Hydrogen Economy Update: More deals signed to strengthen the hydrogen market

Hyzon Motor Inc. has announced its plan to launch 154-ton hydrogen fuel cell-powered trucks in Europe, which is considered the heaviest and expected to provide 480 kW of power. The truck will be supplied to a European heavy lift, transport and rigging group for construction operations. It also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to participate in the newly established HyTrucks consortium in Europe, which aims to deploy zero-emission 1,000 hydrogen trucks and install 25 hydrogen refuelling stations in Europe by 2025.

In Europe, Eni UK announced the signing of an MoU with Uniper, under which both partners will assess decarbonisation initiatives in North Wales. They will evaluate the technical and commercial feasibility of working together on future low carbon project initiatives in the region. It will also support Uniper assessment of future opportunities for blue and green hydrogen production at its site in Flintshire. The CO2 produced as a byproduct in hydrogen production will be transferred through Eni UK infrastructure to its oil and gas fields in Liverpool Bay.

Also, in the UK, Peel NRE signed a deal with Element 2 to supply hydrogen to its refuelling stations from its planned rollout of plastic to hydrogen facilities. Peel NRE also proposed constructing a hydrogen station that will be able to provide hydrogen from the consented plastic to the Protos based hydrogen facility. The company also aims to develop a hydrogen refuelling station at its planned plastic to hydrogen facility in North Clyde, near Glasgow.

The Sweden-based company PowerCell announced selling the company’s holdings in Hyon AS to establish its subsidiary in Norway. Meanwhile, Hyon AS is partly acquired by Norwegian company Saga Pure, joining other shareholders, including Nel ASA and Norwegian Hydrogen AS. Furthermore, Hyon AS has also formed a partnership with Greenlogix, where both companies will work to commercialise a new production technology that will produce hydrogen for Hynions hydrogen filling station and produce solid-state carbon. The companies have already successfully tested the technology and now working on the pilot plant in Scandinavia to verify the technology in a real-world setup.

EDP ​​Renováveis ​​(EDPR) and Reganosa Group have signed a partnership to develop green energy in Ferrolterra, Spain. The companies have already planned for clean generation and storage projects in As Pontes and seven surrounding municipalities. These projects have an investment of around € 780 million. One of the projects is constructing a hydrogen production plant, which will produce hydrogen with a capacity of 14,400 tonnes/year through using electrolysis technology sourcing water from Lake As Pontes.

In Russia, Gazprom, a multinational energy corporation, partnered with the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) to develop hydrogen technologies. Both partners also discussed joint studies between Gazprom and RAS related to the planned and completed hydrogen developments covering challenges in hydrogen production, transportation and producing hydrogen from natural gas.

Gaussin SA partnered with Pininfarina, where Pininfarina will design the new range of hydrogen-powered trucks for Gaussin. The trucks will potentially contain intelligent modular skateboards that will be powered by hydrogen or batteries systems.

Svevind Energy GmbH, a German-based company, signed an MoU with Kazakh Invest National Company JSC to develop mega-sized hydrogen production facilities by utilising the vast resources in the Republic of Kazakhstan, such as wind and solar power. The plans include the construction of 45 GW wind and solar farms, from where the green electricity will be transfer to 30 GW of electrolysers which will have the ability to produce 3 million tonnes/year of green hydrogen. The hydrogen can be exported or used locally to produce ammonia and other high-value green products. The project will take around 3 to 5 years in the development and financing stage while another five years in construction and commissioning phases.

BayoTech Inc. completed the acquisition of IGX Group making the company a complete hydrogen supplier with localised production, transport, storage, and fueling solutions. The acquisition will make the company expanded products line more cost-competitive and efficient.

US Steel Corporation signed an MoU with Equinor US Holdings Inc. to study the potential for developing technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen in the tri-state region of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Under the MoU, both companies will assess CCS and hydrogen in commercial deployments, such as the combination of natural gas and CCS to reduce carbon.

In the US, Marina Energy and Catamaran Renewables, a joint venture of Captona, announced its third fuel cell project in Bronx, New York. The project’s installed capacity will be around 5 MW, and it will become online in Q4 2021. The project will acquire the fuel cells from NineDot Energy.

The Canadian-based companies Kiwetinohk Resources and Distinction Energy Corp announced their merger and renamed Kiwetinohk Resources Corp. once the merger completed. The company will target the development and production of gas at a low cost and develop a power generator and hydrogen manufacturer in the Alberta market.

Germany and Chile have agreed to cooperate for hydrogen and establish a Hydrogen Task Force as part of the German-Chilean energy partnership since 2019. The agreement will further support the cooperation between the two countries to create suitable framework conditions for developing a hydrogen economy and identifying potential joint projects.

NextChem and MET Development agreed with FerSam Uruguay Sa to develop green ammonia and bio-ethanol production projects in Latin America. The companies will work on the feasibility study for two projects and will also develop a second-generation bio-ethanol project, which will be based on NextChem’s GranBio technology.

Baker Hughes partnered with Samsung Engineering Co. Ltd to reduce carbon emission using the technologies such as hydrogen and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS). Under the partnership, Samsung will facilitate with its engineering, procurement, and construction expertise, while Baker Hughes will provide its gas turbine technology, flexible pipes for transportation, CO2 compression and liquefaction solution etc. The partners will initially focus on key Korean customers projects and consider expansions to other customers elsewhere.