

In order to utilize this new catalyst, the researchers had to develop a prototype device, the Ocean-H2-Rig. It can float on the ocean's surface to produce green hydrogen from seawater.

One of the easiest and greenest ways to produce hydrogen is through photocatalytic water splitting, which uses solar energy to split water into its composite atoms, securing the hydrogen and harmlessly emitting the oxygen. The novelty of the single-atom platinum catalyst the researchers have developed is that the photo-generated electrons and holes triggered by solar radiation do not try to recombine, which greatly improves hydrogen production efficiency.

Early this year Adani announced his company’s goal to become the world’s largest solar power company by 2025 and the largest renewable power company by 2030.

Image: Life tech/Flickr

Covid-19 presents an opportunity to pause, rethink, and design a new and faster transition to a cleaner energy future, said Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani recently in his LinkedIn post.

“The [clean energy] transition could lead to investment opportunities of US$ 19 trillion in solar, wind, battery storage, green Hydrogen, carbon management and energy efficiency by 2050, making it one of the largest global industries”—Adani quoted a recent forecast by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

“Employment in the clean energy sector, currently at 12 million in 2020, could quadruple by 2050, while jobs in energy efficiency and system flexibility could grow by another 40 million.”

Adani believes India, in particular, is well-positioned to benefit from the transition as it is naturally endowed with very high levels of solar resources, and the long coastline makes an attractive proposition for wind power.

Falling solar prices in favour

With technology driving prices down, renewables would supplement fossil fuels in the short term and emerge as the favoured option in the long term.

Adani quoted an MIT research paper to share that the price of solar modules has dropped 99% over the past 40 years. Going by the trend, he expects prices to drop by an additional 99% over the next 40 years – probably reducing the marginal cost of electricity to zero.

“Such a reduction, in turn, will mean the coexistence of two business models – one based on fossil fuels and the other driven by renewables – both supplementing each other in the near future but the pendulum swinging decidedly in favour of renewables in the long-term,” he wrote.

Adani said many of the [power] system operators in Europe, faced with falling [electricity] demand, are learning to manage grids at a remarkably high level of renewables in the energy mix, often up to 70%.

“While the generation balance may swing back as [electricity] demand increases, the crisis has provided insights to operators on keeping the grid stable with high levels of renewable penetration. Post Covid-19, this may be the new norm,” he said.

Hydrogen storage, a potential game changer

With increasing investor confidence in solar and wind, their integration with various storage technologies will further accelerate the energy transition, said Adani, highlighting hydrogen as the predominant storage technology on the horizon.

“With the prospect of the future marginal cost of renewable energy dropping precipitously, green Hydrogen produced by the splitting water could be the game-changer.

“This Hydrogen could use much of the existing gas pipeline network for distribution, be blended with natural gas and be a green feedstock for the chemical industry. Add to this the fact that the energy density of a kilogram of Hydrogen is almost three times that of gasoline, and you have a momentum that would be near impossible to stop as Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle prices come down,” he said.

Inteerested in how to make green hydrogen work for your property or business? Schedule a call with us here to learn more:

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

A major consortium led by UK-based ITM Power, which claims the world’s largest electrolyser facility, with 1GW per annum manufacturing capacity in Sheffield, England, has signed a memorandum of understanding to test and demonstrate the viability of hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses in Australia’s public transport networks.

Dubbed the H2OzBus Project, it intends to initially deploy 100 hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses across up to 10 city hubs in Australia where interest and demand for fuel-cell buses has already been expressed.

Transport New South Wales, for example, is one state jurisdiction looking to transition its entire bus fleet to zero-emissions electric power in coming years and has invited expressions of interest from technology providers.

Vesna Olles, Director for Strategy and Business Development at BOC, a consortium member with groundbreaking Australian projects to its name, told pv magazine,“NSW is targeting 8,000 of its buses coming off diesel, so we hope to be able to be bold and consider how big this project could become.”

Olles said she was on a phone call today during which subject matter experts had been nominated from each of the five consortium members — Transit Systems (a subsidiary of Australia’s SeaLink Travel Group transport service provider); Canadian-headquartered fuel-cell manufacturer, Ballard Power Systems; infrastructure manager Palisade Investment Partners; BOC a supplier of compressed and bulk gases, chemicals and equipment in the South Pacific region; and ITM Power.

“H2OzBus is an exciting project which builds on the international partnerships that have been developed in recent years by ITM Power in the fuel-cell electric bus markets across the UK and France,” said Dr Neil Thompson, Managing Director of ITM Power commenting on how the company’s Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolysers using renewable energy and tap water to generate hydrogen, have found a market in Europe.

In the Australian context, Olles says, many different scenarios could play out in terms of infrastructure positioning, and technologies used, and “now that we’ve signed the MOU and some confidentiality terms, it allows us to share some workings with each other so we can put together a concept paper of what Phase 1 will look like.”

From brown and blue, to green hydrogen sources

Although the consortium’s long-term strategy is to provide hydrogen from renewable power sources, BOC already produces hydrogen in Australia via brown (coal) and blue (steam methane reforming) pathways, and these are likely to be the source of hydrogen to kickstart the H2OzBus proof-of-concept project.

However the consortium’s green intentions are underscored by the fact that it plans to seek funding support from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency under its remit to accelerate hydrogen projects that will contribute to decarbonising industry.

Further funds will be raised by Palisade Investment Partners, which will also provide strategic financial oversight of the project.

Palisade is known for managing renewable generation and transportation assets, such as Ross River Solar Farm and Snowtown 2 Wind Farm; and Gold Coast Rapid Transit, and Darwin, Alice Springs and Sunshine Coast airports. It provides institutional investors with access to such Australian infrastructure projects via tailored portfolios and co-mingled funds.

“Palisade believes green hydrogen will play an important role in the further decarbonisation of our economy,” said Palisade Managing Director and CEO Roger Lloyd.

Designing for infrastructure and efficiency

In Phase 1, the consortium will focus on the logistics of enabling fleets of hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses on designated public transport routes.

ITM Power and BOC will provide expertise on hydrogen production and refuelling infrastructure, while Ballard Power Systems is set to supply the fuel-cell system that will be integrated into the public-transport vehicles supplied by bus manufacturers.

Olles told pv magazine that the group will also explore the potential for technology startups in Australia to provide the fuel-cell technology; and the possibility of Ballard manufacturing fuel cells in Australia.

Ballard Power Systems President and CEO, Randy MacEwen said from Vancouver that the project will “provide bus operators with an alternative electric bus option with no compromise on performance and operation.” 

He added that, “Use cases requiring extended range, air conditioning and rapid refuelling are an ideal fit for our fuel-cell systems, which have been proven through more than 30 million kilometres of on-road experience to date.”

Ballard is pleased to sign MOU with strategic partners @boconline, @ITMPowerPlc & Transit Systems Australia for #H2OzBus Project investigating #zeroemissions #fuelcell buses for Australia #zeroemissions https://t.co/8NFnvOdNbD @STG_AUD @Lindeplc #hydrogen #cleantech pic.twitter.com/uMLos5zDNq

— Ballard Power (@BallardPwr) May 22, 2020

Keeping the fleet on schedule

Once in service, the 100 trial buses will be maintained and operated by Transit Systems.

CEO of Transit Systems’ parent company SeaLink Travel Group, Clint Feuerherdt, said taking part in the project allows Transit Systems to showcase its extensive network and capabilities.

Australia’s largest integrated land and marine, tourism and public transport service provider, SeaLink is known for its mainland-to-island ferry services, cruising and land-based tours, and resorts. It acquired Transit Systems, with its metropolitan bus operations in Australia, London and Singapore in January this year.

Feuerherdt said the company’s participation in H2OzBus is about ensuring “that our solutions continue to set the benchmark for what is possible”, which could serve as the project slogan.

Olles adds green fuel to this notion, saying, “For BOC this is a proof of concept for hydrogen mobility in Australia.”

She says it will provide a foundation for what the country’s  hydrogen future looks like, “not just for mobility but for other end uses such as power generation and as a fuel source for major industries such as steel refining.”

Although value adding to Australia’s iron ore resources may be a way down the track, Olles says that as a demonstration project H2OzBus holds promise for “contributing to the goal of zero emissions” — a bus the majority of Australians are eager to board.

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

Renewable energy makes sense of hydrogen.

Image: Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)

This morning Federal Government Ministers Mathias Cormann and Angus Taylor announced a $300 million Advancing Hydrogen Fund in terms of a panacea:

“From cheaper energy bills and job creation in regional Australia, to playing a role in reducing global emissions both at home and in countries that buy Australian produced hydrogen, the industry’s potential cannot be ignored,” said Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Taylor in the joint announcement.

The fund is designed to mesh with priorities under the national Hydrogen Strategy and as such will back areas that advance hydrogen production, developing export and domestic supply chains, establishing hydrogen hubs and building domestic demand for hydrogen.

Just a month ago, BloombergNEF released a report, Hydrogen Economy Outlook, which concluded that only a widespread global commitment to net zero emissions could generate the kind of investment — it calculated the need for US$150 billion in cumulative subsidies to 2030 — required to bring down the cost of producing hydrogen and make it competitive with other fuels.

Hydrogen is not a free kick

“Once you set a net zero target, and are serious about putting policies and measures in place to achieve that, then hydrogen becomes a necessary option,” Kobad Bavhnagri, Global Head of Industrial Decarbonisation at BNEF and lead author of the report, told pv magazine at the end of March.

“If you don’t have that clarity and that purpose,” Bhavnagri continued, “then actually there’s no need to do hydrogen and it won’t stand up.” A higher cost, less convenient energy source than fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil, hydrogen only starts to make sense when the demand is created for a zero-emissions alternative.

Bhavnagri explained that development of hydrogen is a global task. It requires mass participation to achieve the economies of scale that will make hydrogen viable.

Based on fuel prices in March, the Hydrogen Economy Outlook estimated, for example, that if the electrolysers used to produce hydrogen from water (one method of hydrogen production that lends itself to using renewable energy to power the process of atom splitting) could be driven dramatically down in cost by demand and manufacturing efficiencies, renewable hydrogen could be produced for US$0.8 to US$1.6/kg by 2050. This was then equivalent to gas priced at US$6-12/MMBtu, making it competitive with natural gas.

Australia’s Federal Government has set the open-ended goal — dubbed ‘H2 under 2’ — of producing hydrogen for AU$2 a kilogram as part of its as yet unreleased but much anticipated Technology Investment Roadmap.

Its $300 million Advancing Hydrogen Fund is to be administered by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), which this morning welcomed the announcement of its amended mandate to make the $300 million available from its existing funds. 

“We are confident we can use our capital to help build investor confidence in the emerging hydrogen sector,” said CEFC CEO, Ian Learmonth.

It’s not easy staying green

This morning’s CEFC statement also emphasised that, “In line with the CEFC Act, projects seeking CEFC finance through the Advancing Hydrogen Fund are required to be commercial, draw on renewable energy, energy efficiency and/or low emissions technologies and contribute to emissions reduction.”

The CEFC says that from the allocated Advancing Hydrogen Fund it anticipates providing either debt or equity finance to eligible larger-scale commercial and industrial projects likely to require $10 million or more in CEFC capital, alongside finance raised from other sources.

CEFC identifies an early priority for funding to coincide with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) $70 million Renewable Hydrogen Deployment Fund. 

This ARENA funding round opened on 15 April, and expressions of interest are currently set to close on 26 May. Outcomes are expected to be announced on 30 November this year.

“We see green hydrogen as offering the most credible pathway to decarbonisation for high emitting sectors and those which lack scaleable electrification options,” said CEFC’s Learmonth. CEFC identifies some of these sectors as manufacturing, heavy transport such as trucks and shipping, mining, processing of metals and production of chemicals.

Exports going nowhere: use it on shore

One clear point of departure between BNEF’s Hydrogen Economy Outlook and the stated ambitions of the Government Advancing Hydrogen Fund is in relation to hydrogen as an export industry for Australia.

Cormann describes the Fund as a “catalyst for the future growth of Australia’s hydrogen industry,” which has the potential to become “a major new export industry”. Taylor adds the commitment made in the National Hydrogen Strategy, launched in November last year, “to build Australia’s hydrogen industry into a global export industry by 2030”.

Bhavnagri, on the other hand, found in his BNEF report that, “the economics of exporting hydrogen by ship are very poor”.

He told pv magazine, “This narrative about Australia being able to export hydrogen is a bit misplaced … Hydrogen is not like natural gas; it’s far less dense and has a liquefaction temperature much lower than natural gas, so it’s just much harder to put on a ship in a liquefied state — it’s really expensive to do.”

He concluded that “Australia can be a hydrogen superpower by using it onshore and exporting value-added products.”

Both the Australian Government and BNEF champion the establishment of hydrogen hubs, with BNEF explaining the efficiencies that such developments could offer: hubs might include clusters of wind-and-solar-powered electrolysers, and large storage facilities to smooth and buffer hydrogen supply, served by networks of dedicated pipelines feeding hydrogen to co-located industrial customers. 

Renewable resource can make Australia’s hydrogen the cheapest

Writing in BNEF’s Hydrogen Economy Outlook, Bhavnagri notes: “Our analysis suggests that a delivered cost of green hydrogen of around US$2/kg in 2030 and US$1/kg in 2050” is achievable in China, India and Western Europe. Countries with the best renewable and hydrogen storage resources, such as Australia, could achieve 20-25% reductions on these costs.

But BNEF cautions that even at US$1/kg the use of hydrogen in place of fossil fuels is still likely to require a carbon price or other policy measures to make it the most attractive option: “This is because hydrogen must be manufactured, whereas natural gas, coal and oil need only to be extracted, so it is likely to always be a more expensive form of energy.”

Ultimately Bhavnagri is optimistic about the potential for hydrogen to help decarbonise the planet, and to open new opportunities for green manufacturing in Australia that could significantly boost employment opportunities.

Signs of hydrogen life

The Hydrogen Economy Outlook said investors keen to be involved in hydrogen projects should look out for evidence of seven key events that signal opportunity for green hydrogen to scale as needed to provide a viable alternative to fossil fuels, and act as an accelerator to decarbonisation . In order of importance, the first three indications are:

1. Legislation of net-zero climate targets
2. Harmonisation of international standards governing hydrogen use
3. Introduction of targets with investment mechanisms

We now have an investment mechanism, administered by a trusted body which has previously facilitated almost $28 billion worth of clean-energy projects in Australia since its inception in mid-2012, but this investment seems still untethered from Government political will and policy needed to reach net zero emissions within a timeframe that will help global citizens avoid the next looming threat to our lives. Prosperity assumes a healthy planet.

Schedule a call with us to see how Green Hydrogen can help take you further.

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).

Electrolyzers like this one use renewable electricity to produce hydrogen. A recent study from DNV GL concluded that production of hydrogen from electrolyzers will become competitive with production from natural gas by 2035.

Image: Siemens

State-owned NTPC, India’s largest power producer, intends to undertake pilot projects on hydrogen fuel cell-based electric vehicles in India for demonstration and use in public transportation. Initially, five such buses and cars each in New Delhi and Leh (a district in union territory Ladakh) are planned. Subsequently, the project may be expanded to roll out fuel cell electric vehicles in other cities also.

The power producer has sought global Expression of Interest (EOI) from manufacturers for the supply of hydrogen fuel cell buses and cars for the pilot project. The EoI has been issued by its wholly-owned subsidiary, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) Limited.

The move to procure hydrogen fuel cell-based vehicles is first of its kind project in the country, wherein a complete solution from green energy to the fuel cell vehicle would be developed.

The initiative, undertaken with the support of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, will harness renewable energy for the generation of hydrogen and develop its storage and dispensation facilities as part of pilot projects at Leh and Delhi.

The applicants identified through EOI shall be asked to submit commercial proposals for undertaking pilot projects in some of the locations. The plans shall be scaled up further for additional requirements.

Scope of work

In addition to investing in buses and cars, NTPC shall arrange renewable energy for the project for hydrogen generation and set up hydrogen generation and dispensing stations at locations based on the inputs received from various applicants. It shall also coordinate with local/State transport authorities for the operation of vehicles for public transport.

The fuel cell vehicle manufacturer shall provide operational and technical inputs required for planning and operation of the pilot project regarding the vehicles and related eco-system like hydrogen dispensation requirement, the requirement of hydrogen in Kg/km and battery details and passenger capacity, along with after-sales support.

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

"GET H2 Nucleus" is the first freely accessible hydrogen infrastructure in Germany to combine the generation, transport and purchase of green hydrogen, as this schematic illustration shows.

Source: obs / Nowega GmbH / GET H2

Everyone is talking about green hydrogen as a beacon of hope for the energy transition in Germany, even if there are only a few concrete projects on a large scale. The corresponding infrastructure for transporting green hydrogen is also lacking. But five industrial companies now want to change this. BP, Evonik, Nowega, OGE and RWE Generation signed a letter of intent to develop the "GET H2 Nucleus" project.

According to their own information from Tuesday, they want to build Germany's first publicly accessible hydrogen network between Gelsenkirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lingen in Lower Saxony by the end of 2022. The green hydrogen will then be used to supply industrial companies in the two federal states, it was said. It is planned to generate the green hydrogen in a 100 megawatt RWE Generation electrolyser in Lingen. Then it should be transported to existing customers such as refineries or chemical parks in Lingen, Marl and Gelsenkirchen via existing gas pipelines from the network operators Nowega and OGE, some of which still need to be converted, as well as a new part from Evonik. The network should be available to dealers and consumers on a non-discriminatory basis.

However, companies also asked politicians to create the necessary legal framework that would enable the rapid expansion of green hydrogen production and the associated infrastructure. Above all, they would need investment security. In addition to the appropriate political framework, the economic ones would also have to be right to start the project by the end of 2022 if possible.

The supply of industrial companies with green hydrogen is one of the "low-hanging fruits" for a lower-carbon future. Many of these companies would already use large amounts of hydrogen in their production processes. By switching to green hydrogen, CO2 emissions could be reduced quickly and significantly. The construction of a hydrogen infrastructure based on the existing gas infrastructure guarantees exactly the security of supply to which industrial customers depend, as the project partners said. In the future, existing cavern storage facilities should be integrated along the hydrogen line. This would further increase security of supply.

Interested in exploring the benefits of Green Hydrogen? Schedule a call with us here:

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

Providence Asset Group's Mr Llewellyn Owens, NSW Energy Minister Matt Kean, UNSW's Professor Kondo-Francois Aguey-Zinsou.

Image: UNSW

More than $15 million in funding from the state government’s Regional Community Energy Fund was announced on Tuesday to help regional communities in New South Wales (NSW) take control of their energy bills and benefit from the economic opportunities presented by the energy transition. The awarded projects will unlock nearly 17.2 MW in electricity generation and up to 17.9 MW/39.3 MWh of energy storage, leveraging approximately $36 million in private investment.

Six projects will install solar, four of which will collocate battery storage on site, and one will deliver a shared community battery scheme.  The list of approved projects includes 5 MW Bayron Bay Solar Farm alongside a 5 MW / 10MWh DC-coupled battery; 500 kW Gloucester Community Solar Farm; the Goulburn Community Dispatchable Solar Farm involving 1.2 MW of solar PV and 400 kW / 800 kWh of battery storage; 1 MW Haystack Solar Garden; Orange Community Renewable Energy Park with a 5 MW solar farm and up to 5 MW / 5 MWh of battery storage; and a 1 MW / 2MWh battery, which will be installed under Enova Community’s Shared Community Battery Scheme for regional NSW.

A project that stands out in the group for its combination of on-site renewable energy technologies is the Manilla Community Solar. The development will feature 4.5 MW of solar PV, 4.5 MW / 4.5MWh of battery storage and a 2 MW /17 MWh hydrogen energy storage system. It will be backed by a $3.5 million grant that has been awarded to the Manilla Solar Project, a partnership between Manilla Community Renewable Energy and green investment outfit Providence Asset Group.

Plans for the Manilla solar farm were announced in December as one of the first of up to 30 community solar initiatives to be rolled out across regional Australia. On Tuesday, it was confirmed that the development will feature an advanced hybrid battery storage system in addition to the solar and battery storage components. According to UNSW, solid-state hydrogen technology will be installed in 20-foot containers with an energy density of 17 MWh and will be a first of this kind in the world in terms of scale.

New generation of batteries

The technology was first unveiled last March when a team of researchers at UNSW headed by Professor Kondo-Francois Aguey-Zinsou said they had developed a unique system that allowed for cheap storage and transportation of hydrogen and could provide a new alternative for energy storage within two years.

Their research, conducted in partnership with H2Store, had been underpinned with $3.5 million in backing from Providence Asset Group. The funding was intended to help the team deliver phase one of a four-stage project that includes the creation of prototypes of their hydrogen energy storage solution for residential and commercial use, demonstration units, and testing and optimization that will enable full commercialization of the product.

Speaking about the first phase of the project, Professor Kondo-Francois Aguey-Zinsou said that he believed his invention would offer significant advantages over current power storage solutions for home solar systems, such as the Tesla Powerwall battery.

“We will be able to take energy generated through solar panels and store it as hydrogen in a very dense form, so one major advantage of our hydrogen batteries is that they take up less space and are safer than the lithium-ion batteries used in many homes today,” he said, adding that the system can actually store about seven times more energy than other that are currently available. Other advantages include a lifespan of about 30 years compared with under 10 for other systems and no fire risk.

On Tuesday, Professor Aguey-Zinsou said: “I am very excited to see the technology we developed in the lab here at UNSW scaled up and used in real-world applications. It will prove the feasibility of hydrogen storage at scale and position Australia to become a major player in transitioning to renewable energy.”

Construction will commence on the Manilla Solar Project in the second half of 2020 and is expected to be operational early 2021. The storage component will be installed during 2021.

Interested in how hydrogen storage can be incorporated into your solar facility? Schedule a call with us:

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

The project will be the first hydrogen injection experience in a real gas network in Spain with support for small-scale electrical storage, and will be carried out at the Enagás regasification plant in Cartagena.

Image: Enagás

Gas multinational Enagás and Ampere Energy, a Spain-based battery provider, have signed an agreement to begin joint production of hydrogen with solar power and energy stored in batteries.

The two companies will jointly work on several R&D projects to produce renewable hydrogen for self-consumption at the gas plant.

The project they are now planning will be the first hydrogen injection experience into a gas network in Spain, with small-scale storage as a back-up. It will be carried out at the regasification plant that Enagás operates in Cartagena, in the southern province of Murcia.

Ampere Energy has installed its Ampere Energy Square S 6.5 equipment at the Cartagena plant, which will have new storage and intelligent energy management solutions.

The installed equipment will allow Enagás to maximize the energy efficiency of the Cartagena gasification plant and reduce the environmental impact and its electricity bill up to 70%, according to the two companies.

The battery will store energy coming from both the photovoltaic system and the power grid, and will monitor this energy. Through machine learning algorithms and data analysis tools, the system will anticipate the consumption patterns of the plant, predict the available solar resource, and track prices in the electricity market, identifying the moments in which the cost is lower.

“This alliance opens the door to a long-term pact between Ampere Energy and Enagás to undertake joint R&D projects for energy storage and services,” both companies added.

If you are interested in learning how Green Hydrogen can work for you, schedule a call with us:

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).

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)

Image: Warren Entsch MP

In May 2019, a federal government grant of $990,150 backed Daintree Renewable Energy Pty Ltd toward a feasibility study that would take the fully renewable solar baseload-power microgrid to ‘shovel ready’ status within 12 months. If what Federal MP Warren Entsch has said is true, construction on the project should be underway in a matter of months. 

“Work commenced in early December 2019,” said Entsch, “and will be finalised in July 2020…The final report will include a complete series of engineering and technical design packages including a detailed energy load profile study, microgrid management design, solar generation and storage analysis and design, electrical and civil work designs and microgrid economic analysis.” 

Because the Daintree is a World Heritage Protected Rainforest there are heavy restrictions on planning and development. Because of this, Entsch has also quashed the rumour that further development in the region was on the cards. The microgrid project is it, and, Entsch assures us, it “is being designed to align with the strict planning regime and accommodate energy requirements for existing population and businesses.” 

The proposed microgrid would reduce the Daintree area’s reliance on diesel dramatically. Currently, the region relies on four million litres of diesel fuel per year to generate power. 

Volt Advisory Group project manager Richard Schoenemann said work on the project was “actually” slightly ahead of schedule. “It will remove the need to burn dirty and inefficient diesel in the Daintree,” said Schoenemann, “allowing customers to have access to a cleaner, more affordable, more reliable source of energy.” 

“But more importantly,” Schonemann stressed, “once the concept is demonstrated and up-and-running it will have enormous potential to improve the power supply and lives of people living in remote communities including throughout the Torres Strait.” 

Like many remote island communities, Torres Strait Islanders would greatly benefit from the sustainable renewable energy supplied by solar based microgrids.

The federal government grant forms part of its $50.4 million Regional and Remote Communities Reliability Fund, part of the Morrison Government’s $2 billion Climate Solutions Fund. You may remember the Climate Solutions Fund as the pitiful federal effort toward the nation’s Paris targets that was supposed to be a 10-year investment plan but has already been pushed to 15 years, cutting the investment by 30%.  

Under the scheme, the Coalition government plans to support exploratory work for up to 50 off-grid and fringe-of-grid feasibility studies, and take proposals like the Daintree region project to the investment stage.