New Energies, new possibilities

The evolution of hydrogen production in the US.

The landscape of hydrogen production in the US is shaped by a complex interplay of historical foundations and modern advancements.

From its industrial roots to a growing focus on clean energy solutions, hydrogen holds vast potential. Exploring the country’s resources and strategic initiatives reveals a promising future for this versatile energy carrier.

But what does this mean for the US in the broader context of sustainable energy transition and decarbonisation efforts?

History and current outlook of hydrogen production in the US

Hydrogen production in the US dates back to the early 1800s, when it was first utilised for industrial purposes.

Initially, hydrogen was primarily produced through steam reforming of natural gas. Over time, advancements in hydrogen technology have led to more efficient and sustainable production methods, such as electrolysis using renewable energy sources like wind and solar power.

This shift toward renewables has not only improved the energy efficiency of hydrogen production but also reduced its environmental impact, aligning with the growing emphasis on clean energy.

Currently, the outlook for hydrogen production in the US is one of promising growth. The integration of hydrogen into various industrial applications—such as refining, ammonia production, and transportation—is driving demand for this versatile energy carrier.

Moreover, the push for decarbonisation and the transition to a low-carbon economy has further fuelled interest in hydrogen as a clean energy solution.

With ongoing research and development, the US is well-positioned to expand its hydrogen production capabilities and play a significant role in the global hydrogen market.

US potential for hydrogen exploration and development

With abundant natural gas reserves and a rapidly growing renewable energy sector, the US holds substantial potential for hydrogen exploration and development.

The country’s diverse resources and established infrastructure make it particularly well-suited for hydrogen production.

This potential is further amplified by a national commitment to clean energy initiatives, positioning hydrogen as a key player in the transition toward sustainable energy solutions.

Hydrogen exploration and development in the US are supported by several factors. Vast natural gas reserves enable cost-effective hydrogen production through steam methane reforming—a process that can be made even cleaner with carbon capture technology.

Additionally, the increasing focus on renewable energy sources like wind and solar presents opportunities for green hydrogen production through electrolysis, which uses electricity from clean sources to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.

The US government’s emphasis on clean energy and carbon reduction aligns with the promotion of hydrogen as a clean fuel alternative.

This support, combined with advancements in hydrogen technologies and infrastructure, positions the US as a significant player in the global hydrogen market.

As demand for clean energy solutions continues to rise, the US holds a promising future in hydrogen exploration and development, contributing to a more sustainable energy landscape.

Hydrogen’s role in the US clean energy transition

Hydrogen has the potential to play a significant role in the US clean energy transition by serving as a versatile and sustainable energy carrier.

As a clean fuel, hydrogen technology offers a promising solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting climate goals. Its versatility allows for integration across various sectors, including transportation, industry, and power generation.

In the context of renewable energy, hydrogen is crucial for energy sustainability. By using renewable sources such as wind, solar, and hydropower to produce green hydrogen through electrolysis, the US can reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and move toward a more sustainable energy mix.

This aligns with national climate goals by promoting decarbonisation and reducing environmental impact.

Moreover, hydrogen technology enables energy storage and grid balancing, addressing the intermittency of renewable sources and enhancing overall system reliability.

By leveraging hydrogen as a storage medium, the US can optimise its renewable energy resources and establish a more resilient and efficient energy infrastructure.

Key points of the US National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap

The US National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap outlines key initiatives and objectives for advancing hydrogen utilisation and production nationwide.

The strategy focuses on promoting clean energy through the development of a vibrant hydrogen economy, with an emphasis on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing energy security, and creating new economic opportunities.

One of the main points of the strategy is the commitment to scaling up clean hydrogen production to decrease costs and increase competitiveness.

This involves significant investment in research and development to drive innovation and improve efficiency in hydrogen production technologies.

Additionally, the roadmap emphasises the importance of establishing strategic partnerships between the government, industry, and academia to accelerate the deployment of hydrogen infrastructure across various sectors.

It also highlights the significance of international collaboration, aiming to align with global partners to advance clean hydrogen technologies on a worldwide scale.

Ultimately, the strategy aims to position the US as a leader in clean hydrogen production and utilisation, driving innovation, economic growth, and environmental sustainability.

Future direction of the US hydrogen landscape

The envisioned future of hydrogen production in the US involves establishing sustainable partnerships and driving innovation to solidify the nation’s position as a global leader in clean hydrogen.

Future development in the US hydrogen sector will depend heavily on technological advancements to enhance efficiency and reduce costs associated with production, storage, and transportation.

Research and development efforts are focused on improving electrolysis technologies, exploring novel materials for fuel cells, and enhancing hydrogen infrastructure to support a growing market.

Policy support is crucial in shaping the future of the US hydrogen landscape. Implementing supportive regulations, fiscal incentives, and investment frameworks will be essential for fostering market expansion and encouraging private sector engagement in hydrogen-related projects.

By creating a conducive policy environment, the US aims to attract investments, stimulate innovation, and accelerate the deployment of hydrogen technologies across various industries.

Market expansion is another key objective for the US hydrogen sector. Developing a robust hydrogen market will involve diversifying end-use applications, such as transportation, industrial processes, and power generation, to create sustainable demand for hydrogen products.

By expanding market opportunities and promoting cross-sector collaboration, the US can establish a thriving hydrogen economy that contributes to decarbonisation efforts and strengthens long-term energy security.

In conclusion, the US has a rich history of hydrogen production and a promising future ahead. With abundant natural gas reserves and a growing renewable energy sector, the country is well-positioned for hydrogen exploration and development.

As a key player in the clean energy transition, hydrogen offers a versatile and sustainable solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions across various sectors.

The US National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap provide a clear direction for the future of hydrogen production in the US, setting the stage for continued innovation, economic growth, and environmental sustainability.

NewHydrogen Reports Progress in Developing Cost-Effective Green Hydrogen Technology.

NewHydrogen, Inc. (OTCMKTS:NEWH), provided an update on its breakthrough ThermoLoop™ technology, which uses water and heat rather than electricity to produce the world’s cheapest green hydrogen. The company shared progress on its collaboration with the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) in developing ThermoLoopTM.

The prevailing method for producing green hydrogen is to split water into oxygen and hydrogen with an electrolyzer using green electricity produced from solar or wind, which is expensive and contributes approximately 73% of the total production cost.

Steve Hill, CEO of NewHydrogen, said:

In collaboration with UC Santa Barbara’s world class research team, we are developing ThermoLoopTM, a novel low-cost thermochemical process that uses inexpensive heat, instead of costly electricity to split water.

“Existing thermochemical approaches require extremely high temperatures (around 2,000°C), or an inefficient multi-step process. Our goal with ThermoLoopTM is to achieve an efficient, chemical looping redox process that operates under 1000°C.”

Since the project’s inception in August 2023, the UCSB team has made significant strides, including:

• Designing and building a reactor test stand that has successfully generated hydrogen and oxygen from water using a thermochemical reaction cycle, allowing for performance testing of synthesized materials under varying conditions.
• Conducting thermodynamic screenings to identify and select promising new candidate materials and reaction conditions, with research to understand hydrogen and oxygen generation mechanisms and the effects on material structures.
• Validating the foundational science behind ThermoLoop™ by synthesizing and testing materials cited in key publications, testing to demonstrate repeated cycles of hydrogen and oxygen production, and disproving certain claims from prior research publications.
• Identifying key co-reactants that provide driving forces to enable water splitting under 1000°C and with small temperature differentials between hydrogen and oxygen production steps.

Looking ahead, the team plans to:

• Explore novel material systems for thermochemical cycles to enhance hydrogen production efficiency while minimizing the temperature difference between hydrogen and oxygen generation.
• Upgrade the experimental test stand to allow higher throughput screening of materials and broaden the search for optimal candidates.
• Develop a conceptual process model for a technoeconomic analysis (TEA) of the water splitting process, incorporating material cost data and reaction kinetics to estimate hydrogen production costs at scale.
• Select the material compositions that optimize performance, reduce energy input, and lower operating temperatures, thereby significantly reducing green hydrogen production costs.

Hydrogen specialist H-TEC SYSTEMS becomes Quest One and starts series production of electrolyzer – New Gigahub in Hamburg.

Hydrogen specialist H-TEC SYSTEMS is becoming Quest One. With its rebranding on September 30, the company is underlining the importance of its own ambitious goal: By 2050, it aims to avoid one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions through the use of its own electrolyzers and make a decisive contribution to climate protection.

The official rebranding coincides with the opening of a new production site in Hamburg, Germany, in September. With the completion of the new “Gigahub,” the company is starting automated series production of electrolysis stacks – the technological heart of an electrolyzer.

Quest One: avoiding one percent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050

Robin von Plettenberg, CEO of H-TEC SYSTEMS:

With Quest One, we have found a name that gets to the heart of our work. We want to avoid one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions – which is why we are focusing on hydrogen, the first element in the periodic table.

“This mammoth task is a true quest and hugely motivating for us. We want to develop Quest One into one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electrolyzers and help shape the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy. With our new name, we are underlining this international ambition and putting climate protection at the center.”

For green hydrogen to become a reliable alternative to fossil fuels, it must be available in large quantities and at competitive prices in the future. The climate-neutral conversion of industry – due to its high energy requirements – will be an important area of application for hydrogen, which is produced with the help of electrolyzers where so-called stacks are installed. Here, energy becomes an element – and water becomes oxygen and hydrogen with the help of renewable electricity. PEM electrolysis, which is based on proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology, is one of the most important processes for industrially scaled hydrogen production using renewable energies. With the start of industrial series production of electrolyzers, it should be possible to meet the large future demand for green hydrogen. As a pioneer in the industry, H-TEC SYSTEMS already has over 25 years of experience in this field, with several dozen systems in operation in Europe.

Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Energy Solutions SE, says:

The rebranding of H-TEC SYSTEMS into Quest One marks the beginning of a new era.

“When we acquired H-TEC SYSTEMS in 2019, the company had a start-up character: around 40 employees produced top-quality electrolyzers in a manufacturing operation. Since then, the number of employees has increased more than tenfold and we are building the most modern stack production facility in Europe. Today, H-TEC SYSTEMS is a leading driver of the hydrogen transition, for which international business is also becoming increasingly important. This impressive development is reflected in the new name, Quest One.”

New Gigahub will play a key role in accomplishing the one percent mission

One milestone is the opening of the new, state-of-the-art production and development site in Hamburg on September 30. The new Gigahub will facilitate the automated series production of stacks with a potential total electrolysis capacity of over five gigawatts annually at full capacity. These stacks will be developed and produced at the new site in the Hanseatic city. Previously, many of these manufacturing steps have been performed manually. With the automation of production at the Gigahub, up to 75 percent of the current production time can be saved. Around 200 employees will work at the Gigahub location in the areas of production, development, testing and service. The finished stacks and electrolyzers will then be assembled at the company’s Augsburg site in southern Germany by a team of more than 350 employees using the automotive assembly principle. Since the beginning of 2024, H-TEC SYSTEMS has been active in the US market, where it is building up local supply chains.

Technological excellence, industrial scalability, solid financing

Launched in 1997 as a research project, H-TEC SYSTEMS is today considered a specialist in the field of PEM electrolysis. MAN Energy Solutions has been the majority shareholder of H-TEC SYSTEMS since 2021 and has pledged financing of up to 500 million euros for the coming years. As a subsidiary of MAN Energy Solutions and part of the Volkswagen Group, H-TEC SYSTEMS will also be able to draw upon the enormous expertise of both groups as Quest One in the future: Both through MAN Energy Solutions’ global sales network and experience in major heavy industry projects, as well as via direct access to the Volkswagen Group’s expertise in the area of production scaling and in the supplier-based series business.

Source: Hydrogencentral

EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The European Commission is working on tighter rules to ensure EU funding for hydrogen projects benefits European companies, after local industries raised concerns over cheap Chinese imports, the EU's head of climate change policy said on Monday.

The EU will this month launch its next round of funding for green hydrogen projects, as Brussels attempts to kick-start a local industry to produce the fuel.
Meanwhile, the EU is hardening its stance on other green technologies from China, imposing tariffs on electric vehicles which it says benefit from excessive subsidies.

European manufacturers of electrolysers, machines that use electricity to split water to produce hydrogen, have warned they cannot compete with cheaper Chinese producers.

They want the EU to protect them by adding criteria that would favour local firms to its Hydrogen Bank funding scheme, something climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said the bloc's executive was now working on.

"The next auction will be different. We will have explicit criteria to build European electrolyser supply chains," Hoekstra said in a speech at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands.

"If European cybersecurity and safety cannot be guaranteed, if the data of our people and our companies cannot be guaranteed, companies cannot get support," Hoekstra said, adding that while Europe has a good electrolyser manufacturing presence, China is oversupplying the market at lower prices.

Hoekstra said the planned hydrogen subsidy criteria, while not yet final, could include requirements for work to be done inside Europe, or setting a limit on projects' dependence on non-EU countries.

The cybersecurity rules would be geared at ensuring European data "do not end up in the hands of governments outside of the (European) Union," he added in a joint interview with Reuters and Politico.

The EU awarded 720 million euros to seven EU hydrogen projects in April. At the time, industry sources told Reuters the low-priced bids from some successful projects indicated that they would be using cheaper Chinese equipment.

The Commission has not disclosed if this is the case.

A Commission document, seen by Reuters, showed around a quarter of the projects that bid for the funding planned to source their electrolysers from outside the EU. Nearly another quarter planned to use a mix of EU and non-EU made equipment.

Hoekstra said the EU was not aiming to cut ties with China, but would take action where it deemed competition to be unfair.

Source: Reuters