New Energies, new possibilities

New Breakthrough! PERIC's first 3000Nm³/h electrolyzer delivered

PERIC has achieved a remarkable milestone with its self-developed 3000Nm³/h #ALK #electrolyzer. This cutting-edge technology addresses challenges such as high power output, increased current density, load adaptability, and reduced electricity consumption.

The new equipment boasts an improved operational current density of 17% and a 13% reduction in the weight of the electrolyzer cell. It offers dynamic adjustment capabilities from 30% to 110% and meets top-tier energy efficiency standards for hydrogen production on a global scale. This innovation marks a significant advancement in enabling large-scale green hydrogen production, a vital element in global green hydrogen industry development.

Highlights that the new equipment enhances production capacity and lowers investment and operational costs, providing an innovative solution for large-scale green hydrogen production.

The German firm has already delivered 800MW of equipment to giant renewable H2 and ammonia complex, but warns of shrinking orders

German electrolyser manufacturer Thyssenkrupp Nucera has seen a boost in sales over the past nine months to €349m ($381m), compared to just €240m for the same period the year before, the company said today (Tuesday).

Much of this is due to the delivery of equipment to the giant Neom green hydrogen and ammonia complex in Saudi Arabia, for which Thyssenkrupp Nucera had secured a 2.2GW order back in 2021.

The German company confirmed in its Q3 results that more than 800MW of its alkaline electrolysers have already been delivered, with half of this capacity installed on-site.

Thyssenkrupp Nucera’s other flagship customer, H2 Green Steel, also delivered an extra boost to orders.

The green steel start-up initially booked 700MW of electrolyser capacity for its plant in Boden, Sweden, Thyssenkrupp Nucera confirmed that it has now increased this order to the full 1GW, worth an extra €200m, as of May 2024.

The company continues to expect €500m-550m in sales of the green hydrogen equipment for its current financial year (which begins in September), as it posted €132m in sales for the third quarter.

However, the German electrolyser firm repeated its warning to the market from last month that it would be unlikely to see substantial growth in its order backlog in the near future, as uncertainty around regulations on what counts as “green” hydrogen — particularly in the US — has kept developers from taking final investment decisions on their projects.

While its overall pipeline of sales prospects has grown from around 64GW at the end of February to more than 88GW, worth at least €41bn, Thyssenkrupp Nucera’s “actively pursued projects” comes to more than 22GW worth at least €10bn as of May 2024 — compared to more than 19GW worth above €9bn as of February.

As of the end of June, the company’s order backlog for electrolysers stood at €0.9bn, compared to €1bn for the year before.

The publicly listed company’s earnings before interest and tax (Ebit), a measure of profitability, also fell to €0.7m for the third quarter compared to €7m the year before.

Meanwhile, for the past nine months, Thyssenkrupp is registering Ebit as a loss of €10.8m, compared to a positive Ebit of €20.3m for the same period last year—in line with Thyssenkrupp Nucera’s expectations that it will see a negative Ebit in the mid-double-digits for its 2023/2024 financial year.

The German firm attributes this sharp fall to increased spend on research and development costs as well as the lower margins on alkaline electrolysers compared to its chlor-alkali business.

Thyssenkrupp Nucera announced earlier this year that it was working with research institute Fraunhofer IKTS to develop high-temperature solid-oxide electrolysers as a second technology offering.

However, for Q3, it also saw a net income after interest and taxes of €5.8m, comparable to €6.1m in net income for the same quarter the previous year.

Source: Hydrogeninsight

Hydrogen Power – CFE the Largest Utility in North America Expands Deployment of GenCell’s Long-duration Substation Backup Solution.

GenCell® Energy, a leading provider of hydrogen-to-power solutions, announced today that Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), Mexico’s state-owned utility and the largest utility in North America, has demonstrated its strategic partnership with GenCell by ordering an additional tens of GenCell REX™ backup power units as part of the tender won in December 2023, alongside the multiple units already deployed.  The GenCell REX™ units, accompanied by GenCell GEMS™ proprietary AI-driven energy management software, provide climate-resilient, zero-emission, long-duration Tier One backup power to CFE’s substations that kicks in immediately during grid outages. CFE has partnered with GenCell to harden substations and – going forward – to leverage hydrogen to supply reliable stable clean energy for its new substations.

Based on the successful collaboration between CFE Distribucion, GenCell and Gncell Mexico to optimize substation operations and systems interoperability, in December 2023 CFE contracted an order of additional GenCell backup power units via its Mexican partner GnCell Energy de México to supply GenCell REX systems configured with triple load capacity (130, 48 and or 12 VDC in a single unit) for its substations. CFE has now decided to move ahead to exercise its option within the contract to order double the initial number of units purchased.

The project has enhanced resilience, digitization and automation, predictive maintenance, network modernization and compliance with cybersecurity and regulatory mandates to extend backup duration from 8 to 24 hours. Designed to withstand extreme environmental conditions, GenCell’s backup solutions operate in a temperature range from -20°C to +45°C without preheating and in humidity of up to 90%. Servicing, parts and fuel replacement are infrequent, requiring only annual maintenance.

GenCell’s GEMS software gives CFE full visibility into substation resilience. A systematized operation protocol was developed for coordination with CFE and national CCD-ZOT-CENACE monitoring centers. Complying with the strictest utility standards, the software helps CFE meet 2030 Smart Grid Maturity & Interoperability Goals.

Rami Reshef, co-founder and CEO, GenCell, said:

We are proud and grateful to reach this stage in our partnership with CFE, delivering climate-resilient auxiliary power critical to CFE’s ability to distribute uninterrupted power across Mexico.

“Working together with CFE to optimally leverage hydrogen in Mexico’s clean energy future, GenCell is realizing our vision of GreenFSG™ – an innovative approach incorporating broad distribution of independent, zero-emission circular economies delivering long-duration clean power anywhere.”

Continues Reshef, “When climate disruption causes outages to extend from 8 to 20+ hours, innovation that extends backup duration and reliability, enabling “always-on” substations to sustain distribution systems’ critical operations, is a utility game-changer. We are confident that our strategic partnership with CFE driving substation resilience will propel GenCell’s extended penetration of the power utility sector across North America.”

Source: Hydrogencentral

Autonomous – Decentralised – Green: “Ostermeier H2Ydrogen Solutions Gmbh” And “Proton Motor Fuel Cell Gmbh” Power Up In The New “Energy Park” Of Ulm University.

Since 2022, the new, now opened and unique in Germany “Energy Park” has been built on the campus of the University of Technology in the science city of Ulm. As part of the “Green Hydrogen Model

Region”, the project is intended to research the interaction of different sustainable energy systems

– the prerequisite for the success of the energy transition. As a component of the academic “real-world laboratory”, “ostermeier H2ydrogen Solutions GmbH” delivered a containerised electrolysis plant in spring 2024, into which the hydrogen fuel cell system “HyModule® S8” from “Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH” has been integrated.

Securing the green power supply with hydrogen from solar energy

The scientists of the research project primarily want to demonstrate how fluctuations in the green power grid can be compensated for with hydrogen in the future. For example, if too little electricity can be produced to cover the energy demand at times. The scenario exists if there is perhaps too little wind for wind turbines or too little sun for photovoltaic systems. In electrolysis, operated by the in-house photovoltaic system on the university roof, it is investigated how hydrogen can be used to

Source: Hydrogencentral

老朽インフラ点検や広域災害後の調査などで有用性が期待される飛行ロボット（ドローン）。ただ、国内で実用化されているドローンは空撮用などのマルチコプター型がほとんどで、数十分程度しか飛べない短距離タイプが多い。こうした中、日本鯨類研究所（東京都中央区、藤瀬良弘理事長）は、2019年から長距離自律飛行できる垂直離着陸機（VTOL）固定翼無人機「飛鳥」を開発。22年には飛行距離で日本新記録の104キロメートルを達成した。現在は水素燃料電池を搭載し、200キロメートル以上飛べる無人機を目指し、開発を続けている。

【写真】長距離自立飛行できるVTOL「飛鳥」

日本鯨類研究所は水産庁などから委託を受けて日本近海や北太平洋、南極海などでシロナガスクジラやミンククジラといった鯨類の資源調査を行っている。ドローン開発に乗り出した理由は目視調査を補完する新たな鯨類調査。調査船上から熟練観察員たちが双眼鏡で鯨類を発見、判定する方法では調査できる海域に限度がある。「南極海では調査船が入っていけないエリアが多く、収集データに欠落が生じてしまう」（松岡耕二理事）。ドローンなら洋上を広く飛ぶためこの課題をクリアでき、作業効率も大幅に改善できる。 そうは言っても南極海上空を飛ぶドローンは強風や低温、航行中の調査船の激しい揺れなどの悪条件をクリアする必要があるほか、極地や船体由来の磁気かく乱などの問題がある。「陸上なら全地球測位システム（GPS）と目立つ建物などで位置確認が容易だが、海上だとそもそも目印がない上、船の位置も刻々と変化するため、自律飛行が難しい」（同）。燃料油や排ガスで海洋を汚さぬ配慮から動力源はリチウムイオン電池（LiB）を採用。機体はグラスファイバーなどで極力、軽量化して航続距離を延ばし、上空風速26ノットの強風下でも飛行に問題なしとの性能データを得ている。 機体には直下の海面を撮影する下方向け静止画カメラ2台と、斜め前方向け動画カメラ1台を搭載した。飛行高度を80メートルに設定して鯨種を判定可能な解像度を確保。飛行は調査船船尾に設置した簡易飛行甲板から垂直離発着で行い、調査船上空で水平飛行に切り替えて鯨がいそうなポイントを経由して調査船上空に戻る仕組みだ。 水素燃料電池を搭載した場合、航続距離が約2倍に延びるため現在よりさらに遠い海域まで鯨を探したり、鯨のいそうなポイントを1カ所から2カ所、3カ所と増やして発見効率を上げることが可能になる。24年4月に完成した最新捕鯨母船「関鯨丸」はデッキに4機以上の「飛鳥」を収納できる格納庫を持ち、東西南北同時に飛鳥を飛ばして発見効率を格段に高められる。 水素燃料電池はLiBよりパワーが大きく、強風下でも飛行状態を安定できる効果も見込める。鯨類調査用に登場した飛鳥だが、最近はカツオの群れの捜索や国土地理院の海底火山観測、水産庁や警察庁の警備用など他方面からの引き合いも多い。市場拡大が期待される。

燃料電池で200km目指す…日本鯨類研究所が開発、長距離自立飛行できる「VTOL」の性能（ニュースイッチ） - Yahoo!ニュース