Aiming for the stars!

A Week in Hydrogen 5th June 2020 feature - this is a World Hydrogen Leaders Premium membership feature usually available to members only

Perhaps the most eye-catching quote this week was one in which German Federal Research Minister Anja Karliczek declared that she wanted to establish a “Cape Canaveral of Hydrogen” in Germany.

While this version might not enable holidaymakers to combine with a sun-drenched trip to a nearby Disney World, Germany is a big potential user of hydrogen. And an ambitious approach could enable Germany to “research, develop and manufacture technologies”, to “set standards” and to “boost exports”. 

We were told to keep an eye out in future for that “Made in Germany” label on our hydrogen-related purchases. 

As elsewhere however, it’s not always smooth and harmonious in the German hydrogen family.

In particular there were reported disagreements within government over issues such as green hydrogen capacities, infrastructure implementation times and the need (or not) for imports.

With those at the federal level dithering on strategy, Bavaria's Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy, Hubert Aiwanger, decided this was no time to hang around.

Instead he presented Bavaria’s own hydrogen strategy. With uncanny parallels, two of the three pillars of this included “innovation and technology leadership” and “industrial scaling" and capitalising on Bavaria's "supplier industry”. All of which led, inevitably, to a vision within which "made in Bavaria becomes a hydrogen seal of approval".

Needless to say I, along with product labellers who charge by the letter, look forward to next week’s hydrogen strategy launch by the town of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz.

Not too far away in Norway, the government there was publicising its own first hydrogen strategy and vision. In a speech at the Norwegian Hydrogen Conference, Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tina Bru described “a story of hope” (and, one hopes, of expectation).

Unsurprisingly, this isn’t just about “a hope for a new world with low emissions” though; this is very much about “a hope for new industry and new jobs”. And old ones too, which was pointed out by Equinor. In suggesting that hydrogen will replace natural gas, their speaker noted that “hydrogen builds on the same competence base as oil and gas. Big scale hydrogen generation will replace a large number of jobs that will no longer be needed.”

The strategy here is of course also about exports - in particular preserving Norway’s role as a major energy exporter.

As the Minister of Energy pointed out, Norway already exports clean hydropower-generated electricity and has unexploited resources for further renewables, particularly wind power. It is also the third largest exporter in the world of natural gas and “at the forefront of CCS technologies” (essential for 'blue' hydrogen).

The speech even highlighted that hydrogen could help enable these exports to be made cleanly: with Norway potentially becoming “a world leader within green shipping technology”.

Anyone feel another “made in” label coming on?

Across the Atlantic, Canada is another state with its beady eyes on the potential hydrogen prize, as this article pointed out. It already boasts a number of world-leading hydrogen companies, such as Ballard, Hydrogenics and Loop Energy; along with fascinating start-ups such as Proton Technologies. Like Norway, Canada is a big exporter of fossil fuels from some regions (Alberta) and a producer of excess clean power in others (Ontario).

Alberta already has a dramatic-sounding “Industrial Heartland Hydrogen Task Force”, tasked with er… producing a public report (by this July). Just imagine what a group to deliver actual hydrogen projects on the ground might be called: “Hydrogen SWAT Team” anyone?

Asia too has a number of countries who are planning both projects and accelerated policy formulation around hydrogen, as this helpful summary from Standard & Poors laid out.

But let’s not just think about hydrogen in terms of big-country muscle-flexing, industry-leadership and geopolitical positioning.

Instead consider news that two small islands located 395 miles apart on opposite sides of Ireland are “working together on a joint green hydrogen strategy”. The two are Rathlin Island and Valentia. As islands, it’s natural that ferries come into both of their plans, but while Valentia aims to focus initially on heating – a sector where “turf” is still a significant source of fuel! – Rathlin’s is on island transport via locally wind-generated hydrogen.

Given the early leadership role Scotland’s Orkney Isles have already had in small-but-real hydrogen deployment, it’s surely not hard to imagine the emergence a wider alliance or association to align the hydrogen strategies of islands more widely?

But let’s finish, albeit via a tenuous link, by returning to the thorny subject of Germany, hydrogen and labelling.

A recent survey found that there (and in Belgium too), road signs intended to indicate whether hydrogen is available at fuel stations are understood by “only 25% of the respondents”.

So, given the obvious importance of clarity, perhaps they need to co-ordinate sooner rather than later on who those “made in” labels will promote?

The above article was written by Dr John Massey of Grey Cells Energy & the Hydrogen Heroes Programme for the World Hydrogen Leaders digital networking and content delivery platform.

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