Change of Directions Hydrogen Newsletter 19.04.2023
Last week, we discussed the efforts from middle eastern countries to ramp up their hydrogen production. This week, we take a look at China, Japan, and Australia.
Welcome to Change of Directions,
China is becoming a global leader when it comes to hydrogen. The country adopted an aggressive hydrogen strategy a couple of years ago, and they have started harvesting the fruits. While other countries are still researching the possibilities of hydrogen, China has already deployed the renewable energy source in different business areas. The Asian nation needs to produce more renewable energies to satisfy the needs of the industry and to become less dependent on oil imports from the Middle East. Slowly but steadily, China has started to transform, especially the logistic sector.
Between 2017 and 2022, hydrogen-powered trucks made up 59% of all commercial vehicle registrations, according to an article from Tom Quimby for CCJ Digital. This astonishing number shows how serious China is about their switch to hydrogen. While hydrogen trucks in the EU only appear as test vehicles, China has had them in daily use for a couple of years. Quimby argues that this also could mean that the US in particular is losing the development race for new hydrogen technologies.
https://www.ccjdigital.com/alternative-power/hydrogen-fuel-cell/article/15383049/china-continues-commercial-fuel-cell-lead-over-us?h2fd
It is no surprise that Japanese companies are highly interested in the Chinese hydrogen business. Toyota, one of the pioneers when it comes to fuel cell technologies, has started to invest in hydrogen projects in China. Haima Automobile, a carmaker from China, has announced that it has signed a deal with Toyota Motor’s local investment branch to focus on the promotion of hydrogen cars in China. While hydrogen trucks are popular, passenger cars don’t play a huge role in China so far. Both companies plan to get 2000 Hydrogen cars on the road in the next 18 months.
https://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/hydrogen-cars-toyota-haima/8557952/
Japan itself will also ramp up its hydrogen production. The country relies heavily on imported oil and nuclear power and aims to decarbonize the industry sector as soon as possible. Now they want to improve the local production of hydrogen to 12 million tons per year by the year 2040. The total investment will be over 110 billion dollars until 2040. This will also include more hydrogen imports, especially from Australia. The government in Tokyo made clear that the decarbonization of heavy industries will not be possible without hydrogen.
https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2023/04/06/10873619/japan-aims-for-sixfold-hydrogen-supply-increase-by-2040/
Australia is a country that heavily relies on coal, which it has plenty of. But they also have acknowledged that the coal imports will diminish over time, and they need to change their course. The vast outback provides a massive opportunity for solar farms, which can be used to produce green hydrogen. One challenge is to transport the hydrogen from there to its destinations. To get it into every corner of the country, Australia has huge plans. The new hydrogen pipelines will see an investment of up to 300 billion US dollars, if all plans are put into reality.
https://www.h2-view.com/story/australia-hydrogen-pipeline-accounts-for-between-230-300bn-of-investment/
Transporting hydrogen is not an easy task. Existing pipelines for natural gas can be retrofitted, but these pipelines are often not in the areas where you would need them. Building new pipelines is expensive, but necessary. Rystad Energy said hydrogen pipeline projects could expand by as much as 700% over the next 12 years. It said that more than 4,300 km of pipelines already transport hydrogen, with more than 90% of them in Europe and North America. It estimates that there are about 91 planned pipeline projects throughout the world, with 30,300 kilometers set to go online by around 2035.
https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2023/04/06/global-hydrogen-pipeline-projects-to-surge-by-2035-says-rystad/
If you missed it: Hyundai is one of the biggest investors in a hydrogen economy. In our podcast, Michael Cole explains how the company sees the future of hydrogen.
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