Electrolysis

German industrial group Bosch says the Bamberg facility complies with European Union renewable hydrogen rules and will produce over one ton of green hydrogen daily.

In November 2022, Germany’s Energie Baden Württemberg and steelmaker Salzgitter Group signed one of Europe’s first power purchase agreements (PPAs) for hydrogen production. More have followed and with the European Union introducing rules to govern green hydrogen, an industry is planning for its future.

The University of French Polynesia has built a PV-driven hydrogen generation unit that combines a hydrogen chain with a thermochemical unit. The latter is used to recover waste heat from the electrolyzer and fuel cell to enable deferred cooling production for air conditioning.

Competition is intensifying in the electrolyzer space. With the International Energy Agency (IEA) expecting 380 GW of hydrogen production capacity in 2030, four different technologies will likely become prominent as demand spikes. We take a look at the market.

Japanese researchers have developed a new way to improve water splitting, while South Korea has completed its largest hydrogen production complex. Scotland and England have announced new hydrogen investments, and Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power have agreed to collaborate on hydrogen projects.

Australian startup Hysata is seeking to commercialize a breakthrough made at the University of Wollongong which CEO Paul Barrett describes as a “brand new category of electrolyzer” with 95% system efficiency.

In other news, Toyota unveiled plans to roll out light-duty hydrogen fuel-cell trucks for the Japanese market next year and the UK has launched a contract for difference scheme for large scale hydrogen projects. Furthermore, Japanese scientists have designed a ruthenium complex with a nitrogen-containing organic compound to improve high-temperature proton conduction in fuel cells.

South Korean researchers have published a new study on the use of hydrogel to remove gas bubbles in hydrogen production, while Shell has revealed that it will continue with its hydrogen investments in the Netherlands, Vestas, meanwhile, said it will launch a pilot project to use hydrogen in a crew transfer vessel.

Eurowind Energy is building wind-solar capacity at five onshore energy centers and is also considering hydrogen electrolysis. It says each of the sites will include battery storage to offer grid services.

Bio-FlexGen, an EU research project, seeks to develop a combined heat and power plant (CHP) system with hourly, daily and seasonal flexibility via hydrogen production from biomass.