Change of Direction Hydrogen Newsletter 22.03.2023
In this week's edition, we provide you with news from the Middle East, Canada, and Norway. The Scandinavian country will introduce the largest ferry powered by a fuel cell in two years.
Welcome to Change of Directions,
The hydrogen market is one of the fastest growing energy sectors in the world. And we are just at the beginning. It is clear that there are still a considerable number of challenges that lie ahead. Fuel cells have to become more efficient and cheaper; transportation of hydrogen – especially over long distances – has to be sorted out; and the infrastructure has to be built. But all those challenges also propose an opportunity for companies to secure future revenues.
We can see this, especially in the Middle East. Oil-producing countries are seeing the writing on the walls and pouring a lot of money into the research and production of hydrogen. While some western countries are still hesitant to embrace the change, countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, or Oman, which are highly dependent on the income they get from oil production, are investing into hydrogen.
In her article, Felicity Bradstock points out, “The Middle East is also looking to beat its main competitors – Europe and Asia, to dominate the green hydrogen market. In 2021, the UAE announced several new projects. France’s Engie and Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy business Masdar stated they would be investing $5 billion in the country’s green hydrogen industry, aiming for an electrolyser capacity of 2 gigawatts by 2030.” And this is just one project of many, she emphasises.
https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Renewable-Energy/The-Middle-East-Is-Looking-To-Dominate-The-Green-Hydrogen-Market.html
The Middle East is in a unique position. They have enough money to invest into new technologies, and they have enough sun and wind to build up solar and wind farms to produce green hydrogen. With the rising demand for green hydrogen, Saudi Arabia is in pole position to become the largest provider of green hydrogen in the world. Of course, countries like Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt are also in a good position, but the lack of funding in these countries makes it more difficult to kickstart a hydrogen economy.
Another country that invests heavily in hydrogen is Oman. Agnete Klevstrand has the latest news. ”The six agreements of binding commercial terms will see the $20bn invested over seven years in projects that will aim to deliver a total of 15GW electrolyser capacity, on six land parcels in the al Wusta and Dhofar regions in southern Oman.” The country sees a lot of opportunities in hydrogen, and wants to produce around one million tons of green hydrogen by 2030 alone. https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/production/-20bn-for-green-hydrogen-oman-signs-six-deals-with-international-developers-to-build-15gw-of-electrolyser-capacity/2-1-1419493
As mentioned above, one main problem is the question: how you transport green hydrogen from the Middle East to other countries? Pipelines are one option, but building them takes time. Transport by ship is possible, but those ships need non-green fuels to reach their destinations, and this reduces the amount of CO2 that will be saved. But are ships ready to switch to green hydrogen? According to Norway: yes. Torghatten ferries will introduce a new ferry by 2025, that will use a fuel cell and can transport 599 passengers and 120 cars on a four-hour ride. https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/03/largest-hydrogen-fuel-cells-for-marine-use/?h2fd
One sector that is also looking closely at hydrogen is the train industry. The first hydrogen-powered trains are already in service in Germany. The producer, the French company Alstom, is now exporting this train to Canada, where it covers a 90-minute connection. The Alstom train is not meant to replace electric trains. The plan is to use the technology to replace Diesel-powered trains. And those are widely used in North-America and other parts of the world. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/north-america-first-hydrogen-powered-train-180981800/?h2fd
Canada also introduced their first hydrogen-powered trucks. These trucks are coming from Nikola Motors. We recently interviewed the Nikola CEO Michael Lohscheller and you can listen to this podcast here:
It is interesting to see that Nikola is already expanding into Canada. The mostly long distances that the trucks have to cover provides a good example of how hydrogen can already replace diesel trucks today.
https://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/fuel-cell-trucks-nikola-canada/8557713/
If you missed it: Listen to Sanjay Ravi, the GM for Mobility of Microsoft, about the company’s B2B approach in the mobility sector:
That was it for this week. Thank you for subscribing to the Change Of Directions newsletter! If you have any questions or if you want to share an interesting link, feel free to contact us: contact@changeofdirections.com