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On the political arena, the Egyptian government has established a "National Council for Green Hydrogen and its Derivatives", chaired by the prime minister and counting among its members: the minister of electricity and renewable energy, the minister of petroleum and mineral resources, the minister of justice, the minister of planning and economic development, the minister of finance, the minister of environment, the minister of housing, the minister of utilities and urban communities, the minister of transportation, the minister of trade and industry, the minister of irrigation, the minister of state for military production, the chairman of the Suez canal authority, the chairman of the general authority for the Suez canal economic zone, the first assistant to the prime minister, the CEO of the general authority for investment and free zones, and the executive director of Egypt's Sovereign Fund.
I must admit I wonder what the point is forming a special council if it includes what appears to be most of the government. No word on permanent members from industry or academia.
On the council's first meeting an executive committee was formed (unclear who its members are) and tasked with speeding up the approval process for green hydrogen projects and to entice companies to invest in such projects, using investment incentives such as 33%–55% less tax, and exempting most equipment and supplies from VAT tax, an exemption from real estate tax on buildings, and waived fees for registering the companies in Egypt.
To date, the government has signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with among others ACWA Power (Saudi Arabia), Benchmark Alliance (?), China Energy company, the national holding company for chemical industries (the Egyptian one, I assume), DAI global company (Germany), OCIOR Energy company (India), Voltalia-TAQA alliance (sounds Italian?), and British Petroleum.
The stated ambition of the government is to produce green hydrogen at 1.7 USD/kg by 2050 and to capture 8% of the global market. The government expects that total foreign investment into green hydrogen projects to reach 81 billion USD by 2035.
The national strategy for green hydrogen is yet to be published, as far as I can tell.
Sverige
- Map (maintained by the association of the Swedish Energy companies, aka "Energiföretagen") of Swedish green hydrogen projects as of 2024.
- In Älghult, Kronoberg county, Metacon and Uppvidinge Vätgas have launched a H₂ filling station connected to its own electrolyser powered by a dedicated wind turbine, making the station self-sufficient. No word on the technical details yet. (2023-09-01)
- 20 MW electrolyser in operation at Hofors mill, operated by Ovako and delivered by Hitachi Energy (formerly ABB, if I'm not mistaken). It seems to be getting its power from the grid, not any dedicated PV or wind plant. The produced hydrogen gas (3500 m³/h) is used to heat steel before rolling and also to fill fuel cell trucks. The project is the result of a collaboration between Ovako, Hitachi Energy, Volvo, H2 Green Steel, Nel Hydrogen and supported by the Swedish Energy Agency (2023-09-05).
- The world's first off-grid and public hydrogen refill station was installed in 2019 in Mariestad, Sweden. Electricity from a 250 kW PV array is used to run an electrolyser with the ability to produce 46 ton H₂ per year. The station has two storage tanks with a total capacity of 345 kg H₂ at 200 bar. Anyone can fill up their tank with H₂ at 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.
- Mariestad municipality (again), I suppose riding high after their success with the off-grid H₂ refill station with storage and PV, has set out to build a preschool that would be completely energy independent by having its own PV panels on the roof and a battery storage bank large enough to cover two days consumption, along with an electrolyser and H₂ storage tanks. The battery bank will even out daily energy peaks, and the stored H₂ is 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 off-grid-capable energy system was inaugurated in January 2022.
- A small-scale electrolyser in Umeå, Sweden (running off-grid, it seems) operated by Svevia (a government-owned corporation) and meant to supply two of their own fuel cell vehicles. The electrolyser was supplied by Oazer. At present, this is only the fourth such electrolyser in operation in Sweden.
- Spanish fertiliser company Grupo Fertiberia intends to build a 600 MW water electrolyser in the Luleå-Boden area by 2026 at the earliest, fed with renewable electricity from nearby hydropower and windpower. The produced H₂ will be used to synthesise NH₃ (1500 ton/day), which would in turn feed a new fertiliser plant (to the tune of half a million ton per year, would be Sweden's first and only; Sweden imports around 600 000 tonnes per year). Via InvestInNorrbotten (in Swedish), Grupo Fertiberia (PDF), and Cornucopia (in Swedish).
- Uppsala Vatten och Vattenfall ska bygga en station för vätgas-tankning av tunga fordon, stöds med 48 MSEK från Energimyndigheten.
- Uppsala Vatten får 2 miljoner SEK i EU-stöd för att planera vätgasproduktion. (Energinyheter.se)
Misr
The political and legal conditions for hydrogen projects in Egypt is improving.
- The Norwegian firm Scatec will build and operate a 100 MW PEM plant near Ain Sokhna producing green H₂ plant intended as feedstock for nearby green ammonia production in cooperation with Fertiglobe PLC. The electrolysis cells will be supplied by Plug Power, and local works by Orascom. (2021-10) This project may also involve MEP and Petrofac (it's unclear to me at the moment if this refers to the same ammonia plant, likely the case).
- Positively massive project, if implemented: 7000 km² of PV and/or wind turbines planned to feed 90 GW of electricity to generate H₂ from water. For comparison, that's an area equivalent to more than 175 Benban's and a nominal power capacity 45x the same. Via FuelCellsWorks and ArabNews. I'm not sure this is feasible, to be honest. I will wait for confirmation.
Europe
- The HOPE consortium plans to build the world's first offshore green hydrogen facility by 2026. The consortium consists of several European companies and is backed by the European Commission. The plan consists of wind power supplying a 10 MW electrolyser fed with treated ocean water and a H₂ pipeline back to shore.
- Uniper and other German companies area currently constructing a 30 MW electrolyser which will be the centre-piece of the Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park, an investment of over 200 million EUR. The hydrogen will supply the TotalEnergies Refinery Central Germany some distance away (the project includes building a pipeline). (2023-06)
- Danish power supplier Ørsted received DKK 35 million from the Danish Energy Agency to build a 2 MW electrolysis plant with attached H₂ 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. 600 kg H₂/day, or enough to power around 20 buses.
- Hydrospider operates the largest hydrogen electrolyser in Switzerland at Gösgen with a capacity of 2 MW powered by hydro, able to produce up to 300 ton of H₂ per year (enough for around 50 heavy trucks).
- Shell opens a 10 MW PEM electrolyser at its Rheinland oil refinery in Germany. The plant is slated to start operation in 2024 and produce up to 1300 ton of green H₂ per year. The plant, currently Europe's largest PEM green H₂ electrolyser, was funded by Shell in joint cooperation with the European Commission's Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) (2021-07).
- Nel Hydrogen Electrolyser, a division of the Norwegian company Nel ASA, is supplying Iberdrola 20 MW of PEM electrolysers for a green fertiliser project. Press release, SR Vetenskapsradion.
- Icelandic company Carbon Recycling International (CRI) produces methanol (CH₄) from CO₂ collected from a nearby geothermal power plant and from H₂ electrolysed from water using renewable generated electricity in a plant with a capacity of 5 million litres of CH₄/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 CO₂-to-fuel factory somewhere in China, planned to recycle 160 000 tons of CO₂ emissions from steel plants every year.
- 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) 6 MW of PEM electrolysers from Siemens will produce H₂ for steel production at the Voestalpine steel mill in Austria.
Japan
- Fukushima prefecture, Japan, aims to cover 100% of its energy demand with renewable sources by 2040, and towards that aim has built a 10 MW electrolyser that runs off a 20 MW photovoltaic park in cooperation with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. The electrolyser has a rated capacity of 1200 m³/h H₂(g) (approximately 841 ton/year if my math is correct, assuming NTP). Via @S_Johan_Lindahl.
Asia
- A massive (planned) expansion of the Mohammed bin Rashid (MBR) solar park in the UAE brings it total capacity to over 4.5 GW, well on the way to the project's target of 5 GW by 2030. This latest addition cost (LCOE) 1.62 cents/kWh (USD). (2023-09-07)
The solar park is apparently meant to include electrolysers too.
In related news
A pilot-scale demonstrator producing hydrogen gas (H2) using concentrated photovoltaics is currently making the rounds in the technical press. Exciting!
- https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/solar-hydrogen-production-scaled-up-in-real-world-test/4017291.article
- https://engineeringcommunity.nature.com/posts/harnessing-the-power-of-the-sun-to-produce-hydrogen-oxygen-and-heat
- https://hackaday.com/2023/04/27/making-hydrogen-with-solar-energy-with-oxygen-and-heat-a-bonus/
The paper from the Haussener lab was published April 10, 2023: Holmes-Gentle, I., Tembhurne, S., Suter, C. et al. Kilowatt-scale solar hydrogen production system using a concentrated integrated photoelectrochemical device. Nat Energy (2023).
EU Hydrogen Important Project of Common European Interest, also called IPCEI
The Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park project is intended to be expanded to a 5 GW capacity
using proton exchange membrane electrolysis
The company did not reveal further technical and financial details on the project.
Vätgas är vår idag vanligaste industrigas i antalet användningsområden. Den används inom många olika sektorer – som råvara i många olika processer för att skapa många olika slutprodukter, som drivmedel, som energibärare för att lagra energi, i vissa fall även under längre tid.
https://www.vatgas.se/2021/04/22/sverige-staller-om-med-hjalp-av-vatgas/
The Australia-Asia PowerLink project (Sun Cable's AAPowerLink)
Proposed project.
It's dwarfed by the proposed project in western Australia.
Tekniska verken i Linköping och Linköpings kommun undersöker nu förutsättningarna för en eventuell anslutning till Nordic Hydrogen Corridor. Kommunen blir därmed den fjärde av åtta städer i landet, som visat intresse för att kvalificera sig som nod i en EU-finansierad vätgaskorridor mellan de nordiska huvudstäderna.
The European Clean Hydrogen Alliance brings together industry, national and local public authorities, civil society and other stakeholders. It is strongly anchored in the hydrogen value chain, covering renewable and low-carbon hydrogen from production via transmission to mobility, industry, energy, and heating applications.
