The Hydrogen Stream: Underground hydrogen storage for 1 MW electrolyzer in France

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The Etrez-based HyPSTER project, which aims to develop underground storage of green hydrogen in a saline cavity in France's Ain region, will start constructing the 1 MW PEM electrolyzer in early 2022 to then produce green hydrogen from local photovoltaic and hydraulic energy from 2023. Ultimately, the EU-supported project is expected to have a production capacity of around 400 kilograms of green hydrogen per day, which will be stored in a salt cavern on the site that is currently used for natural gas storage. The initial storage capacity will be 2 to 3 tonnes of green hydrogen, but could eventually reach almost 44 tonnes by mobilizing the full capacity of the site.

Oslo-based Yara and Germany's Linde Engineering signed a contract for the construction and delivery of a green hydrogen demonstration plant at Yara’s ammonia production facility at Herøya Industripark in Porsgrunn, Norway. “The project, which is supported by a NOK 283 million (€ 28.3 million) grant from Enova (announced in December 2021), will demonstrate that ammonia produced using renewable energy can reduce the impact of carbon dioxide in fertilizer production,” the company wrote on Friday. This will be the second 24 MW PEM electrolysis plant designed and constructed by Linde Engineering; the first is now being built at the Leuna Chemical Complex in Germany. The project aims to supply the first green ammonia products as early as mid-2023. The plant will reportedly have an annual capacity of around 10,000 kg/day of hydrogen.

Oslo-based maritime hydrogen bunkering solutions company Hyon, whose majority owners include Nel, Norwegian Hydrogen and Saga Pure, completed a private placement of NOK 50 million, valuing the company at NOK 130 million (€13 million). The company intends to soon have its shares admitted to trading on Euronext Growth. “Hyon is filling an important gap in the value chain critical in making hydrogen a success within maritime applications, both domestically in Norway and beyond,” Nel CEO Jon André Løkke commented last week.

Norwegian vessel operator Torghatten Nord has signed a contract with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration to operate hydrogen ferries between Bodø and Lofoten from 2025. Norghatten Nord will build two new hydrogen vessels and the existing main natural gas (LNG) vessels delivered in 2012 will be retrofitted to use low-emission solutions, the company wrote on Tuesday. Torghatten Nord argued that the hydrogen ferries will have ripple effects for Norway's hydrogen and maritime industries. The company sees significant opportunities for the shipyard and equipment industry.

Energy company Royal Dutch Shell has started operations at the power-to-hydrogen electrolyzer in Zhangjiakou, China, a joint venture between Shell (China) and Zhangjiakou City Transport Construction Investment Holding Group, the Anglo-Dutch company wrote on Friday. The electrolyzer will reportedly provide about half of the total green hydrogen supply for fuel cell vehicles at the Zhangjiakou competition zone during this year's Winter Olympic Games, set to begin on February 4. Shell looks set to make further investments in China’s hydrogen sector. “We see opportunities across the hydrogen supply chain in China, including its production, storage and shipping. We want to be the trusted partner for our customers from different sectors as we help them decarbonise in China,” commented Wael Sawan, director of Shell’s Integrated Gas, Renewable and Energy Solutions unit. The companies, which took 13 months to complete the project, have plans to scale the power-to-hydrogen electrolyzer up to 60 MW in the next two years. Utilizing onshore wind power, the project will initially supply green hydrogen to fuel a fleet of more than 600 fuel cell vehicles at the Zhangjiakou competition zone during the Winter Olympic Games. After that, the hydrogen will be used for public and commercial transport in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Green Hydrogen Systems, a provider of pressurized alkaline electrolyzers used in on-site hydrogen production based on renewable electricity, has signed a supply agreement with Edinburgh-based Logan Energy to deliver electrolysis equipment for a project in England. The order includes the supply of two electrolyzers with a combined capacity of 0.9 MW for the production of green hydrogen from renewable energy. “Manufactured by Green Hydrogen Systems and operated by Logan Energy, the electrolysers will be deployed in a 40 ft container as a complete green hydrogen plant as part of plans to develop a regional hydrogen economy in Dorset, England,” Green Hydrogen Systems wrote on Tuesday. When fully operational during Q4 of 2022, the ordered electrolyzers will reportedly have the capacity to provide approximately 389 kg green hydrogen per day.

Vertex Hydrogen, a new joint venture between Essar and Progressive Energy focused on hydrogen in North West England and North Wales, submitted plans to build the UK’s first low carbon hydrogen production hub as part of the government’s Cluster Sequencing process. “The hub, which will be built at the Stanlow Manufacturing Complex in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, includes technology that will capture carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to produce low carbon hydrogen. CO2 emissions will be stored offshore in Liverpool Bay,” wrote the company on Wednesday. The hydrogen produced by the HyNet low carbon cluster will replace fossil fuels in industry, heating homes, and fueling transport across the North West England and North Wales. Vertex’s hydrogen plant will begin production in 2026, reportedly generating over 1 GW of hydrogen. Waste fuel gases from Essar Stanlow, and natural gas, will be converted by Vertex Hydrogen into hydrogen, with carbon dioxide safely captured and stored by HyNet partner Eni, explained Vortex.

The Welsh government awarded funding to renewables installer and consultancy Dulas to look into the feasibility of hydrogen production in Wales using renewable energy sources. The four-month project, called HyFEAS, will include the examination of available technologies and assessment of the technical and commercial feasibility of hydrogen production.

German-based hydrogen technology company H-TEC will supply Westnetz with two 1 MW electrolysis systems for the CEC Haren GmbH & Co. KG project Green H2-Hub Haren in the town of Haren in Lower Saxony. The research and development project is intended to enable the establishment of a wind-powered decentralized hydrogen facility. The green hydrogen produced at the site will be stored in connection with specific regional applications, primarily for the mobility sector and in rural areas, primarily in the field of agriculture.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the introduction of House Bill 4, the Hydrogen Hub Development Act, which should expand the clean energy economy in New Mexico. The legislation will create tax incentives for low-carbon hydrogen production, distribution, use, refueling, and electric generating facilities across the state. The New Mexico Finance Authority will offer funding options to develop regional hydrogen hubs through the creation of public-private partnerships. New Mexico also wants to establish a greenhouse gas emission limit for any hydrogen-electric generating facility seeking tax incentives. “The public and private sectors are investing billions of dollars to deploy low-carbon hydrogen, with one report suggesting an estimated $300 billion in worldwide spending on hydrogen-related projects by 2030,” the office of the governor wrote on Tuesday. According to AP, state legislators have given the package a cold reception. “A state House panel voted 6-4 to indefinitely postpone consideration of a bill that would offer grants, loans and tax breaks to a nascent hydrogen industry,” wrote the news agency on Thursday.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T), an Indian multinational EPC contractor, has partnered with Norway’s HydrogenPro to set up a joint venture in India for gigawatt-scale manufacturing of alkaline water electrolyzers. The gigafab will serve the Indian market and also supply to other territories. With HydrogenPro's new electrode technology, it is possible to increase the efficiency of its alkaline high-pressure electrolysers by 14% to reach 93% of the theoretical maximum, the company stated.

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