Hydrogen |
infrastructure. The four unit power plant (200 MW in total) will power the Whyalla hydrogen site in South Australia, which will include 250 MW of electrolysis capacity for hydrogen production, using renewable energy from large wind and solar farms, and hydrogen storage. The Whyalla hydrogen power plant will also provide grid stability services.
Integrated projects like this help bring technology to maturity and increase hydrogen volumes. Putting together all the components of such a project where different parties are involved in supply, demand and transport is much more complex and requires strong legal underpinning and an allocation of risk and reward that means all parties are comfortable for the long term.
Meanwhile, in the UK, SSE and Siemens Energy have launched “Mission H2 Power” – a collaboration which also aims to deliver gas turbine technology capable of running on 100% hydrogen.
The project builds on an existing partnership between SSE and Siemens Energy and is focused on the decarbonisation of SSE’s Keadby 2 power
plant, which employs a Siemens 9000HL gas turbine.
Siemens Energy plans to develop a combustion system for the HL gas turbine capable of operating on 100% hydrogen, while maintaining the flexibility to operate with natural gas and any blend of the two. This will see additional combustion testing facilities for large gas turbines constructed at Siemens Energy’s Clean Energy Centre in Berlin.
Securing investment
Securing long term investment in green hydrogen projects requires there to be offtake customers and this has been one of the factors behind cancelled projects. Gases company Air Products continues to invest in hydrogen, but in response to activist investors it stressed that it executed its green hydrogen strategy “in a prudent manner, only approving new projects after securing anchor customers and securing off-take commitments for at least 75 per cent of the output of our existing clean hydrogen projects.” Across the nascent hydrogen industry projects have been scaled back and cancelled.
That need not be a cause for dismay. New industries and technologies often go through a period of high ambition and expectation that quickly rebounds into a period of disappointment and retrenchment, before finding a stable level for the long term where demand meets supply. This is a general ‘reality check’ in hydrogen plans, for an industry whose product has changed from being considered an all-purpose tool to meeting particular needs. Hydrogen is going through this process of hype and disappointment; the result should be that its true long term role will be revealed.
Keadby 2. Source: SSE
Clyde Hydrogen reports major milestone for its decoupled electrolysis technology
Clyde Hydrogen Systems, a Scottish startup, has achieved what it calls a “critical technical breakthrough” in its decoupled electrolysis process, alongside launching its latest funding round designed to speed up the commercialisation of its technology. The Glasgow-headquartered business – a spin-out from the University of Glasgow’s School of Chemistry – has announced the successful production of hydrogen at pressures exceeding 100 bar using its catalytic hydrogen generator. The company says its proprietary technology “has the potential to unlock more efficient, high- pressure hydrogen production, paving the way for widespread adoption of renewable hydrogen.”
Clyde Hydrogen’s decoupled water electrolysis process allows hydrogen and oxygen to be produced in separate places and at different times and rates. The decoupled process comprises electrochemical reductors, which protonate, “reduce”, a mediator solution, and the catalytic hydrogen generator which releases the hydrogen from the solution at pressure.
According to Clyde Hydrogen, existing electrolysers face challenges in a number of areas, including: managing variable/intermittent renewable energy sources; complexity and high costs; and the need for mechanical compression to produce high pressure hydrogen.
Hydrogen generator
Reduced mediator
production Rapid
Clyde Hydrogen says its decoupled electrolysis process offers significant improvements in a number of areas, including:
safety – no possibility of hydrogen and oxygen mixing;
compatibility with low quality, intermittent, renewable power – resulting in higher availability;
high pressure hydrogen production, without mechanical compression;
simplified design – easier to scale-up; and reduced costs – CAPEX and OPEX. The company asserts that its successful demonstration of hydrogen production at over 100 bar represents a significant technical validation of its technology.
Clyde Hydrogen says it is “on track to deliver a fully integrated pilot system by late 2025,” and following this, the company plans to scale up to a commercial demonstrator, with the first market- ready product targeted for release by 2027.
Reductors
Oxidised mediator
Schematic of Clyde Hydrogen’s decoupled electrolysis process. The decoupled process comprises electrochemical reductors, which protonate, “reduce”, a mediator solution, and a catalytic hydrogen generator which releases the hydrogen from the solution at pressure. Image: Clyde Hydrogen Systems
32 | January/February 2025|
www.modernpowersystems.com
Launching a seed funding round Backed by pre-seed funding from Zinc, University of Glasgow and grants from the Scottish Government’s Hydrogen Innovation Scheme (HIS) and the Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC), Clyde Hydrogen says it is “now ready to accelerate its growth” and is launching a new funding round aimed at attracting up to £5 million of new investment. The funds will enable the company to refine its production process, develop a production-ready system by 2026, and expand its team.
Hydrogen
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47
