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.”
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
The most prominent use of liquid hydrogen is for hard-to-abate heavy industries such as manufacturing of chemicals and fertilizer, cement and metals such as steel and aluminum.The hard-to-abate listalso includes fuels for aviation, shipping, and long-haul trucking fuels. All these industries are difficult to run on electricity, because they need fuels with high energy density such as coal, coke, diesel, or kerosene. But all these fuels emit high volumes of greenhouse gases (GHG).
An obvious replacement is liquid hydrogen which has high energy density but essentially zero emissions. Big oil companies are well-suited to hydrogen generation because of their vast experience in natural gas, and they have deep pockets. A prime example is ExxonMobil.
But there are smaller hydrogen applications that could be called light industry: transport by buses and cars, cargo cranes, heating for buildings, and cooking. Replacing natural gas in power plants is also feasible. Large-scale applications of hydrogen in heavy industries are limited to 10-15% of decarbonization needed across the world, according to Rystad Energy. But how large might be the contribution of small-scale supplies of hydrogen? One such isBayoTechout of Albuquerque, New Mexico, who have successfully generated and delivered hydrogen to fuel-cell buses that service both state and school. Using biomethane as feedstock, their hydrogen is lower in carbon than standard-methane feedstock in blue hydrogen.
Blue Or Green Hydrogen?
Cost is an enduring question in regard to hydrogen generation, and it’s a bipolar situation. First, blue hydrogen accounts for 95% of hydrogen generation, partly because of its lower cost ($2-5/kg). Under steam heat, the process reforms methane gas into hydrogen and carbon dioxide, CO2. Methane is plentiful as it’s the primary component of natural gas, so it comes easy to oil and gas companies. But the problem is the CO2 has to be sequestered if the overall process is to be labeled “low-carbon”. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) generally implies storage of CO2 in deep underground formations such as old oil and gas fields, or saline layers. The cost includes CO2 disposal. Second, green hydrogen is more direct as it separates water into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis. It’s harder to do and is more expensive ($4.5-12/kg). But its cleaner in emissions, especially if wind or solar renewables are used to drive the electrolytic cells, in which case the process is “zero-carbon”.The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has set a goal of $2/kg which is associated with seven major hydrogen hubs set up within the past year, and funded to the tune of about $1 billion each. Some projects are blue hydrogen while others are green hydrogen
Let’s take a look at an example of a small-scale green hydrogen startup in 2021 (about 100 employees total) and a large-scale blue hydrogen project that was built in 1919 (62,000 employees total). Both projects are in the U.S. It’s insightful to compare the pros and cons of each project.
Green Hydrogen On Small Scale—Verdagy
Verdagy Inc. is a small company that runs a factory in Silicon Valley and a hydrogen plant in Moss Landing north of Monterrey, California. The latter is a 2 MegaWatt (MW) alkaline green hydrogen system. To be clear, Verdagy sells hydrogen electrolysis systems but does not sell hydrogen.
In the Verdagy system, the electrolyte is liquid, usually potassium or sodium hydroxide, with two electrodes separated by a membrane.
This contrasts with the PEM electrolyzer, standing for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM), where the electrolyte is a solid plastic material. Another difference: in the Verdagy device, cells can be refurbished rather than replaced as in stack replacement in a PEM device, and this amounts to substantial cost savings.
According to Claudia Chow, a Verdagy company rep, the Moss Landing plant has been in operation for 12,000 hours over a period of about 3 years, which is equivalent to 1,500 eight-hour days. During this time, the plant has worked on reducing their capital costs and operating costs. They are creating a scalable design for manufacture that is on track to reach the DOE’s goal of $2/kg of levelized cost by 2026.
The company also claims their commercial process is efficient and highly reliable. This has been an unwavering problem with green hydrogen electrolyzers because they have been seriously inefficient.
Verdagy has entered into collaborations with other manufacturers and renewable energy companies. They are focused on generating green hydrogen with three general applications. First, as a feedstock in refining, petrochemicals, ammonia, and fertilizer, Second, fuel for aviation and marine transport. Third, factories that make steel, aluminum, and cement.
Marty Neese, CEO of Verdagy, Inc.
Verdagy
A Hydrogen Hub For California
In recent news, California has been awarded its veryown Hydrogen Hubto the tune of $1.2 billion, which will be expanded by private investments of $11 billon. There will be 37 sub-projects, unnamed as yet, across the state. The kicker is, to meet the state’s climate goals, hydrogen generation in California will have to expand from about 7 million tons per annum to 71 million tons per annum by 2045. The state claims that 220,000 jobs will be created by the Hydrogen Hub, and almost $3 billion will be saved every year by avoiding diesel-related health issues.
It's hard to see Verdagy not being involved in the California hydrogen hub, which is specifically oriented toward green hydrogen.
Blue Hydrogen On Large Scale—ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil’s Baytown complex consists of a refinery, chemical plant, and olefins plant. Workforce is 2,000 permanent and 2,300 contract employees. The refinery close to Houston will be revamped to produce blue hydrogen plus ammonia (NH3), while the biproduct, CO₂, will be stored in a CCS project under the Gulf of Mexico. The hydrogen would be used for ExxonMobil’s olefin production plant, where carbon emissions could be reduced by 30%. Olefin is a synthetic fiber used in carpeting, wallpaper, and car interiors.
ExxonMobil are holding fourkeys to unlock hydrogen. First, 1 Bcfd of blue hydrogen and 1 million tons per year of ammonia will be produced in its Baytown refinery, while capturing more than 98% of the associated CO2emissions. The company is already talking with potential customers to purchase surplus hydrogen and ammonia volumes in a 2027–2028 time-frame.
ExxonMobil and Air Liquiderecently announced they will collaborate in production of low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia at ExxonMobil’s Baytown project. Using low-carbon electricity, Air Liquide will build four large air separation units to supply 9,000 metric tons of oxygen and up to 6,500 metric tons of nitrogen daily to the facility.
The final investment is subject to government policy, such as tax credits, plus necessary regulatory permits.
Second, seven hydrogen hub projects have been awarded hefty funds (about $1 billion each) from the DOE. One of these is called theHyVelocity Hub,centered along the US Gulf Coast, and organized by Chevron and several private company partners, including ExxonMobil and Mitsubishi (Palmer 2023h).
ExxonMobil will have its hands on critical elements of this hub project. First, the project would be leveraging on a network of forty-eight hydrogen-production centers (the largest in the world). Second, there will be a thousand miles of dedicated hydrogen pipelines along the Louisiana and Texas coasts. Third, ten thousand permanent jobs would likely result.
One technical goal is to solve the DOE’s challenge, called the Hydrogen Shot, of making 1 kg of hydrogen while emitting less than 2 kg of CO₂. Another goal is to reduce the cost of hydrogen by 80%—to $1/kg within ten years.
A third key that ExxonMobil holds is aplan to export blue ammoniafrom its Houston works to Japan. JERA is Japan’s largest power generation company, and they have signed an agreement that would export about half of the ammonia produced by the retreaded Baytown project. This is a big deal, although its conditional upon federal tax credits obtained by ExxonMobil.
Takeaways
The above illustrates a wide spectrum of ways and methods that hydrogen can be generated by the private sector. While the advances are exciting, it’s good to remember that hydrogen applications are basically for hard-to-abate heavy industries and these only occupy a small fraction of the world’s decarbonization goals (15%).
Even so, the U.S. administration is betting that the hydrogen effort will pay off. They are seeding the hydrogen market with truckloads of funding and hoping this will create jobs and demand for hydrogen, and yes, a substantial decline in GHG emissions. Further payoff would be new industries that can scale up enough to reduce costs of business, kind of like happened with wind and solar and batteries.
Australian turquoise hydrogen developer Hazer Group has announced that its commercial demonstration plant has passed ten days of continuous round-the-clock operation, a milestone which unlocks its next tranche of government funding and adds to its case for launching the technology to the market this year.
Like incumbent “grey” hydrogen, turquoise H2 is produced from natural gas feedstock. However, while grey hydrogen is generated by splitting methane with steam, resulting in CO2 emissions, turquoise H2 is made via methane pyrolysis, which splits apart the molecule with heat in the absence of air, resulting in only solid carbon as a byproduct.
Depending on the region, gas as a feedstock can be much cheaper than the electricity needed to run electrolysis for green hydrogen production.
Meanwhile, byproduct carbon could be sold as graphite to existing markets, offsetting the cost of production and making turquoise H2 theoretically one of the cheapest low-carbon hydrogen production pathways — although some critics have questioned whether the market for solid carbon is big enough to absorb a lot of extra supply.
Hazer started producing hydrogen and solid carbon at its pilot project near Perth, Western Australia, in January this year, which uses biomethane from an adjacent wastewater treatment plant (ie, from sewage sludge) as a feedstock to make around 100 tonnes of H2 and 380 tonnes of synthetic graphite a year.
The ten days of continuous operation was one of the key milestones that the plant had to pass in order for the developer to access its next tranche of public funding from January next year via the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, which had allocated A$9.41m ($6.2m) in total.
Hazer’s commercial demonstration plant has been expected to cost A$23m-25m.
The Hazer process works by heating methane to about 900°C inside a fluidised bed reactor in the presence of sand-like particles of iron ore, but no air (which prevents the formation of CO2). This high-temperature heat turns the iron ore into nanoparticles, and the methane decomposes into hydrogen and graphite, the latter of which forms on the surface of the nanoparticles.
The resulting powder is 80-95% graphite, which can then be separated and sold to existing markets for this type of solid carbon such as lithium-ion battery production.
Hazer announced that during the ten days of continuous operation, it saw “stable and reliable solids separation from product gas stream” and “operational reliability with process uptime above target” of 97.5%.
However, it noted that it still has to optimise current operations in order to produce “commercially representative” graphite, which would have to undergo quality verification prior to distribution to industrial partners for large-scale testing and analysis.
Hazer also highlighted four existing commercial projects with South Korean conglomerate POSCO, a consortium of Japanese firms Chubu Electric and Chiyoda, French energy company Engie, and Canadian utility FortisBC, noting that it still plans to “declare commercial readiness” for its technology this year.
