by eaugsten | Nov 18, 2024 | Energy storage, Europe, Germany, Market, News
Metal hydride storage as a complete system
GKN Hydrogen has developed a complete containerized storage system which allows hydrogen to be stored in discs of metal hydride powder. The solution employs solid-state technology to store hydrogen safely for long periods. The pioneering company based in Pfalzen, northern Italy, became part of the British engineering corporation Langley in August 2024.
Admittedly, the many practical benefits of using metal hydrides for hydrogen storage are in no way a new revelation. Metal hydrides are compact and require neither high pressures nor low temperatures. Even in the event of a fire they are relatively safe since most of the hydrogen is firmly bonded in the metal. It’s why developers attempted to use them in hydrogen cars in the 1970s. And yet this technology is still not found in any automobile. One of the reasons for this, as tests showed, is the immense metal weight that had to be carried in relation to the amount of hydrogen stored. Not only that, the issue of on-board heat management proved tricky to handle.
On the other hand, what is relatively new is the use of metal hydride storage systems in stationary applications. Storage solutions for microgrids, neighborhood schemes and industrial units usually stay put. Such systems can also be used for hydrogen mobility, albeit essentially to store hydrogen at the refueling station.
If needs must, the hydrogen can also be moved around in shipping containers. These are best transported by boat or train, though road trains are also possible across the vast expanses of the prairies. “In the USA we are currently developing a mobile refueler. This will enable hydrogen to be transported to remote areas, thereby providing a truck-based refueling option in these locations,” says Dirk Bolz, head of marketing at GKN Hydrogen.
Dirk Bolz, head of marketing at GKN Hydrogen
In these applications, there will be little concern about using titanium-iron alloy as the material and the combined weight of the storage container for 250 kilograms of hydrogen and the associated equipment adding up to over 30 metric tons. It thus allows GKN Hydrogen to sidestep a key problem with this technology.
The company has also found solutions for other challenges: “Our specialist knowledge and intellectual property lie principally in two areas. One of those is production processes – in other words how you press a bonded material from metal powder,” says Bolz. In the early days the powder was formed into small pellets; today they are more like round, flat discs. “The other area is the charging and discharging of the storage system – in other words the thermal cycling of the storage system.”
The actual storage unit is designed as a pipe-in-pipe system (see fig. 1). In the inner pipe, the hydrogen flows around the discs made from compressed metal powder. A heat transfer medium flows through the outer pipe carrying away the heat which arises when hydrogen bonds to the metal. Adding heat reverses the process and the storage system is discharged.
Ten years of hydrogen storage research
GKN’s history can be traced back to the dawn of industrialization. The company started when an ironworks was founded in Dowlais, South Wales, in the 18th century. Since then, it has been involved in a wide range of industrial technologies, including the manufacture of steel, screws and drive shafts for cars. GKN Powder Metallurgy, headquartered in the German city of Bonn, is the specialist in powder metals within the international corporation. Its developers have been working on the application of metal hydrides for hydrogen storage for a good decade. The metal powder is made in the company’s factories spread across the world.
Up until 2023, the production of complete containerized systems was based at the GKN Sinter Metals factory in Bruneck in South Tyrol, Italy. This is where the first pilot applications originated. “Initially it was an off-grid solution for a vacation home and demonstrators at our sites. They were quickly followed by the first fully integrated power-to-power systems that incorporated everything from the electrolyzer and storage system down to the fuel cell,” explains Bolz. A year ago, GKN Hydrogen moved to Pfalzen, a 3,000-strong community located on the outskirts of Bruneck, where the systems are now produced and refined.
Levelized cost of storage rules
As an industrial enterprise, GKN knows full well that price is a key deciding factor for customers. According to Bolz, the current volume of production means the capital costs for a metal hydride storage system, depending on use, are around one and a half times that of a comparable pressurized tank. “Yet, depending on the application, the TCO – total cost of ownership – of our storage systems is on a par with or even below pressurized tanks. That’s due to the much lower maintenance costs.” He therefore recommends paying attention to the levelized cost of storage or LCOS for a specific project.
As the main components of the storage system are unmoving, the cost of maintenance is lower in comparison with high-pressure systems with a compressor unit and the storage system has a longer life expectancy. The efficiency is also greater. This is because once the hydrogen is bound in the metal, it stays there – in contrast with gas or even liquid storage tanks in which some of the molecules are discharged over time. Furthermore, the metal hydride storage system operates at low pressure, which can save considerably on energy costs, depending on the pressure level for production and application.
Batteries compared and contrasted
In addition to straight hydrogen storage systems, GKN Hydrogen also offers turnkey power-to-power solutions which come with the electrolyzer and fuel cell already installed. These are similar to commercial battery systems in terms of size and energy density. The HY2MEDI storage system includes a fuel cell and electrolyzer which are prefitted in a 20-foot (6-m) container. It holds 120 kg of hydrogen. This can then supply around 2 megawatt-hours of electricity using the in-built fuel cell. By comparison, the battery storage system of a well-known manufacturer in the same format has a capacity of 1.9 MWh.
However, metal hydrides and batteries each have their strengths in very different areas of application. Where a high number of short storage cycles are the order of the day, a battery solution comes out clearly on top. The battery manufacturer puts cycle efficiency at “up to 98 percent.” Looking purely at electrical efficiency, metal hydride systems are only 32 percent efficient. If a customer also requires heating, a significant proportion of losses can be used for heating purposes, which brings the overall efficiency to 70 percent. “Our systems are used in buildings or backup solutions for critical infrastructure for longer storage periods, from around two days to several weeks or months.”
GKN Hydrogen’s complete storage system is available as a containerized solution
“In industry, storage volumes and cycling dynamics tend to be the crucial factors,” stresses Bolz. If energy is not released for a long time, a battery’s losses will increase – but not in the case of metal hydride. The metal hydride storage system can also excel when it comes to cycle stability. According to GKN, after 3,500 cycles, the capacity remains at 99 percent of the starting value. Even beyond that, the storage systems have so far proved stable. “To date, we have put our storage solutions through about 6,000 cycles and we haven’t observed any mechanical wear or chemical degradation,” says Bolz.
Advantages for safety
The use of both hydrogen and batteries requires special safety precautions, particularly in relation to explosion and fire prevention. A great deal of experience has been acquired with regard to batteries which reduces anxiety about their use, including applications in residential properties. New battery materials will also greatly increase fire safety in the near future.
Hydrogen in pressurized tanks is, on the other hand, relatively new outside industrial uses. There is little experience of its application in homes or residential areas, in particular, and skepticism abounds. This is where metal hydride storage systems could come in.
“Only around 4 percent of the hydrogen stored in our system is present as gas. The rest is chemically bonded, in other words fixed,” explains Bolz. This minimizes the fire load and risk of explosion. What has been absent so far, compared with batteries, are well-honed practices within public authority approvals procedures. Authorities currently ask for the same evidence as required for high-pressure tanks, says Bolz. But he assumes this will soon change. “At the moment we are working to prove that our storage systems are the safest on the market by carrying out simulations and test installations.”
In fact it is the safety aspect which has recently opened the door to the Japanese market for GKN. In Japan, high-pressure tanks of 10 bar or higher are subject to strict safety regulations. That’s why Mitsubishi Corporation Technos, a Japanese trading company specializing in industrial machines, signed a memorandum of understanding with GKN Hydrogen just a few months ago.
Takeover by Langley Holdings
At the beginning of August, GKN Hydrogen had some big news: The company had joined British group Langley Holdings. This latest move followed several previous shifts at GKN. In 2018, the aerospace and holding company Melrose Industries bought GKN Group. At that time, GKN Hydrogen was still a business unit, becoming a stand-alone company within the group in 2021. In 2023, Melrose separated off several GKN companies into the Dowlais Group, among them GKN Hydrogen.
The new owner Langley is a family-run British corporation which started out in the 1970s as a supplier to the coal industry and has since grown into one of the UK’s biggest private companies. With 90 subsidiaries and a workforce of 5,000 staff, Langley estimates its turnover in 2024 will be about USD 1.5 billion. Around half of these earnings are expected to come from the Power Solutions Division, which will henceforth include GKN Hydrogen. Other companies in this division are Bergen Engines, a Norwegian manufacturer of medium-speed engines, the Italian Marelli Motori, which makes electric motors and generators, and the German Piller Group, which provides uninterruptible power supply systems.
Guido Degen, CEO of GKN Hydrogen, describes the takeover as an opportunity for the company to accelerate development. They are said to be excited about “potential synergies” with other companies in the division. Even before the takeover, GKN Hydrogen saw itself as ready to fly. “To date, we have built and installed 27 systems globally,” said Bolz in early summer. This equates to a storage capacity of 60 MWh around the world. “This is no longer lab status, it’s technology readiness level 9. The manufacturing processes are standardized. Scaled-up series production and the subsequent cost benefits are possible any time – we are, in a sense, prepared for the growth that has been forecast for the sector.”
Eva Augsten
by eaugsten | Nov 4, 2024 | Development, Germany, hydrogen development, News
Practical test in container terminal
At a container terminal in Hamburg, a test field for heavy-duty vehicles with hydrogen drives is being built. The first tractor unit is now in use.
Rain splashes on the tables, the invited guests crowd under parasols, against which the wind patters. In the container terminal Tollerort in the port Hamburger Hafen, there should be something to see today. A yellow tractor pulls up and comes to a halt on a bright blue strip in front of a gas pump. An employee is already standing by, hooks the dispenser into the tank opening and presses the start button. The process is quite unspectacular. Only a display at the pump shows how the pressure in the tank is slowly rising.
The retrofit challenge
The fact that so many people have come to the terminal is not only due to the hydrogen refueling station. Rather, it is for the overall project that so many people, among them Hamburg’s economy senator Melanie Leonhard, Christian Maaß from the BMWK (German economy ministry) and Antje Roß from NOW (German agency for hydrogen and fuel cell technology), have made the journey to Tollerort. The fuel pump and tractor unit are the first elements of a so-termed H2 test field, on which the cluster Clean Port & Logistics is working. Test field and cluster were both funded as part of NIP (national innovation program for hydrogen and fuel cell technology), with a total of three million euros.
The company Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA) wants to use this project to find out how the terminal can be made climate-friendly. “A lot of things here at the terminal already work electrically. We want to use hydrogen in the heavy-duty sector where batteries are not sufficient,” says Karin Debacher, Head of Hydrogen Projects at HHLA, which operates the Tollerort terminal. This is not only about large loads and services, but also about “limits of an operational nature,” as HHLA CEO Angela Titzrath formulated it.
With an area of 600,000 square meters (6,458,000 sq. ft.), the Tollerort container terminal seems huge, yet it is HHLA’s smallest container terminal. It is located in the Steinwerder city district on a kind of river island, most of which it occupies. The municipal sewage treatment plant and a few smaller companies also fit on it – There is no room for expansion. It was built in the late 1970s, but little has been automated.
vlnr Karin Debacher, Leiterin Wasserstoffprojekte der HHLA; Dr. Lucien Robroek, President Technology Solutions Division bei Hyster-Yale Materials Handling; Dr. Melanie Leonhard, Senatorin für Wirtschaft und Innovation; Angela Titzrath, Vorstandsvorsitzende der HHLA; Christian Maaß, Leiter Wärme, Wasserstoff & Effizienz im BMWK; Antje Roß, Managerin Hafennetzwerke und -anwendungen bei der NOW GmbH
In a celebratory mood despite the rain (from left to right) Karin Debacher, head of hydrogen projects at HHLA, Dr. Lucien Robroek, President Technology Solutions Division at Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Dr. Melanie Leonhard, senator for economics and innovation, Angela Titzrath, chair of HHLA, Christian Maaß, head of heat, hydrogen & efficiency at the BMWK, Antje Roß, manager of port networks and applications at NOW GmbH
In the realm of giants
To manage the masses of containers arriving and being loaded, a total of 59 so-termed van carriers whizz through the terminal. They are reminiscent of the AT-AT walkers from Star Wars but travel on wheels. Their legs are so long that they can drive over containers to place another container on top or lift it down. They move up to 60 tonnes. “Some of the van carriers in Tollerort have diesel-electric drives, but pure battery operation is out of the question,” says HHLA spokeswoman Karolin Hamann. There are also so-termed reach stackers, which consist mainly of a long, strong arm. They can stack up to six containers on top of one another.
The port’s fleet of heavy goods vehicles is so exotic that you can book a port safari called the “Tour der Giganten” (tour of the giants). What the giants have in common is that they have to be efficient at all times. That’s 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. There is no time to recharge batteries. Simply purchasing more vehicles and replacing them after charging is also not an alternative. Not only would they be expensive, there is also no space for them. While HHLA’s newest terminal in Altenwerder, further south, is already running fully electric and fully automated, the port company is still looking for a solution for the existing Tollerort terminal. Hydrogen is to bring a breakthrough.
Few vehicles available
And although hydrogen is so urgently needed for high-performance vehicles in port logistics, it is nowhere near as frequently used here as in road transport. To change that, HHLA and around 40 other companies from all over the world joined forces as the cluster Clean Port & Logistics in October 2022. To the cluster belongs also Hyster-Yale. Among other things, the company manufactures tractor units and empty container stackers – vehicles that seem almost commonplace compared to the port giants. But it still doesn’t seem to be that simple:
Hyster-Yale actually wanted to make the first tractor unit available for testing as early as 2022, an empty container stacker should follow in 2023. Now the tractor unit is finally here – and was warmly applauded in Hamburg. It is powered by a fuel cell from Nuvera. Lucien Robroek, President Technology Solutions Division of Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, traveled to the opening in person. “We’re still ironing out the technology. But we will do it,” said Robroek at the celebration. The announced empty stacker is due to follow at the end of 2024 or beginning of 2025. It is similar in design to a forklift truck, but has a kind of freight elevator for containers at the front instead of a fork, which makes it a real high stacker – up to six containers on top of each other are possible.
More speed when refueling
But what is so special about refueling with hydrogen at the terminal? Alone in Germany there are nearly 100 hydrogen refueling stations. The difference to these public locations: Every minute in the port costs a lot of money. That’s why every detail must be known and every move must be right. For the first commissioning tests, cluster partners have made their vehicles available. The municipal bus company VWG Oldenburg sent one of its hydrogen buses for a test refueling; the shipping company CMB.Tech from Antwerp a truck. Now they know: In principle, the refueling station design works.
It looks like this: The hydrogen is delivered by Lhyfe in a storage tank integrated into a 20-foot container. At 380 bar, there is room for 450 kg of hydrogen. Locally, some of the hydrogen is further compressed to 550 bar and stored in a medium-pressure storage tank. The vehicles arrive at the fueling station when their pressure has dropped to around 30 bar. They are then first refueled from the trailer. And if this pressure is no longer sufficient, the fueling station automatically switches to the medium-pressure reservoir. As in the new-fangled gastronomy for water, the refueling station has two taps: one for cooled and one for uncooled hydrogen. This way, HHLA wants to find out whether refueling can be significantly accelerated with the pre-cooled hydrogen. Also details should be clarified by the tests: How long does it take to refuel in the summer heat, how long in the freezing rain? Is it best to refuel at shift changes or simply when it is necessary? Does the driver do the refueling – or is it quicker with a gas station attendant?
What comes next
Little by little, HHLA also wants to test operate its heavy-duty giants with hydrogen. In addition to Hyster-Yale, the manufacturers Konecranes, Kalmar and Gaussin also belong to the cluster Clean Port & Logistics. A schedule for the delivery of the first vehicles does not yet exist, however.
In the future, HHLA also wants to make its H2 refueling station available to other companies that want to refuel vehicles at 350 bar. However, it is not entirely uncomplicated. They’d have to register via an app and complete a safety briefing. The HHLA security service also accompanies those wishing to refuel to the gas pump and back. Since there are already four conveniently located public hydrogen refueling stations in various directions in Hamburg, the customer base of the refueling station in the container terminal should be manageable.
For the overall project, however, this is a secondary construction site. Above all, the cluster members – including research institutions, vehicle manufacturers, hydrogen specialists and other port companies – are waiting for results that will help them advance their own developments. The focus of the partners lies in Germany; for example, the ports of Kiel and Lübeck have been integrated in the project. However, the Port of Los Angeles and Neltume Ports – an operator of 17 ports in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and the USA – are also on board. The findings from Hamburg could set a precedent worldwide.
by eaugsten | Nov 4, 2024 | Building energy, Europe, Germany, Hydrogen economy, News
Legal opinion is critical of hydrogen networks for household customers
Hydrogen pipeline networks are not suitable for meeting the requirements of municipal heat planning in the allotted time. There are still too many uncertainties when it comes to converting the natural gas grid. This is the conclusion reached by a Hamburg law firm.
Hydrogen will not be there for heating in the near future – so says at least a tenet of the German national hydrogen strategy. The initially scarce gas should first be used where other decarbonization technologies are not an option. But given the increasing pressure on homeowners and municipalities to comply with climate protection regulations, heating with hydrogen seems an attractive solution. Ultimately, depending on the number of inhabitants, by mid-2026 or mid-2028 municipalities must present in detailed heating plans how they want to approach the clean heating transition.
“We are of the opinion that hydrogen may, must and can be taken into account in municipal heat planning,” says Charlie Grüneberg, press spokesman of Zukunft Gas. The former natural gas association now calls itself “the voice of the gas and hydrogen industry.”
The experiences from Baden-Württemberg, however, which was the first German state to rely on municipal heat planning, reveal a different picture. Raphael Gruseck, project leader of the regional advisory center for municipal heat planning in the region Stuttgart West, says, “Hydrogen for decentralized heat supply does not have a role in the heating plans that have already been completed for our district.” The issue is usually resolved as soon as one looks specifically at the availability and costs of hydrogen, according to Gruseck. And that is highly recommended: If the municipality backs the wrong horse and the hoped-for hydrogen is not available or is only available with a delay, the seemingly simple solution can become expensive. Citizens will then face high CO2 prices for natural gas heating and the state will have to pay fines to the EU.
Timetables for network conversion are not yet in sight
In this debate, a legal opinion from the Hamburg law firm Rechtsanwälte Günther is now providing a clear signal that speaks against hydrogen in municipal heat planning. Commissioners of the report were Umweltinstitut München, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, the WWF, GermanZero and Klima-Bündnis. The assessors thus examined the German heating planning law (Wärmeplanungsgesetz, WPG) and building energy law (Gebäudeenergiegesetz, GEG) for what scope for action municipalities have when evaluating hydrogen in the course of municipal heat planning. A sticking point is that the municipalities are not only allowed to make directional decisions themselves, but also have to. In other words: Elected governments cannot simply delegate their responsibilities to an engineering firm.
However, they must build on technical fundamentals. One problem is that the “gas network conversion is still largely unclear and not conclusively regulated” and therefore there are no concrete timetables for possible changes, according to the report. Such a timetable, however, in accordance with the WPG, must at least concretely stand in order to be able to designate a hydrogen network area. This is also necessary because there must be a “comprehensive economic viability assessment” for heat planning, including national economic and allocated costs. The municipality cannot simply “blindly” rely on hydrogen.
Narrow time window
However, the network operators have not yet been able to create the timetables. For this, in turn, the national grid networks agency (Bundesnetzagentur, BNetzA) must first lay down the rules, which is unlikely to be the case before the end of 2024. But heat planning must be in place in larger cities by the middle of 2026, and in the other municipalities by mid-2028. That can’t be done believes the climate alliance Klima-Bündnis – and therefore generally does not see hydrogen networks as an option for municipal heat planning.
The distribution network operator Gasnetz Hamburg sees it a little more optimistically. It recently launched a pilot project named H2-SWITCH100 (see H2-international, Feb. 2024), to collect data on the feasibility and economic efficiency of possible network conversions for individual sections. “With it, Gasnetz Hamburg has created the basis that provides the economic forecast for conversions described in the report as unrealistic,” says spokesman Bernd Eilitz. Whether concrete timetables can be provided for heat planning up to 2026 is, without the framework setting of the BNetzA, however, not predictable.
Industry and power plants first
Whether such a timetable can really demonstrate the timely availability of hydrogen is another question. Hamburg, for example, will be connected to the H2 core network at an early stage, and is planning its own large-scale electrolyzer and an ammonia import terminal. This will also be necessary to supply the basic material industries and power plants. The report by the firm Günther emphasizes that hydrogen pipelines are explicitly possible for such projects, even without designating a hydrogen network area. By using hydrogen in power plants and industrial operations, it can also indirectly promote the clean heating transition. After all, waste heat is generated there, which can be utilized via heating networks.Which network to decide on?Heating networks, with a high demand density, are usually the first choice for the heating transition. In Denmark, they are also widespread in small, rural communities. Of the decentralized solutions, electric heat pumps are the most popular in the energy transition plans. However, the electrification of heating and transportation at the same time will also push the electricity grids to their limits in some places. The municipalities then have to find concrete solutions. For Wiebke Hansen from the Umweltinstitut München, this is precisely a reason to contemplate hydrogen critically at an early stage. “Municipalities can thus concentrate better on expanding electricity grids and district heating,” she says.
by eaugsten | Sep 12, 2024 | Europe, hydrogen development, News
Auditors consider targets to be unclear and unrealistic
The EU has set itself overly ambitious targets in its hydrogen strategy for 2030. This was the conclusion made by the auditors of the ECA in a special report published July 2024. They are now calling for an adaption of the strategy and better controlling.
In the summer, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) presented a special report entitled “The EU’s industrial policy on renewable hydrogen.” On the 106 pages, including appendix, the auditors examine the European Commission’s plans, legislation and measures to date. One of the issues here is the lack of consistency. The auditors already criticize many ambiguities and contradictions in the definition of the objectives of the EU plans: The EU hydrogen strategy, for example, mentions 40 GW of installed electrolysis capacity by 2030, with which 4.4 megatonnes of hydrogen is to be produced. According to a working document of the REPowerEU Plan, this electrolysis power is to rather supply 6.6 megatonnes of hydrogen. With the production target of 10 Mt for the year 2030 neither value matches.
The auditors also cite a number of demand estimates for the year 2030. Basing on EU regulations, these would amount to between 3.8 and 10.5 Mt. Most, however, lie significantly under 10 Mt. For a majority of the 20 Mt envisaged in the REPowerEU Plan – 10 Mt from Europe, 10 Mt imported – there are therefore no customers.
Also the derivation of the objectives stands on too weak legs for the auditors: For the 40 GW target, they essentially see a paper by the industry association Hydrogen Europe as the source. The production target set in the first EU hydrogen strategy of 10 Mt is mainly derived from the demand for fossil hydrogen in 2020.
In the market, the uncertainty is mainly in the form of the well-known chicken-and-egg problem: No industrial company will bank on hydrogen if it is not safely available, and nobody wants to invest in expensive infrastructure before customers are ready. “A vicious circle,” deduced the ECA in its press release. Necessary would be state-supported investments. But how expensive the switch to hydrogen could be and how much public money is available for it the EU Commission also does not have a complete overview, according to the auditors. Even the available EU funding for the development of the hydrogen economy could only be estimated, because they are scattered across several programs. To 18.8 million euros for the period 2021 to 2027 came the auditors.
Not everyone is pulling in the same direction
That the member states have different ambitions that do not always coincide with those of the EU does not make it any easier. The ECA has identified four countries in which currently almost 80 percent of the electrolyzer capacity is to be installed: Germany, Spain, France and the Netherlands. There, the proportion of difficult to decarbonize industrial sectors is high and the hydrogen projects are comparatively advanced. At the same time, a large proportion of EU funding goes to these countries.
That the hydrogen potential of the entire EU will be exhausted for it there is no guarantee – nor that this hydrogen will then reach the countries with high industrial demand. Only a few of the possible export countries have already submitted plans for this. A concrete import strategy (see p. 7) is only given for Germany.
However, the auditors also attest that the European Commission has taken many right steps. In particular, it has created an almost complete legal framework within a short space of time. It has thus provided the legal certainty that is necessary for the new market. In addition, it has also done everything in its power to expedite approvals.
“Which industries does the EU want to keep?”
The ECA is providing the EU with a series of recommendations to be implemented by the end of 2025. Already the first packs a punch: After a “reality check,” the Commission should “make strategic choices…. without creating new strategic dependencies.” The power of this statement the auditors conceal within parentheses in a subitem: “Which industries does the EU want to keep and at what price?” The following must be taken into account: EU funding is limited and the Commission must decide in which parts of the value chain it will have the greatest impact. “The EU should decide on the strategic path to carbon neutrality without compromising the competitive situation of its key industries or creating new strategic dependencies,” says Stef Blok, the ECA member responsible for the audit. That there is no perfect way to do this and it is not about avoiding imports per se is clear from the wording in the German press release. You have to consciously make geopolitical trade-offs, specified Blok. To avoid are “very large dependencies for basic products.”
The other recommendations are much more technical: The Commission should define and monitor a roadmap, gain an overview of the national financing, give the member states momentum in project approval and coordinate better with industry.
Stef Blok is a member of the European Court of Auditors and was responsible for the audit as part of the special report.
References:
Special report: https://www.eca.europa.eu/ECAPublications/SR-2024-11/SR-2024-11_EN.pdf
by eaugsten | Sep 12, 2024 | Europe, international, Market, News
Gigawatt production planned in Norway
The Norwegian company REC Solar once produced photovoltaic systems in Narvik. Today, the factory buildings stand empty. With two areas of around 5,000 square meters and cleanroom equipment, they offer good conditions for setting up fuel cell production there. The startup Teco 2030 plans to manufacture PEM fuel cells with a high power density on a gigawatt scale there in just a few years’ time.
Teco 2030 is a spin-off of the Teco Maritime Group, a service provider for “greener” ship transport with 30 years of experience and around 150 employees. It therefore made sense for Teco 2030 to consider ships as one of the first possible areas of application for the new product. The aim is to develop a high-performance fuel cell for maritime use and to produce it on a gigawatt scale. CEO of the spin-off is Teco founder Tore Enger himself.
On board as a partner is AVL, a company with 12,000 employees and headquarters in Austria. The technology developer from the automotive industry knows all about fuel cells and has its own facilities in Graz to develop, simulate, test and optimize them.
In close cooperation, Teco 2030 and AVL have developed a new PEM fuel cell. According to information by the companies, it is unique in its power density and flexibility. For the high power density, especially surrounding the actual stack, the knowledge of the partners and suppliers was pooled. Beckhoff Automation and Harting Technology are two of the German suppliers who are helping to ensure that development continues “at record speed,” as Teco 2030 stressed.
The complete design of the product, from the membrane to the complete system, Teco 2030 and AVL jointly developed. However, both the bipolar plates and the membranes are to be externally manufactured. In Narvik, Norway the components will then be assembled first into cell stacks, then into fuel cell modules and finally into complete systems. At the beginning of April 2024, when a delegation from Hannover Messe visited the site together with journalists, the main things to be seen there were large, empty halls and a few offices. The prototype production fits into a single room.
Shell tanker as first use case
One of the first products will be a fuel cell power generator (FCPG) in the format of a standardized 40-foot container. As part of the research project HyEkoTank, the fuel cell container will have its first practical use on the bitumen tanker Bitflower from Shell. For the design, the Norwegian classification association DNV has given an “approval in principle” (AiP) for employment in a research project on ocean-going vessels.
The fuel cell system can be seamlessly integrated into the switchgear of a ship, according to Teco 2030. The AiP concerns the fuel treatment system, the rooms with the FC modules, the electronics, the battery, the HVAC (high voltage AC) technology, the auxiliaries, the inertization system and the airlock.
The bitumen tanker Bitflower is to be the first ship to drive with a fuel cell from Teco 2030, Source: Shell
The fuel cell is expected to have an output of 2.4 MW, so just under 3,300 hp. That is less than the current engine can deliver, but Teco 2030 stresses that the charter speed of the ship can be maintained with it. “This capacity is sufficient to operate the ship 100 percent emissions-free with hydrogen as fuel, without producing greenhouse gas emissions,” says Tor-Erik Hoftun, Chief Strategy Officer of Teco 2030.
While many FC systems require a relatively large battery as a power buffer for the drive, the new fuel cell should be able to react very flexibly. How large the external battery will ultimately be designed depends on other requirements on the ship. “The fuel cell is dynamic and can replicate the reaction time of diesel engines, which means that the installation can be optimized in terms of external battery size and power strategies,” says Hoftun.
In addition to the fuel cell unit, the system includes an exchangeable tank that can hold 4,000 kg of hydrogen at 350 bar. The tanker can therefore also take new fuel on board in ports that do not have a special infrastructure for hydrogen refueling.
Hydrogen storage, however, has so far been a major limitation of the technology. During a one-week deployment of the ship, it should be possible to provide about 70 percent of the propulsion energy with the fuel cell. During the test, the new components are to be placed on the deck of the ship, so that the diesel engine can remain in place. Where the fuel cell will sit in the future has not yet been determined. Clear, however, is that space on board is always an issue – especially for retrofits. “The system has a compact design to simplify retrofitting at new or existing locations engines were previously installed,” according to Hoftun.
Largest retrofit project
The project is part of the EU program Horizon Europe and is, according to Teco 2030, the largest current retrofit project for a fuel cell ship. Shell wants to invest 5 million USD in the project; from the EU should come 5 million EUR. At the end of the project, Technology Readiness Level 8 should be reached. Teco 2030 assumes that the supply with the standardized fuel cell container can be carried over to many sea-going and inland waterway vessels.
A number of other research projects have been launched in parallel: For a ferry in Croatia, a consortium to which Teco 2030 also belongs received a commitment of over 13 million euros from the EU’s Horizon program in 2023.
In another project, Teco 2030 together with AVL want to demonstrate a retrofit solution for a 40-tonne truck with four 100 kW stacks still in the first half of this year. Another site of construction is the development of a fuel cell generator with 0.6 to 1.6 MW in a smaller container. This should be able to supply on-board power for ships or construction site power as needed. Participating in this project are the Norwegian state-owned enterprise Enova and the Swiss construction company Implenia. If projects in preparation, in the technical concept phase or with outstanding financing are also included, the list of projects extends over several pages.
Ship transport must become greener
To turn research projects into commercial applications, Teco 2030 still has to overcome two hurdles, however, which should not be underestimated: Firstly, production must be set up quickly. And secondly, the technology must assert itself alongside the many alternatives in the dynamic market of sustainable mobility.
As far as the market is concerned, the managers of Teco 2030 are very positive. Political pressure on ship transport companies is growing; they need to make their ships more climate-friendly. In relation to other sources of emissions, maritime transport in the EU was a rather small item, accounting for 3 to 4 percent of CO2 equivalents, but the movement of goods is growing. This is why since January 2024 European emissions trading has also applied to large ships starting from 5,000 gross register tons that harbor in ports within the EU.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) also tightened its climate targets in the summer of 2023: By 2040, greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced by at least 70 percent compared to 2008 levels, whereby 80 percent is strived for.
Maybe the strongest pressure is being made by the customers. Many consumers value climate-friendly products. And if, as a result, large corporations such as Amazon or Microsoft insist on climate-neutral transport of their goods, the shipping companies have to come up with something – even if they would have more time according to the laws.
Prototype production in Narvik, Source: Hannover Messe
The Teco managers therefore see a large market for their fuel cells. Their potential analysis is based on a paper by Hydrogen Europe from the year 2021. For this, over 60 types of ships were examined for possible climate-friendly drive technologies. Depending on the application, three types of drive have proven to be economical. Ammonia in combination with solid oxide fuel cells is particularly suitable for heavy ocean tankers. For small ships that have frequent opportunities to refuel, pressurized H2 tanks in combination with PEM fuel cells are the best option. Liquid hydrogen in combination with PEM fuel cells should cover the area in between, in which container ships in particular, but also some large ferries and cruise ships, move.
Of these three fuels, gaseous hydrogen is the cheapest, followed by liquid hydrogen and finally ammonia. The bottom line is that the combination of PEM fuel cells with hydrogen in liquid or gaseous form is the best technology available in terms of total cost of ownership (TCO) for around 77,000 ships worldwide.
But there are also completely different theories, for example in the report by the ship classifier and consulting service provider DNV from the year 2023. Of the new ships ordered by July 2023, only five had a hydrogen drive. The technologies for future decarbonization highlighted in the report are diverse: They include onboard carbon capture, support from wind energy and even nuclear drives. Explicitly mentioned among the fuel cell drives is the solid oxide fuel cell, operated with hydrocarbons or ammonia.
Liquid hydrogen as fuel is also conceivable, explains the report using the example of the Norwegian ferry MS Hydra, which runs on a PEM fuel cell. But the DNV stresses: Compared to other fuels, even liquid hydrogen has a low volumetric energy density. The combination of gaseous hydrogen and PEM fuel cell accordingly doesn’t happen.
Hoftun and Enger are not deterring competition from liquid and near-liquid fuels. As the PEM fuel cell can operate at low pressure, hydrogen can, for example, also be produced on board from ammonia or methanol, they explain. Whether this approach, which combines several non-established technologies on board, will convince the mostly conservative ship transport companies remains to be seen.
Production start planned for 2024
Manual production should start in 2024 if possible, Source: Teco 2030/Hannover Messe
Teco 2030 is still working on the prototype, which has not yet delivered the desired performance on the test stand in Graz. Here too is the optimism high: “We are making good progress and expect to reach full performance on the test bench in a few months’ time,” says Hoftun. As soon as this is achieved, manual production can start in the so far empty halls. This step is planned for the third quarter of 2024. Around the same time, so they hope, will a DNV type approval come. With the initial experience and approval, an automated production line is then to emerge – end of 2025 for the stacks, beginning of 2026 for the whole fuel cell modules.
To be able to set up the largely automated production quickly, Teco 2030 is relying on the experience of ThyssenKrupp, which is to take over the construction of the production line. In 2027, the Norwegians want to reach an annual production capacity of 800 MW. “Unit costs fall as soon as you start reaching economies of scale and robot-assisted production,” says Teco 2030 CEO Tore Enger. And they are set to fall further with every expansion. For the eponymous year 2030, Teco has named a target of 700 euros per kW and an output of 3.2 GW.
“Following the previous investments of around 60 million euros, we assume that we will need a further 40 million euros to achieve the targeted annual production of 800 MW, around 20 million euros of which for the actual production line,” says Enger. Around 4 million USD is to shortly come from India, from infrastructure company Advait Infratech, which also has its own division for green energy and hydrogen technologies. Advait is securing a 51 percent stake in a joint venture that is to produce and market fuel cells in India and South Asia in the future.
Will there be enough skilled workers at the other end of the world, in Narvik, who want to work in a factory 200 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle? Enger and Hoftun are sure that this will not be a problem either. “We are seeing a lot of interest from professionals in this field who want to move to Narvik,” says Hoftun. They’re relying not only on strong automation, but also on the nearby university and the attracting power of nature in northern Norway. You can practically get on your skis right on your doorstep. And even in the factory hall, the view out of the window is of the Ofotfjord.
The area around Narvik is remote, but popular with nature lovers, Source: Hannover Messe
Norway: Offshore wind energy urgently needed
Norway is known for its very cheap electricity, which comes almost entirely from hydropower. The country is thus also attracting international investors, especially when it comes to green technologies of the future. In Norway is emerging, among other things, battery factories, data centers and a hydrogen economy. But the available hydropower is by no means infinite. While Norway currently exports around a tenth of its electricity, the electricity balance is expected to be neutral starting 2028. In addition to the new factories, electrification is an important driver of electricity consumption. For example, natural gas extracted off the coast is to be electrically compressed into LNG in future. Hydrogen production – both by electrolysis and from natural gas – does not have any significance in the five-year forecasts of the state electricity producer Statnett. It will come later. A massive expansion of wind power generation off the coast should provide a remedy. The first state-tendered project, from this March, is expected to have a capacity of 1.5 GW.
