New Energies, new possibilities

World-first smart hydrogen hybrid heating system is unveiled in Pembrokeshire.

The world’s first smart hydrogen hybrid heating system has been demonstrated in Pembrokeshire proving technology that could help the UK get to Net Zero.

The trial was part of the UK Research and Innovation-funded Milford Haven: Energy Kingdom project. It was successfully implemented by a collaboration of partners – Port of Milford Haven, Passiv UK, Wales & West Utilities, Kiwa UK, Worcester Bosch, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, and Pembrokeshire County Council.

The trial combined a hydrogen-fuelled boiler with an electric air-source heat pump alongside smart control technology and it was conducted in a commercial building at the Port of Milford Haven, the UK’s largest energy Port.

According to The Energy Saving Trust, emissions from home heating and hot water need to be cut by 95% to meet 2050 UK Net Zero targets, and hybrid heating technology will become increasingly important both for commercial and domestic customers.

Hybrid heating systems can flexibly switch between using renewable electricity when it’s available, and green gases like hydrogen at other times. Using clean fuel in this way will enable the full decarbonisation of heat whilst ensuring cost and carbon emissions reductions are prioritised.

For many existing homes and businesses, hybrid heating systems offer an affordable and practical way to decarbonise heating. Research suggests that almost 50% of UK properties are not suitable for standalone heat pumps due to their poor thermal properties and other limitations. For example, many of the UK’s aged housing stock would need disruptive and expensive energy efficiency improvements such as wall and floor insulation and new radiators to be effectively heated by a standalone heat pump system. Hybrid heating systems are a cheaper, and less disruptive alternative that can be fitted as a quick and direct replacement to a typical boiler system. 

In this demonstration, Kiwa UK delivered bottled hydrogen to the Worcester Bosch boiler to simulate periods when renewable electricity was unavailable to run the heat pump, or when a temperature boost was required. The smart controls were designed by Passiv UK and integrated with the system seamlessly, automatically switching between the air source heat pump and the hydrogen boiler.  Every 2 minutes the system assesses GB energy generation mix and renewable electricity availability on the local grid, and requests the boiler to run on hydrogen when unavailable.  Hydrogen is a clean fuel that produces zero carbon emissions during combustion.

The hydrogen boiler installed as part of the hybrid system was developed by engineers at Worcester Bosch during the last 3 years as part of the BEIS-funded Hy4Heat project, designed to help the country achieve its target of Net Zero emissions by 2050.

Steve Edwards, Commercial Director at the Port of Milford Haven, said:

Having already established itself as the UK’s Energy Capital, the Milford Haven Waterway is now at the centre of a renewable energy revolution, with huge potential to become the low carbon energy capital of the UK, safeguarding thousands of local jobs and creating thousands more new ones.

“To get to Net Zero, we must deliver Net Zero power, transport and heat and we have all the necessary components here on our doorstep in Pembrokeshire to act as a vital cluster of national significance”.

Wales & West Utilities, the gas network for Wales and south west England are one of the project partners. Matt Hindle, Head of Net Zero and Sustainability said:

“We’re committed to playing our part in helping communities across Wales and south west England go green.

“Between 2021 and 2026 we’re investing £400m to prepare our network to transport green gas like hydrogen and biomethane.”

“Hybrid heating systems can be easily retrofitted to existing housing stock, without costly changes to radiators or internal pipework, keeping disruption to homes and communities to a minimum. This trial has demonstrated how they can work with hydrogen in place of natural gas.”

“The UK Government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy acknowledged that hybrids could play a transitional role in the 2020s and 2030s but contained no targets for their manufacture or installation. The 2020s must be a decade of delivery for Net Zero and we’d urge Government and policymakers to include hybrids in incentives and support schemes like the Clean Heat Grant, encouraging installations of hybrids to help towards achieving the 600,000 heat pumps per year target, alongside ongoing support to develop hydrogen for heating.” Thanks for staying up to date with Hydrogen Central.

Cllr Cris Tomos, Pembrokeshire County Council Cabinet Member for the Environment, Welsh Language and Public Protection said:

The Council is proud to lead the Milford Haven: Energy Kingdom project which is positioning the Milford Haven Waterway as a frontrunner for the production, distribution and use of hydrogen.

“The projects heating and transport demonstrators demonstrate what can be achieved through collaboration with our partners and Pembrokeshire can use these innovations as we work to become a net zero carbon authority by 2030.” 

The Milford Haven: Energy Kingdom project is one of the detailed design projects within the Prospering from the Energy Revolution programme of works funded by UK Research and Innovation as part of their Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. The project has set out to design a blueprint for smart local energy systems fuelled by renewable energy and hydrogen, and more specifically how to create demand and make the distribution and use of green hydrogen financially viable within buildings, industry, power and transport.

Tom Veli, Project Director at Passiv UK said:

Flexibility solutions such as the Passiv UK smart hydrogen hybrid heating control offers the ability to make use of renewable electricity when cheap and plentiful, to warm up the building fabric, and then fall back on  hydrogen as an alternative fuel during more expensive periods of peak demand for electricity.”

“Responding to renewable generation and network requirements in real time enables demand to become more agile as opposed to static, creating carbon savings, customer savings and commercial opportunities for a smarter, decentralised grid that is powered fully by renewable energy. The Milford Haven: Energy Kingdom Project is a great example of this.”

Carl Arntzen, CEO at Worcester Bosch said:

Last year our prototype hydrogen boiler was showcased in a domestic setting in Gateshead, but this is the first ever commercial application of the technology, the first hydrogen hybrid, and the first retrofit of a hydrogen boiler into an existing building. 

“Within the hybrid heating system, the hydrogen can be used to boost heating during cold snaps, and to lessen demand on the electricity system during busy periods, or when there isn’t enough renewable energy available. For 50 years boilers have burned natural gas so to switch to hydrogen, which is a gas that is free from carbon, while maintaining heating and hot water in the same way as a traditional boiler is truly amazing.”

Mark Crowther, Technical Director of Kiwa UK said:

We are very happy to have been part of this project, in organising the test work and preparing the Safety Case.

“This is a further demonstration of the future of hydrogen and builds on work under the BEIS Hy4Heat programme and many other experimental hydrogen projects we have worked on.”

Dr Stephen Wyatt, Research & Innovation Director of the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, one of the lead partners in the project, added:

This world first is both an important milestone for the project, but crucially provides a concrete example of how we can achieve the energy transition using technologies which are readily deployable in our existing building stock.

“ORE Catapult is particularly excited about the potential for breakthrough hydrogen technologies to provide increased flexibility to the way we consume electricity, as we deliver greater amounts of green, affordable offshore wind off the coast of Wales and beyond”.

READ the latest news shaping the hydrogen market at Hydrogen Central

World-first smart hydrogen hybrid heating system is unveiled in Pembrokeshire, source   

World-first smart hydrogen hybrid heating system is unveiled in Pembrokeshire - Hydrogen Central (hydrogen-central.com)

One of the most interesting products on display at the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow was a hydrogen fuel cell module presented by Rolls-Royce. The brand’s Power Systems business unit has joined forces with cellcentric to create highly-efficient fuel cell solutions for emergency power generation.

With a minimalistic design and H-shaped front panel, Rolls-Royce’s mtu fuel cell element is a good example of future technology. This modern-looking module will be able to generate a net power output of 150 kW, enough to power ten homes. But its clean power is meant to be used as a backup for large data centers. Multiple modules can also be connected into fuel cell power plants for impressive megawatts outputs.

This fuel cell module is the result of a collaboration between Rolls-Royce and cellcentric, the joint venture set up by Daimler Truck and Volvo earlier this year. The mtu hydrogen fuel cell solution will be developed based on cellcentric’s fuel cell modules. Hydrogen is promoted as a viable alternative for fossil fuels, but it’s also considered a key element for climate-neutral telecommunications and internet traffic. These domains are linked to huge data centers that require large amounts of energy. So, why not make this clean energy?

Andreas Schell, CEO of Rolls-Royce Power Systems, said that the company is ready to invest heavily in fuel cell research and development over the next years, because it sees it as the answer for carbon neutrality. By using green hydrogen, which is obtained through renewable energy sources, fuel cells become a climate-friendly alternative. The goal is to reduce the CO2 footprint of large data centers that use a lot of energy.

The Daimler-Volvo joint venture intends to accelerate series production and install its fuel cell modules on heavy-duty utility vehicles in the second half of this decade. At the same time, Rolls-Royce will introduce pilot fuel cell power plants with customers in 2023.

Standard production of fuel cell systems is set to kick off in 2025, with an ambitious goal – more than half of the data centers should switch to power from fuel cells in the near future.

Rolls-Royce’s Future Hydrogen Fuel Cell Module Could Power Ten Houses - autoevolution

Rolls-Royce’s Future Hydrogen Fuel Cell Module Could Power Ten Houses - autoevolution

자료출처 글로벌이코노믹

일 자 2021.5.8

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美수소기업 모노리스에 수백 억 원 대 투자...SK, 향후 5년내 글로벌 수소 최강기업으로 '우뚝'

최태원 SK그룹 회장.사진=SK그룹

SK그룹 지주회사 SK㈜가 미국 유력 수소기업과 손잡고 수소 사업 분야에서 세계 1위 기업으로 도약을 준비한다.

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이는 앞으로 5년 간 약 18조 원을 투자해 국내 수소 생태계를 조성한 후 명실상부한 '글로벌 수소 최강기업'을 만들겠다는 최태원(61·사진) SK그룹 회장의 '빅픽처' 가운데 하나다.

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8일 업계에 따르면 SK㈜는 미국 수소업체 모노리스(Monolith)에 지분을 투자할 계획인 것으로 알려졌다.

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이를 위해 SK㈜는 이른바 '모노리스 펀딩 프로그램'에 주요 전략적투자자(SI)로 참여할 예정이다. 구체적인 지분과 투자 금액 등은 현재 조율 중인 것으로 알려졌다.

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미국 네브래스카주(州) 모노리스 공장. 사진=모노리스

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◇SK가 모노리스에 주목하는 기술은?

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미국 중부 네브래스카주(州)에 본사와 생산 설비를 구축한 모노리스는 2012년 설립된 차세대 화학·에너지 기업이다.

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모노리스는 95%가 메탄(CH4)으로 구성된 천연가스를 플라스마 방식으로 전기분해해 이산화탄소 배출 없이 고체 상태 탄소인 카본블랙(흑연)과 수소를 생산하는 혁신 기술을 보유하고 있다.

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카본블랙은 수소와 자동차, 산업 분야 핵심 원료로 쓰인다.

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또한 모노리스는 연간 약 1만4000t의 카본 블랙을 생산하고 추출한 수소에 질소가스를 혼합해 농업용 비료를 생산하는 '올리브 크랙 Olive Creek 1 (OC1)'도 운영 중이다.

이를 통해 모노리스는 세계 최대 규모의 메탄 열분해 공장도 갖출 방침이다.

플러그파워 탱크로리.사진=SK

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◇SK, 세계 1위 수소 기업으로 발돋움

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SK의 미국 수소기업 투자는 최 회장의 '수소 제국' 완성과 맥락을 같이 한다.

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최 회장은 이달 2일 SK인천석유화학에서 개최된 국무총리 주재 제 3차 수소경제위원회에서 "수소는 기후에 영향을 받지 않고 생산에 소요되는 부지 면적이 작아 국내 환경에 적합한 친환경 에너지"라며 "SK가 대한민국 수소 생태계 조성에 앞장서 '2050 탄소중립' 실현을 위한 기업의 책임을 다하겠다"고 밝혔다.

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이에 따라 SK는 수소 생태계를 조성하기 위해 2025년까지 18조5000억 원을 투자한다. 투자 규모 면에서 한국 최대 수준이다.

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또한 SK는 수소 사업 인프라 투자와 글로벌 기업과의 파트너십을 통해 수소 생산·유통·소비에 이르는 밸류체인에서 세계 1위 기업으로 도약할 방침이다.

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SK의 수소 생태계 조성 전략은 크게 두 단계다.

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1단계는 2023년까지 인천시 ‘바이오·부생 수소 생산 클러스터 구축 사업’과 연계해 ‘부생 수소’ 기반의 세계 최대 규모인 액화수소 3만 t을 공급한다. 부생 수소는 석유·화학 공장 등의 시설에서 생산 공정 중 부가적으로 생산되는 수소다.

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2단계는 2025년까지 이산화탄소를 제거한 ‘청정수소’ 25만 t을 보령LNG터미널 인근 지역에서 추가 생산해 글로벌 1위의 친환경 수소 기업을 달성한다는 목표다. 청정수소는 수소 생산 과정에서 이산화탄소가 발생하지 않거나 발생한 이산화탄소를 포집·저장해 제거한 수소다.

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SK가 1단계 목표로 생산하는 액화 수소 3만 t은 수소전기 승용차 넥쏘 7만5000대가 동시에 지구 한 바퀴(약 4만6520km)를 도는 데 필요한 양이다. 나무 1200만 그루를 심는 것과 동일한 탄소 저감 효과로 수도권 대기 질 개선 등에 기여할 것으로 기대된다는 게 SK의 설명이다.

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2단계 목표인 25만 톤을 추가 생산하게 되면 SK는 연간 총 28만 톤의 친환경 수소를 생산·공급할 수 있게 된다. SK는 관련 사업 역량을 활용해 궁극적으로 중국과 베트남 등에서 수소 사업을 추진할 계획이다.

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SK는 친환경 수소의 유통 체계를 갖추는 방안도 마련했다. SK는 2025년까지 전국에 수소 충전소 100곳을 운영해 연 8만 t 규모 액화 수소를 공급하고 약 400MW 규모 연료전지 발전소를 건설해 연 20만 톤의 수소를 전용 파이프라인을 통해 유통할 방침이다.

Plug Power, a provider of hydrogen engines and fueling solutions, is expanding its support of Walmart’s eCommerce network. Plug Power currently supports more than 9,500 GenDrive fuel cell-powered vehicles used by 37 Walmart distribution centers across North America.

Plug Power has provided GenKey hydrogen and fuel cells since 2010 for Walmart’s material handling fleet. The company began expanding into Walmart’s eCommerce network, with the first deployments in August 2020, and additional expansion planned in 2021.

Flexibility, scalability, and fast fueling make Plug Power products positioned for growth and the peak demands of eCommerce applications. Operating at 99 percent uptime with constant power performance in Walmart’s material handling fleet, Plug Power enabled Walmart to fulfill increased demand from customers during the pandemic.

ProGen and GenDrive fuel cell solutions power a variety of vehicles including material handling trucks, tuggers, automated guided vehicles, airport ground support equipment, and Class 3-8 commercial fleet vehicles for middle and last-mile delivery applications.

“This application expansion signifies the next step as we support Walmart’s eCommerce business while helping them meet the operational goals important to both Walmart and consumers,” said Andy Marsh, Plug Power CEO.

“The challenges this year have increased demand on leading brands providing necessary goods and services to customers. At our distribution facilities across the country, our decision to be an early adopter of hydrogen fuel cells has helped us manage and meet the increased demand for food and basic supplies,” said Jeff Smith, Senior Director Walmart Supply Chain. “This is why we’re excited to expand these solutions into our eCommerce network in 2021.”

Creating the first commercially viable market for hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) technology, Plug Power deployed over 38,000 fuel cell systems for e-mobility and has become the largest buyer of liquid hydrogen. A significant value proposition to end-customers, this includes environmental benefits, efficiency gains, fast fueling, and lower operational costs.

Leveraging its know-how, modular product architecture, and foundational customers the company is expanding into other markets including zero-emission on-road vehicles, robotics, and data centers.

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With clean hydrogen gaining recognition worldwide as the carbon-free fuel capable of making a significant contribution to addressing climate change, Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced it will field test a new technology that can simultaneously separate and compress hydrogen from a blend of hydrogen and natural gas. At scale, the technology would allow hydrogen to be easily and affordably transported via the natural gas pipeline system, then extracted and compressed at fueling stations that provide hydrogen for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). Created by Netherlands-based HyET Hydrogen, the technology is designed to provide pure highly-compressed hydrogen wherever a natural gas distribution system exists.  A video illustrating the technology may be found here. 

SoCalGas also recently announced a program to study blending hydrogen into its natural gas pipelines. If approved by regulators, the program would be the first step toward establishing a statewide standard for injecting hydrogen into the natural gas grid.

"This innovative technology could be a game-changer, allowing hydrogen to be distributed to wherever it is needed using the natural gas grid," said Neil Navin, vice president of clean energy innovations at SoCalGas. "As demand increases for zero-emissions vehicles such as fuel cell electric cars, California will need thousands more hydrogen fueling stations—and this technology may help make that possible."

"We are excited to deploy our newest technology in collaboration with SoCalGas," said Alexis Dubois,  director of HyET Hydrogen USA. "Our gas separation system is designed to allow hydrogen to be transported across long distances affordably using existing natural gas pipelines. With this technology, hydrogen can become a commonly used fuel for transportation, industrial applications and more."

"Hydrogen will be an important part of our clean energy future, and exciting new technologies like this will pave the way for zero emissions transportation in California," said Sen. Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera).  "I am fighting for investments in both hydrogen infrastructure and clean transportation programs in the state Legislature and will continue to do so. I am excited that the testing of this cutting-edge innovation will take place in the 32nd Senate District and I look forward to continuing to work with SoCalGas as we pursue our clean energy goals."

"This is innovative technology," said Bill Elrick, executive director of the California Fuel Cell Partnership. "It may provide a unique and strategic way to distribute large volumes of hydrogen fuel, helping decarbonize the transportation sector." 

The new technology, called Electrochemical Hydrogen Purification and Compression (EHPC), works by  applying an electrical current across a hydrogen-selective membrane to allow only hydrogen to permeate it while blocking the natural gas components. Continuously applying the electrical current builds up and pressurizes the hydrogen.

To test the technology, SoCalGas will blend hydrogen, in concentrations from 3 to 15%, with methane, the primary component of natural gas. That blend of gases will then be injected through a simulated natural gas pipeline testing system into the EHPC system to continuously extract and compress the hydrogen at a rate of 10 kg per day. SoCalGas' testing will provide performance data that will enable fine-tuning and optimization of the EHPC system to accelerate scaling up the technology. Within the next two years, the EHPC technology is expected to be scaled to produce 100 kg of hydrogen a day or more from a single EHPC system, enough to fill 20 fuel cell electric vehicles.

The project is scheduled to begin in March at SoCalGas' Engineering Analysis Center in Pico Rivera, California and slated to be complete by the third quarter of 2021.

About SoCalGas Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable gas service to 21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying clothes or other uses. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to Californians— about 45 percent of electric power generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants. 

SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most innovative energy company in America, delivering affordable and increasingly renewable energy to its customers. In support of that mission, SoCalGas is committed to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by dairy farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2015 through 2019, the company invested nearly $7 billion to upgrade and modernize its pipeline system to enhance safety and reliability. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.  

About HyET GroupHyET Hydrogen, headquartered in Arnhem, The Netherlands, is a leading company in the development and delivery of electrochemical hydrogen processing technologies that enable large-scale implementation of hydrogen transport modalities and high-pressure hydrogen storage. HyET Hydrogen is part of the HyET group that creates solutions to make renewable energy sources commercially viable. HyET group is focused on large-scale buffering of intermittent renewable energy, such as solar and wind, using high pressure hydrogen.  

SOURCE Southern California Gas Company