The Hydrogen Stream: New US legislation, Turkey’s first green hydrogen plant

US Senator Martin Heinrich, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, introduced the Advancing the Clean Hydrogen Future Act of 2021 on Wednesday. “This legislation would establish a research, development, demonstration, and deployment program to reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of producing hydrogen using electrolyzers,” reads a note. The legislation would provide a five-year authorization that strengthens the US Department of Energy’s focus on hydrogen. Senator Heinrich said that New Mexico could become the nation’s center of excellence for clean hydrogen.

Canada-based provider of clean energy solutions Xebec Adsorption announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary HyGear has commissioned an on-site hydrogen generation system for Tayras’ used lubricant oil re-refinery in Turkey. “Approximately 560 kg of hydrogen per day (205 tons per year) will be delivered under 125 bar by the fully automated system under a 15-year gas-as-a-service contract. Tayras’ facility is the first of its kind in the country and will be key to developing Turkey’s circular economy and reducing emissions from API Group II base lubricating oils,” reads a note released by Xebec on Wednesday.

HeidelbergCement and Norwegian agricultural cooperative Felleskjøpet chose Norway’s hydropower company Statkraft and Norwegian utility company Skagerak Energi as suppliers of green hydrogen for a zero-emission bulk ship. HeidelbergCement and Felleskjøpet are jointly working on the Green Shipping Program, aimed at transporting grain from Eastern Norway to Western Norway and rock/gravel on the way back. “This contract is an important milestone in our efforts to establish Statkraft as a leading hydrogen producer in Norway and Sweden and fits well with the series of other initiatives we have on hydrogen for sea and land transport,” Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal, executive vice president at Statkraft, commented. The Norwegian government has recently presented its hydrogen plans, which include the establishment of five hydrogen hubs within maritime transport. “Establishing hydrogen production for this freight route in the Oslofjord area can form the basis for such a hub.” The companies want to make an investment decision by the summer of 2022 and start deliveries in late 2023.

Landsvirkjun, the National Power Company of Iceland, and the Port of Rotterdam have completed a pre-feasability study about exporting green hydrogen from Iceland to Rotterdam. “The results indicate that such a project could be technically feasible, financially attractive and would have a significant contribution to the fight against climate change as economies around the world will switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy in the coming decades,” reads the note released earlier this month. The study shows that the first such project could be realized in the second half of this decade, totaling between 2 and 4 TWh (some 200 to 500 MW).

The Swedish Energy Agency has allocated €30 million to Project Air, an industrial concept to produce methanol from a large variety of recovered end-of-life streams and hydrogen from electrolysis. “The plan is to create the first-of-a-kind, large-scale, commercial, sustainable methanol plant that uses a carbon capture and utilization (CCU) process for converting CO2, residue streams, renewable hydrogen and biomethane to methanol. The renewable hydrogen will be produced in a new electrolysis plant, which will be the world’s largest hydrogen electrolysis unit installed for production in the chemical sector,” reads a note released on Wednesday. The project is carried out by Malmö-based chemical group Perstorp in cooperation with German energy company Uniper and Finnish state-owned energy company Fortum.

The Aberdeen City Council in the United Kingdom announced it is looking for a new joint venture partner to build a hydrogen hub in the city, “which will be Scotland’s first commercially scalable, investable hydrogen production site.” The new partnership will build on the city’s hydrogen projects, including a fleet of hydrogen-powered buses, public-sector vehicles, and waste trucks. “Aberdeen is already recognized as a pioneering hydrogen city and creating this strategic partnership will be a crucial step in realizing our ambitions for Aberdeen to become a global leader in hydrogen,” Aberdeen City Council Leader Councillor Jenny Laing said Wednesday.

UK-based green hydrogen energy services company Protium announced the opening of Protium Scotland. After two years in business, the company is expanding its client engagement team, employing experts who also hold decision-making roles in associations and institutions committed to the UK’s green economy. “The team will play an influential role in championing hydrogen and its place in the green economy,” the company said in statement Thursday. Protium said its CAPEX totals more than £1 billion for projects across the aviation, road transport, alcoholic manufacturing and food and beverage sectors.