March 10, 2022 • Paul Rodden • Season: 2022 • Episode: 97
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Welcome to The Hydrogen Podcast!
In episode 097, A new green hydrogen startup raises $11 million in a Series A round. SoCal Gas begins assembling their new hydrogen home. And Raven SR is expanding into Spain. All of this on today’s hydrogen podcast.
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Transcript:
A new green hydrogen startup raises $11 million in a Series A round. SoCal Gas begins assembling their new hydrogen home. And Raven SR is expanding into Spain. All of this on today’s hydrogen podcast.
So the big questions in the energy industry today are, how is hydrogen the primary driving force behind the evolution of energy? Where is capital being deployed for hydrogen projects globally? And where are the best investment opportunities for early adopters recognize who the importance of hydrogen? I will address the critical issues and give you the information you need to deploy capital. Those are the questions that will unlock the potential of hydrogen and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Paul Rodden, and welcome to the hydrogen podcast.
In a press release on March 2, Jericho Energy Ventures is pleased to announce its portfolio company H2U Technologies has closed an oversubscribed $11 million series a funding round with leading time venture capital and energy firms, including Freeflow Ventures, VoLo Earth Ventures and Hess Corporation as part of the closing Jericho upsized its initial investment by 15%. Proceeds from the deal will be used for the advancement of H2U’s innovative low cost pem based electrolyzer designs, and to commission the build of its proprietary catalyst discovery engine. Reliance on rare and precious metals such as Iridium dramatically increases the cost of pem electrolysis, and ultimately the cost of clean hydrogen.
However, H2U’s CDE can identify Earth abundant alternative catalysts at a rate 1 million times faster than known industry methods. unlocking a critical barrier to pem water electrolysis scalability, and maximizing the production of low cost clean hydrogen. H2U will leverage this unique platform by developing its own non precious metal based pem electrolyzer for widespread commercial adoption. H2U’s low cost pm electrolyzer is being developed in partnership with Southern California Gas Company or SoCal Gas, the largest natural gas distribution utility in the US, who recently announced plans to replace up to 25% of their natural gas with clean hydrogen requiring 10 to 20 gigawatts of electrolysis capacity.
Ryan Breen, head of corporate strategy at Jericho energy ventures and member of the Board of Directors for H2U stated H2U’s cutting edge technology will play an integral role in accelerating the production and deployment of clean hydrogen to advance the energy transition. evidenced by our upsized capital commitment, we believe H2U’S products are a great step forward to reducing the need for scarce precious metals in the race to lowering the cost of clean hydrogen. Alright, so it’s great news to see that H2U has raised $11 million in their Series A round. But to me the bigger news is their technology itself and with scalability and cost associated with the electrolyzers being one of the main reasons holding green hydrogen back the ability to utilize more common elements and water electrolysis could be the game changer that green hydrogen has needed to really catapult the technology as the go to source for hydrogen. Next, more news from SoCal Gas as they begin assembling their award winning h2 Hydrogen home and a press release again on March 2, Southern California Gas Company or SoCal Gas has kicked off the assembly of its award winning h2 Hydrogen home in Downey, a state of the art demonstration project designed to show the resiliency and reliability of a hydrogen micro grid.
The company took delivery of the modular prefabricated h2 Hydrogen home, which is the first of its kind in the United States and will show how carbon free gas made from renewable electricity can be used to fuel clean energy systems of the future. The Home will act as a miniature micro grid, storing and providing resilient, low carbon power when energy is needed and demonstrate how such an energy system could be constructed on a larger scale to power residential neighborhoods and businesses. In a quote from Maryam Brown, SoCal Gas president. For the past decade, SoCal Gas has invested in hydrogen research and development, recognizing it as a critical component of our transition to net zero emissions. The h2 Hydrogen home brings many of the technologies that we helped pioneer together under one roof, and a unique showcase of how California might power resilient communities and businesses in the future. And in a quote from California Assemblymember Cristina Garcia, the h2 Hydrogen home is a tangible example of the cutting edge technologies and clean energy systems that we need to meet our net zero carbon goal by 2045.
As we shift toward a future of renewable electricity in California, we will rely on a variety of energy solutions including hydrogen and advanced fuel cells to create a more resilient grid. I am proud that this first in the nation example will be showcased in the 58th district. The h2 Hydrogen home features in nearly 2000 square foot home solar panels, a battery, an electrolyzer to convert solar energy to hydrogen and a fuel cell to supply electricity for the home. Hydrogen will also be blended up to 20% with natural gas and used in the homes tankless water heater, clothes dryer and gas stove, fireplace and barbecue grill.
The Home will function and feel exactly like a regular home, but use reliable and clean energy 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days a year by drawing power from solar panels on sunny days and converting excess energy into clean hydrogen which can be stored and then converted back into electricity with an onsite hydrogen fuel cell when solar or batteries can’t provide enough energy. The home is also be constructed to LEED platinum standards. And just as interesting. The materials for the home were delivered this week by clean class eight trucks powered by hydrogen and electric power supply systems that only emit water. The feature Participants included two Hyundai XCIENT Fuel Cell trucks, part of a California Air Resources Board (CARB) and California Energy Commission (CEC) project called “NorCal ZERO” to deploy or supply 30 trucks in Northern California by early 2023. As well as two Kenworth T680s equipped with the Toyota fuel cell electric system, which are being demonstrated as part of the CARB Port of Los Angeles “Shore to Store” (S2S) project.
Now hydrogen is set to play a critical role in SoCal gases and California’s energy future, particularly in transitioning hard to decarbonize sectors, such as dispatchable, electric generation, Heavy Industries, and heavy duty transportation. In all, SoCal Gas has more than 10 Major pilot projects related to hydrogen innovation that are leading the charge to build a cleaner future. And just the week before this announcement, SoCal Gas proposed to develop what would be the nation’s largest green hydrogen energy infrastructure system to work towards decarbonizing those sectors in the Los Angeles Basin.
The proposal called the Angeles Link could displace up to 3 million gallons of diesel per day, helping to eliminate hazardous air pollutants, and could allow natural gas power plants in the region to convert to green hydrogen. Last summer Fast Company named h2 Hydrogen home one of its world changing ideas for 2021. The project is set to be completed as soon as summer of this year. Alright, so really a lot to unpack from this announcement, the first being that the h2 Hydrogen home is finally under construction. And that this announcement is not too far off the heels of the recent announcement out of England, where they’ve mixed hydrogen into the natural gas lines of a city to test the infrastructure for hydrogen suitability, the test was a resounding success. And as such, there are cities within the United States that are doing the same thing. The h2 House takes it a step further by being able to actually develop the hydrogen on site and store it. Now a big question I have right now is how that hydrogen is going to be stored.
I’m assuming it’s going to be compressed, but at what capacity and one of the thing that I really do like about the h2 house is that it’s modular, it can be made and shipped anywhere in the United States. And lastly, in a press release on March 7, Raven SR expands operations to Europe, with the establishment of Raven Iberia, a wholly owned subsidiary in Spain. Raven SR, a renewable fuels Company announced today the establishment of Raven SR Iberia SL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zaragosa the capital of the Aragon region of Spain. Raven SR Iberia expands the company’s global footprint into the European market, where renewable hydrogen is being actively pursued to help meet decarbonisation goals and zero targets and the transportation power generation and industrial sectors. Raven SR’s Spanish subsidiary will initially be led by Mrs. Carmen Font Raven SR’s business consultant in the EU.
A former corporate banker Font has also worked as a trade and finance advisor at the British Consulate General in Barcelona and led the investment team for regional government of Aragon as Raven SR’s representative, she currently chairs several working groups within the European hydrogen valleys partnership integrated by 56 European regions to bring hydrogen to market. In a quote from Matt Murdock Raven SR’s CEO. By combining our scalable renewable fuel production technology with Carmen’s deep knowledge of the EU policy, regulation and industry, we can capitalize on the objective of expeditiously bringing hydrogen to several markets in Europe and beyond Raven SR our can help deliver what policymakers around the world are seeking… actionable solutions to to mitigate the climate crisis with advanced renewable energy, the European Union is actively supporting the use of hydrogen as a key source of renewable energy for meeting decarbonisation goals and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Or Raven SR’s is part of the pilot action high to market and European consortium related to the inter regional innovation investment fund instrument i3, which aims to support the commercialization and scaling up of inter regional European innovation projects and investments through the development of European hydrogen value chains.
Raven SR Iberia will also advance the Aragon’s government’s position as a technological leader in the production of widespread use of hydrogen as a renewable energy source. The regions hydrogen valleys geographic areas that combine several hydrogen applications together into an ecosystem to carry out pilot projects across the value chain will be utilized to make renewable energy available at competitive prices. In a statement from Arturo Aliaga, Vice President and Minister of Industry competitiveness and business development of the regional government of Aragon. This project is aligned with the vision of the government of Aragon to develop and implement new technologies related to hydrogen and can significantly contribute to the ambitious European decarbonization targets. We are pleased to support Raven SR toward the development of its site in Aragon, which will also contribute very positively to regional economy and generation of employment.
The government of Aragon has been for over two decades, highly supporting and promoting h2 initiatives, and Aragon and the region has become a perfect gateway for the European h2 market, the development of h2 scalable projects in h2 investments, we will be delighted to continue cooperating with Raven SR and supporting its project and Aragon. Raven SR technology reduces emissions while producing more green hydrogen per tonne of waste than competing processes and is the only combustion free waste of hydrogen production process globally. Raven SR process can produce a variety of synthetic liquid fuels, which include diesel jet a milspec, and JP-8 additives and solvents such as acetone, butanol, and naptha. Electricity of your micro turbines and sustainable aviation fuel. Alright so a big huge congratulations to Matt Murdock and the team at Raven SR. This is a big step forward in expanding not just Ravens hydrogen reach but the hydrogen industry as a whole. In this particular region of Spain is primed for development for the European hydrogen backbone plan. So great job Raven, keep up the amazing work.
Well, that’s it for me everyone. If you have any questions, comments or concerns about today’s episode, come and visit me on my website at www.thehydrogenpodcast.com. Or you can always email me at info@thehydrogenpodcast.com. I would really love to hear from you. And as always, take care. Stay safe. I’ll talk to you later.
Hey, this is Paul. I hope you liked this podcast. If you did and want to hear more, I’d appreciate it if you would either subscribe to this channel on YouTube, or connect with your favorite platform through my website at www.thehydrogenpodcast.com. Thanks for listening. I very much appreciate it. Have a great day.
