Hydrogen

UNSW scientists have suggested to use dual-fuel reciprocating engines for adding gas-to-power operations in large scale production of hydrogen based on PV power. The preliminary findings of their research show that the proposed system is still achieving a too high LCOE for commercial maturity. Decreasing electrolyzer costs, policy interventions and changing energy market dynamics, however, may more than halve the LCOE values in the future.

Japan’s Asahi Kasei is testing a new alkaline water electrolyzer, while China has started developing its first 100 kg vehicle-mounted liquid hydrogen system.

Development of green hydrogen production in Europe is moving forward in fits and starts, but the ongoing World Hydrogen 2024 event in Rotterdam calls for blue hydrogen adoption, which suggests that the oil and gas industry aims to maintain control of the hydrogen market. 

Scientists have investigated different techno-economic scenarios for using hydrogen storage in combination with hydropower and pumped hydro storage in Switzerland. They have found that hydrogen storage plays no major role under most conditions.

Scientists in Czechia have conducted a techno-economic analysis of a green hydrogen production system powered exclusively by photovoltaic and wind energy. The system uses surplus energy for water treatment and, according to its creator, can achieve a levelized cost of hydrogen of $3.12/kg.

A new mobile power generator that combines solar and renewable hydrogen to provide zero-emissions power for remote and off-grid applications has been unveiled by Australian startup H2PowerBox.

The US Department of Energy says it is aiming for “clean” hydrogen production costs of $2/kg by 2026 and $1/kg by 2031.

A study led by Russia’s Skoltech and China’s HPSTAR suggests that rubidium and cesium additives could improve the efficiency of hydrogen batteries. Researcher Dmitrii Semenok tells pv magazine that “it is a question of changing the approach to the search for promising hydrogen storage materials.”

New research from Sweden suggests that low platinum fuel cells for hydrogen vehicles, when scaled up for the same number of cells, may achieve similar or higher efficiencies compared to commercial fuel cells. Their modeling is expected to act as a bridge between material science research and vehicle implementation.

The European Commission has selected the winners of European Hydrogen Bank’s first auction, with bids coming in below €0.50 ($0.54)/kg, while Chile and Namibia have revealed new hydrogen plans.