The Hydrogen Stream: Universal Hydrogen builds manufacturing facility in the United States

California-based carbon-free flight start-up Universal Hydrogen has chosen a 50-acre property northeast of the passenger terminal at the Albuquerque International Sunport, in New Mexico, United States to manufacture hydrogen storage modules, assemble airplane retrofit kits, perform after-market maintenance services, and manage administrative activities. “The location includes access to a runway and the potential future reclamation of a rail spur south of the Sunport,” wrote the company on Thursday. Universal Hydrogen said it would spend one to two years planning and constructing its New Mexico facilities. It aims to commence full-scale manufacturing by 2024. It anticipates investing more than $254 million into New Mexico.

Norwegian renewables developer Scatec has signed a memorandum of understanding with the General Authority for Suez Canal Economic Zone and another three authorities, to jointly develop a green ammonia facility in Egypt with an annual production capacity of one million tons. Scatec said the facility could expand to three million tonnes per year. The green hydrogen and ammonia facility at the Ain Sokhna Industrial Zone, is the first large scale project for the production of green ammonia in the country. “Scatec intends to implement the project in phases based on Scatec’s integrated business model,” the company wrote last week. “Long term offtake agreements will be secured to enable non-recourse project financing for the green ammonia. The green ammonia will mainly be exported to European and Asian markets, where demand for clean ammonia is increasing rapidly.” Scatec this month announced it had joined a large scale green ammonia plant planned in Oman by Indian peer Acme Group.

Abundant fuel cell raw materials and renewables potential could add up to a green hydrogen economy in the Philippines, according to Jose Mari Angelo Abeleda Jr and Richard Espiritu, two professors at the University of the Philippines Diliman. In a paper published in this month’s Energy Policy, they explained the country is a latecomer to the sector and should develop basic and applied knowledge for training and research. The country should also establish stronger links between industry and academia, the report’s authors suggested. “The establishment of the Philippine Energy Research and Policy Institute (Perpi) is a move towards the right direction as it will be instrumental in crafting policies and pushing for activities that will usher for more private-academ[ic] partnerships for the development of fuel cell technology in the Philippines,” the scholars wrote. “However, through enabling legislation, a separate and dedicated Hydrogen Research and Development Center (HRDC) will be pivotal in ensuring that sufficient government and private funding are provided.” The authors reported progress in the production of fuel cell membranes but few developments towards large scale production, transport, and storage facilities. “The consolidation of existing renewable energy sources for hydrogen production can also be explored in order to ensure reliable and sustainable hydrogen fuel supply,” they wrote. “This is because the country will gain more benefit if it focuses more on the application of fuel cell technology on rural electrification via renewa[ble] energy-based distributed power generation, rather than on transportation such as fuel cell vehicles.”

Paris-based energy engineering company Technip Energies and Indian energy business Greenko ZeroC Private have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore green hydrogen project development opportunities in the refining, petrochemicals, fertilizer, chemical, and power plant sectors in India. “The MOU aims to facilitate active engagement between the teams of Technip Energies in India and Greenko to step up collaborative opportunities on a build-own-operate (BOO) model – in which Greenko will be the BOO operator and owner of the asset and Technip Energies will support with engineering services, integration and EP/EPC [engineering and procurement/engineering, procurement and constructrion] – for pilot and commercial scale green hydrogen and related projects in India in order to offer economically feasible technology solutions to clients,” the French company wrote today.

Aberdeen City Council and British energy company BP have signed an agreement to form the Aberdeen Hydrogen Energy joint venture for a three-phase project to deliver a scalable green hydrogen production, storage, and distribution facility in the city powered by renewables. “Phase one, which involves delivery of a green hydrogen production and transport refueling facility powered by a solar farm, is targeting first production from 2024, delivering over 800kg of green hydrogen per day – enough to fuel 25 buses and a similar number of other fleet vehicles,” BP said last week, adding the joint venture should invest £3 million ($3.9 million) for initial design work. The final investment decision for the phase one facility is expected in early 2023. Meanwhile, the British government will hold a networking event March 24 for prospective applicants to explore partnerships within the framework of the proposed Industrial Hydrogen Accelerator Programme, which would provide funding for innovation projects that can demonstrate end-to-end industrial fuel switching to hydrogen.

Growing Mid Wales, a regional public-private sector partnership body, has commissioned consultant Radical Innovations Group to undertake a feasibility study to explore the area’s hydrogen potential. The decision was supported by local projects, action groups, and county councils. “Mid Wales’ abundance of natural resources, expertise and environment means we are well placed to play a leading role in the transition to net zero as part of a whole-Wales approach,” said Ellen ap Gwynn, leader of Ceredigion County Council.

A hydrogen refueling station has been inaugurated in Rotterdam as part of the Mehrlin project, funded by EU body the Connecting Europe Facility for Transport. “This project aims to demonstrate a new demand-led commercial model for the deployment of hydrogen refueling stations by carrying out a test of the economies and practicalities of operating large hydrogen refueling stations,” wrote the European Commission on Friday, adding the project has deployed seven large hydrogen refueling stations, at Hürth, Wermelskirchen-Koln, and Wuppertal, in Germany; Bolzano, in Italy; Rotterdam; and in London and Birmingham in the UK. “Daily operations are currently being monitored to gather technical and economic feedback to improve operations and financing options in light of a further roll-out across Europe of zero emission buses,” added the statement from the EU executive.