new stuff to incorporate here

Electrolysis plants and factories

• Hydrospider operates the largest hydrogen electrolyser in Switzerland at Gösgen with a capacity of \(\SI{2}{\MW}\) powered by hydro, able to produce up to \(\num{300}\) ton of \(\ce{H2}\) per year (enough for around 50 heavy trucks).
• Shell opens \(\SI{10}{\MW}\) PEM electrolyser at its Rheinland oil refinery in Germany. The plant is slated to start operation in 2024 and produce up to \(\num{1300}\) ton of green hydrogen per year. The plant, currently Europe’s largest PEM green hydrogen electrolyser, was funded by Shell in joint cooperation with the European Commission’s Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) (2021-07).
• Fukushima prefecture, Japan, aims to cover 100% of its energy demand with renewable sources by 2040, and towards that has setup a \(\SI{10}{\MW}\) electrolyser that runs off a \(\SI{20}{\MW}\) photovoltaic park in cooperation with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. The electrolyser has a rated capacity of \(\num{1200}\,\mathrm{m^3_{H_2(g)}/h}\) (approximately \(\num{841}\) ton/year if my math is correct, all at NTP). Via @S_Johan_Lindahl.
• The world’s first off-grid and public hydrogen refill station was installed in 2019 in Mariestad, Sweden. Electricity from a \(\SI{250}{\kW}\) photovoltaic array is used to run an electrolyser with the ability to produce \(\SI{46000}{\kg}\) hydrogen gas per year. The station has two storage tanks with a total capacity of \(\SI{345}{\kg}\) hydrogen at \(\SI{200}{\bar}\). Anyone can fill up their tank with \(\ce{H2}\) at \(\SI{700}{\bar}\) at a cost of 90 SEK/kg, and the station itself required an investment of 30 million SEK, most of which was financed via grants (mostly from the EU). This refill station should soon be joined by others in Sweden under the “Nordic Hydrogen Corridor” banner. Technical know-how behind this project was provided by Nilsson Energi as well as researchers from Stockholm university, KTH, and Uppsala university. This project has been mentioned in other sources: 1, 2, 3, 4.
• A small-scale electrolyser in Umeå, Sweden (running off of the grid, it seems) operated by Svevia (a government-owned corporation) and supplied by Oazer. At present, this is only the fourth such electrolyser in operation in Sweden.
• Danish power supplier Ørsted received DKK 35 million from the Danish Energy Agency to build a \(\SI{2}{\MW}\) electrolysis plant with appurtenant hydrogen storage in partnership with Everfuel Europe A/S, NEL Hydrogen A/S, GreenHydrogen A/S, DSV Panalpina A/S, Hydrogen Denmark and Energinet Elsystemansvar A/S. \(\num{600}\,\mathrm{kg_{H_2(g)}/day}\), enough to power around 20 buses.
• Icelandic company Carbon Recycling International (CRI) produces methanol from \(\ce{CO2}\) (collected from a nearby geothermal power plant) and from hydrogen (electrolysed from water using renewable generated electricity) in a plant with a capacity of 5 million litres/year situated on the outskirts of Reykjavik. Chinese carmaking company Geely (also owners of Volvo Cars) invested in CRI in 2015, and partnered to build what would be the world’s largest \(\ce{CO2}\)-to-fuel factory somewhere in China, planned to recycle 160 000 tons of \(\ce{CO2}\) emissions from steel plants every year.
• ThyssenKrupp’s Chemical & Process Technologies business unit (ThyssenKrupp Uhde) is ramping up its production facilities in order to produce electrolysis cells with a combined rated power reaching \(\SI{1}{\GW}\) per year. The cells use coatings developed by De Nora that allow system efficiency up to 80%. According to ThyssenKrupp, over \(\SI{10}{\GW}\) of its electrolysers are already operating worldwide across 600 projects.
• As part of the H2FUTURE project (a cooperation between Siemens, the Austrian power grid and others and backed by the European Commission’s FCH JU project) \(\SI{6}{\MW}\) of Siemens PEM electrolysers will produce hydrogen for steel production at the Voestalpine steel mill in Austria.

Fuel cell vehicles and factories

• The Hague is the first Dutch city with a taxi fleet running on hydrogen (Toyota Mirai, specifically) (2020-04).
• As part of the European Commission’s JIVE project, a dozen hydrogen buses for Bolzano, Italy. The buses are manufactured by Solaris and have a range of \(\SI{350}{\km}\) on a single tank of LH2 (2019-07).
• Flixbus plans to operate hydrogen buses on long-distance routes (2019-11).
• The first hydrogen-powered double decker buses have started operation in Aberdeen, UK (2021-02). The project was funded by the city, the EU, and the Scottish government, for 15 buses costing about £0.5m apiece.
• Gross-Gerau district in Germany plans for 80 hydrogen-powered buses in its fleet by 2028. I wonder how many buses the city operates in total.
• Hyundai plans to sell 1600 heavy trucks in Europe, and cooperates with Hydrospider for the hydrogen supply.
• San Bernardino county in California awarded a contract for a hydrogen-powered train in 2019 to Stadler to run by 2024. I thought southern California was densely populated - why not electrify the tracks?. Better than dirty and loud diesel locomotives, I suppose. This is the first hydrogen train in the US, and many other places in the US are quite sparsely populated, so let’s hope it is followed by more.
• The Norwegian Public Roads Administration is to operate the world’s first hydrogen-powered ferry connecting its fjords. The ship is built by Norled and has a carrying capacity 299 passengers and 80 cars. Details on its power train have not been forthcoming.
• A river vessel on the Rhone river with a powertrain built by ABB, supported by the European Commission’s Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) and in cooperation with other parties.
• The first hydrogen-powered ferry in the US has started serving San Franscisco Bay. It takes 75 passengers, has three fuel cell stacks, and a top speed of 20 knots. The project was awarded a $3 million grant by the California Air Resources Board. For reference, there are about 1000 passenger ferrys operating in the United States.
• Hyundai Motor Group (South Korea) intends to invest about $6 billion in total until 2030 to develop a factory to produce 700 000 fuel cell stacks annually starting from that year (2018-12).

Other hydrogen infrastructure

• The world’s first LH2 carrier has been put into service ferrying grey hydrogen from Australia to markets in Japan. The vessel was built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and comes equipped with a tank able to hold \(\SI{1250}{\cubic\metre}\) of liquified hydrogen at a temperature of \(\SI{-253}{\degreeCelsius}\) (\(\SI{20}{\kelvin}\)).

Projects combining multiple renewable technologies

• Mariestad municipality, riding high after their success with an offgrid hydrogen refill station with appurtenant hydrogen storage and photovoltaic array, set out to build a preschool that would be completely energy independent by having its own photovoltaic panels on the roof and a battery storage bank large enough to cover two days consumption, along with an electrolyser and hydrogen storage tanks. The battery bank evens out daily energy peaks, and the stored hydrogen was meant to cover electricity and heating during the less-than-sunny Nordic winter (by means of a fuel cell). More sources: 1, 2, 3, 4. The project ran into regulatory issues, but they were resolved, and the preschool including its offgrid-capable energy system was inaugurated in January 2022.
• The Nauru Solar Power Development Project - Battery Energy Storage System is a \(\SI{6}{\MW}\) solar plant and a \(\num{2.5}\) MWh battery storage system that will increase the share of renewable electricity from 3% to 47% (like many other Pacific islands, Nauru relies almost entirely on diesel generators for power), which is expected to fully cover the island nation’s current daytime electricity needs.

Power-to-X

Power-to-X is an umbrella term for a number of different technologies spanning energy conversion, energy storage, etc.

Power-to-gas: renewable electricity powers an electrolyser which splits liquid water into hydrogen gas and oxygen gas, where the \(\ce{H2(g)}\) can be stored for later use. So creating \(\ce{H2(g)}\) costs us energy, which if sunlight is effectively unlimited, and the feedstock (water) is plentiful.

Power-to-fuel: \(\ce{H2(g) + CO2(g)}\) or \(\ce{H2(g) + N2(g)}\) with the addition of electric potential (power) and in the presence of suitable electrocatalysts (research is on-going) lets us produce carbohydrates (methanol in the first step) or ammonia. Such liquid fuels produced from renewable feedstocks with renewable power are usually called “solar fuels” or “synthetic fuels”.

• Press release from Wärtsilä on synthetic fuels and direct air capture of \(\ce{CO2}\)