Hydrogen Is Hot! 584 Hydrogen Fueling Stations in 33 Countries, Ways2H Expansion, Preem, Siemens and More

February 01, 2021

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by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) ... What is making hydrogen so hot right now is the news that hydrogen fueling stations are having a dramatic acceleration in growth with 584 hydrogen stations deployed in 33 countries by the end of this year, Ways2H’s fundraising and expansion on new orders and building of new facilities to produce renewable hydrogen, Canada getting one of the world’s largest green hydrogen plants, Preem and Siemens and others moving forward on blue hydrogen, cities like Barcelona powering city buses from green hydrogen, and Hydrogen Council’s latest reports on the path to hydrogen competitiveness.

In today’s Digest, why hydrogen is off to a hot start in 2021, the latest hydrogen news you need to know, an exclusive interview with Ways2H’s CEO, Jean-Louis Kindler, and more.

Ways2H fundraising and growth

“Hydrogen is the new biofuel, without CO2 tailpipe emissions!” – That’s what Ways2H’s CEO, Jean-Louis Kindler told The Digest in an exclusive interview.

News came in from Ways2H and parent company Clean Energy Enterprises about new fundraising for Ways2H as it executes on new orders and builds facilities to produce renewable hydrogen for mobility and power generation.

A bit of background – Ways2H converts municipal solid waste, sewage sludge, plastics and more into renewable hydrogen using a thermochemical process that is carbon-neutral by itself and carbon-negative when paired with carbon capture and storage. Ways2H is developing waste-to-hydrogen production facilities in Japan, California and India, and has new projects in the pipeline in Europe and other locations around the world. Check out The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Ways2H here for more background on the company and tech.

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Kindler told The Digest, “Today, the industry primarily sees renewable hydrogen coming from electrolysis powered by renewable electricity. This is obviously a great solution but one needs to keep in perspective the fact that the move towards a massive development of Battery Electric Vehicles will directly increase the load on existing power generation infrastructure. This infrastructure is still relying on fossil sources for more than 70% globally. Indeed, the renewable power fraction is steadily increasing, but battery electric vehicles development will add more demand to the grid. Then hydrogen production would also add further load.

“We offer a solution that does not rely on renewable electricity to produce hydrogen, leaving renewable electricity for the needs of the grid,” said Kindler.

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“We are currently building two transportable modular systems that are due to be delivered, one in Tokyo very soon and another one in California within Q2 2021. In addition, we are in discussion with an Indian partner to deploy another of these modular systems in India before the end of the year.”

“Furthermore, we are in active discussions with prospects for larger stationary plants in the US, France, Spain, the UK as well as eastern European countries,” said Kindler. “Most of these projects are motivated by the pressing need for waste processing operators to find alternatives to landfills, particularly for plastic waste. These companies see an additional benefit in the opportunity of being part of the development of the worldwide hydrogen production infrastructure.”

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584 Hydrogen fueling stations launched in 33 countries

The hydrogen fueling station market is witnessing a dramatic acceleration in growth, with 584 hydrogen stations deployed by year-end 2020, according to a study released by Information Trends, a market research company.

The study, “Global Market for Hydrogen Fueling Stations, 2021” says the number of countries that have deployed hydrogen stations now stands at 33, with more countries gearing up to enter the market.

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Japan is a clear global leader in deployments with close to 150 hydrogen stations, Mr. Jaffery said, but the fastest growth is in China where more than a hundred hydrogen stations have gone into operation.

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Canada getting one of world’s largest green hydrogen plant

As reported in The Digest just a week ago, German-based thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers’ Green Hydrogen product division was awarded an engineering contract to install an 88 megawatt (MW) water electrolysis plant for Canadian energy company Hydro-Québec after successfully completing a feasibility study. Green hydrogen is generated from hydropower by means of electricity and is used to produce biofuels.

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Hydrogen reports show hydrogen is poised to grow

Also a week ago, The Digest reported on Hydrogen Council’s latest report on the “Path to hydrogen competitiveness” which provides an evidence base on the path to cost competitiveness for 40 hydrogen technologies used in 35 applications.

Surprisngly, that’s not the only recent hydrogen study – The Digest reported also in January on Deloitte and Ballard’s “Fueling the Future of Mobility” report that focuses on the future of transportation and mobility with hydrogen and fuel cells.

Blue hydrogen

The Digest also reported in January on several companies that are moving forward on blue hydrogen.

In Sweden, the collaboration between Vattenfall and Swedish fuel company Preem, aimed at producing fossil-free hydrogen for biofuel production, is entering the next phase. A study is now being conducted to examine opportunities for building a large-scale production facility at the refinery in Lysekil in Sweden.

Preem’s target of producing 5 million cubic meters of biofuel by 2030 may result in a reduction of transport emissions of up to 12.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to about 20 per cent of Sweden’s total emissions. This shift in production will require a sizable supply of hydrogen.

Not to be left out of the blue hydrogen up-swing, in the UAE, Siemens Energy and Mubadala Investment Company, the Abu Dhabi state-owned global investment firm, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the intention of creating a strategic partnership to drive investment and development of advanced technology, manufacture of equipment, and green hydrogen and synthetic fuel production. The initial focus of activity will be in Abu Dhabi and over time it is planned that this will be extended to other international markets.

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Cities getting in on the action

As reported in The Digest, also in January, Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) in Spain chose Iberdrola’s bid to supply hydrogen from renewable sources to power its fleet of city buses from 2021. READ MORE

WAYS2H ENGAGES ECMB CAPITAL TO SUPPORT HYDROGEN PROJECT GROWTH (Ways2H)

ALL IN ON HYDROGEN: (Politico's Morning Energy)

Shell Says Hydrogen Is Heavy Transport’s Future. What Now for Biofuels? (GreenTech Media)

WoodMac on Green Hydrogen: It’s Going To Happen Faster Than Anyone Expects: Public and private commitments are catalyzing green hydrogen through its early development. (GreenTech Media)

2050: The hydrogen possibility (Wood Mackenzie)

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: ALL IN ON HYDROGEN: Eleven major companies across the hydrogen value chain are joining forces to accelerate development of the lightweight gas in the U.S. in a bid to create jobs and decarbonize the economy. The coalition, dubbed Hydrogen Forward, is made up of founding members Air Liquide, Anglo American, Bloom Energy, CF Industries, Chart Industries, Cummins Inc., Hyundai, Linde, McDermott, Shell and Toyota, and is focused on "showcasing hydrogen's unique value proposition among Washington, D.C. policymakers and other stakeholders to decisively accelerate adoption of hydrogen solutions and related infrastructure build-out across the nation," according to a release this morning.

Interest in hydrogen has only grown in recent months, but it is currently expensive to produce without emitting carbon. Biden's clean energy plan calls for driving down the cost of clean energy technology, including for renewable hydrogen, and Jennifer Granholm, his pick to lead the Energy Department, last week touted the potential of blue hydrogen, which is made from natural gas.

"The world needs clean energy and we believe green hydrogen and ammonia will be critical to meeting this need," said Tony Will, president and CEO of CF Industries, in a statement. "Now is the time to come together to accelerate the path to the hydrogen solutions that will allow our society to make significant progress decarbonizing key industries."

SEE IT: Biden has called for a transition to a clean energy economy and unveiled a spate of executive action last week to help achieve that goal, including promising to support communities of fossil fuel workers during the transition. Pro's Patterson Clark takes a look at the U.S. energy jobs poised for transition in a new DataPoint graphic, using data from a 2020 report by the National Association of Energy Officials and Energy Futures Initiative. READ MORE

Excerpt from GreenTech Media: Many participants interviewed for the Getting into Gear report said they expect hydrogen to be commercially viable in just five to 10 years.

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“We believe that once produced at scale, hydrogen will likely be the more cost-effective and viable pathway to net-zero emissions for heavy-duty and long-route medium-duty vehicles, and electric mobility will do the same for light-duty and short-route medium-duty vehicles,” Carlos Maurer, EVP of sectors and decarbonization at Shell, said in a statement. “Shell has already begun taking steps to make these energy solutions available to customers, and we are partnering with others to expand these efforts.”

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In 2011, the International Energy Agency forecast that biofuels could make up 27 percent of global transportation fuels by 2050.

Hydrogen was not even included in the major policy to drive renewables demand in the transport sector. The European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive set out measures to reach a 20 percent contribution from renewables to total energy demand by 2020. Hydrogen was not added until the policy was redrawn in 2018 to target 32 percent by 2030. Transport fuels have a 14 percent target to hit by 2030.

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“There was initial hype, then things went quiet again, [and then] in the last 18 months, there has been a huge amount of interest,” Gordon McManus, research director for refining and oil products team for the Europe, Middle East, Africa, Russia and Caspian region at Wood Mackenzie, said in an interview.

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As it stands, conventional diesel currently trades for around $600 per ton, compared to about $1,000 for biodiesel from rapeseed oil.

McManus said the combination of unfavorable refining economics for more conventional products and hardening carbon-reduction ambitions has seen a number of refineries converting to produce biofuels.

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Despite that, there are other transport end markets where biofuels hold a strong advantage, he said. Biofuels offer immediate carbon savings as a drop-in fuel for conventional marine and aviation uses. A shipping company looking to launch a vessel today that will need to operate for several decades will be attracted to switching to biofuels as the sector decarbonizes, with no further investment required, he said. READ MORE

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